Chapter 4: Investigation

--Tipton Hotel, Boston, Suite 2330; 11:00 am the next day--

"So when are the police coming by?" Max asked with slight worry in her voice. Every now and again there was a cop who recognized her and she'd have to use the memory dust. It wasn't easy to explain how her face matched a picture of a dead girl that was in the newspaper ten years ago. She fiddled nervously in with one of her braids while pretending to read the newspaper on the kitchen counter.

"Should be any minute now." Cody answered.

"You don't think they know we were involved, do you?" Zack asked anxiously.

"No. Mr. Moseby just said that they were questioning all the employees about Nathan, and since Mom's not here and we live at the hotel, they'd come by our suite and ask us."

"So what story have they chosen to run with?" Gwen queried while nursing the burn on her arm, now hidden under her newly repaired blouse.

"He didn't say. They're probably keeping the details quiet until they know for sure." Cody actually had a lot of experience with the police. They had all had run-ins with them in the past. He was surprised they hadn't linked them to a lot of the unsolved cases that were surely beginning to pile up in their offices. "So remember, just play it cool."

"You don't have to tell us." Zack reminded him. "But you might want to do something about that flood you've got forming on your head."

Cody hastily wiped his forehead clear of any sweat. Covering things up had always been Zack's forte, even before they became witches. Though he had gotten better at lying over the years, Cody always had to struggle with keeping calm while he did it. He still couldn't effectively deceive their mother.

The door's buzzer rang, and Zack turned out to be the only one brave enough to answer it. "Can we help you?" He greeted the visitor, trying to sound confused, like this was unexpected.

The man standing in their doorway was a tall dark man with close cropped kinky hair and a neat goatee on an otherwise smooth face. He sported a grayish brown suit, and a pair of dark collected eyes. The man pulled out his badge and held it up for them to see, and spoke in a kind, but very direct manner. "Lieutenant Darryl Morris, NYPD. Mind if I come in?"

"Not at all." Zack lied, moving aside to allow the Lieutenant entry.

"Cookie?" Cody pointed to the small plate of treats on the coffee table which had just now been made to look like it had always been there.

"No thanks, but do you mind if I have a seat?"

"Go right ahead." Gwen gestured to the armchair next to the couch where she was still sitting.

It seemed that Lieutenant Morris had just now noticed the two girls in the room. "I'm sorry, who are you? I was told that the twins, Zack and Cody Martin lived here."

"I'm Max. I'm an old friend." the young whitelighter answered, with barely a glance in his direction.

"And I'm Gwen. I'm Zack's tutor on the weekdays. He's hopeless at math you see." She kept that perfect grin just so much as to appear friendly, without looking like she was hiding something. When she was sure Morris wasn't looking at her, she gave Zack a sly wink.

"I guess you both know why I'm here." The Lieutenant spoke to the twins now. Zack was anxious, but not surprised that Morris' cool dark eyes were pinned on him. Mr. Moseby had probably told him all about them by now. "So let's start with how you know Nathan Richards."

"Not well." Cody answered automatically. Zack mentally cursed him for answering so quickly. Now this guy probably already knew they'd rehearsed it. Cody was the picture of guilt, not even relaxed enough to sit down. He just kept a straight face and picked up where his brother had left off. This was one of the occasions in their line of work where it was best to let him do the talking.

"He didn't work here very long. And he never really talked to us. He was kind of anti-social."

"So he didn't say or do anything unusual for him today?" They both shook their heads. "And what about his niece, Nicole?"

"Never really met her. She was pretty quiet too. And she slept a lot."

"And you know this how?"

The gears in Zack's head could almost be physically heard as he raced to find an answer for this. "Our mom told us not to bother her whenever she slept… which was a lot."

"Of course." Morris nodded. While jotting down a few notes on the small notebook he had pulled from his coat pocket. His expression was so detached, Zack couldn't tell if he was buying this or not. But what reason could he possibly have for suspecting two seventeen year olds to be involved in the disappearance of a bellhop and his supposed niece? Although over the years, Zack had discovered that their line of work had, many times, collided with his line of work, and that for some officers, belief in the supernatural was becoming easier to grasp. Morris finished scribbling down another note, and reviewed what he'd written so far. "Hmm, that's interesting."

"What is?" Cody inquired, earning another glare from his twin.

Morris looked up from his notes to glance at them both. "It's just that the police haven't released any information on their whereabouts, yet you two are talking about them like they're not coming back."

This time Zack sent the mental kick to himself. This guy was good. "Sorry. We're just kind of getting that feeling. You don't think they were… killed in the explosion do you?"

"Who said anything about an explosion?" Morris asked, with the hint of a smile touching the corners of his lips. Now Zack knew he was trying to rattle them. The explosion was common knowledge now, and many of the guests had even checked out because of it. Moseby had almost been forced to perform an emergency evacuation.

"Kind of hard not to hear it from where we are." Zack answered coolly. Morris seemed satisfied with that answer for now. He seemed to skim over the rest of the interview, asking them questions like where they had been during the event, how long they'd lived at the Tipton, etcetera. Either he had concluded that he wasn't going to find anything he was looking for from them, or he already had found something. After everything had been said, he got up from his seat, and shook each of their hands in turn (he pointedly wiped his hand after he shook Cody's) while he explained a few last details. "Right now we're going to assume that Nathan is on the run with this girl he says is his niece, and that he triggered the explosion as a cover. If you hear or remember anything related to the case that you think might help, don't hesitate to call. Here's my card."

Zack took the small index card with the Lieutenant's name and number on it, and gave him a polite smile. "Will do."

Cody led him to the door, and closed it behind him. He let out a long sigh of relief before turning back to the others. "I think it's safe to say he'll be keeping an eye on us."

"We are definitely on his list." Max agreed.

"I thought that went quite well." Gwen smiled. When she could see that the others didn't share her opinion, she folded her arms and scowled. "Pessimists."

"So what now?" Zack plopped back down onto the couch, glad that the ordeal was over with for now, and they could focus on Nicole again.

Cody seemed to share his brother's feelings. "I think right now, we don't know enough. No offense Gwen, but you didn't really give us a whole lot to go on. I think if we could find out more about Gabriel, we might get a better idea of how to beat him."

"Or who he's working for." Max pointed out.

"So what do you suggest?" Gwen queried.

"Well our best bet would be Magic School." Cody decided.

"Not exactly." Max spoke up. Cody was confused for a minute until she gave him a sneaky little smile.

"No." He answered flatly.

"He said we could call in a favor whenever." Max replied casually. "Who else do you know with that many demonic contacts?"

Gwen leaned closer to Zack. "Who are they talking about?"

Zack chuckled and whispered back to her. "Sykes."

"The answer is still no. I don't trust that guy. I don't care what miraculous turn around he claims to have had, he's still a crook."

"That's a load, and you know it." Max shot back. "We both know that Trevor will be faster than searching Magic school, bookworm."

"Trevor?" Cody glared in astonishment. "Since when are we on first name basis with him?"

"Since there is no we. Remember?" Max answered bitingly. "Now either you cooperate, or I'll go myself."

Cody clenched his fists at the thought. "You wouldn't dare." Max was glowing with white orbs before he had even finished the sentence. "Okay, okay! I'll go." The orbs vanished and Max was smiling triumphantly. "But we get in, we get what we need, and we get out. Alright?"

"Alright."

"Not alright." Cody and Max both glanced at Zack who was no longer seated. "I don't think we should just stop searching for her."

Cody's face was worried as he looked at his brother. "We're not. We just need more information. There's too many variables."

"That's not what I meant. I mean, I think we'd cover more ground if we split up. One of us has to keep looking for her. She's a witch, so I can scry for her."

"But what if you find her and Gabriel comes after you?"

"Then I'll call Max. You'll both be just an orb away. Besides, I'll Have Gwen with me, right?" He looked back to their new friend.

"Huh? Oh sure. But… I don't know how much good my powers will do against Gabriel."

"They saved us last time." Zack reminded her.

"From Nicole, and just barely. That fire of hers is strong. And I don't even think she was using her full strength. It looked more like a misfire, like it got out of control."

"That's why we have to find her as soon as possible. She could be in real trouble right now. She could hurt herself, and everyone within a few hundred feet of her."

Cody sighed. "All the more reason we should wait and go after them together. Gabriel's going to be tough enough, but if Nicole helps him you'd be dead meat."

"What makes you think she'd help him?"

"Did it look like she was being forced to try and barbecue us?"

"Maybe he possessed her."

"No." Gwen interrupted. "I know what possession looks like, and everything in that girl's eyes said she was doing everything of her own free will, and that includes living with him and pretending to be his niece. Besides, it didn't look like Gabriel intended for her to use her powers. He probably knows just how dangerous she is even more than we do."

Zack let out a sigh of frustration. Thanks a lot Gwen he thought. "Look, all I know is that she's in serious trouble, okay? I mean immediate danger. We need to at least know where she is."

Cody stared into his brother's eyes long and hard. Zack was fiery and passionate, but because of this he could usually be swayed from a rash decision if they could make him see reason. The set look of his eyes told Cody that this was not one of those times. "Alright, but you're just going to scry for her and keep tabs on her. Wait for us before you go after her, alright?"

"Alright."

"Shake on it." Cody demanded. There was a slight hesitation, but Zack slapped hands with his brother twice before knocking their elbows together and putting their hands in the air to wriggle their fingers.

"Do they always do that?" Gwen asked.

Max rolled her eyes. "You get used to it." She moved to Cody's side and held out her hand. "Ready?"

Cody sighed and put his hand in hers. "Let's get this over with."

--Tipton Hotel, Boston, Suite 2330; 12:30 pm--

Zack glowered at the little amethyst crystal over that continued to swing from the end of its chain aimlessly over the map in front of him on the coffee table. "I don't get it." He grimaced. "She should have come up by now. A power like that can't be too hard to lock on to."

"Gabriel's probably keeping on the move. He can be very hard to track." Gwen assured him from where she was standing over his shoulder. "Besides that, scrying is witch to witch."

"But I'm not scrying for Nathan, I'm scrying for Nicole."

"I know, but… after seeing her power I'm not so sure she is a witch anymore."

Zack set the crystal down. "What do you mean? She's not a demon is she?" Though demons came in all shapes and sizes, Zack just couldn't apply that term to the girl he had met. Everything about her just screamed; innocent.

"No I don't think so. I mean that kind of power is just… I've never felt anything like it from demon or witch. I'm starting to think she might be something… else."

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure."

Zack decided to focus on scrying, and leave Gwen's new mystery up for later. "Maybe I'll have better luck on the laptop." Zack reached for the notebook computer that had been resting underneath the coffee table.

"You can scry on a laptop?" Gwen sounded impressed, but skeptical.

"Yeah, you just jack the crystal in here," he inserted the amethyst into the laptop's ports, "Open up a GPS system, and… voila." The map on the screen began circling over the area.

"Incredible. I've never seen anything like it before."

Zack gave her a smug smile. "Yeah, Cody would like to take credit for this, but I'm pretty sure he copied it from another witch. Our friend Billie Jenkins can do the exact same thing." There was a bleep from the computer that called their attention back to the screen. The GPS had locked onto an area. "Looks like they're on Bromfield."

"Wow, it actually works."

Zack shutdown the computer and placed it back under the table. Then he go up and went to the kitchen to take the car keys off the hook. "Do you have a license? I can't drive without someone else."

"O—o—of course," Gwen stammered, "but wait, you're going after them? I thought you'd say you'd wait for Cody and Max to get back."

"Yeah right. Like I take orders from my little brother."

"But you shook on it."

Zack grinned. "I had my fingers crossed."

"But we'd just have your power to go on. I won't—"

"There's some vanquishing potion in the lower cupboard."

Gwen narrowed her hazel eyes, but there was a look of excitement in them. "Are you sure about this?"

Zack didn't have to answer. The look in his eyes said he was dead serious. He brushed past the counter and motioned for her to follow him through the door. "Come on."