His lips curved. “Yes, we are. Ana, Morgana and I spent a great deal of our childhood together, here and in Ireland. And, of course, when you have something in common, something that separates you from what’s termed the norm, you tend to stick together.”

Lifting a brow, Mel turned back to him. “You want me to believe she’s psychic, too?”

“Not precisely. Ana has a different talent.” He reached out to brush at Mel’s bangs himself. “But you didn’t come here to talk about my family.”

“No.” She shifted slightly, just out of reach, and tried to decide on the least humiliating way to thank him. “I checked out the plate. I already had half of it myself when I got the message.”

“Oh?”

“I turned up a witness.” No way was she going to admit how hard she’d worked to come up with those three little letters. “So anyway, I called my contact at the DMV, had it checked out.”

“And?”

“And the car’s registered to a James T. Parkland. The address is in Jamesburg.” Propping one booted foot on a low rail, she leaned on the fence while the breeze ruffled her hair. She liked the smell of horses. Just watching them relaxed her. “I took a ride down there. He’d skipped. Landlady was pretty talkative, since he’d ducked two months’ rent.”

The mare walked over to the fence and bumped Mel’s shoulder. Automatically she lifted a hand to stroke down the smooth white cheek. “I got an earful on Jimmy. He was the kind of guy who just invited trouble. Not a bad-looking boy—and I quote—but always had his pockets turned out. Always seemed to scrape up enough for a six-pack, though. The landlady claims to have taken a … motherly interest in him … but I have a hunch it wasn’t quite so platonic. Otherwise she wouldn’t be so steamed.”

“Two months’ rent,” Sebastian reminded her, watching the way Mel’s hand rubbed over the horse.

“Uh-uh. This was personal. She had that bitter tone a woman gets when she’s been dumped.”

Sebastian tilted his head, trusting Mel’s intuition. “Which made her more talkative—to a sympathetic ear.”

“You bet. She said he liked to gamble. Mostly on sports, but any game would do. He’d gotten in pretty deep over the last few months, started having visitors.” She flicked Sebastian a glance. “The kind who have broken noses and lumps under their suit coats where their guns ruin the line. He tried to hit her up for some quick cash, but she claimed she was tapped out. Then he said how he had a line on how to get himself out of it, once and for all. Last few days he was there, he was real nervous, jumpy, hyped up. Then he split. The last time she saw him was a week before David’s kidnapping.”

“An interesting story.”