Dirty Magic (18 page)

Gardner leaned forward. “May we?”

Volos nodded at Jade, who handed a stack of photocopies to Gardner. She scanned them for a moment. After a couple of pages her posture went stiff and she muttered a curse. Without looking up, she passed the ones she read to Morales. I came forward and took the first one, which he waved at me over his shoulder.

I scanned them quickly. The first was a formal, typed letter stating the author was unhappy about the land development plan, but not overtly threatening. However, on the second page—dated the day before my run-in with Harkins—only one sentence had been written: “The Cauldron will run red with blood.”

“Jesus,” I whispered. When I looked up, Volos was watching me.

“Even after this one, you still didn’t feel it was worth going to the cops?” Morales demanded.

Volos leaned forward with his elbows on the desk. “I didn’t take them seriously until a body showed up on my property.”

“May we have photocopies of these?” Gardner asked Jade.

“We already gave a copy to Captain Eldritch.” Her tone bordered on insult. “Perhaps he’ll share.”

Bitch.

“What about surveillance from last night?” Morales asked.

“Also with Eldritch,” Jade said before Volos could talk. “Perhaps instead of taking up my client’s time issuing vague accusations, you should have a conversation with your colleagues.”

Morales nodded, sucking air in through his nostrils. “Who do you think sent these?”

“You asked for theories, Special Agent,” Volos said. “All you have to ask yourself is this: Who in the Cauldron would feel most threatened by the location of the community center?”

Gardner and Morales weren’t from the Cauldron, but I knew whom he meant immediately. “Ramses Bane.” The minute I said his name, my brain spun off in about ten directions. The most compelling of which was Bane’s little stunt at the precinct the other day.

Gardner, however, was playing catch-up. “Isn’t he the head of the Sanguinarian Coven?”

Volos nodded. “Bane considers the Arteries his kingdom. Not hard to imagine he would see my plans as a direct threat to his turf.”

“But you knew he’d see it that way when you proposed the project,” I countered. “Why risk it?”

Volos smiled. “The lot in question has been empty for years and I managed to buy it at a steal because the owner was tired of the covens’ using it to peddle their wares. Now it will be a safe place for kids to go after school so they’ll stay off the streets. The benefits outweighed the risks, in my opinion.”

“I doubt Marvin Brown would agree with you,” I shot back.

His jaw tightened. “I will not be bullied into backing down by that anemic tunnel rat.”

“You’re conveniently forgetting that Gray Wolf is an alchemical potion. Bane’s into blood magic. He doesn’t have the chops to pull off that kind of alchemy.”

“I’m not forgetting anything, Kate.” The words conveyed a world of subtext I couldn’t begin to unravel. “It’s not my job to prove Bane is responsible. It’s yours.”

“No, Mr. Volos,” Gardner said. “Our job is to find the truth.” She rose. “Thank you for your time. We’ll be in touch if we have more questions.”

For the first time Volos looked taken off guard, as if he couldn’t fathom why Gardner wasn’t taking his word for it. “The ground-breaking is in four days. I suggest you move fast before Bane does something more drastic, like unleash an entire pack of bloodthirsty beasts on the innocent citizens of this city.”

Morales held up his hands. “If you believe that’s possible, why not postpone the ceremony?”

Volos shot my partner a pitying look. “I assure you that’s not a possibility.”

“Why not?”

“Too much time and money have been invested to delay. If we haven’t broken ground by winter, we’ll have to wait until next year and that is not an option. The mayor wants the project well under way before the election.” He smiled coldly. “Besides, postponing would be surrender and I assure you that is not my style.”

“And if we don’t catch him before you break ground?” Gardner asked.

“I’ll convince the mayor to send the BPD in to clean out the tunnels and charge everyone they find with trespassing. That will give us the window we need to move forward.”

“But if you do that,” I said, unable to help myself, “and Bane is guilty, we will lose any shot of nailing him on federal charges. Or he’ll retaliate by flooding the streets with the potion and even more lives will be lost.”

He leaned back and crossed his arms, smiling like the cat that devoured the canary. “Then I suppose you better get to work.”

A
n hour later, Morales and I were back in his wheels headed to the morgue. Mez was still tied up going over the physical samples from the scene with Val, so we got the job of hitting up the ME for access to samples from the body.

I wouldn’t say the ride over was awkward so much as tense and downright glacial. Morales made no effort at small talk, and I obliged his obvious desire for silence by ignoring him.

When we’d pulled up to the morgue, he finally turned to me. “I’ll do the talking in here.”

I considered arguing, but my instincts told me to keep quiet. I was pretty sure he was pissed about my not telling him about my past with Volos. After the meeting, he’d pulled Gardner aside for a heated discussion. I couldn’t make out their words, but the way he kept shooting me looks while he ranted, it didn’t take a cop to figure out the evidence pointed to his wanting me off the case. I supposed I couldn’t blame him for worrying. The meeting had left me feeling worried, too. Obviously Volos had some sort of reason for wanting me in that room, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t anything that would turn out well for me—or the case.

But apparently Gardner disagreed because she shut him down and then told him to take me with him to the morgue.

“Fine,” I said, finally, forcing an amiable smile. It wouldn’t hurt to try to get on his—well, not his good side, exactly. His less shitty side, maybe.

The first sign of trouble was when Morales strutted into the morgue as if it were an Old West saloon. “I’m looking for Thomas Franklin.”

If he’d had asked me, I might have warned him to take a cautious approach with the ME. But he didn’t ask, so I just hung back while he swung his dick around the man’s icebox.

The tall, African American man in question had been leaning over a body when Morales entered. Franklin slowly levered his tall body upright, pulled down his mask, and said, “Who the fuck are you?”

Morales stilled like the guy had spit at his feet. I covered my mouth with my hand. This was going to be fun.

“I’m Special Agent Drew Morales, MEA—”

“In case you’re blind as well as rude, I’m in the middle of an autopsy. Get out!”

“We called ahead.” Morales’s tone was cool, unruffled. “We’re here to see the body of—”

Franklin made a rude noise with his lips. “This ain’t the motherfuckin’ Red Lobster, son. You can’t make a reservation. First come”—he pointed a goo-covered, gloved hand down at the body—“first served. Bye now.”

I watched Morales closely, just waiting for him to lose it and threaten to shove that scalpel down Franklin’s piehole. Instead, the big guy relaxed his shoulders and lowered his tone. “The last thing we want is to inconvenience you. If you could simply point us to the proper drawer.”

My eyes pinged back and forth between the two men.

“You can’t view a body unattended.” Franklin sighed the sigh of the martyred. “You Feds are all alike. We got a backlog of bodies and you need me to take my assistant away from her work to babysit your bossy ass?”

Morales stared down the taller man. “You got a problem, you can take it up with my field supervisor, but we’re going in there.” He moved toward the doors.

Franklin started after him, “Hey!” But then he stopped because he finally noticed me lingering by the entrance. I waggled my fingers at him.

“Kate Prospero! I almost didn’t recognize you with that black eye.”

Morales stopped and turned slowly. His accusing glare burned my skin but I didn’t look at him. Instead, I smiled real wide at Franklin, ignoring the comment about my eye. “How’s it going, Franky baby?”

“Ah, you know.” He shrugged. “Motherfuckers keep dying so at least I got some job security.”

I laughed. “I hear ya.”

“Wait, what you doing with this one, Kate? You working a case? And what’s with the shiner? Do I need to kick someone’s ass?”

“We’re tracking the source of that new blood potion.” I placed a hand to the eye I’d forgotten was still bruised. “This was courtesy of one of the stiffs you’ve got in there.” I jerked a thumb toward the door. “Speaking of,” I said, “could you do us a solid and let us take a gander at Marvin Brown’s body? He just came in but we won’t disturb him too much.”

Franklin pursed his lips and glanced at Morales, like he was weighing the other man’s character. Morales shifted on his feet.

Just when I was convinced Franklin was going to start yelling again, he laughed instead. “Well, shiiit.” He dragged out the vowel like a match against a striker. “Why didn’t you just say so?” He pointed a dripping hand toward a set of swinging doors. “Body’s through there. Knock on Janet’s door on your way. She’ll help you.”

The tension escaped the room. “That would be great, thanks.” Morales flashed a tight smile, like he didn’t really trust Franklin’s expected one-eighty to last long enough to get results.

He turned and loomed toward the doors like a thunderhead. Franklin turned to me and winked. “Have fun with that.”

“You’re a bad man, Franky.”

He shrugged. “I spend my days collecting the human waste of this fucking city, Prospero. I gotta get my laughs where I can.” We both paused as the truth of those words sank in. Then, as if breaking a spell, he clapped his gloved hands together. “All right, get on with ya. I gotta remove a bullet from this poor asshole’s trachea.”

I glanced at the body. The vic was a white male, probably early forties. His skin was blue and he’d been cut from sternum to pelvis. Franklin had closed the guy’s eyes, but the gaping mouth caught my attention. Fuck me if it didn’t look like he was silently screaming.

* * *

As if she’d been invoked magically, Janet was already waiting for us in the room. She had her trusty clipboard at the ready and quickly found the locker containing the mortal remains of one Marvin Brown. She opened the door, pulled out the drawer, and turned on her heel.

“Humph.” She pushed her spectacles back up her overly large nose. No “Let me know if you need anything else” or even a good-bye. She just walked back into her office. A large window over her desk ensured she could see everything we did. However, the instant she sat down she began tackling the mountain of file folders covering the desk’s surface.

“Charming,” Morales said. He paused a beat and then turned toward me. “Thanks for making me look like an asshole out there.”

I bit my lip. “You didn’t need my help for that.” Okay, so maybe I wasn’t so hot at getting on people’s not-shitty sides.

His eyes narrowed for a moment, but then he sighed. “Just grab a slide, will ya?” He pointed to the black duffel he’d carried in from the car.

“What’s the hurry, Morales?” I said. “Feeling woozy?” I said this despite the fact that I always had nightmares about rotting slabs of pork for days after I visited the morgue.

“Not at all,” he said. “I just have real police work to do. We’re not going to find jack shit on this body linking this murder to Volos.”

The problem was, I totally agreed with him. Even if he’d killed the guy himself, Volos was too smart to leave evidence. “Then why are we here?”

“Gardner.” He might as well have said God’s name.

While I rummaged for the slides in the black bag, he started examining Brown. “What’s your story with Volos?”

I paused and looked up. “The kind that’s none of your business.”

He glanced at me. “Look, Cupcake, I get that a lady likes to have her secrets, but as long as we’re working together on a case involving your ex, that history has a direct impact on my well-being. So spill it.”

“There’s not much to tell.” I handed him the package of lab slides I found in the bag. As I did, I noticed those scars again. Curiosity itched the back of my brain, but he would never share his secrets until I spilled mine.

He accepted the slides with his right hand. “We both know that’s bullshit. I saw you two today. There’s some shit between you that time hasn’t erased.”

I sighed. “We didn’t end … easy.”

He snorted. “What relationship does? Otherwise why end it?”

“True enough.” I was stalling. “The short of it is, I wanted out of the coven. I finally convinced Uncle Abe to let me go—”

“Why did you want out?”

Now that topic was definitely off-limits. “Let’s just say I lost my taste for magic and leave it at that.” I could tell he wanted to press me, but he nodded. “Anyway, Abe was ready to let me go, but John—not so much.”

“You dumped him?”

I nodded. “And I said some things to make sure it stuck.”

He whistled low. “Guy like that doesn’t seem like he’d take rejection well.”

My stomach clenched at the memory of that night. I pushed it ruthlessly aside. “Anyway,” I said, “today was the first time we’d been in a room together in a decade.”