Authors: Jaye Wells
“You got a permit for that peashooter, ace?”
“Not sure.” He thrust his hips up. “Why don’t you check my pants?”
I grimaced at his pelvis. “How about we check it down at the station?”
“Ah c’mon. I didn’t do nothin’.”
I raised a brow. “You flashed a weapon at an officer.”
“Ah man! I didn’t know you was a cop. Thought you was just an uppity bitch.”
“As it happens, I’m both. Do not move.” I grabbed his arm. “What’s your name?” I spun him around and applied cuffs.
“Bob.”
“Bob what?”
“Just Bob.” He shrugged.
While I patted him down, I tried to ignore the stench of brimstone coming off his clothes. “Are you on any potions, sir?” I swung him back around and removed his sunglasses. Sure enough, the irises were mottled brown and light blue.
He shook his head. “No, ma’am.”
The track marks on his neck told a different story. Probably any profits he made from the window washing went straight into the vein. There was a satchel on the ground that probably represented all his worldly possessions. “You live around here?”
“Over at Saint George’s Mission.” He shrugged and glanced over my shoulder. “Heeey, isn’t that what’s-his-name?”
I glanced back to see Volos and the redhead were watching us. My stomach dropped as though it had been thrown off the Bessemer Bridge. In my annoyance over the homeless guy, I’d completely forgotten about Volos. They were a good bit away from us, but I definitely didn’t want that kind of attention. I pulled my baseball cap lower over my forehead.
I pushed Bob toward the Jeep. “All right, sir. We’re going to head down to the precinct. On the way maybe you’ll remember where you left your permit.”
Bob reared back like I’d asked him to hold a snake. “I ain’t ridin’ in that thing.”
“Relax, it’ll be fine.”
“How do I know where you’re really taking me? Maybe you got a plan to kidnap me and make me your sex slave.”
I scanned a dubious gaze over the man’s ratty gray hair, serious dental hygiene crimes, and the dirt caked black under his nails. “It’s tempting, but I think I can control myself today.”
A quick glance in their direction and I realized Volos was starting toward us. When Bob realized this he said, “Maybe I should ask what’s-his-name to be my witness so if you decide to take advantage of my body I got proof.”
“I swear on my mother’s grave that I will not touch you.” Not a hard promise to make to a man who smelled as if he hadn’t showered since Nixon was in office. “Now let’s go.”
Touching him as little as possible, I helped Bob into the car and strapped him in with his hands cuffed behind so he wouldn’t bolt. As I jogged around to the passenger side, I saw Volos and the girl had gotten bored watching us and were getting into a waiting limo with the license plate
VOLO$
. Just before he got into the car, Volos looked back in our direction. Just in time to see me put the car in drive and peel out of the lot like a woman with the devil on her tail.
“That was who I thought it was, right?” Bob said.
“Yep.”
“Too bad you didn’t let me say hi. I bet he woulda offered to bail me out on account of me being a victim of the system and all.”
I rolled my eyes. “Trust me, Bob. The system’s treated you a lot better than that guy would.”
I
escaped processing an hour later after leaving Bob in the capable hands of the intake sergeant. Since Eldritch hadn’t officially signed the paperwork that put me on leave yet, no one gave me any hassle about arresting someone, but I didn’t get lots of speculative looks. Guess the gossip train had left the station to spread the word about the shooting.
By the time I reached Eldritch’s office, I was exhausted.
“You’re late,” he said without looking up.
“Sorry, sir. I had to arrest someone.”
He looked up quickly. “How the hell did you manage that? You said you were on your way to the station.”
I shrugged. “Window washer flashed a piece at me.”
He shook his head. “What’s this world coming to?”
“So you have some paperwork for me?”
He made quick work on explaining the forms I needed to fill out to make the temporary assignment with the MEA official, as well as paperwork regarding overtime—to be paid by the MEA—and some releases saying that if I got killed in the line of duty the MEA claimed zero fiduciary responsibility.
“Fucking Feds,” Eldritch said after I’d filled them all out. Guess he wasn’t a fan of their red tape, either.
“Listen—thanks for talking me up.”
He waved it off. “Just remember who you really work for.”
“Does that mean I’ll still be reporting to you?”
“Technically you’ll report to Gardner, but I’ll want you to keep me up to speed on any major moves in the case.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he shook his head and barreled on. “Shut up and listen, okay? If Gardner thinks she can just stroll into my precinct and swing her dick around”—he paused, as if he caught the incongruity of that statement a second too late—“anyway, I won’t have them making moves that could compromise ongoing investigations or put the cops on my command in harm’s way.”
I nodded. “Understood.”
He ignored my tone. “Anyway, good luck with it.”
“Sir,” I said, bringing up something that had been bothering me ever since I found out the MEA was taking lead, “if Harkins was anything to go by, every foot-patrol officer is at risk as long as that shit’s on the streets.”
He blew out a breath. “Budgets are tight, so I can’t put extra officers on each shift.”
“With all due respect, I’m pretty sure once the media gets hold of this, the mayor’s going to be asking why something wasn’t done.”
He pursed his lips as he thought it over. “I suppose I could have foot patrols partner up for the time being. Let’s just pray Gardner’s team is on the ball. Because if it does get to the mayor, it’s going to be a shit storm.”
“Plus we don’t want any officers harmed, right?”
“Of course,” he said too quickly. The phone on his desk buzzed. He punched a button. “What?”
“Sir, you have a visitor.”
“Who is it?”
“Ramses Bane.” The voice speaking through the intercom sounded as shocked as Eldritch looked and I felt to receive that news. “He said it’s regarding Officer Prospero, sir.”
My stomach flipped inside out. “What the hell?” I whispered. This day could not get any weirder.
“Send him in,” Eldritch said. He disconnected and looked up at me. “Any clue?”
I shook my head. Bane was the grand wizard of the Sang Coven, and I knew him because he’d been allied with Uncle Abe for years. But I had no idea why he was showing up at the station to talk to my boss about me.
“Stick around,” Eldritch said. “But play it cool.”
I nodded and went to stand behind the captain.
A few minutes later, a guy about my age with long white hair, dark sunglasses, and an ankh tattoo in the center of his forehead strolled through the door. This wasn’t Ramses Bane, but his son, Hieronymus.
When he saw me standing behind the captain, his face morphed into a sneer. Harry and I had grown up together in the Cauldron. He was two years younger, but light years ahead of me in the asshole department. Apparently, he didn’t have much warmer feelings for me because after making a face, he looked away as if the sight of me made him ill. “You Eldritch?”
The captain didn’t rise. “Yes. Where is your father, Mr. Bane?”
Harry looked pleased that the captain knew who he was. “He’s out in the car.”
Eldritch frowned. “Why was I told Ramses was here to see me?”
Harry shrugged. “Figured you’d be more likely to agree if I said I was him.”
“You were correct. Why is he out there while you’re in here?”
“My father doesn’t do well in the sun,” Harry said. I snorted. Ramses Bane had lived down in the Arteries for so long he was basically a mole rat. His addiction to his own blood potions didn’t help things since the side effects included severe anemia and rickets. Personally, as much as I didn’t like Harry I preferred dealing with him to his father, if for no other reason than Harry was the less creepy-looking of the pair.
He removed a smart phone from his pocket and held it up. “But he’d like to speak with you.”
Ramses Bane appeared on the screen, dashing my hopes of avoiding him that day. He was ensconced in a cocoon of black leather from the back of a limo. The dome light overhead glowed dully off his bald scalp and did little to warm up the complexion of his moon-pale skin. But his most distinguishing features were his eyes. Long-lashed, brilliant-blue doll’s eyes. On a woman they’d be beautiful, but on his masculine face they were unsettling. When he looked at you, cold dread coated the skin.
“Captain Eldritch.” His high voice sent frozen nails skittering down my spine.
“Mr. Bane,” Eldritch said, his voice hard. Just like me, he expected this was all bullshit.
“Officer Prospero, it’s been far too long.”
Not long enough, I thought. “Bane,” I said instead.
“What can we do for you?” Eldritch said.
“My son has some footage in his possession I think you’ll be very interested in seeing. Hieronymus?”
Harry retrieved a paper sleeve containing a CD from his pocket. “You just need to put this in your computer to watch it.”
I crossed my arms and laughed. “Sure, and download a virus that allows you to hack into the BPD servers? Not fucking likely, Harry.”
He gritted his teeth at my use of his nickname. “The name’s Hieronymus.” The “bitch” was silent.
“We assumed you would be suspicious,” Bane said. “Harry also brought a laptop.”
Harry turned a tight smile on Eldritch. “May I?”
Eldritch glanced back at me, obviously, like me, he suspected Harry might be trying to get close enough to potion us. I nodded quickly, curious to see what the Banes were up to. Harry placed the laptop on the desk, slipped in the disc, and hit Play.
The video that came up on-screen was grainy, as if it had been taken with a security camera. There was no sound, either. I squinted at the screen, trying to figure out what exactly I was seeing. “What is—”
“Shh,” Harry said. “It’s coming.”
A few tense seconds later, Ferris Harkins ran into the frame. I realized then that we were looking at the entrance to the Arteries. Harkins scrambled up the gate, and a split second later, I appeared and jumped at Harkins.
“What the—”
“Quiet, Prospero,” Eldritch snapped. I realized then this was the first chance he’d had to see a broader view of what happened the night before instead of just the grainy, chaotic footage from my vest cam. I already knew how the scene was going to play out, so I stopped watching and focused instead on figuring out Bane’s angle. Maybe something appeared damning in the footage. Or maybe they’d manipulated the video. I sighed and focused back on the screen. Harkins and I were grappling on the ground now. I was reaching for the gun. The fear and pain on my face made me look away.
I knew the moment the big climax happened on-screen because Eldritch stiffened. Harry stepped in and hit a couple of keys and when I looked back the image was frozen on my bloody face screaming toward the officers who were in the background, running toward the murder scene.
Eldritch’s chair squeaked as he leaned back. He didn’t say anything. Either he was processing or he wanted to force Bane to explain himself.
“I installed cameras at all the tunnel entrances a couple of years back,” Ramses Bane said. “I hoped the added security would help cut down on the crime in the tunnels.”
I rolled my eyes. Bane thrived on the crimes in those tunnels. He’d probably installed the cameras so he could see police raids before they arrived.
“It was hard to miss the crews outside our front door last night so I looked at the tapes to see what had transpired. Once I realized what occurred I thought it best to step forward rather than force the BPD to get a subpoena. Especially since it’s clear from the footage that Officer Prospero was acting in self-defense.”
I squinted at the phone. Why in the hell would Ramses Bane be interested in defending my innocence? Something stunk here and it wasn’t just the aftershave Harry doused all over himself.
Eldritch cleared his throat. “I appreciate you coming forward with this. It will be helpful.”
Harry nodded with an air of false modesty, even though he was nothing more than an errand boy. Bane leaned forward, filling the screen with his round face. “I consider it my civic duty to help the police in protecting the city from this dangerous new potion.”
“We’ll take this footage into consideration, sir,” Eldritch said. “If there’s anything else you think of, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.”
“My son is leaving my personal cell number as well as his own.” He blinked at the camera with what I guess he considered an earnest smile. Instead, he looked awkwardly feral with his lips curled back to reveal white gums too large for his tiny, gray teeth. “We’d be happy to aid this investigation in any way possible.”
“Mr. Bane—”
“Ramses, please,” the bald man purred.
“Yes, sure,” Eldritch said. “Pardon me for being suspicious when you’ve gone out of your way, but why the sudden urge to aid the BPD?”