by Gina LaManna
“Who is Doctor Johnston?” Dani looked up. “And why was he here?”
“Visiting one of his former patients,” Sienna said with a smug little twist of her lips. “Odd, don’t you think?”
Dani gave a nod. “Equally odd, however, is the fact that he just signed in and paraded himself around here.” She gave the list a thwack as she straightened it out. “If someone were coming in here to steal bodies, they wouldn’t be signing in, would they?”
The smugness left Sienna’s expression. “But there’ve been no signs of a break-in.”
“Agreed.” Dani waved a hand at the door. “Obviously this place is protected and enchanted very well, so it would make a break-in difficult. In addition, there have been no signs of the typical Residuals I’d find in a hostile entry: Lock Lifters, Wall Warps, Ceiling Charms—or anything else often used in a robbery of some sort. I’m thinking whoever came in here had a key.”
“That’s not possible. I have the only key,” Sienna said. “There is a spare, of course, locked behind Ursula’s desk. It’s heavily charmed and hasn’t been unlocked for months, if not years.”
“There’s no way around the charm?” Dani looked skeptical. “I wouldn’t mind taking a look at the Residuals on the spare. Just in case.”
“Fine. Follow me.” Sienna waved a hand and, sounding frustrated, marched away from the lab, locking the door behind her. She led them to the front desk where, sure enough, there was a hidden little closet that Sienna unlocked with a whispered incantation. “There it is, have at it.”
Matthew watched over Dani’s shoulder as she studied the small cube inside. It resembled some sort of art display suspended there, almost beautiful with the crackle of golden light around it.
“Nada,” Dani said with a sigh. “It hasn’t been touched that I can tell.”
“I know,” Sienna snapped. “Now come look at the other drawers.”
Back in the lab, Sienna let her fingers run over the various drawers like a musician. She had an interesting sort of relationship with this space—as if the bodies were an odd sort of family to her, people she cared deeply about. Matthew had no doubt the necromancer did care, despite her devil-may-care attitude. In many ways, she was the last link to humanity for the bodies that’d found their way here.
Selecting three drawers, Sienna pulled them open with a flourish and backed away. Dani surveyed them first from across the room, her eyes darting in every direction as she scanned what looked like empty space for spell Residuals.
Matthew had tried to understand what it might be like to have Dani’s unique talents. To see the physical reaction spells had in the universe must be enthralling—and also distracting. Every time a spell, charm, incantation, etc. was invoked, Dani could see the exact string of energy it left behind.
Bits of that energy told her a story (or so she had tried to explain to Matthew). Stories that could help depict who had fired the spell, how effective it might have been, and how much time had passed since it had been invoked. Needless to say, her talents had become essential to the Sixth Precinct, and the department was still reeling from the loss of her.
Reserves were a rare breed. Honest, hard-working, and intelligent Reserves were even more difficult to find. Dani embodied each of those qualities and many more. Lucia had been a brief stroke of good fortune as a replacement to Dani, but as time had shown, she wasn’t cut out for the job. While Dani believed Lucia had been kidnapped, Matthew still had his doubts. He’d never seen the same drive in Lucia as he had in Dani, and for a job as grueling and demanding as this one, there was no room for uncertainty.
“I don’t see anything,” Dani said with a shake of her head. “Nothing on the drawers, in the room, on the locks.”
Sienna’s brows knitted together as she looked over the empty spaces, but Matthew’s attention was drawn to the detective in alarm. Danielle is lying. He wasn’t sure why, or about what, but she’d seen something—she just wasn’t willing to share it.
Matthew assumed there was a very good reason for Dani’s silence, so he didn’t let on that he knew. It was only because he’d spent so much time with Dani that he’d been able to detect the slightest hitch in her voice, the dart of her eyes, the increase in pulse.
“How odd,” Matthew said evenly.
Dani’s gaze flicked to his, and her lips parted with realization. She knew he wasn’t fooled by her assessment.
Clearing her throat, Dani focused back on Sienna. “Give me the details on everything. Start from the beginning.”
If Matthew wasn’t mistaken, there was a hint of challenge in her voice. Whatever Dani had found in the Residuals had not made her happy. Luckily, Sienna didn’t seem to notice.
“Three weeks ago, I found Robert Tarter on my table. Fifty-five-year-old male, no serious health issues except allergies to Aloe Ale. He lived alone and was a widower. His wife died fifteen years earlier from a terminal illness.”
Dani scribbled notes onto a pad of paper as Sienna moved down and tapped the next empty drawer.
“This is Annabeth Putzer, eighty-six, healthy as a horse and, contrary to what you might think, not at all on death’s door.” Sienna gave a brief smile. “According to her children, Annabeth was expected to live until two-hundred years of age on a diet of sheer nastiness and spite.”
“They’re both over fifty,” Dani said, glancing at her notes. “The third was younger?”
“Stanley Bumper,” she said. “Twenty-two, fresh transplant to the borough. He grew up on The Isle and was known, according to his friends around here, to indulge. Some narcotics, but nothing that would really raise the eyebrows.”
“Did these three have connections to one another?” Dani asked. “Did they work together, have family in common, belong to any clubs?”
“We’ve got a lawyer and a shop owner,” Sienna said, pointing to Robert and Annabeth’s empty drawers. “I’m not convinced Stanley had legitimate employment, but I found this in his pocket. I’m pretty sure he hung with the Herbals crowd.”
Dani followed Sienna to the table where the necromancer laid out a variety of tiny packages. Each contained completely legal, organic, all-natural crap that was in vogue at the moment. It was supposed to relax, or heal, or sooth a person, but Matthew thought it was all hippie bullshit. To him, it looked like ground up oregano with a jacked-up price tag and perfume scented smoke.
Dani shrugged. “I don’t think that means much. He was a young dude, a recent transplant from The Isle. He was probably hawking some wares in the marketplace trying to make a few bucks. I ran into one of these guys the other day—they’re relentless.”
Sienna nodded. “My thoughts exactly. I didn’t find a place of residence for Stanley, so he was either bunking with a friend or paying someone cash under the table. By all accounts he seems to be a drifter.”
“Completely opposite from a fifty-something lawyer,” Dani mused. “And a shop owner. What the hell is linking these three together?”
“I can’t speak about the living portion of their lives, but the dead part is what’s confounding me.” Sienna put skinny arms on her hips and gave a frustrated shake of her head. “All three bodies landed here out of curiosity. Their families wanted to know cause of death, and I couldn’t even give them that! It was as if their life force just faded away...”
Sienna’s voice drifted off, leaving the room in silence. Sienna wasn’t known for sentimental moments, so this was a rare point of reflection. Dani reacted first with a frown.
“But their bodies didn’t just drift away,” Dani said. “Someone took them. Maybe someone didn’t want you studying their remains.”
“True,” Sienna agreed. “The bodies arrived in rapid succession over these last few weeks, but as you know, it’s been busy. I was just getting to work on comparing the makeup of all three when they disappeared.”
“When exactly did they disappear?” Dani’s voice had taken on that high registered pitch sound again, as if she was uncomfortable asking these standard
questions. “Walk me through your exact timeline.”
“The bodies came in one per week for the last three weeks. I did initial workups right when each of the bodies came in as is standard procedure,” Sienna explained. “But something was fishy. Last night, I started going over the three bodies together for a comparison. I didn’t get far. This morning, I was offsite at a meeting, but I did stop in to check on the bodies first. I had lunch out between meetings, then came back to the lab this afternoon. The bodies were gone.”
“So they were taken while you were in meetings,” Dani said, pulling out the logs. “Sometime between this morning and the afternoon. But it says nobody signed in to the lab during those hours.”
“Right,” Sienna said. “I locked it and took the key with me.”
Dani’s lips formed a thin line. “So, we’ve got three bodies that haven’t been declared homicides yet, three bodies that are missing, and a locked morgue with no way in except the key you keep on your person at all times.”
Sienna nodded. “I sleep with it on my neck, Detective. I guarantee I’ve had the key on me at all times—I never part with it.”
“Not once?” Dani asked.
“Of course not,” she snapped. “I’m not lying to you, Detective. I swore to you that I had the key the whole time. Maybe your little Residuals trick isn’t working correctly because someone got in here without a key.”
Matthew stepped forward, his sheer size enough of a distraction to both women.
“I think we know our next steps,” Matthew said. “Sienna—thank you for your help. I’m sure we’ll have more questions, and in the meantime, I know your workload doesn’t stop. We’ll leave you to it, but please let us know if anything else looks suspicious.”
Sienna gave a reluctant grunt.
“Detective—” Matthew turned to Dani. “You and I have our work cut out for us. We’ll chat with anyone who’s been in the morgue recently that shouldn’t have been here. I’ll take the doctor, you take...” Matthew hesitated, glanced at the list with two other highlighted names. “You take Sanders Lupis, the elfin lawyer.”
Dani gave a grudging nod.
“I’ll take Beatrice Brown as well,” Matthew said, “because she’s over by the doctor. We’ll reconvene and compare notes after.”
“Captain, a word?” Dani said as Matthew led her out of the morgue, down the front steps and away from Ursula. Sienna had hardly offered the pair a goodbye, returning to her work before the door clanked shut behind them.
“I think a word will be better here,” Matthew said, taking a detour that veered incredibly close to the Dead Lands. His skin prickled with the mist that accompanied the zone, the death that hovered just a breath away. “We’re covered by Jitterbirds,” he explained and pointed up. “Privacy.”
Understanding dawned on Dani’s face. Jitterbirds were a variety of flying bird that gave excellent privacy protection with the right spell. Matthew invoked the spell on Dani, then she on him, and before they knew it, the two were secluded in a sound-proof little bubble.
“You knew I lied to Sienna in the morgue,” Dani said, cutting straight to the point. “I could see it on your face.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t say anything aloud because...” Dani heaved a sigh. “Matthew, I’m still not sure what it means.”
“I don’t assume anything. Whatever you tell me will not be taken as fact, but it will be investigated like any other tip or clue.”
Dani gave a shuddering breath. “I found some suspicious Residuals.”
“I figured as much.”
“All over Sienna.” Dani winced. “She was slathered in an Invisibility Incantation.”
Matthew blanched. He’d expected the worst, but this was not it—this was worse. “That’s not possible. She’s a necromancer—she’s not skilled in spells.”
“Exactly. However, she can purchase them from The Void.” Dani’s fingers shook as she clasped them in front of her body. “Invisibility potions are easy enough to find on the black market and generally harmless. Invisibility is often just used to creep on another person’s business.”
“But—”
“Don’t you see?” Dani spoke urgently, worry in her eyes. “She’s not skilled with spells, so she doesn’t understand how Residuals work—most species don’t, which is why people don’t hide their illegal spells all that often. They don’t even realize I can see them.”
“But Sienna knows you’re a Reserve,” Matthew said. “She called you over here specifically to check out the Residuals.”
“Exactly.” Judging by the dark tones to Dani’s voice, there was something she hadn’t yet told him. “Which is why she also purchased a second spell from The Void.”
Matthew froze, foregoing all purposeful activity to appear human. He stood perfectly, utterly still. “What else did you see, Detective?”
“Her hands,” Dani said in a shaky voice. “There was Residual Remover all over her. Sienna was trying to get rid of the evidence. Matthew, I think Sienna took those bodies.”
Chapter 7
After the Jitterbird spell lapsed, I walked with Matthew away from the Dead Lands and back toward the bustle of life. The Dead Lands always left me on edge, no matter how much I dealt with death on the job. My former job.
Matthew, however, seemed unfazed by the decay and fog, the mists and darkness. Then again, his relationship with death was far different than mine. Without a beating heart, some wondered if he could truly be considered alive. Others doubted the presence of a soul in the undead.
I doubted neither. How could I doubt him when he had loved me more deeply than anyone? I’d seen his soul and felt the warmth of his heart—beating or not.
We didn’t speak as we hopped on the first trolley out of the Dead Lands. It took us toward the marketplace where we’d part ways for the next phase of our investigation. Unfortunately, I didn’t hold out hope that any of the highlighted names on Sienna’s sign-in list had anything to do with the disappearing bodies. I suspected that a body napper wouldn’t write their name down at the crime scene, but what did I know? I certainly hadn’t expected Sienna to lie to me.
“Give me a Comm if you need help with the doctor or Beatrice,” I said. “The lawyer won’t take me long.”
“Have fun in the Golden District.” Matthew raised an eyebrow. “And Dani...”
“What?”
“Did Grey bring you flowers?” he asked finally, taking a sniff. “A bouquet?”
“No,” I said.
I left it at that. If I wanted to date again, I was allowed to date—he’d broken up with me. Matthew didn’t need to know that I wasn’t interested in Grey—or anyone else. If anything, the subtle annoyed quirk of his lip gave me a flutter of warmth inside. He still cared. If I wasn’t mistaken, he might even be jealous.
“Well, I’ll see you after,” I confirmed. “Meet me at the pizzeria around nine?”
Matthew nodded, the frown deepening on his beautiful face. “Be careful.”
“It’s the Golden District,” I said. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
The Golden District was the part of Wicked that never ceased to amaze tourists. One could say it was the exact opposite of the marketplace. Where the market sat on a street stacked miles high with stores and vendors of all shapes and sizes, the elfin district prided itself on a certain calm, exquisite simplicity within its walls.
Instead of the heady hustle and bustle of the crowded, vibrant marketplace, the elves had made their home an impressive zone plated in gold, encrusted with diamonds, shiny with platinum sided buildings. The wealth in this single corner of the borough was more than the rest of Wicked combined.
I entered through the golden arch that read Golden District in fancy, swooping golden letters, and immediately felt the hush of wealth. Even the air was cleaner here, practically sparkling with bits of expensive Spell Splashes and perfumes wafting over the streets from nearby stores. Lights twinkled as little fairies flitted about,
tending to the lanterns on street corners ‘round the clock. Stores flanked by gentlemen in expensive tuxedos lined the way, offering intimidating expressions to all deemed not fancy enough to enter. As a lowly detective, I fit into that category.
Women with delicately pointed ears flitted past me with bags on their arms, rushing from one skin-paling treatment to the next, in hopes of achieving that almost ghostly pallor that only the truly rich found attractive. Jewelry shone from wrists and ears, and the few broomsticks allowed hovered silently over the streets, adorned with golden handles and solid silver bristles that dusted glitter behind as they flew.
I located the home address I’d grabbed from Felix, the tech-wizard for the NYPD, and followed the directions to an exclusive condo complex with only four units labeled on the mailbox. If Sanders wasn’t home, I’d head to his office and question him there.
The apartment unit I was looking for happened to be the penthouse, I noted in surprise. Sanders Lupis must do well for himself, I thought. Now to find out why he’d been at the morgue in the first place.
The entire complex in question was white: white sidewalks, chalky, almost translucently opaque white walls, white marble stairs. There was even a magical white-tinge to the sky above the building. White rocks took the place of grass on the lawn while white railings encased the outdoor walkways for decks and rooftops. A hot tub sat to one side of the building with a pearly white liquid in it—probably an herbal healing sort of spa treatment. Everything was white, white, white.
One step on the staircase and my foot left the tiniest imprint of dirt behind. I sighed, annoyed at the faceless architect who’d decided all-white was a smart idea for decor. Did nobody around here have kids? If my mother saw this house when she had four little boys and one little girl, she would have fainted.
