by Jaye Wells
I turned in the report and slid my business card across the desk. “You run into any trouble, call me.”
He lifted the card and read it. “Aren’t you fancy?”
“Yeah, it’s all designer coffee and white-collar crime up in the MEA.” There could be no missing the sarcasm in my tone. “Thanks, Butch.”
When I entered Duffy’s office a few moments later, the two men weren’t talking. I’d kind of been hoping Morales could handle whatever bullshit Duffy was pulling, but I guess it just wasn’t my day.
“What’s up?” I asked, taking my seat.
“What’s up is it’s been four days and I ain’t had a single update on the Valentine case.” A vein in Duffy’s neck bulged and his eyes were red, like he hadn’t slept in a while.
“Maybe it’s time to switch to decaf, Duffy.”
“Fuck you, Prospero. I’m serious. Gardner told Eldritch we’d be kept in the loop on this.”
“Hey, you’re the one who begged us to take the case because you were too overworked. We figured you’d appreciate not being bothered.”
He tilted his head. “How generous of you. But since you’re here…” He leaned back in his chair and raised his arms, as if to offer us the floor.
“The two scumbags we just brought in were selling a potion for Valentine. Virility pills,” I said. “According to them, a couple of days after the lab exploded, Valentine’s girlfriend showed up with some Chinese wizards who demanded they stop selling the pills.”
He frowned. “Chinese wizards?”
I nodded. “Fangshi. Mostly a West Coast gang. We think they’re trying to move into the Cauldron and Valentine was helping. The girlfriend’s involved too.”
“What’s her name?”
“Krystal LeMay. She’s a Votary girl.”
Duffy frowned as if he was having trouble keeping up. He was an Adept but had spent most of his career working homicides on the Mundane side of town. He’d been promoted to head of the Cauldron precinct murder squad several months earlier after he’d helped on a big case. Personally, I thought he was a good cop, but he didn’t know enough about Cauldron politics to be in charge of solving all the murders there.
“So, you figure the Chinese killed Valentine. What’s the motive?”
I glanced at Morales in case he wanted to jump in, but he looked about as ready to talk as a perp in an interrogation room. Realizing I was on my own, I continued to explain to Duffy. “Valentine—probably with the help of his girlfriend—screwed over the Chinese.”
“How?”
“The Fangshi wizes supplied Valentine with a virility potion that he was supposed to put out to test the market. Only, Valentine got greedy. He cut the Fangshi potion with a dangerous ingredient and put it out in pill form. That doubled the supply so he could double his profits.”
“Which cut the Fangshi out of more profit,” Duffy supplied.
“Exactly. Only, the thing he added? It made the potion unstable and we’ve connected it to at least three recent deaths.”
“Which begs the question—why haven’t you arrested the girlfriend or any of these Fangshi people?”
I laughed. “Because we literally got confirmation of the connection less than an hour ago.”
He didn’t look convinced. “If it were me—”
“Yeah, well, it’s not you,” I cut in. “Remember? You couldn’t handle it so you asked us to take over?”
He lifted his coffee mug to his lips. Finding it empty, he muttered a curse and slapped it down again. “Look, I’m not trying to bust your balls, Prospero.”
“Yeah, you are, and you seem to forget that we don’t report to you. You work your cases and let us work ours.”
“I’m just saying it’s only a matter of time before Eldritch comes in here and puts my balls in the vise. When I tell him you haven’t made an arrest, he’s gonna be knocking on Gardner’s door. Then guess whose balls will be in a vise?”
“Enough with the ‘balls’ already, man,” I deadpanned. “It aggravates my penis envy.”
He cleared his throat. “Sorry, but you know what I mean.”
“Look, Gardner wants this case closed too, but not by cutting corners and making arrests based on hearsay. If the Fangshi are involved, there’s no evidence thus far connecting them to the crime scene except some potions.”
His expression cleared. “Huh.”
“What?” I snapped.
“Nothing, it’s just—well, it’s refreshing to hear someone worried more about making a strong case than getting a closure on the score card.”
“Thanks, I think,” I said. “Look, we’ll loop you in once we have something concrete. If you have questions, you can certainly call. But until then, I figure you got enough on your plate without us checking in every day.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “You’re right. Sorry. About earlier…and the ball thing.”
“Don’t lose any sleep over it. I worked this precinct for five years, remember? I know how it gets.”
“Yeah, well, according to what I’m hearing, it’s worse now. Ever since Volos became the mayor and made it his mission to reduce violent crime in the Cauldron, the heat’s been on.” He shook his head. “Makes me wish I was still across the river. Mundane murder cases can get plenty fucked up, but they ain’t got nothing on the crazy shit the covens pull on each other.”
I almost felt bad for the guy, but I also knew he was more of a political animal than he’d ever admit. He wouldn’t have taken this post if he didn’t think it would pay off in promotions down the road.
I glanced at the clock on his desk. “All right, we good?”
He nodded. “Believe it or not, I do appreciate you taking this off my plate.”
With that, I stood. Morales was looking at his phone, so I had to nudge him. He glanced up sharply and then realized the meeting was over. “We good?”
Dragging him after me, I called over my shoulder, “See ya, Duffy.”
I held my tongue until we were outside the precinct and on our way to the car. “All right, what’s eating you?”
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit. You’ve been weird ever since we arrested those two jackasses.”
He stopped walking and ran a hand over his scruff. “We’re in trouble.”
Thinking he’d gotten some message from Gardner while we were in the precinct, I frowned. “Shit, what did we do now?”
He let out a frustrated breath. “No, I mean, back at the apothecary? That horned lady they mentioned who came in with Krystal—she’s bad news.” The pained expression on his face revealed how much the admission cost him.
“What kind of bad news are we talking here?” I was afraid of his answer. Morales was the kind of guy who downplayed trouble, which meant bad news was really terrible news.
“The kind of bad that hates my guts and wants me dead.” He took off toward his car again.
I tried to keep up. “Who is she?”
“They call her Yü Nü. It means ‘Jade Maiden.’ Rumor has it she’s immortal.”
I laughed. “What? That’s crazy.”
“Kate, she’s the real deal. A master of Taoist alchemy from the old country. Some believe she’s the head of the Fangshi worldwide. The four women with her were the Handmaidens. They’re her private army of martial alchemists.”
“But you said the Fangshi wouldn’t bother sending big players to Babylon.”
He threw up his hands. “I was wrong.”
“Shit. What does she have on you?”
He stopped walking because we’d reached the car. He pulled the keys out of his pocket and toyed with them nervously. “She was involved in the murder of the dirty cop. After I got pulled out from undercover, I offered testimony that resulted in the arrest of several members of her family. I didn’t implicate her or anyone else at the cop killing, because they’d come after me. That didn’t stop her from putting a price on my head, though. That’s why I haven’t been back to Los Angeles.”
&
nbsp; I put a hand on his arm. “You have to go to Gardner with this.”
He jerked away. “And have her fire me? I can’t.”
“She won’t fire you. There were extenuating circumstances. People have to do all sorts of crazy shit undercover.”
“You don’t understand. I can’t take the risk of the MEA firing me over this. I won’t have anything left. Promise me you won’t tell her.”
I pulled back, stung that he thought I’d rat him out. “Of course not.”
“Good, let’s go. I need to go home and think this through. If Yü Nü is calling the shots, we’re going to have to change up our approach in this case.”
I nodded. “All right, we can order in and—”
He cut me off. “No, I need to be alone.”
“All right. No problem.” I kept my tone light to cover the fact I was feeling rejected. “I need to spend some time with Danny, anyway.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just need to get my head on right.”
“Don’t worry about it. Just drop me off at the gym and we can regroup tomorrow.”
I just hoped that was enough time for him to figure out how to tie the Fangshi to the murder beyond the shadow of a doubt, because the longer we spent investigating this case, the higher the chance of Morales’s past biting us all in the ass.
Chapter Fourteen
By the time I got home, I felt like death warmed over. Between being verbally abused by an old woman, chasing a punk through downtown Babylon, and hanging at the Cauldron precinct, I wanted to bathe in beer—or at least drink a beer in the bathtub.
My family had other plans.
I dragged myself into the kitchen and found Pen and Danny sitting at the table, waiting for me. I stopped just inside the doorway and dropped my backpack in its usual spot.
“What’s up, guys?”
“Kate, if you could sit down,” Pen said in her best therapist’s tone. “Danny has something he’d like to discuss with you.”
I tilted my head, every sense screaming caution. “Where’s Baba?”
“She went to take something to a friend,” Pen said. “Please sit.”
“What’s this about?” I hedged.
Danny tapped a finger on the edge of the table nervously. Whatever they had to talk to me about must be a big deal. I resisted the urge to grab a beer from the fridge before I sat down. As I took my seat, I realized I just need to be quiet and stay as calm until they told me what was going on.
“Thank you,” Pen said. “Kate, Danny asked me to help facilitate a conversation he’d like to have with you concerning the Conservatory. I’m not here as your friend or Danny’s. I’m here as an impartial mediator to help you to both discuss a very important issue.
I held up my hands in what I hoped was an encouraging and calm gesture. “You guys, this really isn’t necessary.”
Pen shot me a warning look. “Go ahead, Danny,” she prompted.
He looked at her nervously but she encouraged him with a nod. I tapped my heel against the floor and tried to remain calm. “Kate.” He paused to take a deep breath and looked down at a sheet on the table covered in his handwriting. “A few days ago, you discovered that I had not been honest with you. I am really, um, sorry and stuff for lying to you.” He glanced up at me from under his hair. “But I really want to go to the Conservatory.”
“I know you do.”
“Please only listen now,” Pen said in a prim tone.
I gritted my teeth but managed a nod.
Danny continued. “I have been studying magic with Mez for a few months now and he thinks I have a real talent. Plus, I love it. I really want to go to a school with other people like me. I’m tired of being treated like some sort of freak because I’m a Leftie.”
A pang hit my midsection. I’d gotten Danny out of the Cauldron and stuck him in a Mundane school as soon as I could when he was younger. When I’d made the decision, I thought I’d been saving him lots of trouble, but I actually sort of doomed him to being around people who would always treat him as an outsider.
“Also, I’m excited about the idea of getting to study magic in school. They have really cool classes in stuff like metallurgy, spagyrics, and the physics of magic.”
My brows rose because those did sound pretty cool.
“I know you are afraid that if I follow the path of magic, I will end up like Uncle Abe or whatever, but I promise you that I will only study clean magic and that I will use it for good.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that clean magic wasn’t automatically good any more than dirty magic was always evil. He was too young to grasp that all magic was chaos, and that the minute you thought you controlled it, it would turn on you.
“In conclusion,” he said, “I know you are angry and I don’t blame you, but I hope you can see past that to allow me to pursue the future I really want.”
From beneath the table, Pen pulled out a file folder. She opened it and removed a sheet of paper. She slid it across the table with dramatic flair.
Frowning, I picked it up and realized it was the acceptance letter the school had sent in the packet.
“Here’s a pen.” She slid that across, as well.
I stared down at the paper because I didn’t trust myself to speak. I felt totally ambushed. The thing was, I knew it wasn’t Danny’s doing at all. Despite her claim to the contrary, she wasn’t there as an impartial mediator. She’d coached the kid on what to say and orchestrated the offering of the form like a puppet master.
“Kate?” she prompted.
I looked up. Whatever was on my face must have warned her, because her benevolent smile fell. “Danny,” I said, “can you give Pen and me a couple of moments alone?”
“Is everything okay?” he asked, sounding worried.
“Everything’s fine,” I said in a bright tone. “I just need to talk to her for a second.”
He rose hesitantly and headed to the doorway into the living room. Before he went through, he cast a worried look back at both of us. We both smiled, all reassurance.
Once he was gone and I’d heard his footfalls on the stairs down to his room, I turned to my best friend, crossed my hands in front of me on the table, and laid into her. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
She pulled back, looking like I’d slapped her. “What? I’m trying to help.”
I laughed, a low, bitter sound. “You’re trying to meddle. There’s a big fucking difference, Pen.”
She huffed out an offended breath. “Danny called me last night and said he wanted help figuring out how to convince you to let him go to the school.”
“And instead of encouraging him to have an adult conversation with me, you orchestrated this manipulative farce. Nice touch sliding the form across, by the way. You almost had me before that bullshit.”
She rose from her chair. “Screw you, Kate. Maybe if you were around for him, he wouldn’t have to come to me for help.”
The punch didn’t land like she wanted it to. I knew I hadn’t been around the last couple of days, but I knew she was being unfair just to knock me down. “Look, I know you’re lost right now, but that doesn’t give you the right to pull this kind of shit.”
She paled. “I’m not lost.”
“Yes, you are. You’re wearing the same damned yoga pants you had on four nights ago, for Chrissakes.”
Her face morphed into an indignant mask. “This is a different pair!”
I leaned back in my chair. “Regardless, I can’t have you coming in here trying to fix things because you can’t fix your own life.”
She crossed her arms. “That’s unfair, Kate.”
“No, unfair is putting me in a position where I’m ambushed and backed into a corner. You didn’t even check with me first to take my temperature. You just tried to steamroll me, and you dragged Danny along for the ride.”
She bent down and grabbed her purse. “I don’t have to listen to this.”
“Fine,” I said. “Don’t.”
“Kate?” Danny’s voice came from the living room. “Is everything okay?”
I took a deep breath before answering. “Yeah. Come on in.”
He looked around as he entered. “Where’s Pen?”
“She had to go home.”
“Did you yell at her?”
I nodded. “Kind of, yeah.”
“Crap, I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s not your fault.” I waved him over. “Why don’t you sit down.”
He moved carefully, as if he were afraid that one wrong move set me off. I kept my posture relaxed and tried to look unintimidating.
“All right, here’s the deal,” I began. “I won’t be signing that paper right now.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but I held up a hand. “You said your piece—now it’s my turn.” He nodded reluctantly and I continued. “The reason I can’t sign it yet is that I haven’t even seen this school. It wouldn’t be responsible of me as your guardian to send you to a place until I’ve checked it out first.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
“As it happens, I talked to the principal yesterday.”
His head jerked up. “You did?”
“Yeah, we’re trying to find a time to set up a meeting to discuss all of this and so I can see the school itself.”
“I—I didn’t know.”
“How about I plan it for a time when you can come with me?”
His face transformed, and for the first time in a long time, I got to see that dimple that used to charm me out of grounding him when he was younger. “That would be awesome.”
“I can’t promise that I’ll like it, but I can promise that I’ll give it a chance.”
He exhaled a deep, accepting sigh. “That’s fair, I guess.”
“In return, you have to promise me that you’ll stop recruiting Baba, Pen, Mez, or anyone else to help you when you want to work around me. We’ve been through a lot, you and me. I know things have been tough the last couple of years and there’s been a lot of changes, but we’re family, Danny.”
