by C. I. Black
Lachlin rolled his eyes. “Or you’re born into it.”
Which explained why Lachlin still had connections to the House of Fairy even given his bad relationship with his father and brother.
“The House of Death and the House of Darkness tend to draw those Kin with darker sensibilities, like reapers and demons.” Gage twisted his ring.
“But they aren’t exclusive to any one particular type of Kin,” Clayton said.
“Okay, so the Devil Riders have a potential tie to the House of Death and Stroud is what? A former member? A current member? If he found out Randal had inherited his frost giant powers, would he want to recruit him into the gang?” Tapping her leg wasn’t working, and the twitching need for movement kept growing.
“That is what we’re going to find out,” Gage said.
She gave up and stood. “All right, let’s go talk to a biker gang.”
“Not you.” The muscles in Gage’s jaw twitched. “You need to stay on top of any human connection with Kate. And for God’s sake, keep her away from Kin.”
“Except you don’t think Randal’s escape has any human connection.” Morgan paced to the front of the room, closer to Gage.
He tensed, and a hint of his power flared again. “Just keep her away from Kin.”
“But if Kin are involved, she’s going to come across them.”
“Not if you do what you’re supposed to,” Lachlin said.
“And risk ruining Kate’s career?”
“You have your orders.” Gage pushed away from the table and Morgan. “Clayton and Lachlin, you’re with me.”
Lachlin waggled his fingers at her, and Clayton offered an apologetic smile. They marched out of the room, leaving her with Rika and the huge screen still lit up with details about the Devil Riders gang.
“He’s just trying to watch your back,” Rika said, her fingers tapping across the screen in the table.
“I know. I just wish it didn’t feel like being benched. Hunting fugitives is what I do… what I used to do.”
Rika propped her chin in her hands, her elbows somehow on the table and not touching the keys. “I can’t begin to imagine what this transition has been like for you.”
Morgan shrugged. “I’m sure every Kin goes through it.” But that wasn’t what Rika was talking about. Morgan was older than most Kin when they came into their powers. She’d had a normal human life before everything had changed, and she hadn’t known anything about how this part of the world really worked.
“I was fifteen,” Rika said, “a little late in Kin terms, but I knew it was coming. I’m full Kin, pure blood gremlin. Although—” Her glamour faded, and her features turned sharp: ears, nose, and chin. Her eyes changed from dark brown to bright purple, matching her hair. “I suppose I can relate a little. I didn’t know much of the human world until I left home. I’d been raised fully in the Kin community, went to Kin school and all that.”
“The Kin have schools?” But as soon as Morgan asked, she knew the question was ridiculous. Of course they had schools. Kin history and culture were different. Kin children needed to learn how their world worked, how glamour worked, everything Morgan was just starting to understand.
“I wish they’d taught us a little more about humans,” Rika said, her tone filled with regret.
Lachlin’s sister, Bearnas, had said Kin were private people, and it was rude to ask personal questions. Bearnas had also said everyone on Gage’s team was there for a reason, and from the sound of it, that reason wasn’t because they’d been good in school.
Rika shook herself, the movement quick, twitchy, like a bird fluffing its feathers, and her glamour settled back into place. Once again she was a tiny East Indian woman with bright purple hair spiked in all directions. “I’m just glad you have Gage to help you.”
“I have you, too. And Clayton.”
“You also have Lachlin.”
“When he feels like it.” And really, Morgan didn’t know exactly what she had with Lachlin.
The computer chimed.
“I should get back to work,” Rika said.
“I should, too. Do you think I can have access to the team’s files so I know what Kin pitfalls Kate might come across?” Not that it would stop Kate—they couldn’t afford pissing Ed off—but at least she’d be going into the situation with open eyes.
“I’ve given you high security access.” Rika tilted her head, glanced at Morgan, then back to the table. “You can also open Chava’s files.”
Chava. Her biological mother.
“I’m sure Gage would rather you talked to him about her, though. They were pretty good friends… I think.”
“Were you friends with her?”
“She was a very private person. We worked together for close to three years before…”
“Before she was murdered.”
“Before that, yes. I’m not sure I got to know her at all.” Rika blinked, and her eyes went from brown to bright purple. “It always seemed there was this great sadness and loneliness that she was holding back. Something from a long time ago. Probably had to do with having to abandon you.”
“I suppose just because it’s better for a half-human child to be raised fully human doesn’t mean it’s easy to give that child up.” But somehow her mother had made that decision.
“I wish those answers were in her file for you, but it’s just her background and case history with the team.”
For personal information, Morgan would have to talk to Gage, and she’d have no way of knowing if he was telling her the truth. “That’s all right. Understanding her work will still help.”
The Hawaii Five-0 theme song chirped from Morgan’s back pocket. Kate was calling. “Excuse me.”
“Sure.” Rika turned back to her work.
“Jacobs,” Morgan said.
“Carol Cho was just admitted into the hospital,” Kate said. “She was attacked and her house safe ripped open.”
“That’s the wife of the man Randal murdered. That can’t be a coincidence.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
CHAPTER 5
Morgan rushed through the third floor hall of the hospital’s south wing. She’d texted Gage to let him know what had happened, but since Carol wasn’t Kin, he was trusting her to follow up with it by herself. Too bad he didn’t trust her with other, more important things, like whatever secret he was keeping about her mother.
Carol’s attack, however, didn’t give more weight to Gage’s suspicion that Randal’s escape was Kin related. Not that the attack was evidence of an entirely human reason for Randal’s escape, either, but something about this just wasn’t sitting right with Morgan. There were too many unanswered questions about the situation.
Morgan rounded a corner. One gleaming hall looked like the next. Soft green paint covered the walls, and the speckled grey tiled floor had been polished within an inch of its life. The lighting above was harsh fluorescence, and door upon door lined the walls. The nurse at reception had said Carol was in room 651, which was on the third floor—Morgan wasn’t going to ask about the hospital’s numbering system.
A nurse, head down scanning a file, walked Morgan’s way, and she cleared her throat, catching the woman’s attention.
“I’m looking for room 651.”
The nurse’s eyebrows shot up, and a flicker of gossamer wings flashed from her back then disappeared as her glamour kicked in. “You’re, ah…”
“Yes, I am.” Maybe she really did have snake hair. Every Kin who saw her got this shocked expression that flashed into terror. Morgan pulled out her marshal’s identification. “I’m looking for room 651.” She was almost tempted to say she wasn’t here for the nurse, but decided that probably wouldn’t be reassuring because it might imply that at some point she would be.
It seemed gorgons were the boogeymen of the Kin world.
Rentz, the ogres, and the bakenekos popped into her mind. All right, maybe she was the boogeyman for half of the Kin world and a target
for the other half.
“You passed 651. Back down that hall, second door on your left—I mean right. It would have been your left before you’d come down this hall, and now that doesn’t make any sense—”
“Got it. Thank you.” Morgan offered a small smile, but the nurse didn’t seem to notice. She bobbed her head, her eyes still a little too wide.
Morgan bit the inside of her cheek, resisting the urge to say anything else, and headed back down the hall. 651 was the second room on the right. She cracked the door open, and Kate shifted in a chair at the foot of the bed. Her hand slid to the gun at her hip, but stopped when she saw Morgan.
“She’s still asleep,” Kate said, her voice soft. She stood and eased to the door. “We tried calling her daughter, Lisa, but can’t reach her.”
Morgan stepped back so Kate could join her in the hall. They left the door propped open a crack to keep an eye on Carol. The woman’s head was bandaged, along with one side of her face; so, too, were her wrists. She looked like a damaged doll swathed in bandages and blankets, with tubes attached to her arms and under her nose. “What do the doctors say?”
“Blunt force trauma… sort of.”
“What does that mean?”
“She’s got injuries consistent with a beating, except, save for that they’re all in the wrong spots, they’re also consistent with a three-story fall. So the doctors don’t know what to make of it.” Kate inched closer. “Is this like what Randal Boyson can do?”
“I think so. Does she have frostbite?”
“She has something that looks like burns on her wrists and one cheek and under her chin. The doctors don’t know what to make of that either, but from the few pictures the crime scene unit managed to take of her before they wheeled her into surgery, the marks look distinctly like handprints.”
Kate brushed a lock of shoulder-length blond hair from her face. “Is this what your world is really like now? I know you said he was a frost giant, but I didn’t—I mean, there’s a difference between knowing and really knowing. I thought after the smoke demon I’d understand.” She blew out a long breath.
“Welcome to my world.”
“I’m never going to get used to this, am I? Even when I think about that smoke demon and you and hottie number two, things are there, but not there.”
“That’s the glamour messing with your head.”
“I know.” She brushed the lock back again. It fell forward, and she ignored it, her expression hardening. “Okay. I’ve got this. So Carol’s attack is consistent with what we know about Boyson.”
“Yes. But why would he attack Carol Cho, and what does this tell us about where he’s going next?” And if Gage was right about there being a Kin connection, what was it?
“We know he was after money. The bedroom safe had been ripped open, and money and jewelry taken.”
“But why not just rob a convenience store? Why go back to the Chos’ house?” Somehow the Chos were important. “And wow, I can’t believe Carol is still living in the house where her husband was murdered?” Morgan wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle that.
“It’s a heritage house, and Carol is the president of the heritage society. She’s got a lot invested in that building.”
“I can imagine.” Or at least imagine that someone could have that kind of an attachment to a building. What would Gage do if something bad had happened in his house? “Do you have Randy’s case file? Did he have opportunity to kill Carol when he murdered Howard Cho?”
“No. Carol and Lisa were at the movies. Howard was home alone. Neighbors reported hearing an argument and called 9-1-1. When the police arrived, Howard was dead. The picture hiding the wall safe in the bedroom had been tossed aside, but the safe hadn’t been opened. The less pricey jewelry not in the safe and Howard’s watch and wallet had been taken. They figured it was a burglary gone wrong.”
“And if Randy really wanted to kill Carol, he had opportunity this afternoon. It does look like a burglary.”
“I agree. But from the frost burns on Carol’s wrists and face, it seems he was after information,” Kate said.
“Maybe how to get the safe open. His powers are new. In the heat of the moment, he might have forgotten he could rip the door off.” There were times when Morgan had forgotten her gaze could turn things to stone. They were momentary lapses, but they still happened. “When Carol wouldn’t give him the combination, maybe he got frustrated, yanked on the safe door, and presto, it’s open.”
“If that’s true, he’s now gotten what he’d tried to get the first time he was in the Chos’ home: cash and jewelry,” Kate said.
“Which means he’ll be trying to pawn the jewelry or make a run for the border. If he’s smart, he’ll go for the border first.”
Her boss, Ed, and Kate’s new partner strode into the hall. Kate snapped her mouth shut.
“Bedell. Lin. Check on Mrs. Cho,” Ed said, his tone clipped.
Morgan’s heart sank. Here it was, the moment she’d known was coming but wasn’t in any way ready for. They were going to have the talk. The ‘what the hell are you doing’ talk.
Kate glanced at Morgan, an apology in her eyes, but there was nothing she could do. “Come on, Adam.”
They stepped into Carol’s room.
Ed sighed and hooked his thumbs in his belt. He was a large, middle-aged black man with shocks of white at his temples among his tight, short-cut curls. What had probably been muscle in his youth had softened, giving him a layer of padding that belied his strength. He stared at her with his wide-set eyes, his expression stern and soft, a mix that spoke of experience and compassion. She missed him, missed his deep, rich bass, and his gruff fatherly leadership.
“So,” he said.
That one word held such weight, but she couldn’t tell if it was frustration or exhaustion. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. She was supposed to be on sick leave. When she’d left five months ago, he’d promised her job would be waiting for her. She had promised she’d go back.
She really wanted to go back.
“So.” Hers carried a fraction of his certainty.
“Lin mentioned you were working with the FBI on this one.”
“Yeah.” She’d known Deputy Marshal Lin would say something; she just hadn’t expected to have a confrontation with Ed so soon. And really, was this a confrontation? It was hard to tell. Ed didn’t often get mad, not in the sense of yelling and screaming and obvious emotions. He stayed gruff, ambiguous, and annoyingly difficult to read, unless it was about external agency paperwork.
“Lin seemed to think you were an active agent. Is that what the FBI thinks?”
“It’s a little complicated.” It was more than just a little complicated. She had no idea how she was going to explain anything to Ed. That was why she’d been ignoring the reinstatement paperwork.
“Complicated? Right now I see a civilian impersonating a United States Deputy Marshal. I call that illegal.”
A hint of fire licked around her eyes, and she pulled her gaze to the wall beside his head. “I know.”
“What the hell made you think you could run around on sick leave?”
“I, ah—”
“If you wanted to get back to work so bad, you should have filled out the damned paperwork.”
“Yes, sir.” And then she’d be back working for the marshals. A part of her really wanted that, wanted life to return to normal.
“Jesus, Jacobs. What am I supposed to do with you? I’d suspend you, but you’re already not working for me.”
More fire licked around her eyes. Things couldn’t go back to the way they’d been. But she didn’t know what the new order really was. She still had no idea who Gage was or what secrets he was keeping from her, only that he was keeping secrets. The marshals were all she had that was normal.
Kate stepped into the doorway and cleared her throat. “Mrs. Cho is waking up.”
Everything within Morgan twitched to go, interview Carol, and find out what had happen
ed, but that would just accentuate the fact that she was working this case without an official badge.
“Boss, would you like to talk with her?” Kate stepped aside in invitation for Ed to enter.
“Yes.” But Ed didn’t turn away from Morgan. “Send me the paperwork to bring you back on board. You have forty-eight hours.” There was nothing ambiguous about that. He strode past Kate into the room.
Kate leaned close to Morgan. “What are you going to do?”
“Let’s catch this runner, then deal with—” Morgan jerked her chin over Kate’s shoulder.
“One thing at a time.” Kate smiled, but it was weak and didn’t reach her eyes.
“One thing at a time.” At least Ed hadn’t demanded her gun and badge right there. He should have. It wasn’t like him to let something like that go. He must really want her back.
Morgan headed down the hall to the first floor and the SUV she’d borrowed from Gage.
Just focus on the task at hand, then deal with her life. There was still a chance the attack on Carol Cho was somehow Kin connected. She didn’t know how, but maybe.
It made more sense, however, for Randal to have known that the Chos kept something in their safe that he could pawn, and he had an opportunity to confront Carol and demand the combination. Something he hadn’t been able to get the first time he’d burglarized the Chos’ house. It still didn’t make as much sense as just knocking over a convenience store, but sometimes men on the run didn’t act logically.
She passed the elevator and took the stairs. Even though a wait in the elevator wouldn’t be long, she needed to move, burn the energy curling tighter and tighter in her chest. She’d jogged for an hour that morning, and the twitching need to move had already returned. It was building faster and faster every day now. At this rate, she’d have to take up marathon running just to ease the… unease.
Outside, the late April night bit at her cheeks and neck. She slid her sunglasses into her hair and pulled up the collar of her jacket. The crocuses and little shoots in the garden at the house might be saying spring was around the corner, but the nights said winter was still putting in its last few gasps. She rounded the corner of the hospital, and an enormous shadow eased away from the wall.
