There’s no easy way to storm into the mayor’s office. Back when John was just a tycoon, it had been way easier. But now there was all sorts of security and layers of secretaries to get through. So, like anyone else, I had to make an appointment.
When I first called that morning, his assistant told me I’d have to wait a week to get into see Mr. Mayor. However, fifteen minutes later, she called back and said he had an opening at ten a.m. She tried to play it like his schedule had opened up miraculously, but I knew better. As much as I hated to admit it, I kind of enjoyed being a person Volos cleared the decks for at a moment’s notice. Not that I’d ever tell him that.
I told Morales I’d meet him at the county jail for our noon meeting with Puck. He didn’t try to talk me out of it, but I could feel the tension radiating off of him. To his credit, he advised me to take advantage of the meeting to do some digging while I was there to see if Volos was aware of the Fangshi’s infiltration of the city. “Just do it before you read him the riot act, okay?” he’d said.
City Hall had been built in 1916 when Babylon was a jewel in the world’s steel crown. It was a stately building with lots of columns and steps. But time hadn’t been kind to the structure. Acid rain had left the stone face pockmarked and streaked with black. Regiments of pigeons strutted across the stairs, completely unfazed by any humans who dared tread on their turf.
The building was in the Mundane section of downtown, but that didn’t keep the hexheads away. At the top of the steps, a man wearing a lady’s turban and muumuu lazily attempted to feed the pigeons imaginary food. Every few seconds, a pigeon would come up to him, realize he didn’t actually have any food, and peck his hand before stomping away. He cackled each time. He had no teeth to speak of and his skin was the color of key lime pie.
As I approached him, he pulled his attention from the pigeons. “Oh,” he said. “It’s you. Hey!”
“Hey,” I snapped.
“She’s coming,” he said conversationally.
“That’s nice,” I tossed over my shoulder as I passed.
“And when He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, ‘Come.’ And I saw, and behold, a black horse, and he who sits on it had a balance in his hand.”
I paused and turned. “What?”
He looked up at me. I’d expected his expression to reveal his obvious madness, but the brown eyes were clear and sane. “Revelation, sweetheart. You ain’t read your bible?”
I frowned at him. “Why are you quoting scripture to me?”
He shrugged. “Peewee told me to.” He nodded down to the white pigeon at his feet.
“The pigeon told you to quote the Book of Revelation to me?”
He nodded so vigorously that his turban went askew. “The end is nigh. Best start preparing.”
“You need to lay off the potions, buddy.”
He held up a hand for me to wait. Then he leaned down, offering his ear to the bird. The pigeon warbled something that had him nodding sagely. “Yes, that’s right,” he said to the bird. He looked up again. “Peewee says you need to make peace with the man in the tower and the man in the dungeon.” He pointed out toward Lake Erie. “Or all will be lost.”
I took a handful of change from my pocket and tossed it into the bucket at the guy’s feet. “Thanks for the advice.” Then I walked away.
Behind me, he called cheerfully, “Peewee says you’re welcome!”
By the time I made it inside, I was in a much lighter mood. I might have some problems, but I didn’t have man-wearing-a-muumuu-and-talking-to-pigeons problems, so I figured I was doing pretty okay.
A few moments later, I arrived at the top floor of the building where the office of the mayor was located. The waiting room was done in wood paneling and leather with touches of hunter green. It was quite a change from the offices Volos had had at his real estate company, which were decorated in a style I called “corporate samurai.” But now he was all legit and favored a more Mundane traditionalist style. Volos was nothing if not adaptable, especially if doing so increased his power base.
The middle-aged woman behind the desk had the hard look of someone who’d been wading through a bureaucratic cesspool for most of her professional life. When I walked up to the desk, she didn’t offer a greeting or a smile.
“Kate Prospero,” I said.
Something about my name deepened her frown lines into troughs. “Oh. You.” She turned and punched a code into the phone on her desk. A button lit up in response. “You can go in.”
There was no rising to see me to the door or parting smile. I’m not sure what I’d done to offend the lady, but I wasn’t about to let her ruin my mood. Once I got in that office, it would go downhill pretty fast on its own.
I walked to the door and opened it without knocking. “You son of a bitch,” I said, marching inside.
Mayor Volos looked up from his desk.
As did the man sitting across from him—Captain Eldritch, my boss.
In the wake of my declaration, the office was dead silent. I stood frozen with my hand on the doorknob, looking between the two men who held my career in their hands.
Volos recovered first, rising smoothly from behind his massive desk. “Kate, it’s good of you to come,” he said, as if he’d invited me instead of me having requested the meeting, “Captain Eldritch and I were just talking about you.”
Mention of his name seemed to snap Eldritch out of stasis. He leapt out of his seat, blustering. “Apologize to the mayor immediately, Prospero.”
“I—”
Volos waved a hand. “It’s not necessary.” To Eldritch he said, “Since we go way back and I’m sure she meant it as a term of endearment. Right, Katie?”
My shock and embarrassment dissolved. “No, I meant it as an insult.”
“Kate!” The captain gasped.
The mayor laughed out loud. “It’s fine,” he said. “Old friends, remember?” he said to Eldritch.
The captain looked from Volos to me, squinting as if he was weighing the most politically advantageous reaction.
On one hand, I resented the hell out of the familiarity, but on the other, he was also offering me protection from my own boss. Word on the street for a while was that Chief Adams might be promoted to commissioner by Volos. If that happened, Eldritch was in line for chief. But in order to snag those extra brass bars, he needed to stay in Volos’s good graces. I cared less about Volos’s approval, but I also didn’t want to create any bad blood at the BPD, since my tenure on the MEA task force wasn’t necessarily permanent.
“Sorry, sir. He’s right. It’s an old joke between us.”
Eldritch chuckled like he was in on the joke. “Of course. I knew that.”
Volos flashed me an amused look that he quickly covered with his politician’s smile. “I understand that you’re pitching in to help the BPD with a homicide case, Kate.”
I hesitated. “Uh, yeah. We’re happy to help Detective Duffy.”
He nodded approvingly. “Excellent. I know Captain Eldritch is relieved to have such capable representation on the MEA task force.”
“Absolutely,” Eldritch said quickly. “Detective Prospero is one of our best.”
“Excellent. Have a nice day, Captain.”
The dismissal was sudden but absolute. Eldritch was left with no choice but to pick his hat up off the chair and make his goodbyes. After he shook the mayor’s hand, he came to me. His handclasp was punishing and there was a glint in his eye that promised retribution down the road. I wasn’t really sure what I’d specifically done this time to piss him off, but I was pretty used to being on Eldritch’s shit list. “Good to see you, sir.”
“Check in at the station house soon. I’d love a chance to discuss your progress with the task force.”
“Sure.”
With his thinly veiled threat delivered, he strolled out of the office.