“We’re acquainted,” I said.
“Anyway, Basil had this plan. He was going to get the pure product from the Chinese and pad it with some cheap shit and put it in pill form to double the supply.”
My eyes widened. “Which would double his profit and screw the suppliers out of some of the take.”
“Right. But I guess they figured out what he was doing, because we only sold a few doses before Basil went boom. Couple days later, the Chinese showed up and we closed up shop on that potion.”
“Who’s calling the shots? The Votaries or the Chinese?”
Jake shrugged. “That’s above my pay grade.”
“Have you seen the horned lady or her handmaidens again since they came in?” Morales said. I frowned at the word handmaidens. The way he’d said it sounded an awful lot like he’d heard of them before.
He shook his head. “Message received, you know?”
“You heard of anyone else around here having problems with them?”
“Tell them about the massage parlor,” Lenny said.
“Hush, asshole,” Jake hissed.
“Hey!”
I raised my brows. “The Happy Ending? What about it?”
Jake paused his lips and crossed his arms.
I sighed. “All right, you have the right to remain silent—”
“Hold up!” Jake interrupted. “No need for all that. I’ll tell you.”
“Go on,” Morales said.
“This is just rumor, mind you,” he said.
I circled my hand in the air to hurry him up.
“I heard Krystal is paying protection money to the Chinese.”
I played dumb even though I’d seen it with my own eyes the night before. “Why?”
“On account of the fact that no one recognizes her as the legit leader. Lots of people haven’t forgotten she sold out Puck.”
“Bitch,” Lenny said from the window.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Jake said. “At first, everyone was falling in line because word was the big guy himself had tapped her to take over.”
Morales shifted his weight. “You mean Abe?”
Jake nodded. “But it didn’t take long for word to spread about what she did to Puck. Then no one wanted to follow her. So, I guess she made a deal with the Chinese.”
“Hold up, let me get this straight,” I said. “Abe tapped Krystal to take over. Krystal betrayed Puck to make sure it happened. Then once she was in charge, she had to pay the Chinese to protect her from her own coven?”
Morales frowned. “Why wouldn’t Abe’s bona fide be enough to protect her?”
We looked at Jake. “Don’t look at me,” he said.
We turned our attention to Lenny. He waved his hands in a not-my-business gesture and disappeared back into his lab.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said as Morales ducked into the lab’s doorway.
Jake looked relieved. “Maybe you should go talk to Krystal. Like right now.”
I tapped the glass counter. “We will. Right after we book you and Lenny.”
Ruckus sounds came from inside the lab, but before I could verify Morales had Lenny cuffed, Jake leapt over the counter and took off toward the door.
I cursed under my breath. “Morales, we’ve got a runner.”
The sky had been threatening to open up all morning, and by the time I followed Jake outside, it was pouring. I spotted his apron flapping in the wind as he turned the corner down an alley. My feet pounded the slick pavement. I pulled my phone from my pocket and hit the speed dial button for Shadi.
“What’s up?”
I talked into the phone as I turned into the alley. “You down near Blackmoore and Liberty?”
“Why are you breathing heavy?”
“I’m chasing an asshole down an alley.”
“I’m two blocks away.”
“I’m headed west in an alley. We’ll be coming out on Elm.”
Through the phone, I heard her car’s engine rev up. “I’m on my way. Stay on the line, though.”
“10-4.”
Up ahead, Jake had almost reached the end of the alley. I dug in to speed up so I wouldn’t lose him once he hit the street. He reached the end and turned left. “He’s headed north on Elm now,” I said. “Blond, ponytail. Wearing an apron.”
“Almost there,” she said. “Turning on Elm now.”
I finally reached the end of the alley in time to see Jake running and a crappy blue sedan barreling toward him in the background.
I said into the phone, “That’s him headed toward you.”
“I got him.” A banging noise came through the phone as she dropped it to focus on snatching her prize. Suddenly, the car veered to the left and jumped the curb. She slammed it into park and flew out of the door. She was on Jake so fast, he barely saw her coming. She tackled him like a cowboy wrangling a wayward calf.
I sped up to go help, but by the time I reached her, she already had a zip tie around his wrist. She rose and put a foot on his bound wrists. I was gasping for breath, but she was barely winded.
“You want to take him in?” she asked. “Or do you want me to do it?”
I held up my hand and tried to catch my breath. Finally, I said, “Morales has another one a couple blocks back.”
She nodded resolutely. “Let’s go see.”
She pulled Jake off the ground. Once he was upright, the height disparity between them was comical. Shadi might be small, but she stored a lot of power in a small package. She maneuvered Jake into the back seat of the car and waited for me to join him in the other side of the back seat before she shut the door.
“What the hell just happened?” he said, sounding dazed.
“Jake, meet Special Agent Pruitt.”
“Damn, girl,” he said, wincing. “I think you broke my collarbone.”
“Quitcherbitchin,” she said. “Where am I going, Prospero?”
I gave her the address and she backed off of the curb and took off toward the apothecary. I pulled out my cell and called Morales.
“Where are you?” he asked, sounding worried.
“With Shadi. She was nearby, so she helped me scoop up Jake. How are things there?”
He let out a relieved breath. “Lenny and I were trying to find you.”
“There he is,” she said.
I leaned to the side to be able to see through the windshield. Sure enough, there was Morales all but dragging cuffed Lenny up the road.
“Stay where you are,” I said. “We’ll pick you up.”
Chapter Thirteen
I hadn’t been to the Cauldron precinct in several weeks. I didn’t want to be there that day, either, but we couldn’t have asked Shadi to handle Tweedles Dee and Dum by herself.
We led them inside and straight to booking. This had been my old turf back when I was a street cop. The cop on duty in booking was an old warhorse named Butch. He’d seen pretty much everything, so he wore an expression that could only be described as “perpetual lack of surprise.”
We deposited Lenny and Jake at the benches along the wall and went to go start the procedure.
“Hey, Butch,” I said.
He looked up from his computer monitor. “Prospero. Long time no see.” His tone was so even, you could lay a level across the words and the bubble would stay dead center. “What you got for me today?”
“Two warm bodies. Charged with resisting arrest—”
He shook his head. “Fill out the form. I’ll get it entered once they’re processed.”
“That’s new,” I said. We used to have to walk each perp through the process and then fill out all the paperwork. It meant booking could take all day sometimes.
“You been gone awhile,” he said.
“True enough.” I took two clipboards and pens. “Thanks, Butch.”
He didn’t acknowledge the words. Just looked back down at his monitor and started typing again.
Morales and I took the clipboards into the break room to fill out. Cops in uniform milled around, getting snacks or energy-potion drinks from the vending machines. I only recognized a couple, who gave me the briefest of nods.
I leaned in to begin filling out the forms. “Well, it’s official.”
“What is?” Morales said, squinting at his own forms.
“I’m not one of them anymore. Not that I ever really was, I guess.”
Back when I’d been a beat cop, I’d worked on my own and liked it that way. It was easier than dealing with partners who thought my last name and my dominant left hand meant I was still a criminal.