Duffy smiled a smile I’d come to dread. It’s the expression people get when they know they have you cornered. “That’s where you’re wrong.”
He stepped toward the refrigerator. It was one of those vintage jobs with rounded corners, like people had in the ’50s. The fire had left its exterior darkened so it resembled a sarcophagus.
“How would your bosses feel if you showed them this?” he said.
The heavy door required a couple of hard yanks to open. But once it did, his smile grew even bigger. Frowning, I stepped forward and used my flashlight to illuminate the dark interior. Inside, neat bricks of plastic-wrapped cash filled the top two shelves.
Morales whistled.
“You ain’t seen nothing yet.” Duffy pulled open the freezer. Water splashed to the floor from the melted ice. But nestled in the center of the space were several gallon zip-top bags of potions.
“Holy shit.”
“Bet Gardner would love to see MEA get credit for a seizure like this,” Duffy said.
The thing was? She totally would. Not that we’d admit that to him. The instant he thought he had the upper hand, he’d screw us over.
“Why in the hell would anyone leave this behind?” I asked.
“Lots of reasons,” Duffy said. “Maybe they were in a hurry or they thought the fire would destroy it.”
“Or maybe they didn’t care about the potions at all because the murder was personal,” I said.
Duffy shrugged, looking unconcerned.
“What’s your angle on this?” Morales asked the same question I’d been thinking.
“I told you, stats.”
I crossed my arms. “Sounds to me like what’s really happening is Mayor Volos is putting the vise on Chief Adams, who’s rolling that shit downhill to Captain Eldritch, who’s passing it on to you. No way Volos is promoting Adams to Commissioner without a decrease in crime stats.”
Duffy sighed. “Something like that.”
“Which begs the question,” I said, “did Eldritch put you up to this?”
“Doesn’t really matter, does it? Because whether he did or not, if I tell him the MEA’s balking at assisting us, he’ll go right up the chain to Volos.”
Which meant we’d probably get the case whether we wanted it or not. The MEA’s continued presence in Babylon depended on a good political relationship with the mayor and the BPD.
“But it doesn’t have to be like that,” Duffy said. “No reason it can’t be a favor I owe you.”
Considering that the last time I’d spoken to Duffy, he basically accused our task force of being dirty, this was an interesting development. Either he had a secret he wasn’t telling or his ass was really in a sling with Eldritch.
“We’ll have to take this up with Gardner,” Morales hedged. He wasn’t lying, but technically, as the number two on the task force, he had the authority to accept or decline the case. Most likely he was buying us some time to work through the possible angles. “In the meantime, I’ll leave Mez to help with the evidence collection. If we do take it, he’ll need to be in on it anyway.”
“And if you don’t?”
“Then you’ll owe us a favor.”
Duffy snorted. “I’ll expect your call by end of day or I’ll bring in the FBI.”
It was an empty threat. The FBI had stopped getting their hands dirty with arcane crime about a decade earlier. They mostly took cases with ties to domestic terrorism or Mundane organized crime. It was less messy than chasing covens and got more media coverage, to boot. America did love its mobster myths, after all. Far sexier and easier to believe than the truth—that the real threat to our cities was America’s addiction to magic’s easy fixes.
“You’ll hear from us when you hear from us.” Morales flicked a parting wave in Duffy’s direction and we made our way back outside.
“Talk to Mez,” Morales said. “I’m going to call Gardner.” He walked toward where we parked, away from the eager ears of the cops on the scene.
I found Mez near an idling fire truck. The loud engine created enough white noise that no one could hear us.
“Duffy wants us to take the case,” I said.
“You told him no?”
“Of course.”
“Think that’s gonna stick once you talk to the boss lady?”
I sighed. “Probably not.”
“What do you need from me?”
“There are some party favors in the freezer that need analyzing. Let me know once you’ve identified the type of potions we’re dealing with so I can start linking them back to the covens.”
“I can do some basic field tests, but I usually need to bring samples back to the lab to verify the chemical makeup.”
“Just see what you can do. I’m hoping I can talk Morales and Gardner into punting this one.”
“Why?”
“Because it reeks of a shitstorm.”
“Don’t they all?” He laughed. “Did you see the body?” Off my nod, he whistled. “I don’t know who that cat pissed off, but they sure wanted to send one hell of a message.”
“I have a bad feeling we won’t like the meaning of the message or to whom it was intended.”
He shot me a weird look. “Nice grammar, Emily Dickinson.”
I laughed. “One of the benefits of having to help a sixteen-year-old pass his English class.”
“Speaking of,” he said, “is Danny liking the new school?”
“It’s fine. He says public school is way easier than Meadowlake had been. Now that he’s settled, he’s asking when he can start up lessons with you again.”
Danny was my younger brother. In addition to being his annoying older sister, I also had been his legal guardian since our mother died ten years earlier. The lessons I mentioned were in clean magic, which was Mez’s specialty. I would have taught him magic myself, but I only knew how to cook dirty.
“Tell him I’m ready when he is.” He nodded over my shoulder. “Your boyfriend’s back.”
I elbowed him in the ribs. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Uh-huh. What do you call your little situation, then?”
I thought for a second before answering. “Partners with benefits.”
“You two are a trip.” He snorted. “Although I never thanked you.”
“For what?”
“I won a hundred bucks from the office pool. Shadi thought you’d keep stringing Morales along and he’d eventually just get sick of your shit.” He winked. “But I knew you’d come around.”
I ignored the flare of temper. After all, I had resisted the attraction for a while. Still, I didn’t love the idea of my sex life being the subject of a team-wide betting pool. But in our line of business, showing discomfort put a target on your back. “Seeing how I did all the work, I feel like I should have gotten a piece of that payday.”
He smirked. “I’ll buy you a beer next time we’re near a bar.”
I grinned. “Deal.”
By that time, Morales reached us. “Gardner wants us to come to the office.” We must have looked guilty, because he paused and gave us suspicious glares. “What are you two talking about?”
“Oh, you know, wizard stuff.” I waved a hand. “Call me if you run into any snags here,” I told Mez. “We’ll let you know once you can take custody of the evidence.”
He saluted me and sauntered off to rejoin Val.
“Ready?” I asked Morales.
“What do you think about all this?” he asked as he walked toward the SUV.
I squinted at the green clouds. “I don’t know. I got a bad feeling.”
“You just need to eat. You’re always sort of nihilistic before you’ve had breakfast.” He bumped me with his shoulder and shot me a roguish grin.
“I mean it,” I said. “Something’s off here. Why is Duffy so eager to give us this case?”
“Maybe because he doesn’t think he’s got the chops to solve it. He had to bring in the real heroes to get the job done.”
I rolled my eyes. “Or maybe he’s setting us up. I’m telling you—this one’s gonna be messy. I can feel it.”
“Admit it, Cupcake, you’d be bored if things were too neat and safe.”
The words were delivered casually, but they felt heavy on my ears. Instead of analyzing that reaction, I elbowed him. “Seeing how you’re so keen to be someone’s hero, you can buy breakfast.”
Chapter Two