He went to grab a slide. “This is the tea sample. Why?”
Before I could figure out a way to convince him to let me look at it under a microscope without letting on I wanted to read the poisonous potion, Morales threw open the curtain.
“Prospero,” he said, “time to roll.”
“Where?” Part of me was hoping he was about to tell me we were going to go find Hung. I also was watching him to see if there were any clues about how his conversation with Gardner went. But he wasn’t giving anything away.
“Home.”
My shoulders fell. “Oh.”
“We have to get ready for the wedding tomorrow.”
I perked up again. “Oh?”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “You said it yourself—the who’s who of the Cauldron will be there, right?”
“Yeah,” I said. “But there’s no way Gardner will let us go now.”
A new voice came from the doorway. “Yes, she will.” Gardner stepped inside. Shadi followed behind her, as if she’d been summoned as the boss passed by on her way to the lab.
“Morales convinced me we’ve been approaching this all wrong,” Gardner continued.
Her words didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but they sounded positive, so I just nodded and shot Morales a questioning look. He wouldn’t meet my eyes. I’d left Gardner’s office both hoping and worrying that he was about to come clean. Judging from her lack of shouting and his lack of eye contact, it had gone another direction.
“We have?” I asked.
“I’d been so focused on the murder angle that I missed an opportunity here with the Fangshi.” She turned to Mez. “What you got there?”
I tried to read Morales, but he was busy not looking at me. Impatience made me itchy. I wanted to demand an explanation, but given the tension still echoing in the gym from the confrontation earlier, I thought it best not to test Gardner’s suddenly improved mood.
Gardner reached for Mez’s slide, but he pulled his gloved hand out of reach. “Watch yourself—this shit’s nasty as they come.” He quickly filled them in on the potion’s components.
“Hold up,” Shadi said, “they sent ancient Chinese poison hidden inside Chinese tea and a Chinese teapot?”
Gardner frowned at the report. “I thought you said the Fangshi were good,” she said to Morales.
“They are. None of this makes any sense.”
“Well, it’s Duffy’s problem now,” she said. “I’ll drop these off at the precinct on my way home tonight. I’ll put a bug in his ear about this.”
I watched her hand the poisoned tea slide back to Mez so he could bundle up the evidence for her to take to Duffy. There was no way I could get a chance to read the poison’s signature now.
Morales caught my eye, as if to ask what was wrong. I looked away. He wasn’t the only one who got to have secrets.
“I’m confused,” Shadi said. “I thought we were going to the wedding to continue working on the case.”
“No,” Gardner said, “we’re going to work an investigation I just opened into the Fangshi’s conspiracy to distribute dirty magic in Babylon.”
“We’re still trying to get potions and money on the table?” I asked.
She shrugged. “We’re the MEA, that’s our job—not solving murders.”
We all exchanged knowing looks to confirm that we understood what she was telling us.
Gardner clapped her hands. “All right, everyone be here early tomorrow to prepare. I want that entire theater cleared before the wedding begins. And, guys, try to look like guests, not cops, okay?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Shadi said.
Gardner shot her a look. “It means dress up.”
“Wait, you mean like an actual dress and shit?” she said. “God damn.”
“I got one you can borrow,” Mez said. “You need one, too, Kate?”
I shook my head, a plan forming in my mind. “I got someone I can borrow one from.”
“All right,” Gardner snapped, “now that we’ve all discussed what we’re going to wear, I’ll remind you all to watch your asses at this event. Judging on past experience in this town, this wedding is going to be a real shit show. Be ready for anything.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
An hour later, I parked Sybil on the street outside an old peach stucco apartment building. Morales and I had gone our separate ways after the meeting. Actually, what had really happened was he ran off once we left the gym as fast as he could after muttering something about needing to go buy some new socks for the wedding.
It was a bullshit excuse. He was avoiding telling me what really went down in Gardner’s office. It was apparent from her good mood that he hadn’t used to the opportunity to come clean. The good news was, he convinced her to let us keep working the Fangshi angle. The bad news was, he seemed determined to avoid talking to me about his reasons.
But instead of forcing another argument, I drove over to Pen’s apartment with two goals in mind. The first being to apologize for being such an asshole to her about the Danny intervention episode. The second was seeing if she had any dresses that would accommodate a thigh holster.
When she opened the door, I held up the snack cakes and bottle of wine I’d picked up on the way over. “Don’t slam the door in my face. I come bearing peace offerings.”
She crossed her arms and pursed her lips, considering my meager gifts. “Is that the buttery chardonnay I like?”
“Yes, ma’am. It’s even chilled.” I offered the bottle for her inspection. She played it cool, raising a finger to poke at the condensation on the bottle’s surface.
Finally, her frown broke and a bark of laughter escaped. “Get in here.” She hauled me inside and slammed the door behind her.
I handed over the treats, which she took and set down on her coffee table. “You know, you can’t just buy back my affection with alcohol and sugar, Katie.”
I sighed. “That was just to get me in the door,” I said. “I’m hoping my sincere apology will earn me the right to stay awhile.”
She chewed on her bottom lip. “I’ll accept it on one condition.”
“Name it. Anything.”
“That you accept my apology, too. You were right. I shouldn’t have encouraged him to ambush you like that.”
“Pen, no—”
She held up a hand. “Unfortunately, you were sort of right. I’d been so sick of myself and my problems that I was butting in where I shouldn’t have as a way to distract myself.”
“That’s okay. I mean, don’t do it again, but I understand.”
She shot me an amused but contrite look. “Anyway, Baba said you met with the principal?”
“I’ll tell you all about it while you open the wine.”
“Deal.” She took the bottle and spun on her bare feet to go grab an opener from the kitchen.
As she opened, I told her all about the meeting at the school and the compromise we’d come up with. She poured us each a glass and handed mine over when I was done. “That sounds like a good plan,” she said. “Plus? Bonus two weeks without the kid this summer.”
I paused to savor both the wine and the thought. “I hadn’t considered that part yet.”
“You and Morales can run around the house naked if you want.”
I almost spit out my wine. “Oh, Baba would love that.”
“How many times have you seen her naked since she moved in?”
“No, I mean, she literally will love it. I’m afraid Morales is going to charge her with sexual harassment.”
“That woman ain’t right.” She snickered. “Where is Macho tonight, anyway?”
I sighed and set down my glass. “We have this wedding to go to tomorrow, so he’s off making sure he’s got the attire he needs.”
She pointed her glass at me. “Why does it sound like there’s trouble in paradise?”
“It’s nothing. This case we’re on is just stressing us out.”
“You sure that’s all?”
I nodded and took another swallow of cold wine to scrub the half-truths from my tongue. I was afraid if I spoke to Pen about my half-formed concerns, they’d become real.
Luckily, she seemed to have another topic she wanted to discuss. “So,” she said, taking a coy sip of her wine. “I have some news.”
I looked up, relieved to have a distraction. “What?”
“I got a job.” She danced a little jig.