Baba’s eyes got that odd fierce glow, as if they’d been lit from within. Liam tried to tell himself that it was just a reflection from her magical light, and not a sign that she was thinking of ripping certain people apart with her bare hands. Then he tried to convince himself he thought that would be a bad thing. He wasn’t notably successful in either case.
Truth be told, he was having a hard time reining in his own temper. The more deeply they delved into Callahan’s dirty dealings, the harder it was to remember that he was supposed to uphold the law, no matter what his own personal feelings in the matter. And he had a sinking feeling that the remaining drawer was going to make that even more difficult. The sound of his own harsh breathing echoed in his ears like a dirge as he tugged open the green dotted drawer.
“Huh,” he said, a few minutes later. “That’s curious.” He hadn’t known exactly what to expect, but what he’d found hadn’t even been on the list.
Baba peered over his shoulder as he knelt in front of the low drawer. “Hey,” she said with surprise, “I recognize a few of these names.” She pointed one slim finger at a file. “Look, there’s Belinda. And isn’t that one of the other families whose child went missing?”
Liam could feel his face set into grim lines as his heart clenched. “They’re all in there, Barbara. Maybe that’s a coincidence, but if so, it’s a pretty big one.”
“Well, their names could have been added to the ‘vulnerable’ list after the disappearances,” Baba said, voice uncertain. “There’s no proof that says otherwise.”
“That’s true,” Liam agreed reluctantly. “On the other hand, I’ve been inundated lately with calls from folks who’ve been experiencing weird issues and problems—sabotage of farm equipment, vanishing workers, strange plagues of mice and snakes—and every single one of those people has a file in this drawer. That can’t possibly be a fluke.”
Baba slitted her eyes, and the light in her palm flickered for a moment from pale white to bloody red before she let out a hissing breath and it returned to what passed as normal for a magical glowing light. “No. No, it isn’t. That’s Maya’s handiwork; I’m sure of it.”
“But we still don’t have any way to prove it,” Liam said, frustration tensing his shoulders and clenching his jaw. “We need more time to look at these files, but I don’t dare take them. The last thing we want to do is tip Maya off that we’re on to her.”
“It’s too bad we can’t copy them,” Baba said, glancing over at the huge printer-copier that sat on Callahan’s desk. “But it would take too long. We’re already pushing our luck.”
Liam agreed, but he suddenly got an idea. “Hang on,” he said, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. “If you shine your light over this drawer, I can at least take a few pictures with my phone. Then we can take a closer look at the names later, when we’re someplace safer.”
Baba looked impressed. “You can do that with your phone?”
He rolled his eyes and started grouping the files together so he could get a bunch of names into one shot. “You have got to move into this century, Baba.”
She gave an ironic snort that somehow contained a joke he was pretty sure he wasn’t getting. He was about to ask her what was so funny, when Gregori materialized out of the darkness, almost giving Liam a heart attack.
“Jesus!” he said, grabbing onto the metal drawer so hard, the edges cut into his fingers.
“No relation, I’m afraid,” the Asian man said dryly. “Although I have been known to walk on water occasionally.”
Gregori turned to Baba. “I caught two Otherworld creatures skulking around outside. I took care of them, but there’s no telling if there are more on the way. I think it’s time for you two to get out of here.”
Liam tucked his phone back into his pants and turned around to thank Gregori, but the other man was already gone.
“How the hell does he do that?” Liam muttered under his breath.
Baba just laughed quietly and headed for the window. She gave the room an unreadable look, shrugged, and hopped back over the sill and out into the silent night. Liam followed, slightly less gracefully, then almost tripped over two long-limbed beasts with lizardlike snouts and tails, and claws that dripped with a tarlike viscous substance.
They lay on the ground in a position that suggested their narrow, pointy heads had been knocked together with considerable force. Liam couldn’t tell if they were still breathing or not, and he didn’t particularly want to get close enough to find out. Something about the way their teeth and claws glistened made him think of rattlesnake venom.