“We’ve bagged thirty-three disks. If there was one per construct, you two were lucky to get out with just a couple of construct, you two were lucky to get out with just a couple of scratches,” Detective Tepps said as he watched his people work.
I nodded. “Yes, sir.” We were. Though there’d been six of us, not two. “Have you deciphered any of the spel s on the disk from the attack in the Quarter?”
Detective Tepps looked me up and down, as if assessing why I wanted to know—and if wanting to know made me a suspect. He had a day’s worth of stubble on his chin and a line around his head that made me suspect he’d worn a hat earlier in the night.
“We’ve made some progress,” he said, but didn’t offer to elaborate. One of the techs cal ed his name and he excused himself.
I hovered on the outskirts of the investigation, hoping to pick up something useful for my own case. I didn’t. This wasn’t a major crime—there was no body, little damage, and nothing had been stolen. The cops tagged and bagged and then moved on. They were wrapping up when the FIB, and Agent Nori in particular, appeared on the scene.
“So, another construct attack?” she asked as she gave the bagged evidence a cursory glance.
“We have a live specimen this time,” Tepps told her, and she sniffed as if that fact wasn’t terribly interesting.
“Ms. Craft,” she said to me as she invited herself into Caleb’s house. She looked around and when her eyes landed on Caleb himself, a sharp, and not the least bit kind, smile cut across her face. If the FIB has been gathering independents to be questioned, have I endangered Caleb? We weren’t anywhere near the floodplain, but I wasn’t sure how wide a net had been cast.
“You probably need my statement,” I said, stepping into Nori’s personal bubble.
She glanced at me, managing to look down her nose despite my superior height. “I imagine you’ve already given your statement. But I have some questions. For both of you.” She put emphasis on the last statement.
you.” She put emphasis on the last statement.
“Agent Nori,” a male, and very familiar voice said behind us.The self-satisfied smile fled from Nori’s face, and she turned, her head snapping up and her shoulders back as she stood straighter. “Sir, I hadn’t heard you were back in the city.”
“Should I state the obvious, Agent?” Falin asked as he stepped through the door. The front door, not the inner door from my room, as if he were just now arriving on the scene.
“I’l question them,” he said, nodding toward Caleb and me.
“But, sir, the constructs are built on witch magic, so probably not glamour, like Ms. Craft claims. I’ve been working this case and—”
“And now I’m working it.” Falin placed his hands on his sides. The movement caused his blazer to gape open, exposing the dark butt of his gun in his shoulder holster.
Blazer, gun, and holster were more glamour—unless he had some sort of dislocation spel —but the display stil oozed both authority and threat. “This case has drawn my attention, and the attention of her majesty. I want al your files on my desk by the time I reach the office.”
“Yes, sir,” Nori said, the muscle in her cheek bulging as she clenched her jaw. Then she stalked out of the house.
“Are you the boogeyman in the FIB?” I asked once the door shut behind Nori.
Falin flashed me a smile. “Try agent in charge.”
Right, good to know. Does that mean he’s behind the snatch-and-bag in the floodplain? No, he couldn’t have been. Nori had indicated he’d been out of the city. But maybe he could help me stop it. I waited until the last of the cops had left before asking.
Falin let out a long breath and leaned against the wal , as if standing straight for so long had taxed him. “It’s complicated.”
This wasn’t the first time I’d heard that tonight. I opened my mouth to ask for a clarification, but Caleb brushed past my mouth to ask for a clarification, but Caleb brushed past me.
“Don’t waste your breath, Al,” he said, and grabbed the mal et from where he’d dropped it earlier. “I’l be in my workshop if you need me.” Then he stormed into the garage. A trickle of magic sparked through the air as he activated his circle, and he said, “Oh, and Al, be careful what you say to her majesty’s bloody hands.”
Chapter 15
“What did he mean, ‘her majesty’s bloody hands’?”I asked once we were back in my apartment.
Falin didn’t answer, but stepped around me as he headed for the bathroom. He’d taken the steps slow, his hand moving to his side when he thought I wasn’t looking.