Page 67 of Blood on the Ice

“Morgana, this is Chief Ponylakitu. She’s in charge of the precinct, and we’ve had an extremely satisfactory chat.” Liam grins and winks at me. “Chief, this is State U’s new dean, Morgana LeCiel.”

Extending my hand for the obviously cowardly official, I grasp her palm hard. “You’ve been backing the wrong horse, Chief. I don’t know why you and this ADA are standing behind Kowalski, but I assure you, associating with him is a mistake. He’s only going to take you down with him when he finally steps too far over the line.”

“Hmmm. You think so?” the chief says as she watches the detective continue to antagonize Jackson. Our lawyer has the grumpy idiot outmatched without turning a hair in his perfect ‘do, but the big lug keeps hammering at them. “People oftenunderestimate the power of those who will get dirty for their aims.”

Liam rolls his eyes, imploring a divine force to strike the woman down. “Chief, as we discussed before, you may have a small, rabid support system in this area, but they cannot save you from what’s coming when your detective plays this out. He won’t care if it ruins your career or lands you at odds with your superiors or officers.”

“That won’t happen,” the beady-eyed ADA interjects. “Even the Prince can’t prevent what’s coming. We have evidence you don’t know about.”

My gaze narrows on them, and I see Eli look at me with a fierce expression. He’ll dig through everything and find out what she’s talking about, but he needs me to help.I can do that. Putting on my most condescending smile, I look at the attorney as if she’s very dim. “Listen, Miss…. whatever your name is. I don’t think you understand what kind of pull we actually have. You’d do well to lay your cards on the table in there with Mr. Thorne.”

“Valencia.” The woman glares at me as she holds out a business card. “Assistant District Attorney Veronica Valencia, bureau chief of the Homicide division.”

Eli snickers from his spot in the corner, and I hear keys clacking as he gets to work. I needed her name so he could run checks on her, just as he was probably doing on the Chief from the moment she walked in the room. If Jackson is telling the truth about his skills, we’ll have work-ups on these new players by evening. That will allow us to figure out why in the hell they’re going up against someone as powerful as Lucas’s Nana and what backup they have.

They’re too confident not to have back-up and I’m beginning to believe this is bigger than one hockey player’s murder.

I can’t let her know she gave me exactly what I wanted, so I nod. “I’d love to say it’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Valencia, but under these circumstances… I feel we are destined to be at odds if you have aligned yourself with this madness. Surely someone with your experience recognizes the precarious position the police are putting you in? Their vendetta is motivated by something other than evidence—what, I’m not sure—but Jackson’s team will find it and expose them.”

“The detective and the Chief have provided enough circumstantial evidence to convince a judge, Miss LeCiel. I would beverycareful accusing so many respected members of our community of bad intentions. This city is a diverse place with lots of powerful special interest groups who believe in making certain the wealthy one percent face justice.”

Rainier coughs to cover his laughter, and I arch a brow at the Prince. He doesn’t look bothered in the slightest by her little jab. I guess when you’re the heir to a throne, you get used to random people acting like they're the supernatural Che Guevara around you. I might agree that the wealthy should pay their dues and be held accountable, but I definitely don’t think Liam is the person to aim at. From what little I’ve heard since we met, it’s his father who’s the issue. Valencia can go after that dick all she wants, but I’m not about to allow her to be disrespectful to the man who came to help my mate.

“Veranda,” I begin, purposefully butchering her name. “I’m not sure what cause you and your friends think you’re supporting, but Liam isn’t the enemy. Lucas didn’t kill LaMount—he would have been crazy as fuck to sit there and wait to be found if he did.”

Her glares sharpens when I mis-remember her name and she snarls, “Perhaps he wanted to be caught? People in his family are known for their love of publicity—even if it’s bad.”

Is this chick out of her mind? No one uses murder as an attention-getting tactic.

“Miss Valencia, I believe you’ve mistaken the young bear for a psychotic mastermind,” Liam interrupts. “While that may be a trope in a crime show on TV, it’s simply not the case in this situation. You’re all overstepping your authority and the Chief promised she would help temper your overzealous assumptions. Has that changed, Chief Ponylakitu?”

“I… well, you see Prince… I’m…”

Rolling my eyes, I walk forward and knock on the glass again. It’s time for Jackson to quit playing with his food. This is going nowhere and I can’t imagine how chaotic it will be once Iggy and Slade arrive. They, too, have connections they’ll press for Lucas and this station will be overwhelmed with rich dudes trying to influence a group of nutters who are being puppeteer’d by someone probably not even in this state. The whole damn thing is a farce and we need more information before we come at them any further.

Jackson smirks as he hears the sound from my side of the glass, sitting up in his chair. “Unfortunately for you, Detective, that was your curtain call. Now either charge my client or cut him loose. We’re done playing with you.”

Everyone in the room is silent as we watch the detective stare for a moment before he finally growls, “Fine. But don’t leave town.”

As if that was part of our plans during the school year…. what a douchebag.

control

Iggy and I have some sway over things if we bring our family names into the mix, but as we speed toward the police station, I’m not sure exactly what we can do if Jackson and the Prince haven’t succeeded. I suppose if we were looking to go on the lam, I could use my song and he could use cloakingmagic. I highly doubt Morgana would approve running from her problems, though.

After all, she stood in front of everyone and flat admitted to killing Magnus Corona, infamous scholar, and Dean of SU.

“What if we can’t help Lucas?” I ask Iggy as he weaves through traffic like a madman. He wanted to open a gateway—something frowned upon unless in desperate emergencies—but I reminded him the station would be shielded.

My roomie looks worried and tired, two things he’s usually good at masking. “That’s not an option, Slade. We signed onto this like everyone else and if we have to the bend the rules, so be it.”

I arch a brow as I consider what the morally ambiguous Briarton heir would call ‘bending the rules.’ He’s not known for being a straight arrow as it is. “What rules? And how would we bend them?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Slade. Just because you choose to be on the narrow while you study doesn’t mean your old bad boy persona isn’t dying to get out.” He gives me a wicked grin that makes my gut clench.

As usual, Iggy is spot-on in his assessment of me.

Whipping the car into the lot as if we’re in a racing movie, he hops out and makes an impatient sound when I don’t follow suit. Squinting, I look around for the source of disquiet prickling over my skin. I don’t like how this place feels, nor do I like how the energy if affecting my siren side. “Iggy, there’s somethingveryoff about this place. Do you feel it?”

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