Page 20 of Capitol Matters

“Sure.”

Eager for a distraction and nic-fitting besides, I scanned the sparsely populated sidewalk. We’d parked near a three-way intersection, with the fourth side comprised of an alley that could serve as a smoke hole.

“Think I’ll step out.” I pulled my cigarette pack from my suit jacket’s inner pocket and waved it as an answer to the question Holland hadn’t asked.

Shoving the door open, I stood on the curb. Glancing side to side found the same boarded upbusinesses and signs citing the spread of disease as the reason for indefinite closure.

Inside the patrol car, Holland sat slouched, thumbing through her phone. It looked like she needed a minute. I closed the door, then headed toward the alley. The cigarette was lit and fuming before I turned the corner.

Considering the unpopulated streets, I was surprised to find the shallow turn off a bustle of activity. A half dozen men and women loitered near a pair of grimy dumpsters where one man lorded over them from his perch on the top of a chain-link fence. He looked out of place, and not only because of the fence’s eight-foot elevation. More like out of time in his brown wool vest and white Oxford shirt. If his wily grin hadn’t given away his identity, his ascot tie would have. Nobody wore those things anymore, except—

“Avery?” I blurted.

The congregation turned as one. The Everett twins stood out amongst four randoms. Avery leaped off the fence and skipped toward me, his face strained with false cheer.

“Fitch!” he called as he closed in. Stopping within inches of me, his voice dropped to a hiss. “You’d better get your nosey cop ass out of here.” He peeked over my shoulder toward the mouth of the alley. “Is that lady investigator with you?”

“Yes,” I whispered back, then motioned to the gang members looking on. “What are you doing? What’s all this?”

Dodging Holland’s questions about the plague was a cinch compared to the explaining I would have to do ifwe stumbled onto seven Bloody Hex members lurking around shuttered businesses. If I knew Avery, they were up to no good and ready to rain chaos that would rival Sunday night’s scene at DiaLogix Labs. I had yet to follow up with Holland about her findings in the wreckage. Taking another cue from Grimm by trying not to look too interested.

Avery’s self-assured smile returned as he answered, “We’re having an earthquake.”

If I could have, I would have dragged the conjurer somewhere private to discuss this. But, with the newbies at his back, gawking and gossiping, and Holland just around the corner, we would have to hash it out here.

“Why an earthquake?” I asked.

“Just a small one.” He held up two pinched fingers, then seemed to think better and gestured with his hands about six inches apart. “Like a ‘fuck you very much’ to this—” he looked around again, “—quarter mile.”

“Why, though?”

Avery bounced his shoulders. “I wanted a fire, but that guy does the earth stuff.” He jerked his thumb toward Ethan Everett, who touched his chest as though asking if he’d been summoned. Avery quickly waved him off. “So, we went with that.”

I stood, feeling the same bewilderment that had overtaken me at the lab job. At least this time, there would be no casualties.

The conjurer pointed at the cigarette burning up in my hand. “You gonna smoke that?”

Ash had collected on the tip of the cig, and I flicked it away before taking a long drag. The deep breath gaveme an excuse to think longer and Avery a chance to keep talking.

“We really can’t be running into each other like this.” He edged in close to poke his elbow into my gut. “Might need to coordinate schedules. Have your people call my people and so on.”

“I don’t have people, you dick.”

“Ihave people.” He waved to the waiting crowd. “Didn’t know how I felt about the whole gang leader role, but I’ve decided it suits me.”

“Sure, it does.” I searched the gathered Hex members once more, looking for a certain dark shadow in their midst. “Where’s Ripley?”

“Not far,” Avery replied. “He’s our getaway driver.”

I shook my head. “You’re really gonna do this? A fucking earthquake?”

“Small one.” He sized it up with his hands again. “Nothing about a 4.0, I swear, and real localized. Just to shake things up a bit.”

I’d arrived at the same impasse twice in one week. I couldn’t stop this, or even effectively protest. My only option was to minimize my own involvement. That meant removing myself and my Capitol counterpart from the scene.

“Gimme ten minutes,” I told Avery. “I’ll clear out the investigator, so you have some room to work. And get away. If you get caught, though, I’m not helping.”

“Wouldn’t expect you to.”

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