He spread out his hands, and Viktor felt a surge of magic. Everybody in the room froze, with the exception of Carmine. It was like seeing a table of statues. One man had his fork halfway up to his mouth. Even his gravy, which was dripping off the end had frozen in midair.
“I decided to make where you were private regardless.” Ant inhaled sharply. “Carmine Doukas, you are charged with interfering in magic. I need you to come along with me immediately.”
“Interfering with magic?” Carmine leaned back in his chair and burst out laughing – laughter that was met with silence. Sitting up, Carmine looked at his guests on both sides of the table. “What have you done?”
“For the second time, I said I wanted this meeting conducted in private. Carmine Doukas, on March 18, you came across a Mage Academy student celebrating his exam scores. You befriended him, plied him with copious alcohol the young man was not usedto, and then pressed him into enjoying accommodations and company that you had arranged for the night.”
“I was doing my good deed for the night. The man was so drunk he couldn’t remember his name. I could hardly let him drive home in such a dangerous condition.”
“No.” Ant’s frown deepened. “Instead, in an effort no doubt to keep an eye on the student concerned, you videotaped the student’s entire night, including a highly embarrassing attempt at sexual intercourse with the woman you introduced him to and who had spent two hours pawing at his crotch.”
“Young love. Who am I to interfere?” Carmine picked up his fork and leaned over, poking it against Hammond’s hand. “Can they even hear us like this?”
“If they could hear, then this meeting wouldn’t be private. Continuing on, when you sent the student home the following day, you made a point of letting the student know that for as long as he did a few favors for you, you would make sure no one at the Academy would know what he’d been up to.”
“The youngster was a student. A mage student, no less. It’s not like he could cover the bill for the hotel or the hooker.”
“That’s hardly doing him a favor.” Viktor noticed Able nudging Ant’s leg and moved a little closer. “Four days after that harrowing incident, you used your town car to collect the student from his home and took him out to Blumen Park – specifically the site of where your sister Carol was murdered ten years ago.”
You haven’t got any smart response to that, have you, Carmine?Viktor was poised, ready to move on Carmine or assist Ant, the moment it was needed.
“You arranged for the student to lay magical wards and a quicksand trap in the vicinity of that murder site. The same murder site that you had already paid me, the same day, to go out and do a scene reading of. It is the decision of the Mage Justiciary, based on the testimony provided by the student this afternoon and confirmed by the scene reading I did at the park…
“You said you couldn’t do a reading at Carol’s murder scene.” Carmine was half out of his chair, but a growl from Viktor stopped him.
“I lied. I read the scene the day I found the poorly constructed magical wards and the quicksand trap. I know what happened the night your sister died and who was responsible. However, I wasn’t talking about that reading. I was talking about the reading I did this morning to identify the student responsible for placing the magic where I found it and to confirm that you were at the scene.”
“I wasn’t at the scene.” Picking up a half-empty glass, Carmine scowled at Ant over the edge of it, before taking a drink.
“Your lies stink, Carmine, even more than the drugs in the air.” Viktor waved his hand like a fan in front of his nose.
“Not lying. I was not at the site of my sister’s murder.”
“I imagine that depends on how large an area you consider Carol’s murder scene to be,” Ant said quietly. “You were standing three feet in front of your car – the gray one with your personalized plate – that was parked on the service road, roughly ten feet from the place where Carol’s body was left to be found.
“You were wearing a gray suit, black shoes, a white shirt, and black sunglasses – Ray Bans if I’m not mistaken – and your Rolex had a matching black strap as opposed to the gold strapyou are wearing this evening. You were standing with your arms folded across your chest, and you couldn’t stop smirking.”
“The student said all that, and you believed him?”
“No, the student could barely remember anything of that afternoon as he was absolutely terrified of the gun your driver was pointing at him through the partially open driver’s side window of the car. I was the one who gave those details to the Mage Justiciary when I took the student in for questioning, based on the second reading I did at the scene. It’s my job to remember crime scene details, Mr. Doukas.”
“You’re wasted at the Mage Academy, the same as you’re wasted when you were spending your time with the police.” Carmine scowled at Bains, who was still frozen. “Take him, for example. Your precious captain. More than twenty years married and suddenly he’s acting as though he’s just realized what his dick is for. And that one’s no better.”
Carmine pointed at Hammond. “He’s barely hanging onto his house because of his gambling debts – money he owes me. And the thing is, he doesn’t care if evidence gets lost or misinterpreted during a case I have an interest in, provided he can just keep gambling. It’s a sickness, a disease, but he’s not looking for a cure. He just wants to keep playing those slots. Everyone has a weakness. You can’t blame me for filling their needs.”
“I wouldn’t know about any of that,” Ant said, and Viktor noticed his face was closed off. “Mages are not allowed to gamble as they have an unfair advantage and chasing skirts never interested me.”
“Perhaps not. But what about your sister, the beautiful Bridget? I’m sure you’d do anything possible if it meant getting her out of a sticky situation.”
“Fuck you, Carmine.” Viktor went to lunge at the man, but a slight head shake from Ant held him back. “He’s threatening her again.”
“No, he’s not, he’s trying to get a rise out of me. I believe that’s what you call it. Bridget wouldn’t want me saving her from a sticky situation of her own choosing. She’d kick me in my privates if she knew I’d even considered compromising my principles – the principles she taught me.”
Ant inhaled again, meeting Carmine’s eyes. “Carmine Doukas, you are required to come with me. You are being charged with interfering with the work of a magic user, namely myself, and that is considered a criminal offense by the Mage Justiciary, and by extension, the federal authorities.”
“Make me.”
Viktor didn’t like the calculating look in Carmine’s eyes. Zapping across the room, he grabbed Carmine’s arm and dragged him out of his chair. “If the man says to come with him, then you’d better believe you’re not staying here.”
