Page 35 of Mystic Justice
Thackeray leaned forward. ‘He kills, Stacy,’ he said bluntly.
‘And so do I,’ I shot back. ‘It’s in my job description. As it is in his.’
Thackeray sat back into his chair. ‘Tread carefully,’ he said finally, tone still soft. Then he reached into his desk, pulled out a police warrant card and slid it across the desk.
I picked it up. It was a warrant card for me and the difference between it and my current one was immediately clear. My rank was no longer Detective Inspector, but Detective Chief Inspector.
‘Congratulations DCI Wise,’ Thackeray said. ‘Don’t screw this up. Dismissed.’
‘Thank you for the opportunity, sir.’
I walked out of his office without a backward glance, my brain already whirring as to my next steps.
Without a large enough office for all of us to gather in, I used SPEL to tell everyone in the newly dubbed Unit 13 to go to the refs room. We’d chuck anyone else out. Luckily, given that it was so early in the day, the room was empty when we arrived.
‘Channing,’ I said briskly, ‘close the door and keep an eye out.’ The door had a pane of glass at head height through which he could peer. The room had no privacy runes so we’d have to keep a lookout for nosy interlopers.
‘All right,’ I said when everyone was gathered. ‘I know this is a pretty big shake up. Thackeray is working on a secure facility for us but for now we’ve caught a case and we don’t have time to fuck around. Our killers have killed twice in one day; they’ll go for a third and probably a fourth. The killings look like they’re the work of dark witches but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Vampyrs use runes, and elves too.’
‘And so can anyone who knows the shape of the runes,’ Elvira added. ‘You only need a drop of magic for them to work. That opens the pool right up.’
‘You’re right, but it’s forbidden for witches to teach non-witches the runes of power. Besides, most people know how dangerous they are – screwing around with them is a quick wayto get your magic extinguished. Most amateurs wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole. Either way, we still have too many loose leads. Elvira, Bland, see if you can follow Hollings’ dad on CCTV. Let’s rule him out.’
‘On it,’ they both chorused.
‘Great. McCaffrey, I know it’s a pain in the ass but I want you to review the CCTV for the night of the kidnapping again. Don’t use Ji-ho because he has enough on his plate, do it yourself. One glimpse of the kidnapper could crack the whole thing wide open.’
McCaffrey nodded, though she didn’t look especially happy at the idea of repeating work. She didn’t need to like it; she just needed to do it. ‘Get yourself plugged into the SPEL system with an alert, too,’ I continued. ‘If any centaurs are reported missing, I want to know about it the second it goes live.’ She nodded again.
‘Frost, I want you to canvas the Grove where the centaur’s body was found. I’m not taking Jingo’s word that no one saw anything. Ask if anyone heard planes or helicopters at the time and check the local private runway’s flight records. Let’s rule out human machines as the method of … deploying the centaur, then we can focus on Other methods.’
I turned to our admin assistant, who was poised with a pen and pad of paper at the ready. She looked smart and professional, but I could see the nervousness in her eyes. This was way out of her comfort zone.Me too, Laura, me too.
‘Laura, I want you to prepare a file on Jude Jingo. He’s cropped up a few times in this investigation and I need to take a hard look at him. He hangs out at the Lion’s Nest with his man, Reed, so pull up information on both the location and his second. Compile a report for me using the Connection system. Jingo is using the Grosvenor grove to movesomethingand I want to know what.’
Laura’s pen flew across the pad of paper as she wrote down the instructions in spiky writing.
‘Frost, while you’re interviewing the dryads I want you to press them. See what they’ll tell you about Jingo.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘Channing, dig into Moss’s witchy work bestie, Lena Shaw. She was off shift at the time of the kidnapping and went out at around 10.30pm to see friends.’
‘Seems late to be meeting mates,’ Elvira commented.
‘Not really,’ Channing interjected. ‘She’s young, like Moss. The youth of today often have a drink or two at home before meeting up to hit the pubs or clubs. It saves money.’
Thirty-something Elvira looked down her nose at Channing, ‘Are you implying that I’m not part of the youth of today?’
Channing reddened. ‘Um, no. Of course you’re still young. But you’re, you know, a full woman, not a scrimping teen.’
Bland elbowed Elvira. ‘You hear that? You’re afullwoman. Not even a half-woman.’ He snickered and Channing’s blush deepened.
I glared at Bland and cleared my throat authoritatively. ‘Thank you for that.’ Turning back pointedly to Channing, I continued. ‘We’ve got a list of Miss Shaw’s friends. Run them down and see if she has an alibi. Once you know where the ladies went, cross-check with the bars and restaurants they say they visited. In the meantime, I’ll be digging into the remaining Botany employees we haven’t spoken to and Sandra Jaxim, our witch who lied about leaving work early on the night of Hollings’ death.’ I hesitated. ‘I’ll also be working with our civilian consultant, Robert Krieg.’
McCaffrey blinked. ‘Krieg as in the King of the Ogres?’
‘One and the same.’
