Page 31 of Devil Bound
“I see.”Mitch nodded and once more appraised me as if I were the most interesting thing he’d seen all day.
I ran a hand over my jacket before I could stop myself, afraid something yucky had gotten on me, but Mitch’s smile told me it was fine.Come to think of it, he’d been pretty unflinching inside the tent too, almost like Christine.
“I’ll have to walk the poodle again before I join you.”
I’d left the scene once before, more to get out of that tent than because I was worried about Soul’s bladder, but no one needed to know that.
Christine shook her head in exasperation.
“Don’t see why you got a dog with the hours you work, Hawkes.”
I’d omitted the small detail that Soul was that same cursed poodle I’d told her I was going to take care of a year ago.I didn’t want Christine to fear for public safety and have Soul put down.
“I’m just dog-sitting, actually.For a…an acquaintance.”
That was true enough, and Lucifer was going to take the damn poodle back.I’d make sure of that.
“They must’ve been desperate,” Christine said before walking off, and I wondered whether it was a comment on my perceived ability to keep a pet alive or just genuine worry about how my nonexistent work schedule affected my ability to take care of a pet.Then again, maybe it was me raising that raven and her wondering whether I preferred my pets dead.
Sexy Mitch followed her, but he took the time to smile at me over his shoulder.Fuck.I had to figure out if there was any regulation against me dating a cop I worked with.
Double fuck.I was getting ahead of myself, but if Sexy Mitch was open to dating… My mouth watered.For someone who’d not succeeded in dating despite giving it my best, I was pretty damn sure I was owed something from the universe, and maybe Sexy Mitch was it.
With my mind’s eye on that metaphorical ball, I left the ominous white tent behind, but I hadn’t managed three steps before one of the cops working in the marshes caught my attention by waving his arm and slogging toward me, his boots squelching.
“Hawkes!Wait!”
“Yeah?”
The cop had gotten his pants and jacket wet despite the rubber boots.The tide would probably have come in by now, making the water level rise.I didn’t like working in the tent, but outside couldn’t be much better.Getting your feet wet while digging for corpses had to suck.
The cop waved an evidence bag.“Can you have a look at this?We found it over there, and the markings… See for yourself.”
“Okay?”
I took the bag from his gloved hands and peered at its contents through the plastic.
Inside, a coin shimmered dully through encrusted dirt.It was larger than a regular coin, and even though it had oxidized, I could tell it was silver.The coin was a talisman, a focal point for power, something that helped a magic user gather and channel their power.I could just about make out a pentagram carved into it, though the dirt was too thick to make out the runes the magic user had added.
I bit my lip.
“Let me see if I can match that to one of our victims inside.”
The officer nodded.“It’s one of those magic things, right?”
“A talisman, yes.”
I went back inside the tent, and the officer followed me.Simon and the other techs glanced up from their work as we came in.They’d put numbered cards down next to the remains I’d grouped; corner pieces of this people puzzle we were solving.
“Gloves!”the tech at the first table said, and pointed.
I ground my teeth, but turned and pulled on a pair, then I held the talisman in my right hand while touching the remains with my left.It wasn’t the first victim’s, so I went on to the second.
“And change them, Hawkes!”the tech called after me.“You have heard about cross contamination, haven’t you?”
“Yes, sorry,” I ground out.
The officer who’d found the coin stepped aside.He’d paled at the sight of the bodies laid out like they were—not unusual.It was one thing going out there to find the bags, quite another to see what had been inside of them.
