The benefit of rarely being home involved not having to clean to keep my apartment presentable. I should’ve done the little things my mother insisted made guests feel at ease, but I didn’t.
If my guests wanted a proper welcome, they needed to return another day. I flopped onto my couch and groaned. “Do whatever you want, but I’ll drown you if you make me move.”
“Pizza?” Luke asked.
“Bring to me, I’ll eat it.”
He chuckled and sat at my feet. “I’ll try to keep you awake—and order something questionably healthy for you. What’s the deal with Ray?”
“I was tired when he barged in. That’s all.”
The rest of Luke’s quad took over my living room, and Eddy strode in through my front door hot on their heels. “Chief Brewer is sweeping the block, did you know? He had one of his goons pull me over to ask if I knew anything about Detective Hunk. I played dumb.”
“Great,” I muttered. “I tell one person I tangoed with a cop, and everyone gets in on the action. I told Brewer I was tired. It’s not my fault Detective Davis barged into my office.”
“Detective Hunk?” Luke asked, his tone amused. “I’m sorry, but that’s funny. I can’t imagine you stealing anything. Your old man would have a field day with you. Do you even shop?”
I lifted my feet and showed him my shoes. “These are my weakness.”
Luke’s brow rose. “Eddy, closet check.”
“She stares at them through the window and drools. She wouldn’t steal any shoes, but she definitely sighs sadly on the pairs she likes but won’t buy.”
I was surrounded by traitorous minions. “Thanks, Eddy. See if I take you shoe shopping with me again.”
“I’m the only one who’ll put up with you refusing to go inside the stores.”
Luke grinned and patted my feet. “I’ll take you shopping,” he promised. “Ethan likes shoes.”
The medium grunted. “Just order dinner, Luke.”
“I already did. I was doing it while Chief Brewer was talking to the boss. I asked if she wanted pizza to look nice.”
“Well played, Luke.”
“You’re tired enough I could order you something vile. You wouldn’t notice.” Grabbing my ankle, Luke removed my shoe. “Is this an expensive shoe?”
“Ten dollars,” I admitted. “They’re comfortable, thank you very much.”
Luke chucked it towards the front door. The second one joined the first a moment later. “Go take a cold shower and get ready for bed. The pizza should be here by the time you’re done. We’ll talk about the shopping center case while we eat; you’ll get your marching orders when the cops bat it our way.”
“When I’d signed up for the FBI, nobody told me emergency situations would result in sleepover parties.” I sighed and lurched off my couch. “I feel so betrayed by the lack of disclosure.”
“I bet nobody told you that you’d be shortlisted for management, either,” Ethan added. The medium grinned at me. “Thank you for being shortlisted for management, boss.”
“You’re welcome,” I replied, well aware of how many bosses they’d churned through before I’d taken over the show. “All right. I’ll be back soon. Don’t burn down my apartment or do anything destructive. This is a destruction-free zone tonight.”
Leaving the five to gossip, probably about my meeting with Detective Davis, I retreated to the privacy of my bathroom, grateful for my habit of leaving my pajamas hanging on the hook beside my bathrobe.
Ignoring Luke’s advice, I filled my tub with steaming water and bubbles.
Someone knocked at the bathroom door. “That’s not a shower, Olivia,” Luke scolded.
“Fuck you and your stupid rules!”
Silence. Then the bastard minion laughed. “Okay. I’m sorry. Please don’t drown me. And don’t you drown, either. I’ll send Eddy in to check on you if I must.”
Asshole. “I’m not that tired, Luke.”
“Don’t make me send Eddy in there,” he warned.
“Luke, I’m a water elementalist. I’m not going to drown.”
“One can never be too careful, and I don’t want a new boss. Do you know how hard it is to keep a half-decent boss?”
I did. I’d spent the first week of my employment untangling the mess a long chain of temporaries had made of my quads’ careers. “Just because there were a few temporaries—”
“Twenty-six in six months!”
“Just leave me alone so I can enjoy my bath!”
“Okay, okay. Don’t be long. The pizza should be here in ten minutes.”
“Then in ten minutes, Eddy can bring me pizza.”
“Luke, leave her alone,” Eddy ordered. A moment later, Luke yelped. “Enjoy your bath, boss lady.”
I intended to, and I wasted no time ditching my clothes and easing into the water. Nothing beat soaking in bubbles, and the extra hundred a month I paid to have a tub deeper than eight inches was worth it after a long day—or few days. The lavender scented bubbles ensured it’d take a crowbar to get me out before the water turned icy.
Luke and his quad wouldn’t care much, and Eddy had no shame. Nudity didn’t bother her. She went through outfits and gave strangers a show every time she used her magic. While I thought being able to transform into a dragon was worth the clothing bill, she got cranky with me whenever I expressed interest in having her ability.
It wasn’t her fault the clothing bill usually came with a destruction of property fine.
I stretched out and wiggled my toes in the bubbles. After I scarfed a few slices of pizza, I’d play host, turn on a movie, and promptly fall asleep. The noise from the movie would mitigate the usual sounds the quad and Eddy made when insisting on playing bodyguard. I still wasn’t sure why everyone was worried. Nothing indicated I was targeted. While Adrianna had been hit during the incident, if someone had been after me, they would’ve taken out the rest of her quad, too.
When someone in law enforcement was targeted, it was usually personal. Cops involved with an arrest might be targeted, and so might their chiefs—or people like my father.
Dad had been targeted a few times, but nobody tended to figure out Charles Abrams was my father—or that I spent more time visiting my parents than I did at home.
I enjoyed tenderizing anyone who went after my father. The last time, I’d taken down three wanted men, death zone survivors who thought they could get away with murder.
Dad had yelled at me for a full hour for shredding my clothes and giving his cops a show in the aftermath. Frankly, he should’ve been happy I could transform water into blades sharp enough to slice through guns, people determined to kill him, and just about anything I wanted when necessary.
I’d gotten some vindication; my mother had torn into my father for forgetting to thank me properly before she’d taken a turn with me for failing to maintain my modesty.
Then I remembered that when someone did decide to target a member of the FBI management, they tended to draw attention with the biggest bang possible. And hundreds of comatose victims certainly counted as a big bang.
Someone knocked on the door, and I sighed. “What is it?”
“The pizza is here along with Detective Davis,” Luke announced.
The bubbles would protect the little modesty I cared about. “Send him in with my pizza,” I ordered. “Two slices, and if there’s a pepperoni, I want the slices with extra grease and all the best pepperonis.”
“Are you sure?”
“About the pepperonis and extra grease? You better believe I’m serious.”
“I meant about Ray.”
I smiled. “If he wants to talk to me, he can bring me two slices of pizza. That’s my price of admission into my domain.”
“That’s harsh, Olivia.”
“My house, my rules. If Detective Davis wants to talk to me, he’ll bring my pizza to me. If you can handle it, he can handle it.”
“Have I ever told you that you’re pure evil?”
“But I’m pure evil who doesn’t skimp on your hazard pay. Either send him in or send him home until tomorrow. Right now is bath time, Luke. I’ve earned this bath, and I’m not leaving it early unless one of my quads direly needs me.”
“You got it, boss.”
I wondered if Detective Raymond Davis would enter my sanctum. If I wanted to shine a little light on my day, I’d tease him with my magic. Him in a wet shirt would be worth the awkward—for him—meeting in my bathroom.
Whatever had sent him chasing after me to Berkeley was important enough he knocked once, mumbled something through the door, and entered at my invitation, bringing a plate with two gloriously greasy slices of pepperoni with him. “Special Agent Abrams.”
“Guardian Angel of Pizza,” I replied, reaching for my dinner and wagging my fingers so he’d hurry up and feed me. “What can I do for you?”
“Did you call headquarters?” He brought the plate closer, keeping his eyes averted so he wouldn’t catch even a peek of me, holding it out so I could receive his offering.
Luke may have ordered the pizza, but he who brought the pizza won my favor.
Once I took possession of my dinner, I set the plate on the tub’s ledge and secured a slice, stuffing as much as I could in my mouth to ease my stomach’s demand for immediate sustenance. I chewed enough so I wouldn’t choke before gulping it down. “Got bumped to the terrorism case?”
“Someone forged a connection with the stolen koi statuette. As a result, I’m now the investigative co-lead.” He turned his back to me, and he even avoided the mirror, which gave me a good view of his face.
Luke was right; I had an evil streak a mile wide. I lifted my leg out of the water, bracing my foot against the faucet, taking another bite of my dinner. “Well, well, well, Detective Davis. Congratulations. Leading a high-profile investigation will move you up in the world.”
“I investigate high-profile robberies!”
“This is as high-profile as it gets. You don’t need to be an experienced homicide investigator. If anything, you’ll do a better job than a homicide detective. Thieves think in a different way from most killers. If this guy wanted to kill people, there’d be a lot more fatalities. What he’s up to, however? That I can’t tell you. Do your job, call in people with the skills you need when you lack them, and do what you do best. Find out who stole the statuette and why.”
The cop whirled, and his eyes locked onto my bubble-covered calf.
I smiled. “The co-lead part isn’t a bad deal for you, either. Means you might get a chance to sleep some nights.”
“You’re the co-lead.”
Surprise, surprise, surprise. I arched a brow, gave my pizza some more tender, loving care, and counted the seconds while waiting for him to escape the lure of my sudsy leg. A minute later, I worried I’d broken him. If my leg derailed him so badly, I’d have to take steps to make certain he didn’t get a view of my chest.
He might die.
“I expected them to delay until tomorrow to have someone tell me,” I admitted.
Detective Hunk, as shy as accused, averted his gaze, accidentally stared into the mirror, and his face turned red. “Why?”
“I’m a workaholic who avoids sleep.”
“Is that why you have a quad here?”
“They’re worrywarts. As soon as you’re finished with me, I’m going to bed. Have Luke or Eddy give you my contact info and schedule. I’ll need yours as well. The next few days will be hell, but you’ll find it becomes a game of hurry up and wait. Delegation will be your best friend until this case is a wrap.”
“That’s not what I wanted to hear.”
“I’d hope not. Anyone who wants to run these operations are lunatics. We’ll make a game plan in the morning.”
“How is it you, one of the possible suspects, became a lead investigator of this case?”
I laughed. “It’s simple. I didn’t steal the statuette, I’m one of the hardest hitters California has to offer, and despite appearances, I only screw with the cops a little. Get some sleep, Detective Davis. You’ll need it more than I do. I’m used to this. You’re not.”
He fled, and I held in my laughter until I heard the front door slam.
“You’re a bad person, boss,” Luke announced through the door. “What did he ever do to you?”
“He accused me of theft.”
“The poor man was blushing, Olivia.”
“It’s not my fault he likes my legs. They’re good legs, though. I appreciate his admiration.”
“What did you do to him?”
“I just needed to stretch my leg. I’m relaxing, Luke. Relaxing. Can’t a woman stretch her leg in her own tub without judgment?”
“You’re an evil woman. Please tell me you were otherwise covered.”
“With bubbles.”
“Did you have to?”
“Yes. Eddy isn’t the only one who has wardrobe accidents, and if I need to use my magic, he might get a show. I don’t want him to suffer a seizure should that happen in a public place. Nor do I feel like I should wear pants to preserve his peace of mind. He needs to get used to the fact I have legs and he likes them.”
“You haven’t torn your clothes off in two years. Don’t feed me that. You wanted him to see your legs.”
Yes, I had. “I’m overdue.”
“Take it easy on the poor guy, please. He’s sensitive.”
“He’s also hot when he blushes, Luke. Give him a week with me around. He’ll be fine.”
“Or numbed due to overexposure to his living hell.”
“Fine, he can be numb then—whatever it takes to make it so he can converse with me without fleeing. I’ll accept a basic tolerance of my existence, too.”
“Just take it easy on him, okay?”
“At the very minimum, he can’t run away from me when we’re working, even if I’m wearing a short skirt.”
Luke sighed. “Fair enough. Try not to relax in the tub all night. You do need actual sleep.”
“As I told Detective Davis, you’re a worrywart.”
“But I’m a right worrywart, so hurry it up.”
I laughed, and because I had no doubt Luke would go to extremes until I did what he wanted, I did as told without complaint.
I never made it to my couch. Luke redirected me to my bedroom, shut the door, and swore he’d have Isaac sedate me if I didn’t cooperate. Generally quiet Isaac could—and would. A blood sucker like him could drop me to the floor in less than a minute, controlling my blood to accomplish his dirty work. Of all the members of Luke’s quad, Isaac frightened people the most.
His ability did one thing well: it killed.
Isaac hated killing people, but he needed blood to survive. Thanks to his magic, he couldn’t produce his own blood. Every three days, if he didn’t receive a transfusion, he ran a high risk of death.
I should’ve known I’d end up donating first thing in the morning. Stress and use of his magic shorted his clock, requiring a larger transfusion sooner to ensure his ongoing survival. Donating was a surefire way of ensuring I’d spend the rest of the day staggering about in a daze. Unfortunately, as Isaac’s boss, it was my job to top him up when his tank got low so he wouldn’t fall prey to desperation and terror of death.
Isaac was still latched onto my wrist when someone knocked at my door. He growled, the predator in him unwilling to give up his meal.
I’d grown used to his predatory possessiveness; exposure helped. I stroked my hand over his hair to reassure him. “Relax, Sucky McSuckyface. Nobody is going to steal your breakfast.”
I wished it didn’t take him an agonizing hour to feed, but I had forgotten to replace my field transfusion kit and hadn’t been willing to wait for Luke to go get one, not with Isaac hissing and eyeing Ethan hungrily. Jamie, the low-ranked earth elementalist with a knack for seeing things people wished he wouldn’t and a minor talent for healing, had gone out to get a couple of kits for the future—and so he wouldn’t have to watch Isaac treat me like a chew toy.
In good news, Isaac monitored my vitals and controlled how much blood I lost to him, able to draw out enough blood to satisfy him until I could call in extra donors. As I liked living, I never questioned Isaac when he claimed it would take an hour to an hour and a half to do his work without putting me at risk.
Luke got to his feet and went to the door, cracking it open. “You’re early. You can come in, but Isaac’s feeding, so if you get nervous or approach without his okay, he might try to take a few sips.”
“Who is the donor?” Detective Davis asked.
“Special Agent Abrams. It’s part of her job as our quad manager. I thought he’d be good for another day, but he burned a lot of energy yesterday. Come on in. She’s going to be out of it for a while, but we can talk while waiting for him to finish.”
I patted Isaac’s shoulder, ignoring his low growls. “See? It’s just a cop, Isaac. Cops are pushovers, so he’s not going to steal your breakfast.”
Detective Davis strolled into my living room, and he stared at where Isaac drank from my wrist. “That has got to hurt like hell.”
“Yep. It’s definitely not a walk in the park. Once he’s done, Jamie will patch me up. I’ll be as good as new within a few hours. We usually plan better. Jamie’s out getting field kits so I have them at home for future use. That way, he’s basically sipping from a straw, which is no biggie in the pain department. Take a load off. What brings you to Berkeley so early this fine morning?”
“There’s been another incident.”
“When and where?”
“Sometime last night, a small apartment building in Oakland near the Berkeley line was hit. It looks like the culprit walked around the exterior of the structure. All victims were within five feet of the exterior wall. They’re being taken to the hospital now. Forensics is going over the scene. Unfortunately, there aren’t any witnesses—or any evidence.”
My morning had started bad, and I’d be contemplating quitting by noon. “We’ll need to chart viable paths from the city center to the apartment building. We might find something—or other victims—along the way. Luke, call Douggie and get his quad on the move. I also want an update on Adrianna and her quad.”
Luke grabbed his phone and headed for my bathroom. “Roger.”
I kept an eye on Isaac while giving Detective Davis the majority of my attention. “Douggie has a decent memento mori photographer in his quad. If a haunter or other incorporeal entity is involved, she might pick it up on her camera. She has a particularly good capture rate. Her resting rate isn’t great, but I send in other photographers to lay the incorporeals to rest when needed. I send her in when I need an identification.”
He frowned, his gaze settling on my wrist where Isaac drank. “Are you going to be able to head onto the streets today?”
Eddy bounced through my front door without knocking and beelined for my kitchen. “I heard that question from outside, for the record. She’s feeding a drainer, she’s not deaf. After lunch, she should be good to go out on a shift, but only if she doesn’t faint after standing up.” With admirable speed, she filled a glass with orange juice and brought it to me. “Bottoms up, Olivia. Try not to faint on us today. I’m far too weak and delicate to catch you.”
“You’re so full of shit, Eddy. Detective Davis, please don’t listen to her nonsense. Afternoon is a good estimate on when I’ll be able to hit the streets with you, but I need to get some other balls rolling before I can leave.”
“Like what?” he challenged.
He was probably siding with Eddy to vex me. “I need to coordinate active quads with the right skills for this job, go over the roster for today’s events and the teams handling them, request temporary quads if needed when I pull people off our main job to find out who is behind this, and so on. I’ll have to go over your evidence and see where it fits with what I’ve already put together, too.”
Luke returned from my bathroom and pointed his phone at me. “Eddy isn’t spouting nonsense, and Ray’s right to listen to her. You called Isaac Sucky McSuckyface. You’re not going anywhere before noon, and that’s only if Jamie pulls out all the stops and patches you up and taps himself out. He can get away with it, as we’re going to be driving around babysitting you, but still.”
Detective Davis smirked. “Her addressing him as Sucky McSuckyface does seem like a general impairment due to blood loss to me.”
Luke snickered and sat beside Isaac, ignoring the drainer’s warning growl. “Relax, Sucky McSuckyface. I certainly have no interest in drinking Olivia’s blood. Top your tank already so she can drink her juice and take a nap while we do all those pesky little chores she needs to do before we can get on the road.”
“Honestly, I’m probably going to have too much desk work to hit the road for a while even with your help,” I admitted. “But if we do get out of here and can do the street work before nightfall, Isaac should be plenty energetic. It’ll give Jamie a chance to rest, too. Detective, you may as well sit down unless you have somewhere to be. This is going to take a while.”
Like Luke, he picked the floor, close enough I could stretch my leg and kick him if I really wanted. Luckily—or unluckily—for him, I was still wearing my pajamas, which included a pair of silk pants. “We have a lot of groundwork to do before we can realistically hit the streets. I’m still getting some push back from the chief about the scanner results, and our suspect list is essentially non-existent.”
I understood; he must’ve already exhausted his general suspect list in the statuette theft to have come knocking at my door in the first place. “Eddy, as I’d rather not have any more slowdowns, make sure your brother does his job for a change. I’m supposed to be an emergency donor, not Sucky McSuckyface’s mainline. I want a daily donor for him until this case is done. We need him in top form. Suggest a community service hours exchange for donation; everyone wins. We’ve done it before, and there are loads of supernaturals who’d appreciate a chance to finish their service hours early.”
Eddy grinned at me and fetched me a second glass of orange juice. “But you’re delicious. Isaac is always so happy when you donate.”
Donating hurt like hell, my entire arm throbbed, and I wanted to go back to bed. “Cute, Eddy.”
“I’ll make sure my brother knows you’ve been Isaac’s chew toy today. Sorry, Detective Davis. I know this interrupts the general game plan, but she noticed him getting growly this morning, so she cut herself with her nail. He latched on, and well, here we are.”
I wrinkled my nose. “It’s part of my job. He’s on a three-day cycle, and I don’t risk the lives of my quad members. Bags don’t work well for him. Eddy can explain.”
While Detective Davis wouldn’t clue in on the reality of my situation, the others would; when I wasn’t up to explaining something about someone I was responsible for, I was either dead, dying, or wishing I could put myself out of my misery—or on the verge of unconsciousness. By the time Isaac finished drinking, I’d be in the last category.
It wouldn’t be the first time Eddy, Luke, or even Isaac had dragged me to bed following a donation.
“He needs the blood and the active magic in her blood. An hour with Olivia can hold him right to the end of his three-day cycle before he must drink again.”
Detective Davis frowned, and he stared into my eyes. “How often do you donate?”
While I disliked his scrutiny about how I handled my quads, I ignored my flare of irritation and gave him the benefit of the doubt; I could get sensitive about Isaac—and any drainer I was responsible for, although I typically donated to Isaac exclusively. “Every few weeks. He’s got a good general donor stable. I think it’s just a case of too much worry and excitement yesterday. He shouldn’t have needed a donor until tomorrow. It happens sometimes.” To reassure Isaac I wasn’t upset with him, I ruffled his hair. “And I get paid a nice bonus.”
“Interesting.” For a moment, something darkened the detective’s expression, and I assumed he was one of the idiots who disliked the existence of those who required the blood of others to survive. “Chief Kirkland suggested we discuss motives while we wait for the labs on the vics to come in. Evidence is sparse. The little we have from two witnesses is incoherent at best, but they both mention a fish in their ranting and raving. Both are terrified to fall asleep, and nobody knows why. They’re incapable of rational thought at this point.”
With such limited information, I couldn’t make any real guesses, but one thing did occur to me. “Perhaps they fear entering a coma, too.”
“That’s what I thought as well. They’re unable to tell us anything else beyond their fear of this fish.”
When odd things happened in the supernatural world, it was my job to find the right specialist, put them on the case, and try to stack as many cards in my favor as possible. “We’ll need to call in some specialists. Empaths might be able to get a good feel for them and cut through the ranting and raving to get to the heart of the matter.”
“What type of empath?”
The suspicion in Detective Davis’s voice cracked me up. “Not the kind who’ll take you to bed and keep you there until you’re drained dry. Drainers of that type have their uses, but I only call them in when I have a rape case or a drainer victim requiring aid. No, I mean a standard empath. They’re generally harmless and rather useful.”
“So sex fiends are drainers, the vamps are suckers or leeches, and do I even want to know what you call illusionists?”
“A figment of my imagination.” I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be rude. Just because you don’t like a certain type of magic doesn’t mean you gotta be mean about it.” I paused, glancing at Isaac. “Okay, I’m mean about it, but I do it to keep my quads on their toes. And Sucky McSuckyface here likes when I tweak his nose. It’s when I’m being overly polite he begins to worry.”
“I’d like to know which terms you use.”
“What do you call drainers? Of the sexual bent, that is.” I expected something rude and common.
“Rapist.”
“Some of them are therapists for victims, doctors, and the best prostitutes money can buy,” I countered.
“Prostitution is illegal.”
I rolled my eyes. “So is having sex with someone you’re not married to. Nobody cares as long as everyone consents. If we charged boyfriends and girlfriends for enjoying themselves in the bedroom, no one would ever solve any real crimes. If you really want to go bust some drainers, give me a call first. I want to watch that train wreck.”
“How are you even in law enforcement?”
I laughed because even my own father asked me that question sometimes, and he usually did it in front of one of my quads just to piss me off. Luke snickered, Eddy joined me in rolling her eyes, and even Isaac grunted. “I pick my battles, Detective Davis. Prostitutes don’t hurt anybody. A drainer with a consenting partner? Let them have their fun. Everyone walks away satisfied from that relationship, and the so-called victim just has to rest in bed for a few days if they go too far. My job is to bring the real risks to society in for justice. Now, if a drainer influences potential clients before money changes hands or they add an addiction element, that’s a different story. That’s when I wade in and beat heads together.”
“I see.”
More disapproval. I wasn’t surprised, and in a way, his innocence amused me. How long would it last with me around? I gave it two or three days at most. “You should donate to Sucky McSuckyface here in a few days. It’s a good experience and you can start developing resistance to a blood sucker’s attacks. Isaac typically stuns his donors, but after a while, you’ll shrug it off. I hardly notice him trying to stun me anymore. He has to get creative if he wants to force me into anything. Most don’t learn how to do anything other than stun victims.”
Isaac growled, and I gently swatted his head. “Behave, Sucky McSuckyface.”
“You’re serious.”
“Very. Back to work. Have the vics been profiled yet?”
“Chief Kirkland has a file on the identified vics, but we’re still missing information on some people,” Detective Davis replied, his expression turning serious. “It’s sparser than I like.”
“Have the files brought here; we can look for connections while I drink my orange juice and keep the worrywarts happy. We can have a sleepover party.”
His serious expression turned strained, and his cheeks reddened. “Here?”
I mourned for the loss of his innocence, which would die from exposure to me. I’d even feel guilty about it for a change. “If I faint in my own home, nobody cares. If I faint at work, it’s a problem. So, I’ll work from here unless we have to hit the streets. If we can start looking for connections in their files, we might get some leads on why the city center was hit. We need to figure out who the real targets are and who were just in the way.”
“I have a file on the statuette’s owner as well.”
“Excellent.” The statuette’s owner would likely have the most critical piece of the puzzle to help us solve the mystery. “Have you spoken to the owner since yesterday’s incident?”
“She’s not answering her phone or door, but she travels a great deal for work.”
“See if you can push through a questioning warrant. Throw my name around and cite the city center case. We need to know what she can tell us about that statuette. We’ll want a good empath on hand to check for lies. It’s a little suspicious about the timing; the thief didn’t wait all that long before using the statuette—assuming the statuette is the source of this event.”
I’d seen too many elaborate coverups to completely surrender to the idea that the statuette was definitively the cause of the city center event.
“Forty-eight hours following the theft, approximately,” he replied.
“Plenty of time to pick targets and plan a deliberate attack, but I’m also concerned that there’s a general sense of urgency. If time wasn’t a factor, a smart thief would wait until the case died down to act. Since you accused me, I’m assuming you’re light on leads, which would make it trivial for the thief to vanish with the statuette.”
Detective Davis grimaced. “You’re correct.”
“You’ve unwittingly signed up for a year of teasing over this issue, and I’m sure Luke would just love to help me with the teasing.”
Egging the cop would entertain me for however long we worked together. With luck, we’d go our separate ways within a week. If we went our separate ways within a week, he wouldn’t have to deal with my father or mother. Any longer than a week, and my parents would inevitably become involved.
Cases like the one we dealt with rarely resolved within a week, and my already chaotic life would become even more complicated.
Then again, maybe we’d get really, really lucky. Stranger things had happened.
Luke chuckled. “Glad to help, boss.”
Detective Davis sighed. “I’ll see if Captain Kirkland can send someone over with the files.” He pulled out his phone to place a call, getting to his feet and excusing himself, heading for the door.
“Eddy? Luke? Once Isaac is done, escort Detective Davis to the copper shop to make sure we get all the files we’ll need.”
“Captain Kirkland isn’t going to be happy with that,” the detective warned.
“He’ll live. He’ll cooperate once he finds out I donated today. He’ll probably request a patrol to keep an eye around my apartment from Berkeley’s cops and the FBI because he’s paranoid. I’ll catch a nap until the documents arrive.”
With a long-suffering sigh, Detective Davis stepped outside to call his boss.