I drove back to my own house, unnerved. There was absolutely no sign, physical or arcane, that anything had been disturbed, but there was a visceral part of me that knew that someone—or something—had been in that house in the last day.

Chapter 17

I dumped my bag by the front door and immediately headed down to my basement. An uncomfortable sense of urgency nagged at me—heightened now by the oddities of Tessa’s house and her possible mystery visitor. And screw Kehlirik and his suggestion that I replace the wards on my own. Next full moon I’m summoning someone to do it for me. My wards sucked ass. I had no problem admitting that.

I carefully sketched out the next section of the diagram, resisting the desire to rush through it in order to get the damn thing working sooner. It would take only one incorrect sigil to render the entire thing useless, and I was fairly sure that I didn’t have the luxury of time to try this again if the first attempt failed.

I opened my backpack and arranged the items carefully within the diagram. The teacup, the comb, the scarf. I also added the picture of the two of us dressed like Purple People. The glop of blood, hair, and fingernails had dried into a nasty dark-brown crust around the inner circle, and I had to be very careful not to touch any of it in case a crucial aspect of it flaked away.

Inhaling, I pulled potency, weaving it into the runes in a careful progression. The power came in uncomfortable sputters thanks to the waning moon, and after just a few minutes I was sweating with the effort of feeding it into the diagram.

I finally released the potency and stepped back, eyeing the diagram nervously. It remained quiescent, and dismay began to knot my throat as seconds ticked by. I made a mistake somewhere. Shit. I’m going to have to start over from the beginning. But where the hell had I screwed up? Starting over wouldn’t do me any good if I repeated the mistake.

Then the diagram gave a sudden pop, which I felt more than heard, and began to resonate. Relief washed through me, and I had to bend over and put my hands on my knees for a few seconds. Okay, crisis averted. I hope.

I made my way upstairs, legs shaking from exhaustion. I collapsed into bed, but, despite my fatigue, I slept badly—worry about my aunt and her house crowding my dreams and waking me repeatedly.

I was also apparently still angsting pretty heavily over my argument with Ryan, judging by the number of unsettling dreams that featured him. I woke with a headache a few minutes before my alarm went off, then stared morosely at my bedroom ceiling as the sun speared annoying fingers of light through my blinds.

It bugged the shit out of me that we’d had a fight—a strange and stupid one at that—and the thought that we might not still be friends left me with a dull ache in my chest. Okay, so he might never be interested in me beyond friendship, but that was better than nothing at all.

Right?

I was in no mood to go in to work, but I still possessed enough shreds of pride that I didn’t want to waste a sick day on wallowing in self-pity. Not that I wasn’t unspeakably tempted to do so as I huddled under my covers. But I suspected that I was turning into one of those horribly needy people who cling far too hard to people who are nice to them. I liked Ryan. Quite a bit. But how much of that was simply because we shared knowledge of the arcane? I wanted very much to think that there was more to our friendship than that, but maybe I’d misread the signs out of my deep desire for there to be more.

I groaned and stuffed my head under the pillow. It was true. I did want there to be more. “I am so pathetic,” I mumbled into my pillow.

On the other hand, why would he be so overly protective of me—even if it was rather insulting—if he didn’t consider me to be a good friend? And how much of my reaction to him the other night had been fueled by a fair amount of guilt that he was right—at least partially? I’d certainly jumped right into Rhyzkahl’s arms on our first encounter, though the reasons for that were far too layered for me to begin to peel apart. But, in my own defense, I hadn’t succumbed to his thrall, or whatever Ryan was afraid of. I was still me.

Right?

And for that matter, who are you, Ryan Kristoff? I thought, feeling suddenly defensive. How the fuck do demons know who you are?

I threw off the covers and practiced a few choice curse words. This entire line of thought was a sure way to drive myself nuttier than I already was.

It was barely six a.m. After a moment’s thought, I pulled on workout clothes, packed a gym bag, grabbed some work-quality clothes, then headed to the gym. I was the kind of member the gym loved: My dues were automatically debited from my checking account once a month, and I showed up about half as often as that. But I felt a deep need to sweat some annoyance and frustration out, and this was a better option than cleaning my house.

To my surprise, the gym was fairly crowded, and I realized belatedly that everyone else was also trying to squeeze a workout in before work. I saw a number of familiar faces, though after a few minutes of racking my brain for names, I realized that they were familiar because I’d seen them recently, at Brian Roth’s funeral. Elected officials, or people in the social scene. No one I actually knew.

I didn’t have much of a workout plan in mind, which was probably a good thing since most of the equipment was occupied. I finally settled for a workout that consisted of: Wander around until you see an open machine and then do that exercise. Amazingly, at the end of twenty minutes I felt like I’d accomplished something. I put in another twenty minutes on the elliptical trainer, and then showered, changed, and made it in to work barely on time.

I didn’t see Boudreaux or Pellini in their offices as I headed to mine, but somehow I doubted that they were out tracking down leads in the deaths of Carol and Brian. More likely, they were conducting a thorough investigation of the breakfast menu at Lake o’ Butter Pancake House.

I allowed myself to feel virtuous as I settled in at my desk, pleased when my lieutenant walked by my office and gave me a nod in passing, and doubly pleased when I heard him inquire a few seconds later as to the whereabouts of everyone else.

Now that I’d successfully established to the rank that I looked like I was working, it was time to actually do the work that would hopefully give me some results. It was, unfortunately, boring, but after three hours I had managed to type up subpoenas for the Sharps’ financials, so I could verify for myself everything Elena Sharp had told me.

Definitely action-movie material.

The courthouse was only a block away from the station, but it was already hot enough that my blouse clung to me after just that short walk. I breathed a sigh of relief as the air-conditioned climate of the courthouse enveloped me, not even caring that in about a minute I’d be covered in goose bumps as the sweat dried.

I gave a nod to the officers working courthouse security, giving an extra smile to Latif—the tall dark-skinned woman holding the metal-detector wand. She was an amazon, with hair cut so short she might as well have shaved her head, but on her it totally worked and made her look like a gorgeous badass. We’d been in the same class at the academy, finishing one-two in the academic portion. She was number one. She’d have been a terrific road cop, in my opinion, but she was a single mom and had told me that not only did she need the more normal hours of courthouse work, but she also couldn’t put herself in a position to leave her daughter without a mother. I could totally respect that.

Latif gave me a wide smile as I passed through the security area. “Hey, woman. Whatcha got going on?”

I lifted the manila folder with my subpoenas. “The exciting side of investigations. The paperwork.”

She chuckled. “Warrants?”

“Subpoenas.”

“Woo. The really fun stuff!” she said, as she peered at a piece of paper on the desk by the X-ray machine. “Well, Judge Roth is supposed to be the duty judge today, but he’s not in.”

“I’m not surprised. The funeral was only the day before yesterday.”

Latif grimaced. “Yeah. He’s been out since it happened. That whole thing sucks. Oh, here we go. Judge Laurent is taking duty today.”

I’d had warrants signed by Judge Laurent before, so I knew where his chambers were. I made my good-byes to Latif, then headed up to the second floor.

His secretary sat behind the desk out front—a curvy brunette who managed to look lush instead of pudgy. I envied this ability. She gave me a smile as I closed the door behind me. “You need something signed?”

I lifted the folder containing the subpoenas. “If he’s not too busy?”

She took the folder from me. “Well, he’s always busy,” she said, “but I’m sure he has time to take care of this. Let me run this back to him.”

She exited through a side door and returned about a minute later, motioning me to go on back. I gave her a smile of thanks as I went through the door and walked down the short hallway to the judge’s chambers.

I’d been in Judge Laurent’s courtroom several times, testifying in various cases. He’d been on the bench for at least twenty years and would probably be retiring in a few more. He looked like a crotchety wizard, and every time I saw him I couldn’t help but think that he needed only a pointed hat and a staff to go with his judicial robes.

So far I’d managed to refrain from offering that suggestion.

He gave me a crinkled little smile as I entered, then went back to perusing the subpoenas. “Financial stuff, eh?”

“Yes, your honor. I want to verify some information given to me during an interview.”

His lips twitched as he glanced up at me. “What, you don’t believe everything that a suspect tells you?”

“I guess I’m the suspicious sort, sir,” I said, smiling.

He chuckled as he began to page through the documents. “This is for the Davis Sharp death? I didn’t realize it had been ruled a homicide.”

“The final ruling isn’t in, but there’s some evidence of blunt force trauma that’s inconsistent with a simple fall in the shower.” I wasn’t telling him anything that a press release wouldn’t contain.

“Hunh. His wife is a suspect?”

“Well, she hasn’t been completely ruled out, but there are other possible suspects as well.” It was beside the fact that I had no idea who those other possible suspects might be.

He snorted in derision. “Sharp was too used to having his fingers in every political pie. Just because he knew everyone from that damn restaurant of his, he thought that meant he could get away with anything.” He scowled as he scanned the papers. “And unfortunately, he usually did.”

Now, this was interesting. “What sort of things?”

Judge Laurent glanced up at me, then leaned back in his chair. “Well, like his two kids. Both complete pieces of shit. Both have been nailed for misdemeanor drug charges or simple battery several times. And I can’t count the number of times Sharp has called me up, wanting me to pull some strings to ‘fix’ things.” The scowl etched itself deeper onto his face. “I’ve taken only one campaign contribution from him.” He chuckled. “Actually, he only ever gave me one. After I finally told him to fuck off, he never contributed again. Go figure.” Then he shrugged. “Not that it made much difference in the end. He found other people to clean up his shit.” He gave me a telling look. “Campaign contributions are a matter of public record. You can look it all up online.”

I couldn’t help but grin. “That’s very good to know, sir.”

He gave me a grave nod, but his eyes were twinkling. He carefully read through the documents, then finally picked up his pen and signed his name to each subpoena. “Good luck with your investigation, Detective Gillian,” he said, as he handed the papers back to me.

“Thank you, your honor.” Well, that had turned out to be more productive than expected. I exited his chambers, giving a wave and smile to his secretary.

My cell phone rang as I neared the courthouse doors. It was Ryan’s number. I looked at the blinking display, trying to decide whether to be mature and answer it or pleasantly childish and hit the ignore button.

Maybe he’s calling to apologize. I sighed and hit the answer button. “Hi, Ryan.”

“Where are you?”

My finger twitched toward the disconnect button, but I managed to restrain myself. “I’m doing just peachy, and thank you for asking,” I replied. “I was getting subpoenas signed. I’m just leaving the courthouse.”

“You hungry?” His tone was clipped and stiff.

I was, but did I want to be subjected to more of the same judgmental crap? I screwed my face into a grimace. “Yeah, sure, what the hell.” I was such an optimistic idiot.

“Okay, meet me at the Ice House in fifteen.” Then he hung up. I stared down at the phone, debating whether I should call him back and tell him to fuck off. But maybe he’s the type who’s lousy with apologies. I sighed and clipped the phone back onto my belt. Yes, I was definitely an optimistic idiot. But the alternative was to write him off completely, and I couldn’t bring myself to do that.

I walked back to the station and to my car, jamming the air-conditioner control to the max as soon as I had it started and rolling down the windows to allow the broiled air within to escape.

The Ice House was only a few miles from the station, along the street that ran parallel to the railroad tracks. I’d been to this restaurant only a couple of times before, but I remembered it as being a quiet, dark place with deep booths. It had been an actual icehouse a few decades ago, and then it was converted into a family-style restaurant a few years after the real facility had shut down. They’d converted the vats into large round booths and left all the piping visible. It was a pretty neat interior, but the food hadn’t measured up, and the Ice House restaurant closed a few years later. Since then it had been a Chinese restaurant, a seafood buffet, another family-style restaurant, a barbecue house, and still another family-style restaurant, all maintaining the same interior look. It had suffered through a variety of names, but everyone always just called it the Ice House.