And then she thought of how Saige had been out, tirelessly seeking ways to find Mimir and the other Shadow-Dwellers, all while Becka had invitation after invitation to find them. At least Saige hadn’t been hurt this time, but what if they couldn’t prevent her from continuing to seek the one responsible for Luce’s death?
It was a long time before Becka drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 16
Gingerly sipping her coffee, Becka looked around the conference table. She felt barely awake despite having had a long shower. Saige had insisted on coming in with them, mostly because she didn’t want to miss out on any reveals Gullet might drop. Lydia had barely roused as they’d headed out the door, which wasn’t surprising considering the empty bottle of wine on her nightstand.
Now Saige sat next to her, a perpetual, exhausted frown embedded in her features. She needed a month of sleep straight to recover from her losses and stress. Hamish, Quinn, and Nikkita stood at the screen going over Gullet’s movements for the past few weeks, but Becka wasn’t paying much attention to them.
When a peppy Caeda zipped into the room with a box full of bagels, Becka shifted the conversation. “Can I get you one?” she asked Saige.
Saige nodded. “The everything is my first choice, otherwise plain. And cream cheese.”
Becka sidled up next to Caeda, reaching around her for napkins and the cream cheese container.
“How’s the mood today?” Caeda asked.
“Tense and cranky?” Becka replied. “Not sure how the questioning went overnight yet.”
Caeda frowned. “Word on the street? Gullet does a good impression of a gargoyle.”
“Is he still here?”
“Oh yeah. We’ve got another half day before we have to let him go.”
“We just need to catch a break,” Becka muttered. She grabbed a chocolate chip and an everything bagel and headed back to the table. “Here you go,” she said to Saige, placing the everything bagel in front of her before slathering cream cheese on her own.
“That’s a desecration to the chocolate gods,” Saige said.
“Yet I’ve seen you eat chocolate cheesecake.” Becka took a bite of her bagel, and suddenly the day looked brighter.
“Do you understand desserts are not included in every meal of the day?”
Becka shook her head. “You’re definitely doing it wrong.”
Saige laugh-snorted. Becka did a fist pump, drawing out the first smile on Saige’s face in weeks. It wasn’t a big win, but she’d take what she could get.
Caeda sat down across from them, her plain bagel covered with more peanut butter than there was bagel. “Hey team, why don’t you share your analysis with the table?”
Quinn and Nikkita took seats at the table while Hamish remained standing.
“Our analysis…” Quinn began, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. He looked remarkably good for having skipped a night’s sleep, but that didn’t surprise her considering his House Oak constitution. “Is that Gullet never goes to the club with any piece of identifiable hardware on him. There are weeks where he’s got all of this typical gear on him. A phone. A fitness tracker. Sometimes a tablet. Then he’ll leave it all at his apartment and effectively disappear off GPS for a couple of days at a stretch.”
“We assume they warned him about these devices,” Nikkita said. “I’ve been trying to match burner phone patterns to his last known locations and times he left his gear at home, but so far nothing. I’ve also done AI searches for tracking his face along the routes in and out of his apartment during those times he’d leave his gear at home, thinking we could track him that way. So far that hasn’t panned out.”
“Have you checked for other people coming and going from his apartment when he goes dark?” Becka asked.
“We did,” Nikkita replied. “There has been no face that matches the pattern.”
“What are you thinking?” Caeda asked.
“He could wear an illusory charm to change his appearance,” Becka answered.
“I didn’t see him do anything like that when we were headed to the club yesterday,” Saige said. “And, after my years serving at House Rowan, I’ve seen my fair share of illusion charms and baubles.”
“Maybe he didn’t want you to know he was using one?” Becka asked.
Saige only shrugged.
“Can’t the AI search for components other than his face?” Becka asked.
“It can, but if he was using a charm to disguise himself, couldn’t that also apply to his height and build?” Nikkita asked.
“Yes, but what about his gait?” Becka asked. “I remember Aunt Astrid mentioning to one of her students how difficult it was to change gait. They’d tried to make a dog look like a goat, but the animal’s movement was messing up the illusion. It’s not something we notice with human-to-human illusions, but an AI might pick up the movement similarity?”
Nikkita raised her brows. “I suppose I could narrow the pattern down to gait alone, but it’ll take time to reprogram and rerun the models. Give me half an hour? An hour tops?”
“See what you can find,” Quinn said to her.
“Did you get anything useful out of Gullet?” Caeda asked.
Quinn sighed, running a hand through his hair. “No. He stonewalled us through the night. The only thing he said was there would be consequences for detaining him.”
“Vague, but ominous,” Caeda replied. “How do you want us spending our time today, fearless leader?”
“Well, Ted’s catching up on sleep from pulling an all-nighter with me, but when he’s back in a couple hours, I’ve asked him to continue tracing the histories of the potential Shadow-Dweller-related killings. Nikkita, you’ve got your hands full with tracing Gullet’s movements.” Nikkita nodded. “Caeda, have you had any luck tracking down the missing coins?”
“Not yet, but I’ve got some ideas.”
“Stay on that, then. If you have downtime, pitch in on the related murders.”
“Got it,” Caeda replied.
“I’m going to try leaning on Gullet again,” Quinn said. “He’s been stewing for a couple hours, and might give something up. You want to join me?” he asked Hamish.
Hamish gave a decisive nod. “I’d be happy to lean on him again.” But the way he said it, Becka imagined he’d be happy to grind Gullet into the ground under his fists.
“Me too,” Becka added, eager to help. “I mean, I want to go along.”
“Good. You might pick up something Ted and I didn’t,” Quinn said. He looked at each of them. “Let’s make today count. Remember, we’re running out of time until we expect the next fae murder to occur.”
Everyone chimed in except Saige, who was focused on finishing her bagel.
Quinn stood up and stretched his shoulders. “Shall we?” he said, looking at Hamish and then Becka.
Becka stood and followed him to the door. Hamish stood next to Saige’s chair for a moment. Their brief conversation didn’t carry across the room, and despite Saige’s sour expression, she rose and walked toward them. Hamish brought up the rear.
On their way down the hall, Quinn turned to her. “I want you to know, I haven’t forgotten that you asked to talk to me. I’m just juggling a few balls here.”
“I understand. Can we talk after this?” Becka pressed, eager to catch him up.
Quinn arched a brow. “I get the impression this is a bigger deal than I realized last night. Is it something you need to talk about with the team?”
Becka glanced behind them. Saige appeared lost in her thoughts, while Hamish’s expression had a wolfish, somber intensity. Neither appeared interested in their conversation. “I would rather we talk one-on-one first. I’m not sure what applies to the case or just weird Becka stuff.”
A smile curled one side of Quinn’s lips. “Now I’m wishing I handed Gullet off to someone else. I enjoy hearing about your peculiarities.”
Becka frowned at his teasing and was about to fire back, but then they were
at the interview room.
“Game faces, everyone,” Quinn said. He opened the door, strode in, and took a seat directly across from Gullet, who was slumped over the table napping. Their entrance awoke him mid-snore, and he sat up, taking in their arrival. Becka sat on a chair along the back wall. Saige joined her.
Gullet’s wrists were chained to the heavy interview desk, and he pushed back from the table as far as he could, but could only move a few inches. The bear shifter had a stocky frame and short-cropped, honey brown hair. His deep brown eyes rested on each of them, a single brow shooting up when he looked at Becka.
Was it her pink hair? The gloves she had on? Just the fact she was new? Or had he recognized her? If so, from where?
When Hamish sat next to Quinn, Gullet sneered. “You gonna let him beat on me some more, detective?” he asked Quinn. It was no wonder he’d been working as a bouncer. Gullet had sharp features, his angular cheekbones and jaw adding to the severity of his expression. Becka tried to imagine what he might look like smiling and couldn’t.
“It’s not in the plan, but I’m not ruling it out, either,” Quinn answered. “Are you ready to answer some questions?”
Gullet’s lip curled into a sneer. “No. Have you considered letting me go before you have to deal with the consequences?”
Quinn shook his head but sighed like he wished he could. “My boss wouldn’t like that. Can you explain these consequences? Maybe if I can draw the chief a better picture of what’s at stake, she’ll reconsider.”
Becka doubted that very much, but Gullet seemed to consider Quinn’s question.
“Why don’t you ask her?” Gullet pointed right at Becka, causing her heart to lurch in her chest. “I bet she’s got a good idea of what happens when my boss gets angry.”
Gullet had recognized her. But how? Then it hit Becka. Mimir had invited Becka to find her. Of course, any bouncer working the doors would know to let her in.
Which wasn’t creepy at all, except for how completely creepy it was.
“So, you admit Mimir is your boss?” Becka asked, surprised at the calm tone of her own voice.
Gullet just stared back at her for a moment, the slightest of enigmatic smiles on his face.
“And you.” Gullet pointed at Saige. “They will not forgive your treachery.”
Saige’s feathers weren’t ruffled in the slightest. “Hey man, I was just looking for a job. I’m not responsible for these jokers.”
Becka was feeling like she and Saige shouldn’t have joined the questioning after all.
Just then, Nikkita popped her head in the room, gesturing to Quinn. He rose and exited, and then was back a moment later, the strain of anger flushing his cheeks.
“Hamish, book Gullet and move him to holding. And don’t rough him up unless he asks nicely. Becka, you’re with me,” Quinn ordered.
Nikkita had stayed to help Hamish with the booking, while Caeda joined Quinn and Becka as they rushed out the door. By the time they arrived at the site, a shield was already in place around the crime scene.
On her runs, Becka had sometimes come through Confluence Park, which was in the heart of downtown. She knew from experience that it got a lot of foot traffic from early in the morning until late at night, which ensured the pair of bodies couldn’t have been there long.
Then again, considering the last body had hidden in a fountain until midday, who knew how long they had been there?
Quinn walked right up to a redheaded human enforcer who was walking around outside the shield perimeter taking notes. “Are you the officer in charge?”
She stood a little straighter, chin up as her keen green eyes looked him over. “Yes, Detective Quinn. Name’s Madison.” She crossed her arms and frowned at him. “Are you here to take over my scene?”
He held up his hands and shook his head. “I’m not here to take the case from you. This one’s all yours, but it might connect to a case I’m working on. Could you walk me through it?”
Caeda cut them off. “There are a lot of gawkers.” Her eyes scanned the area. “All appear to be human with a couple of shifters across the river over there. I’m going to make sure the drones record everyone present.”
Quinn nodded at her, and she took off towards a pair of enforcers pulling equipment from their van.
“An early-morning jogger reported finding a fae and a woman dead right over there. The pair hasn’t been touched.” Madison pointed to where the shield extended over the river’s edge. “We were lucky Niall was in the area. He complained about his breakfast getting interrupted but got the shield up pronto. I’ve been walking the perimeter while I wait for a forensics team to arrive. You beat them here.”
“We’re going to go look at the bodies,” Quinn informed Madison.
“I’ll come along and take notes,” she offered.
Becka walked alongside Quinn as they passed through the barrier together along a park trail. She felt the passage through the barrier and then the accompanying ache in her temples, but it remained intact despite her passage.
As they neared the river, a goose emerged from a layer of underbrush to shoo them away with a loud series of squawks. They walked about another fifteen feet where the underbrush gave way to a mixture of river rock, pebbles, and mud as the ground sloped toward and then met the water’s edge.
But when she saw the bodies, Becka gasped audibly. “No, it can’t be!” For a moment she believed the pair before her were Saige and Caeda.
The pair of bodies were laid out a few feet from the water with their shoes pointed towards the river. A scroll of parchment was held in the hand of what looked to be Saige’s shifter doppelgänger. It wasn’t clear how they’d died. Becka would have believed them asleep, had the pair not been so utterly still.
“Obviously not. Caeda!” Quinn called out. “They mean this as a warning. No one has touched them?” he asked Madison.
“That’s right. We’ve gotten photos, so you’re clear to poke around.”
Quinn put on a pair of gloves, bent down, and took the parchment scroll from the shifter’s hand. He stood and unfurled it, his gaze darkening.
Caeda rushed onto the scene, coming to a stop beside Quinn. She looked down at the dead bodies and did a double-take, her body leaning away from the dead as if that might make them disappear. Madison looked back and forth between Caeda and the apparent dead body of Caeda, blinking rapidly.
Madison swallowed hard, her eyes wild. “I’m not sure, but I’m thinking that’s a threat. I mean, it feels like a threat.”
“The note left with them reads ‘Release Gullet Now,’” Quinn said. Madison handed him an evidence bag, and Quinn slid the note into it.
“It’s a threat,” Caeda declared, lips pressed tight. “I feel threatened, which is not cool.”
Becka placed a hand on Caeda’s shoulder. “I don’t enjoy seeing a simulacrum of Saige down there either.”
It wasn’t lost on Becka that both of the presumed dead were friends of hers. Caeda was right that this was a threat. However, Becka would have bet money this was a message sent directly from Mimir to her. These poor people were collateral damage in a war they didn’t even know was happening.
“More important to their families, who are they, and how did they die?” Quinn asked.
“I bet I can help with that,” Becka replied. She looked at Madison. “I’m just going to touch them and remove whatever illusion that’s there.”
“Really?” she asked.
“Breaking magic’s my superpower,” Becka said.
“Oh, you’re the one. Yeah, go right ahead,” Madison replied, looking down at the dead bodies with renewed focus.
Becka took a couple of steps forward and squatted down in front of the pair. Waves of magic wrapped around the bodies like a blanket. She reached out, extending her nullifying magic ever so slightly, and peeled back the layers of magic which wrapped around them. In less than a second, the illusion shattered, revealing a male fae and human woman lying side by side. Blood
trailed from gashes on the man’s neck and wrists, a clear indicator of his last moments.
She didn’t know either of them. Becka released a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding, retracted her magic, and then backed away.
“That was quick,” Madison said, looking at Becka with fresh interest. “Nice work.”
Becka shrugged. She pulled a bottle of hot sauce out of her bag, opened it, and then took a swig to combat the mild headache. “Thanks.”
“Based on the profiles we’ve created, we should assume these two were club members,” Quinn said. “The fae, a magic seller, and the female, a likely buyer.”
“We should look for clues as to where they’ve been. Dirt on the shoes could point to a neighborhood, for instance. Do you mind if I stay to assist?” Caeda asked Madison.
“I’d welcome the help,” Madison replied.
Just then the forensics team showed up and Madison excused herself to go bring them up to speed.
“I need to get back to the bureau,” Quinn said, and then ran a hand through his hair. “Looks like Gullet will be out sooner than I’d like.”
“Maybe we can use that to our advantage?” Caeda replied.
Quinn held her gaze for a moment. “Yeah, maybe. You good here?”
“Yeah, now that I’m not looking at my corpse, I’m solid. I’ll head back to the bureau when we wrap up here.”
As Quinn and Becka walked back to the vehicle to return to the bureau, she stewed in silence. Becka had received Mimir’s message loud and clear. If the enforcers continued to hunt down the Shadow-Dwellers, people would die. Or if the enforcers interfered with the clubs or their staff, people would die.
If Becka didn’t give in and seek Mimir out soon, her friends would die, perhaps starting with Saige and Caeda. It might not have been her friends this time, but she understood the next time it would be.
Shadow Underground: A Romantic Urban Fantasy Murder Mystery (The Shadow Series Book 3) Page 14