Hot Trick (A Detective Shelley Caldwell Novel)

by Patricia Rosemoor

  Instantly uptight, I asked, “Is this some kind of joke?” Had he heard about the fire in my apartment and was now trying to use it against me?

  If Brogan heard me, I couldn’t tell. He seemed to be deep in a trance. More moans escaped him.

  “Can’t move…so dark…can’t see…no, wait,” he nearly shouted. “Flames…fire…”

  And then his words turned into babbling, as if he were praying. The intensity got to me, and when he stopped in the middle of a sentence, a sizzle shot through me straight to my toes and fingers.

  Brogan’s eyes fluttered and he blinked rapidly as if trying to focus on the present.

  The moment his expression cleared, I asked, “What’s your angle, Brogan?”

  “Angle? I don’t understand. We have an agreement—”

  “Fire, Brogan. Why fire?”

  “’Tis what I saw.”

  “You’re a little late. And I didn’t die.”

  He looked at me as though I’d lost my mind. “No, ’tisn’t you. A man. The victim’ll be a man.”

  “I thought you couldn’t see the victim.”

  “I felt him. No soft, feminine thoughts in his head.”

  Pumped by the connection, I skipped over his explanation. “You knew someone was going to set fire to my apartment.”

  “Another fire? I-I don’t understand.”

  He appeared truly confused. An act? I watched him carefully. “You didn’t know?”

  “I swear on my sainted mother’s gray head.”

  God help me, I believed him. The adrenaline whooshed out of me. “I don’t get it. First a fire in my place…then where?”

  Where was Sebastian’s next escape planned? It had to be tonight.

  “Silke,” I muttered, immediately concentrating on her.

  It took some doing. She could give me all the busy signals she wanted, but I wasn’t hanging up.

  Shell, not now. I don’t have the time…

  Getting ready for the next escape? Find someplace private and call me. Now!

  All right, all right.

  I took a deep breath and realized Brogan was staring at me wide-eyed. “What?” Surely he hadn’t overheard our mental exchange.

  “So you’re more than a sensitive.” He nodded. “I should have known.”

  “I’m human,” I said.

  “Well, you don’t need to be getting all uppity about it. It’s not like being human is better than being part of another race.”

  Another race… Banshees. Vampires. Mages. What else? How many other preternatural beings were running around my city?

  “No offense,” I said. “I simply like knowing who I am.”

  “Then perhaps you need to find out for sure,” Brogan said as my cell alerted me to Silke’s call.

  I’d wondered why I attracted the woo-woo cases. According to Mom, I was following in Dad’s footsteps. Maybe that was the reason—that we weren’t all human either.

  Not liking that thought, I flipped the phone open, demanding, “Where are you?”

  “I can’t tell you that.”

  “You’re setting up for the next escape, right?” I took Silke’s silence as agreement. “And Sebastian is going to use fire.”

  “F-fire? How do you know that?”

  “Brogan. Someone’s going to die tonight, Silke, unless I can stop it.” I had to tell her the rest but in private. “I need to meet you. Now.”

  She hesitated only a second before saying, “Navy Pier.”

  “I can be there in fifteen minutes.” I signaled Brogan and made for Randolph Street. “Less if I can hail a taxi.”

  We agreed to meet in the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows, on the lower terrace away from the crowds. The museum showcased Victorian, Prairie, Modern and Contemporary windows, most originally installed in Chicago-area residential, commercial and religious buildings.

  Luckily, I was able to hail a taxi and as it let us off in front of Navy Pier, a trolley was just pulling up to the stop. I pushed Brogan toward it.

  Considering the Pier was a mile long and the museum was close to the other end, I explained, “Faster than us walking.”

  Tension filled me as I thought about a fire here. The pier jutted into Lake Michigan and, as usual in good weather, groaned with the hoard of people there for the rides or an evening with Shakespeare or a dinner cruise on the lake. Too many people in too confined an area.

  Fire could mean disaster.

  I had to stop Sebastian.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Sebastian lit candles of various sizes and colors and prepared himself for the third step in his plan. Ritual was part of each of his escapes, the whole process meant to bring him to a new level of sorcery.

  Water…air…fire…earth.

  Each element of nature held its own strength, but when combined the four were potent. When he’d completed the cycle, his power would bring him closer to being invincible.

  Maybe then he would succeed in his quest.

  Remembering the confrontation with his so-called brother made him want to hit something. Hard.

  How in the hell had Jake figured out their connection?

  When had he seen the photograph?

  Sebastian had wanted Jake to know everything, but not until he’d succeeded in tearing out the other man’s heart, a task that was proving to be more difficult than Sebastian had imagined.

  Shelley wasn’t an easy mark. She was tough. Too bad she wasn’t more like her twin. The way Silke looked at him at times…he wondered if he could use that to his advantage.

  Sebastian didn’t know why, but he couldn’t bring himself to break the heart of someone so sweet and positive. He quickly shoved that thought away and told himself to concentrate on the goal.

  He held his hands over the candles, feeling their heat, then opened the Book of Shadows to the marked page and began to read the fire spell.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Finding Silke didn’t take long. Dressed in a skimpy nautical outfit, she paced in front of a display of church windows. Her eyes flashed to Brogan. Then her eyebrows arched as if she could tell he was someone with power.

  “Don’t freak me out,” I said. “I’m freaked out enough for one day.”

  Silke stared straight at Brogan. “You saw someone die in a fire?”

  He captured a little moan and said, “I was in the fire.”

  “And so was I,” I added.

  Silke squeaked, “What?”

  I told her what had happened earlier, ending with, “I was trapped by magic. A spell on the door and windows. They wouldn’t open. If it wasn’t for Jake…”

  “Omigod, Shell!” Silke wrapped her arms around me. Her body trembled. “I’m so sorry. But you’re okay, right?”

  “I’m fine.” I took a deep breath. “You know they’re connected. The fire in my apartment and Sebastian.”

  “He wouldn’t do that!”

  “How do you know what he would or would not do? He got into my dreams again, and when I kicked him to the curb, I woke up to find my apartment on fire.”

  “It wasn’t Sebastian,” Silke insisted, her voice cracking, her expression broken. “I swear he wouldn’t do that.”

  I looked into her eyes and realized my twin really did have a thing for the mage. Was she in love with him? That would explain why she was so protective of him.

  Stunned into silence, I thought about it. Had Sebastian been leading her on?

  To get to me?

  Why? None of this made sense.

  I glanced at Brogan, who shrugged and said, “Don’t look to me for answers. I wouldn’t be knowing anything more than I revealed.”

  Realizing a curious tourist had stopped to listen to us, I indicated we should move.

  As we left the museum, Brogan sniffed the air. “Food. And me with an empty stomach.” He started off for a cart. “I’ll catch up to you.”

  “No disappearing acts,” I warned him. “Meet us on the north walkway.”

  Silke a
nd I cut through the garage to the mostly deserted side of the pier. We started walking toward the far end of the pier. I needed to keep moving or my nerves would best me.

  Looking out at the high rises that lined Lake Shore Drive, I said, “Whoever set fire to my apartment earlier had powers.”

  “That doesn’t mean it was Sebastian,” Silke protested. “I know him.”

  “Or you know what he wants you to see.”

  “I can’t believe you’re so closed-minded after everything you’ve faced. I know him, Shelley. I’ve connected with him when he wasn’t being vigilant. He’s fighting inner demons, but he’s a good person. You have to believe me.”

  I didn’t answer. For Silke’s sake, I wanted to believe she’d read Sebastian right.

  Sailors were taking advantage of the perfect day. Dozens of boats with pure white sails dotted the lake as far as the eye could see. The water was as smooth as glass today, flowing from aquamarine off the beaches to an indigo on the horizon.

  “All right, I’ll give you that it might not be Sebastian,” I finally said. “All along, I’ve thought the murderer was trying to frame him. Maybe that’s the case.”

  Not that I was really sure any more, but with Silke in his corner—my twin was a good judge of character—I’d give him the benefit of the doubt.

  “I agree,” Silke said, “but who would want to frame him?”

  “All I know is that the murderer uses magic, so maybe it’s a competitor.” Like Edmund Fox. “You haven’t by any chance seen Tanya Janicek tonight, have you?”

  “No. Sebastian’s furious because he wants the media present and figures the word won’t get out. Conrad said he’d do it, but he doesn’t have the connections.”

  “Tanya Janicek and Edmund Fox used to be an item. I wanted her in for questioning, but Tanya’s done a real disappearing act. Fox indicated that Tanya might have taken up with Sebastian.”

  “If so that was before I met him,” Silke said defensively.

  “And Fox thinks she’s set up Sebastian to get even with him for dumping her. She’s the one who got Sebastian on Fox’s case. How much do you know about her?”

  “Nothing, really. She didn’t socialize with the hired help.”

  “Okay, what did you sense about her?”

  “Sense?”

  “As in magic,” I clarified. “And I don’t mean stage tricks.”

  “Tanya?” Silke shrugged. “Yeah, I suppose all of us are into it at some level. I don’t know how accomplished she is, though.”

  The way Silke emphasized all of us made me ask, “You’re talking about Conrad and Oriel too?”

  “I’ve never seen Conrad engaged in magic, but I get weird vibes from him. Like he’s got power he’s trying to hide. I’ve seen Oriel do a couple of inconsequential spells, but I’ve gotten the idea she’s more accomplished than she lets on.”

  Color me embarrassed. Of course I should have suspected that Sebastian would surround himself with other magic practitioners. Employees who would have a certain amount of discretion when it came to his escapes.

  “What about how they get along with Sebastian?” I asked.

  “All professional as far as I’ve seen.”

  I needed to talk to others who knew them, who saw them in a different light. “What do these people do when they’re not working? Where do they hang out?”

  Silke appeared uncomfortable, but she said, “A place called Illusions.”

  “Illusions. As in magic?”

  “The club is open to everyone.”

  Silke didn’t have to say more. I got it. She was hanging around with people who could teach her what she wanted to learn. First chance I had, I would check out the club, see who else had intel on Sebastian’s employees. But right now, I had a murder to stop.

  “We need to talk to Sebastian,” I said. “If we can keep him from performing his escape, there’s no reason for the copycat to kill anyone just yet. Maybe we can buy some time. Where’s Sebastian now?”

  Silke started. “Getting ready for the performance. He’s not going to change his mind, Shelley. I’ve got to go or I’ll miss the boat.”

  “Boat? Literally?”

  “Yes,” she said, already rushing back the way we came.

  Brogan met Shelley at the garage entrance. He was stuffing the last of a sausage sandwich in his mouth.

  “Is it time then?” he asked.

  “Seems like.”

  We followed Silke to a two-master and circled through the gathering crowd. DeGroot was on board, looking out onto the pier through veils of colored smoke. When he spotted Silke, he waved her over frantically.

  I was right behind her until a knot of people blocked my way. DeGroot’s voice came over the loudspeaker with his introduction. Like lemmings, the spectators pressed forward, unaware or uncaring that I was trying to get through on official business.

  Brogan reached me and somehow made a pathway through the crowd for us.

  I yelled, “Sebastian, wait! I have to talk to you,” but the roar of the crowd drowned out my warning as he stepped from the pier to the stage on the ship’s deck.

  Silke moved close enough to speak to him. Sebastian’s visage froze, but I could tell her words fell on deaf ears. He was going to go through with the escape and nothing Silke could say would change his mind.

  At the mike, DeGroot spun his introduction. “For your astonishment—trial by fire!”

  The spectators roared again.

  “I’ve got to get to him,” I muttered.

  The crowd closed in front of us. I had to get through to Sebastian before it was too late.

  Had to!

  Closing my eyes, I focused my thoughts, my whole being, on an inner vision of Sebastian’s dark countenance. I narrowed in, concentrated on his kohl-smudged eyes and pushed through them into his mind.

  Sebastian, listen to me. You can’t perform this escape.

  Whether or not he heard me, I wasn’t certain, so I kept on.

  If you go through with it, someone is going to die. Someone is going to burn to death. I don’t have the power to stop it from happening. Only you do.

  I had a clear view of Oriel and Silke securing Sebastian to the mast with shackles and chains that seemed alive, like silver fish whirling around his ankles and wrists. He stood spread-eagled like a sacrificial lamb as the crowd cheered and the boat started moving away from the dock.

  If he’d received my warning, I couldn’t tell. My stomach knotted with cold dread. I’d done my best and it hadn’t been good enough. For a moment, I watched helplessly as the boat drifted farther into the lake.

  Then I got on my cell and called Norelli.

  “Sebastian’s doing an escape at Navy Pier. On a boat.”

  “What are you doing there? You’re on leave.”

  “Let’s say I came to watch my sister’s performance, okay? But in the meantime, Brogan checked in with me. Sebastian is using fire this time, and Brogan swears someone is going to die by fire.”

  Norelli cursed. “Any clue where?”

  “It was close last time, on that library roof. So the victim is probably on one of the boats here at the pier or over at Monroe Harbor,” I said, glancing across the water to the hundreds of boats and yachts docked there.

  “I’m on it. I’ll call the fire department and Arson and Bomb Squad in and see if I can’t get a search going. And then I’ll be there as fast as I can.”

  The call ended.

  I realized a fireboat floated on each side of the two-master, ready to control the fire if necessary. How the hell had he gotten the city to cooperate on this one?

  Suggestion, of course.

  He’d simply planted agreement in the right minds.

  My attention became glued to the boat where Silke and Oriel, each now holding lit torches in one hand, affixed a curtain to hide Sebastian. Seconds later, Oriel touched her torch to the sails on the closest mast.

  Silke hesitated. I could feel her panicking. She tossed her torch i
nto the lake. She didn’t want to be part of this, after all.

  My throat closed, I held my breath. Both women made it over the side and into a small speedboat which immediately took off toward the pier. The crowd oohed and aahed as the flames shot higher, devouring the sails and masts.

  Then the curtain caught fire.

  The deck.

  The whole ship was ablaze.

  A quick look assured me the speedboat with Silke and Oriel had made it back. Small comfort.

  My nerves were stretched taut when the pier beneath my feet rumbled and an explosion boomed through the night. Blood rushed through me like a locomotive as the still-burning boat blew into thousands of burning pieces.

  A cacophony of voices filled the air. Screams. Cries. Anguished sounds.

  I looked around and around but found no Sebastian. Hadn’t he gotten himself out of there in time? Whatever else he was, he was Jake’s brother, and I didn’t want to see Jake lose the only family he had, even though there was bad blood on Sebastian’s side.

  Within minutes, the fireboats had the fire under control. Other smaller boats joined them, crew apparently looking for Sebastian. One of the men reached down into the water and pulled out what was left of an arm. The crowd let out an ear-shattering, horrific scream that echoed in my head.

  Sebastian…dead?

  Another guy with a pole pulled out what had to be another body part. I swallowed hard and looked away. How the hell had this happened?

  Had Sebastian finally fallen victim to his own magic? Or had someone else cast the spell that killed him? Had he been the third intended victim?

  Which didn’t make any sense. He wasn’t connected to anyone who’d worked the Hernandez case…

  Dozens of uniforms arrived on the scene and started controlling the crowd, pushing them away from the pier. I pulled out my star and hung it around my neck so that I would be recognized as part of the CPD.

  I turned around to talk to Brogan and realized he’d disappeared. So I headed for the waterline and my sister. Now on solid ground, Silke was bawling, while Oriel stood staring out at the disaster with no expression I could read. I shoved past her and put my arms around my sister to comfort her, making sure she knew I was in her corner.