They cleared the trash away and swiped the crumbs off the table before opening the envelope and spreading the papers out. Greg grabbed his laptop, too, and set it up when a thumb drive did, indeed, spill out with the pages of lists and information.
“I’ll look at this if you two sort that out,” he said, sitting in front of the device and flipping his screen open.
“Here, I’ll take half and you take half.” Darien handed a sheaf of ages to Caroline. “Look for anything that sounds shady to you.”
“This seems like a copy of all that, but it’s got Google Maps links to the locations that were damaged. I’ll click through this and see what I find.” Greg started scrolling and Caroline saw tabs start to open up on his screen.
Several hours later, she stood up and stretched. “I am too young to feel this old.”
Greg laughed. “Well, that’s what you get for partying all night while we were out in the storm working.”
Caroline just stuck her tongue out at him and went over to the tiny coffeemaker to try to coax something drinkable out of it.
“Lot of damage,” Darien said, shaking his head slowly. “Stupid and unnecessary. Several historic sites were damaged, too. Each one is going to cost millions to restore. Some of that can’t be replaced.”
“Yeah,” Caroline said. “I kind of hope it was just willful stupidity, you know? Like someone had this bright idea that they could control weather and it got out of hand. Thinking that someone was deliberately trying to use weather as a weapon? It’s like the plot to an awful superhero cartoon.”
“Welcome to the FPAA. Awful cartoonish super villains are what we do.” Greg stretched.
“I found a few possibilities,” Darien said. He scowled at the list in front of him. “Did this one look shady to you?” He leaned over and pointed an address out to Greg who looked through his tabs till he found it.
“Oh, yeah. Definitely.” He leaned back so Darien and Caroline could look at the screen. A red brick monstrosity of an apartment building sat on the screen on Google’s street view. It was maybe two stories tall and slumped across the screen in an uncared-for mess of construction. The tenants seemed to be trying to take care of the place on their own, but without their landlord’s help. Brightly colored flowers bloomed in pots on doorsteps, and there were window boxes scattered about on some of the second floor windowsills. The lawn that separated the buildings was more weeds and dirt than grass, however, and the cracks in both the brickwork and the parking lot that they could see were obvious even from the street. Everything needed cleaning and repainting.
“Woah.” Caroline blinked. “I mean this is kind of a pricy area, even in the more country parts of it, if that makes sense. But that’s practically a slum.”
“That’s why I thought it was sketchy,” Greg agreed. “I was going to go back and look up the owner’s details when I finished the list.”
“Well, it waved red flags at both of us, so let’s check it out.” Darien leaned in again. “The guy seems to be trying to buy up the land surrounding and running into zoning trouble.”
“He wants to fix the place up and build more? That’s not terrible, is it?” Caroline asked. She drifted back to the coffeepot which had finished gurgling and sat quietly steaming deliciousness into the air. She grimaced as she doctored her drink with powdered creamer, but shrugged. It was what it was.
“No…” Greg frowned at his computer screen. “It’s not really clear what he wants to do here, honestly. The application is a mess. It’s one of the things in the files Lena sent us, and best I can guess, he wants to build some kind of hotel. But…”
“What are the casino laws in Virginia?” Darien asked.
“Hell if I know offhand. Easy enough to find out though,” Greg started tapping keys.
“So, what. He wants to build a casino?” Caroline frowned. “I can’t imagine that would go over well out here, anyway.”
“Or anywhere else in Virginia. No casinos or greyhound racing. Horse racing, is fine, of course.” Greg grinned.
“Well, maybe he wants to have a betting parlor for the local races. It’s about the only thing I can think of that would fit this mess of an application. With a hotel and restaurants, as well.”
“So… what now? We have a guy that looks super shady. How do we find out if he’s a thief and a mage?” Caroline asked.
“Now we spend a thrilling amount of time learning about the person or persons that own this property, starting with… Sheldon Collins. He’s the guy who filed this permit that is so strange.” Darien stood up to his full height and stretched. “After we break for lunch. I think we could all use a trip outside, so let’s hit the diner and then come back to our very exciting job.”
“And here Mom was worried it would be all shootouts and terrorist groups,” Caroline snickered.
“Hey, paper cuts can be the worst!” Greg said, peering at her with wide eyes and a look of total innocence. “We’re in serious danger of paper cuts and eyestrain, has your mother no heart?”
“Go chase some yarn.” Caroline tried not to grin. Greg didn’t need the encouragement.
“Hey Mom, Greg thought you would be very concerned about the threat of paper cuts we’re currently suffering, so I thought I’d give you a call.” Caroline rifled through her drawer, looking for a hair tie.
“Oh, they can be awful. You tell your friend that I feel his pain, poor dear. What are you up to today, have classes started yet?”
“Mom. It’s July. I’ve got six weeks of full-time interning, remember? We’re actually near Williamsburg right now on a case.” Caroline snatched an elastic and grinned at her success. “Hang on, I’m putting you on speaker while I brush my hair really quick.”
“What are you doing out of the office? Caroline you’re just an intern and you’ve only been there a week! It’s not safe! It’s incredibly irresponsible! I’m going to call that oaf of a section chief and let him know what he should be doing with his cases, and that’s not sending innocent teenage interns out after dangerous criminals!” Her mother’s voice was rising to nearly a squeak and Caroline flinched. Thank all that was holy she called in the middle of a workday and her dad wasn’t there. That would be all she needed, to accidentally sic both of her hysterical parents on poor Point. Then she really would be banished to the abandoned recesses of the file room all summer.
“Mom, did you miss the paper cuts thing at the beginning of this conversation?” Caroline huffed. “We spent an incredibly dangerous morning in our pajamas going through a stack of papers looking for possible leads. Very dangerous work, that. And before then we had a harrowing meal with one of the lab mages discussing what he found. I was in terrible danger of drinking too much coffee! I grant you, though. Before that I did get to use my first aid skills.”
Her mother’s horrified gasp spoke volumes by itself. “See? What sort of person puts—”
“I had to help clean Greg up after he got hurt helping Darien pull a family with small children out of their car onto dry— well, solid— ground when their car almost got swept away in the storm the other day. I stayed at the motel.”
“Oh, well. I see. That’s very, um. Is he okay, dear?”
“He’s fine. Healing up nicely. It just looked bad because he was soaking wet and a little muddy, but D and I got it cleaned up fine.” Caroline finished wrapping her hair tie around her ponytail and sighed. “Look, Mom. I just wanted to call and say hi. We’re going to go grab some lunch at the diner and hopefully see the sun for a minute before we get back to the search. Greg is going to do some looking online when we get back while D and I finish going through the freaking ream of papers we got sent. You know, it’s pretty high-risk and all, but…” Caroline chewed on her lip for a moment and closed her eyes. Behind her eyelids flashed the image of her parents’ faces when she told them that Point had offered her a job, even though it was just an internship.
“Look, Mom. I don’t know if this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I mean,
I’ve only been here for about two weeks, but I was good last spring. I wasn’t a liability, and I actually helped put a dangerous man in prison where he belongs, and I feel really proud of that. I know that sounds super cliche, but it’s the truth. I have a lot left to learn about all this, but so far everything I have learned has been really interesting and I’ve enjoyed the work. Yes, it’s going to be dangerous sometimes, especially once I have some experience under my belt and Point starts sending me out on more serious cases.”
“You’re still just a teenager, Caroline. You have no experience out in the real world! How can anyone expect you to go fight crime?” Her mom’s voice felt fear and sadness, and Caroline hated that she’d been the one to put it there.
“I know you and Dad worry, but this is my life and you know I’ve been worrying about what I was going to do with it. I had no idea what my major should be or what I should study or even if I should just take a year off or whatever. Well, I think I’ve found my direction. And even if I decide not to be a field agent, there’s lots of jobs in the agency that need doing, and my degree and this experience will help me get there. I’m being safe, and Daren and Greg definitely have my back while we’re down here, and I’m learning a lot. I just want your support, that’s all.”
Her mom sighed. When she spoke she still sounded scared and afraid, but she also sounded… well, like Mom. “I know, sweetheart. I’m trying not to panic when I think about you out there, away from home and maybe in danger. I hate the idea that something could happen to you, and your father is still saying terrible things about your chief. If your dad was a mage, I think your poor boss would be cursed with everything from warts to a slow and painful death.” The small laugh at the end helped melt some of the stress Caroline had felt building up between her shoulder blades.
“I know, Mom. And don’t worry. I’m taking every precaution to stay safe. Ollie gave me a nifty little stungun that I don’t need to take to the shooting range and learn how to use, and Greg already threatened the life of some guy who tried to flirt with me.”
“I can’t wait to meet this Greg. I like him already,” Mom laughed.
“You’d love him. He’s a puppy that looks like an underwear model. He’s one of the guys that came on the raid, though, and let’s just say that I’m glad we’re on the same side. And, of course, Darien’s here too. I’ll be fine.”
“Oh, do tell him I said hello. I worry about him, too, these days. Is he eating enough? He looked way too thin to me last time he came to dinner.”
Caroline laughed, too. “Yes Mom, but I’ll make sure he gets an extra salad at lunch, how’s that?”
“Make it a cheeseburger and I’ll accept that.”
13
“What’s got you grumpy?” Greg nudged Caroline’s elbow when she put her soda glass back down. She glanced up and blinked at him.
“Huh?” Oh yes, very intelligent.
“You barely spoke in the car, and you’ve been frowning at your soda since we got here,” Darien said. He sat across from her in the booth. It was a gorgeous day, now that they weren’t out in the soul-sucking humidity, and the sun was streaming through the windows that had been left unblocked and lighting up the shades where they were drawn. There was, at least, a nice breeze outside bringing the scent of the Chesapeake Bay and the rivers flanking the area and making Caroline feel like she was on a beach vacation instead of taking a lunch break.
“Eh. Called my mom while I was changing.” Caroline shrugged, then glanced at Darien. “She says hi.”
“That was nice. Why would that upset you?” Darien asked.
Caroline grinned. “Well, when she wasn’t asking if you’d been eating right,” Caroline paused to let Greg snort a laugh and Darien to roll his eyes. “She was just freaking out about me working with you guys. She wanted to call Point and chew him out for sending me on this horribly dangerous assignment of certain death and painful disfigurement or something.”
“Wow, that’s some imagination. But those paper cuts can be vicious.” Greg grinned at the waitress who was putting their plates in front of them. She blushed under the force of his smile, and Caroline couldn’t blame her. Easily half her coworkers were unreasonably attractive. There must be something about being paranormal that made those who could pass as human seem a little… well, extra human?
“She and Dad apparently think that just because I’m interning at the FPAA that I’m going to be shredded limb from limb any second,” Caroline groaned. “She also thinks that since I’m an intern, I belong in the most boring, dusty backroom file storage archive you can find for me to hide in.”
“Talk about risk of paper cuts,” Darien said. “Seriously, though, it’s true that bringing you into the field is a pretty hard bending of the rules. But I know that Point really wants you on the team for the long term, so he’s kind of fast-tracking your training. He can’t give you a badge until you graduate, but he’s hellbent on giving you everything else he can.”
Caroline scrunched up her face. “But why?”
“Well, our office is about half-staffed since the whole thing with Beckett being dirty. So many agents got swept out in the investigation after,” Greg said. He grimaced and shoved a fry into his mouth to prevent saying anything else. Caroline wondered who he missed.
“To be fair to everyone that’s gone,” Darien glanced at Greg, “Not everyone got fired for being a traitorous, terrorist-group-aiding, Beckett follower. Some folks left because they thought that some of the lower-ranked agents were treated unfairly by the investigation, and some left because they were disillusioned by the whole thing. A couple did leave because of me, though. Vampires are a tiny fraction of the population and there’s still a lot of misinformation and urban myths taken as fact.” He shrugged, but Caroline heard the disappointment and resignation in his voice.
“So Point just wants warm bodies? That’s reassuring.” A change of subject, that always helps.
“No, he wants people he knows are on the right side, and are good at the job. You’re a quick thinker, hard to push into panic, and actually play nice with others. That alone is better than about half the full agents in the office right now,” Darien said.
“Yeah. There’s a reason that you’re paired with D more than not. Some of those guys are total assholes,” agreed Greg. “Point would never do that to you.”
“You guys, it’s been almost two weeks, and one of those has been here. I’m not paired with anyone more than not.” Caroline scrunched her nose. She was and intern, after all, and she had to admit that even when she wasn’t working with anyone, she was still learning a hell of a lot.
“You will be.” Greg shrugged. “Look. Our point is that you’re out here because you’re in training. You can’t learn this stuff from a book or a procedure manual. Besides that, a lot of what we do, what we have to do, isn’t covered under any manual in any agency on Earth. There’s no set of guidelines for manticores working theft cases. Nobody bothered writing rules for a vampire cop locked in a basement with a human. We’re not going to be able to find any regulations to help us sort through a magically induced storm. When we find someone who can not only roll with this stuff as it comes, but can also keep a level head while rolling? We try to keep ‘em. And we try to keep ‘em in one piece. Your parents are going to worry. That’s their job. But keeping you alive and safe? That’s our job.”
Caroline blinked at Greg until Darien reached over and nudged her chin.
“Shut your mouth, flies’ll get in,” he grinned.
“I…. Um. Thanks,” Caroline said
Greg waved a French fry at her. “No sweat. Now. What do we think about heading back—”
“Oh! Hey there!”
The three of them turned and looked up to find Serena Douglass smiling down at them.
“Hi! How are you doing, Serena?” Darien stood and offered her a handshake. “Would you like to join us?”
“Just for a minute, if that’s okay. I saw you through the window and wanted t
o say hello. I’m waiting for my daughter and her kids. It’s girls day out.” Serena smiled and her eyes sparkled. “After this last week, I can use a spa day!”
“I’m sure. How did you do in the storm the other day?” Caroline asked.
Serena’s smile faded and she sighed. “The storm itself was fine, I guess. Felt weird, though. I mean, I usually catch a little extra crackle of energy from a good storm, but this was…. I don’t know. Greasy, I guess is the way I’d put it. Anyway, once it blew over I was onto cleanup the next morning— and I got lucky. Just one branch came out of my trees and it didn’t fall on anything important. Anyway, I got a call to head in for a council meeting. With all the storm damage I wasn’t super surprised. There’s a lot of work involved with cleanup after something like that. But then this idiot who keeps trying to ram zoning changed down our throats came in and started demanding that we rule in his favor while we’re sorting out actual problems. That ass wanted us to stop dealing with flood relief and getting some of the roads reopened to pander to his entirely undefined and probably illegal scheme, whatever it is.”
“Wow. That’s… That’s asinine.” Caroline blinked at the flood of words that poured forth.
Greg and Darien shared a glance.
“I don’t suppose that his rezoning request involves an old, run-down apartment building, does it?” Darien asked.
Serena’s eyes got wide for a moment then narrowed. “I don’t suppose you’re going to share why you know that offhand?” She asked.
“The location may have popped up on a list we have of places of interest to our case.” Greg grinned, and Caroline shivered. It wasn’t the cheerful smile full of puppy dog good humor that she was used to on his face. It was the smile of a predator who’s caught a scent.
“Is this zoning nonsense going to be a thorn in our sides much longer?” Serena’s twinkle was returning and the mirth in her voice gave away the truth behind the very carefully neutral expression on her face.
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