****
I had an idea in the middle of the night, and I headed into work early to check it out. I called Penny at the clinic who confirmed that some of the Bradmoor students who worked there weren’t happy with their school. She didn’t think any of them were upset enough to try to burn it down but promised to get me a list of names anyway. My coffee wasn’t even cold yet, and I already felt accomplished. Danny didn’t agree. After he found out the high school hadn’t called me back, we were on our way out.
“I don’t want to sit around waiting to hear back,” he explained as we drove to the high school.
I was a week away from turning twenty-eight, but the principal’s office still intimidated me. There was something about the faux wood paneling hung with diplomas that spoke of authority even to people who weren’t under it. The principal wasn’t nearly as intimidating. I would have mistaken him for the football coach if he hadn’t been wearing a suit. He’d probably been one before time had caught up with him, turning his hair gray, and making his belly hang over his belt by several inches.
“Which one of my students is this about?” He growled. Only nine in the morning but apparently he was already having a bad day.
“We’re not sure yet, it’s about the gym fire,” Danny said. Principal Beggs didn’t look happy about it. He leaned back in his chair and raised his face to heaven, as if asking for strength.
“It wasn’t enough that I’ve got bomb threats and runaways, they had to burn down the gym. Thanks for reminding me.”
“Bomb threats?” I asked.
“Two days ago.” He swung forward in the chair again, resting his hands on the desk. “Some girl called in saying her boyfriend was going to blow up the school, said she couldn’t stop him, went on and on about how he’d changed and he hated everyone now. We evacuated and then nothing. Gigantic waste of time and money.”
“Two days ago as in Tuesday afternoon?”
“Uh, no, wait, we had to cancel marching band practice, so it would have been Monday afternoon.” He consulted a large desk calendar covered with black inky notes. “Look, tell my dean what you need, and she’ll get it to you. I’ve got another phone call from social services, a walk through by the county, and three budget meetings. We spend all day trying to do too much with too little. I don’t have time to chase down some prank that got out of hand.”
“This wasn’t a prank,” Danny’s voice made it clear he didn’t want to be dismissed. “It was arson by a fire witch, one who was good enough to only burn the boys’ side of the gym, the bleachers, and the stage. That’s a lot of anger and a lot control. You should probably be a bit more concerned.”
“Thanks for the advice, really it’s much appreciated. But in another twenty minutes a pair of social workers is going to come in here and tell me my biggest concern is the lovebird runaways no one has seen in a few months. When they’re done the county will tell me my biggest concern is keeping this school running until May, and after that I’ll get five phone calls from parents who all think their kid should be top on my list.” He glared at us, his eyes filled with self-pity. “You said it was arson; great, go catch the bad guy. That’s what cops do. I’m happy to have my dean help you, but frankly I don’t have time for much else.”
There was no way Danny or I could say much after that. Thankfully the dean was a much different story. She introduced herself as former Sergeant Addams and I knew we’d get along.
“Fifteen years on the force in Brooklyn. Anyone tells you Brooklyn is all cleaned up, they’re lying. Some drugged up air witch blew me out a window. I fell four stories. Ended up with a broken back and a disability check, thought I’d retire do something easy like work with kids. Man, was I wrong.” She offered us a seat in her office, a concrete square with pictures of her grandkids on the wall and a commendation from her old precinct. “A school like this has nearly a thousand kids. It’s like a mini-city. We’ve got all the crimes you’ve got out there: rape, drugs, theft, the whole list. Only I’m not a cop anymore, and the principal is more worried about business than discipline. Some days I miss the force.”
We commiserated for a few minutes; Danny talked shop while I didn’t have much to say. My high school years had been fairly quiet. My mom had been sick, and I studied hard for scholarships. I’d never realized the people in charge were this overworked.
“So, you want the bad ones?” she asked.
“Especially any of them that might be a fire witch,” Danny responded.
“Witches are only girls, right?”
“It’s about ability, not gender, so boys and girls,” I told her, wishing I’d waited for Penny to get me her list.
“We don’t keep records about ability. You’ll have to take my troublemakers list and check it against some other source, maybe the church records? Damn that sounds like fun.”
I didn’t disagree with her out loud. “We’ll also need a list of any of them that went on to college here in town. It’s possible our firebug graduated a while ago.”
“Happy to do it,” she smiled. We left with a stack of reports from her computer and enough work to last the morning.
****
Penny made good on her promise by the time we got back. I went through one stack of papers matching names to another stack. I had to admit the sergeant turned dean was right: it was a bit fun. I got something from downstairs, trying not to think about the number of lunches I bought from the deli in our basement. Danny unpacked more homemade goodness as I rethought my stance on having Jakob make me lunches.
“Can I ask you something, Mal?” Danny said.
“Shoot.”
“Where’d you go to high school?”
“A tiny town no one cares about three hours away from here where they had more cows than people. Why?”
“I don’t want the girls going to school with an asshole like that for a principal.”
“I promise you, Principal Douglas was nothing like that. For one thing he knew everyone’s name, and for another, he didn’t let the dean hand out punishments.”
“That doesn’t sound much better. School in Ireland was rough, but I never felt like the people in charge didn’t give a damn about me. Maybe Katie’s right, maybe the girls should go to Catholic school.”
“I’m sure Jakob would agree with her, but wouldn’t you be better off judging the schools on their own merits instead of making some sweeping generalization?”
“Fair point. I’ll have Katie set up some meetings. Anything good in the files?”
“Only if you like trivia.”
“I love trivia; what’ve you got?”
“Guess who went to Bradmoor?” He didn’t even try. “Chris, the missing maybe vampire from Fairy Tails.” I tossed the sheet of known junior class trouble makers to Danny. “At least he did, until about two months ago, wonder what happened?”
“Call ex-Sergeant Addams and find out,” Danny ordered, going back to his lunch.
Sergeant Addams was on lunch duty. The voice on the other end of the phone didn’t explain what that was, but I suspected it wasn’t any fun. I left a message that got returned faster than any I’d left in the last two weeks.
“Did you find the bad seed fire witch?” she asked before I said hello.
“Not yet, right now I’m working on former Bradmoor students who might have a grudge against the clinic. I’m hoping I won’t have to pester the church fathers.” I wasn’t going to tell her Anna’s embarrassing secret: that no one in town had any fire left except our arsonist and E.
“Don’t wait too long, serial anything gets worse, not better—more crimes in shorter time. You don’t want a burnt body on your hands.”
“We’ve already got one,” I said, remembering the woman who had welcomed death at my hand. “The reason I called, one of your students Chris Wilson—”
“Oh yeah, Chris,” she interrupted me. “What’d he do?”
“We’re not sure, but he may have been involved in a supernatural assault. What can you
tell me about him?”
“Well, he’s not supernatural anything, unless he turned after he left here. He’s a normal boring kid. That’s his problem. His parents are strictly blue collar, scrape by on food stamps kind of people. He wasn’t smart enough or pretty enough to be popular, and he didn’t have enough money to be trendy. It was like the only way he could get someone to see him was to beat the crap out of them. Constantly in fights, angry at the world, and never a good reason for it: that was Chris.”
“And he left two months ago?”
“Or there abouts, I’d have to check to be sure, but it was right when school started so back in August. That was his last great stunt, the one that’s going to land him in jail,” she said, then added, “well, if your thing doesn’t get him there first.”
“What was so spectacular about him leaving?”
“He took Kelly McRae with him. She’s a different story, pretty, tall with strawberry blonde hair. Her parents doted on her. Smart too, if she cared more she could’ve made the top of the AP clique. Her mom was livid when she took up with Chris, came down to my office and demanded I keep those two apart, like somehow I can watch two kids in the middle of everyone else. She was right though; Kelly would’ve never left if she hadn’t been with Chris.”
The elusive Kelly from Fairy Tails had a family, a family who wanted her back. “What about Chris, his parents ever show up?”
She snorted. “Only when they had to and even then they’d make me wait. I had Chris pegged for a military career, something where he could use his anger, where being not much of anything didn’t matter. I guess he’ll end up another druggie hustler on the streets.”
“Or a vampire.”
“With his temper? I would not want to see that.” We spent some time on the phone with her fascinated by the dangerous job the SIU did. I was minutes away from asking the lieutenant if he wanted to hire an ex-sergeant with back issues when I hung up. It’d be nice having someone with a case of hero worship around the office.
“Hey Mal,” Danny said. “I’m going to cut out early. You want to take my stack or stick with yours?”
“I’ll take yours. I’ve got three hours might as well finish both.” I wished him good night and dove back into my task. The next time I looked up, the night shift was coming in. I tidied my desk realizing how much I wanted a break from everything. There’d been too much going on, and while last night had ended wonderfully, Jakob had come and gone from my bed like the demon lover he could be. I’d woken up alone. I realized he was only being practical. With no clothes and nothing to do, there wasn’t any reason for him to stick around for the day. It still bothered me.
That left me with two open cases, a serial arsonist and an angry teenager turned vampire, and the sea of confusion that was my personal life. I knew I should be doing something to help Anna with her daddy and goddess issues, or to keep the newly single Phoebe from being too crazy, not to mention Isaura, who needed a man, but tonight I just wanted time to catch my breath. My thoughts carried me from the train and up the elevator. I found myself standing on my balcony with the cordless phone in my hand dialing Jakob without realizing what I was doing.
“Okay, enough. I’m officially declaring enough,” I pronounced when he answered the phone.
“And that means what?” Jakob asked, his tone playful.
“Tonight there will be no vampire politics, no long lost relatives showing up, no crisis involving any of our friends. We’re going to eat dinner and have lots and lots of sex. Do you understand?”
“I think so,” he said.
“Good, because I mean it. I’ve had enough of being a grown up in a grown up world with a grown up relationship. Tonight, crazy sex and good food, tomorrow life can start again. Do I order Chinese to your place or mine?”
“A pity you don’t have a car, you could pick it up on the way here.”
“Smooth, very smooth, but you forget tonight is only for sex and dinner,” I said with a smile.
“You didn’t rule out car talk, only politics, relatives, and crisis,” he countered.
“I’m ruling it out now, but to show you how reasonable I am, tomorrow night we can go car shopping. You pick the place.”
“Oh my, that is a concession. Dare I ask what brought all this on?” His voice barely disguised his laughter.
“I miss you. I miss us. Call it corny or pathetic, but I’d like to spend a night just the two of us, with no drama. It feels like we haven’t done that in a while.”
“I’ll cancel my early meetings,” he said, his voice as loving and serious as my own.
****
He picked me up, and we got Chinese food on the way back to his place. I resisted the urge to point out the vampire menu at my favorite take out place. I wasn’t willing to push the issue tonight. I talked him into putting the top up as we sped down the highway, October was coming to a close, and the night was getting quieter as it got colder. There were fewer cicadas to speed us on our way and almost none of the bugs that chattered in the summer. When we got into the house I was glad he’d turned on the heat for me before he left.
Jakob was pulling my Chinese food from the bag when my cell phone rang.
“I’m in crisis, Mal, serious crisis,” Phoebe pronounced with dread.
“Tell me what I can do to help.” Apparently, the powers that be had decided I wouldn’t be getting a night off after all.
“Assemble a group of fifteen or twenty volunteers who aren’t spooked by supernatural things and are willing to give me three hours of their time in return for a little love from the community.”
“Huh?” was my articulate response.
“Remember how the area covens and pagan churches are raising money to benefit the new shared resource center? Well, my church is organizing a race—”
“I know that part,” I interrupted.
“Here’s the part you don’t know. Everything is ready to go except we have no volunteers.” She paused for a second. “No. Volunteers. Oh, and our major sponsor backed out. Because somehow between two months ago and today they lost the five grand they promised us. So now all the race expenses have to come out of the race fees. Oh and by the way, there are no volunteers. Did I mention that?”
“You mentioned that.”
“Yeah, so unless you’ve got a ton of extra money and friends lying around I’m kind of screwed here.” I’d never heard Phoebe so down. I was trying to think of what I could do when Jakob took the phone from me.
“Hello Phoebe,” he said smoothly. “I heard, no volunteers. I’m afraid I can’t help much with that.” There was a pause, but without vampire hearing I couldn’t tell what she said. “Well, I could, but vampires don’t make the most caring support staff.” Another pause made me wish I was hearing the other end of the conversation. “Why don’t we work on the other problem. Is this for a registered charity?” The pause was short enough that I guessed she’d said yes. “My firm would be happy to donate the five thousand you need.” I could hear the squeal. Jakob took the phone away from his ear with a smile. “You’re welcome. We always have funds set aside for this sort of thing.” There was another squeal. I suspected his sensitive hearing couldn’t take much more. “I’m giving you back to Mallory.” He handed me the phone.
“So what about it Mal? You’ve solved one of my problems what about the other?” a decidedly chipper Phoebe asked.
“I might have an idea. When’s the race?”
“Eight o’clock on Saturday night, the Saturday before Samhain.”
“And that would be what?” I asked.
“The pagan new year? You know like Halloween? Where did you grow up?” she said with a sigh. It was a much more contented sigh than I had heard before.
“In a small town where the witches were good enough to stay in the closet,” I answered.
“Well, we’re out of the broom closet these days, chica. When can you let me know about this idea?”
“Tomorrow, after nine-ish, I have to talk to
some people.”
“Amazing. Just amazing.” She sounded delighted. “Tell Jakob I love him to pieces, and if you ever leave him, I promise to show him how amazing a grateful witch can be.”
“All that for five thousand?” I teased. I could tell by the expression on his face Jakob was mildly shocked by her offer. Being caught between my most open friend and my exceptionally conservative boyfriend was almost fun. Almost, but not completely, I ended the conversation and showed Jakob myself how amazing a grateful witch could be. Chinese food could wait.
Chapter Nine
On Friday morning I headed into the lieutenant’s office to try and solve Phoebe’s problem. The lieutenant was delighted with my idea. I returned to my desk and called Phoebe, happy to tell her that the members of the SIU would be glad to pass out water and help with registration in return for the good will of the community they served. I was even happier when she didn’t get a chance to squeal in my ear. Still her joy was loud enough that Danny looked at me with raised eyebrows.
“What?” I said, seeing how not overjoyed he was at the prospect. “It’s a chance for us to get out in the community, maybe make some friends. You’ll have fun.”
He grunted in reply. “It’d be more fun if I was watching someone I knew run.”
“Ok, I’ll run.”
“You run? And just like that you’re going to run 3 miles?”
“3.1, 5K is 3.1 miles. I was on track in high school,” I said smugly.
“High school was a long time ago, Mal.” He expected me to waffle when I didn’t he went on. “This I want to see.”
“You make sure everyone signs up to volunteer, and I’ll run the race.” I felt cocksure after my good morning, it made me stupid. “I’ll run it in half an hour too.”
Danny laughed. The gauntlet was thrown though, and in the back of my mind I worried.
****
No police officer could interview someone under the age of eighteen without the presence or permission of their parent. SIU was no exception. We might bend the rules in an emergency, but there was no emergency at Bradmoor High School so Danny and I spent our morning sitting silently as Dean Addams, who had every right to question students, asked things for us. Nothing came of it; the only thing we left with that mattered was Chris’ school file. I considered it a minor victory; at least one of the cases I was juggling made progress.
Fire in Her Blood Page 15