“Try harder, Mal. There has to be something in your heritage. Meanwhile I’m going to find a place.” She didn’t even say goodbye before she hung up. I shook my head at the receiver, glad Isa wasn’t there for me to shake sense into her. Being in love, or lust, with Ben made her a lot like Phoebe, all flighty and happy. It was nice to see.
I scrolled to find Anna’s number in my phone. I was surprised to see she wasn’t in my recent calls lists. I hadn’t realized it’d been so long since I called her.
She picked up the phone with a dreamy hello.
“How’s New York?” I asked.
“Insane, the way it always it is. I’ll never get over how bitchy the new girls can get, like we’re not all going to have to work together. Backstabbing little—” She stopped herself. “What’s up back home?”
“Nothing better than that, but I got a very odd message from Raya for your Aunt Jo. Any chance I could get her number from you again?”
“Sure thing. Should I be worried about this very odd message?”
“I hope not. It didn’t make sense to me, but your goddess thought it was worth burning my arm to blistering.”
“She can be tough that way. Have you got a pen?” I told her I did and copied down the number as she gave it to me. “Anything else?” she asked.
“One tiny thing, E tells me Raya doesn’t share so there are no vampires that are fire witches. Does that make any sense to you?”
“Yup. What’s the quote from the Christians? Thou shalt have no other god before me?”
“I wouldn’t know.” I frowned. Chris was the link. I was sure of it. “So there’s no way you could be a fire witch and a vampire?”
“I didn’t say no way. Raya’s a god. She gets to do what She wants. If She wants a vampire, She takes one.”
“Really?” My tone brightened. “Because I think my arsonist is this kid who became a vampire—”
“Whoa there, I said yes you could get a vampire who was a fire witch, but I meant like the light a candle or know when someone else had, not burn down a building kind of witch. That much power, I don’t think Raya would share. Sorry.”
“So I’m back to square one, damn it.”
“I’m afraid so. Hey Isaura is clicking in…”
“Yeah, she wants to have this party; it’s kinda crazy.”
“Could be fun though, I’m home Thursday afternoon. I haven’t got any plans.”
I heard the call waiting click again in my ear. “Go talk to her, bye.”
Anna told me goodbye, and I hung up the phone more annoyed than I had right to be. If Chris was my fire witch than I had this thing solved, but it looked like it wouldn’t end that neatly. I took a deep breath and dialed Aunt Jo’s number.
“Hello?” The voice on the other end of the line didn’t even sound like Anna, and I was suddenly nervous.
“Joanna? This is Mallory Mors, Anna’s friend?” There was silence on the other end of the line. “Detective Mors?”
“Oh, of course, what can I do for you detective?”
“Actually it’s the other way around actually. I have a message for you,” I hesitated.
“From my daughter?” she asked eagerly.
“Uh, no,” I said, feeling like a fool. “From Raya, She said to tell you She gave you what you asked for, but you threw it away. Do you have any idea what it means?”
“None,” she said bitterly. “I asked to be a fire witch, the strongest fire witch my family had ever seen. She never gave me a damn thing.”
“Right, I was afraid of that.” Message delivered. I should get off the phone, but the Chris thing nagged at me. “Is there any chance you had a boy?”
“None. It’s the only thing about my child I’m sure of.”
“Oh,” I said dumbly.
“I hope getting my message didn’t hurt too much. Thank you for passing it along.” She hung up before I realized our conversation was over.
I had arsons going on all over the city and the fire goddess giving me messages for Anna’s family. I was sure the two were related, but I didn’t know how. Kelly might be Aunt Jo’s daughter, but that didn’t give me any help. I thought about vampires and fire witches for a while before I realized I knew someone who was much more familiar with the way the two groups worked than Anna. E’s reaction to Mark meant she knew more about vampires and fire witches than anyone else I’d met. I called her. I could hear the phone ring though the wall, but she wasn’t home to pick it up.
When the phone rang a few minutes later, I hoped it was her calling me back, but instead the caller id announced Isaura’s number.
“I have a place,” she announced triumphantly.
“Great, where?”
“Anna’s house.” I could hear her beaming over the phone.
“It is party perfect,” I admitted.
“Yup. It is. So, Saturday night, bring Jakob, and a dish. Got it?”
“You promise you’re not going to call me back in five minutes and cancel?”
“I promise.”
“Is there anything else I need to know?”
“Nope, it’s just your typical Samhain party.” She hung up before I could admit to having no idea what that meant.
I spent another half an hour pondering the case and how it would all turn out. I didn’t get any brilliant insight, so I finally gave up and went to bed, hoping the mystery would solve itself in my dreams.
Chapter Fourteen
I was dreaming of things I wanted: driving the Jeep and then seeing Chris and Kelly in a car beside me. Chris was at the wheel of that other dream car. Kelly looked like the photo from her license at Fairy Tails, but then she looked like Anna. I woke up so confused I barely recognized my cell phone ringing.
“Mors,” I said, my voice still asleep.
“We need to get down to the station. I’ll pick you up in five minutes.”
“Danny? What’s going on?” His words had brought me instantly awake.
“They’ve brought in a suspect, and they want them interviewed tonight. We’re the officers on the case, so it’s our job.”
“They’ve brought in a suspect? They who?” I asked as I pulled on the pants I’d taken off only a few hours before.
“Internal affairs,” he said tersely. “I’m turning on to your block.”
“I’ll be downstairs.” I grabbed a shirt for over my bra and buttoned it on my way downstairs. “Internal affairs, does that mean it’s a cop?”
“Get down here, and we’re both closer to finding out.”
We drove through a world emptied by sleep. The government buildings around headquarters were vacant and dark. The benches in the park and the bus stops were devoid of people. It was a cold, quiet world. October only had few days left, and it was taking the last of the warm weather with it. I was glad I had grabbed a blazer on my way out of the apartment; the heater in Danny’s car didn’t really get a chance to kick in until we parked.
Inside the SIU wasn’t asleep at all. The desks were filled with detectives doing exactly what we did during the day: filling out forms, preparing reports, talking to people who sat in the guest chairs. In one corner a mostly see through woman was crying softly as she floated a foot off the floor. All in all a perfectly normal scene, except Ben was sitting at Danny’s desk instead of Danny and the coffee smelled better. I was glad my desk was empty. Sure Ben deserved a partner, but I wasn’t ready to see my opposite seated where I should be.
Danny didn’t even pause to say hello. He walked straight to the lieutenant’s office. I followed after him, only slighted delayed by my gawking. I stopped staring and made myself look professional when I got into the office: we had company. Standing next to the lieutenant was a man I didn’t know, one who was probably responsible for the room’s fury.
“This is Special Detective Fieraru, from internal affairs. He assures me the woman in interview room three should be there, and you two should interview her.” Lieutenant French’s voice was exceptionally calm with rage. Danny
shut the door behind us. The room could easily hold four people, but four people and that much anger made it seem small. “I disagree,” he added with a look at the Special Detective that made his words redundant.
“While we appreciate that Fire Inspector Miller has done some good work, there’s a lot of pressure on the investigation right now. We don’t want you to miss a potential suspect due to interdepartmental politics.”
“If we thought she was a suspect, we would have brought her in,” the lieutenant growled. Fire Inspector Miller, E, that Fire Inspector Miller was sitting in the interview room. My night had just gotten much worse.
“As I said there’s been a lot of pressure,” Fieraru simpered. A lot of pressure from the FBI, it was late but not that late, I was getting it.
“What’s your evidence against her?” I asked.
“It’s all detailed in your partner’s report, Detective Mors.” His smile was almost enough to make me vomit. “Her relocation to the area coincides with the first arson. She’s certainly a strong enough fire witch, and of course, with her history in the war attacking a brothel and a bar where women were abused would be within her character.”
I ignored the idea that Danny had filed a report without me. I would deal with it later. “Fine, but the middle case, the high school, what’s her relationship to that?”
The false smile on the IA officer’s face didn’t move. “I’d suggest you interview her and find out.”
“And this couldn’t wait until morning, when she’d be more willing to talk to us?” Danny asked, his own tone gruff.
“We’d prefer not to give her time to hurt more people.”
“If it is her. Innocent until proven guilty, right?”
“She’s in room three, your lieutenant and I will observe.” He turned away crisply, ignoring my question. Asshole. We all trailed after him, the way he knew we would. After the lieutenant and jerk stepped into the observation room, Danny stopped outside the door.
“I know she’s your friend. I didn’t set her up.”
“I trust you, Danny,” I said. I did know, but I was glad to hear it.
“I didn’t even want to file a report, just to let the lieutenant know what I was thinking—”
“Don’t stress over it. I sure she didn’t do it,” I said, putting my hand on the door knob.
He stopped me again. “If you’ve got something, something hard and fast, I’d love to get this over with and get back to sleep.”
I shook my head as I opened the door. E was sitting casually in the interview room. She’d pulled the fourth chair over and propped her feet up. The room held only the small table and those four chairs in a concrete square, but she made it look like lounge space, like she wanted to be there.
“Well, isn’t this a surprise. Nice night, huh Mallory?” Her voice was false friendship and acid at once.
“Fire Inspector Miller.” I nodded. If you were behind the glass I was nodding at her, from our point of view I was nodding at the glass. Her eyes followed my nod, but her head didn’t move. She got my message that we were being watched.
“Detective Gallagher.” Her tone stayed tart. “To what do I owe this pleasure? Normally at one in the morning I prefer to be asleep.”
“There’s been some questions about the arsons,” Danny began but she interrupted him.
“And they couldn’t wait until morning?” She raised her eyebrows at us, then stopped, getting it. “Gee, I’m a suspect. Well, ask me whatever you want.”
“Where were you Monday night?” Danny started with the most recent arson, the bar the FBI agents had been staking out.
“Healing your partner’s arm.” Her look was daggers for me.
“All right, what about the other nights, who can vouch for you then?” Danny asked.
“Detective Mors saw me at the first fire. She stopped me from saving someone’s life.” Her tone told me whatever beginnings of a friendship we’d had was gone.
“What about before that? Where were you when the fire started?”
“Don’t bother, Detective. I didn’t start any of your arsons. Another witch did, and I’m your only hope of putting it out if there’s another one.” She leaned her head back and relaxed even further draped over the two chairs. “I made a phone call before you came in. I called an old war buddy. He’s a senator now. I think I’d prefer we all sit here quietly until he pulls enough strings to get me out.”
We kept up the questions for a while, but it was only a show for the internal affairs jerk. E didn’t want to talk to us, and we weren’t really trying very hard. Her war buddy came through. I didn’t get the details, but the lieutenant pulled us out of the room and sent us home. Danny drove me home, but we were both silent until I glanced at the clock and realized what day it was.
“Shit. This is not how I expected my birthday to start.”
The car pulled into the driveway of the Eclipse and after he threw it into park, he turned to me with a funny look. “Well, Happy Birthday anyway.”
I got into bed at two and turned off my alarm. I wanted to sleep late. I didn’t care about when I got into work. Unfortunately, I woke up on time, even without the alarm. I was grateful for it when Danny met me at the station door holding a large cup of coffee in a paper mug decorated with a bright red and orange sun.
“Sunshine’s.” I moaned as I took off the lid and inhaled deeply. Steam danced out of the cup and tickled my cheeks. It was cold enough that hot coffee was a very good thing.
“It’s your birthday; you deserve it.” He watched me take a few long drinks.
When I got back to my desk I could see a set of childish cards proclaiming “happy brithday” and telling me to have a “Specail Day” waiting for me.
“From the hellions,” Danny explained. “They made them before breakfast this morning.”
“Awww, tell them thanks. These are probably the first birthday cards I’ve ever gotten.”
“Well maybe if you gave people more than a day’s notice…” His voice sounded only slightly less sarcastic than usual.
“Birthdays were never a big thing in my family. Is that so very weird?” I thought about Jakob’s reaction. I was beginning to believe birthdays should be some huge nationwide celebration, that I should be telling the world or something.
“Yes, Mal, it’s weird. Katie goes nuts for the girls’ birthdays every year. It’s like moms take part in some insane competition over themes and decorations and treat bags. The parties have budgets and three tiers of guest lists. You’ve never gotten a birthday card and you’re what? Twenty-nine?”
“Twenty-eight,” I corrected sternly.
“That’s weird.”
“All right so I’m weird, what else is new?” I tried to give him my best indifferent expression. Before Danny had a chance to reply, a case came in for Simon and Lucas. He left to give them a hand with something furry and dripping wet. Alone, I decided to put the time to good use, and I called Kelly’s house. Her mom was home and willing to talk to anyone who might help find her daughter. I hesitated for a good five seconds before I told her I’d be right over. I left Danny a note on my way out, hoping I wasn’t breaking too many rules investigating a crazy idea that had come to me in my dreams.
I thought about it on the way over. In my dream Kelly had been the passenger in the car, and Chris had been the driver. I didn’t know enough about fire witches to know if they could be controlled by a vampire, but it seemed possible. Besides, everyone kept telling me Chris and Kelly were inseparable. Maybe instead of looking for him, trying to pin him down, I should start looking for her. Yes, it was Chris who was linked to each and every scene, but if Kelly was with him…
I pulled up to a house that screamed upper middle class. It wasn’t the snobby country club community Anna lived in, but the homes in this subdivision were all brick, all a little bigger than they needed to be with two car garages and tasteful landscaping. Someone was enforcing the homeowner’s association rules: there were no old cars, badly
painted homes, or loudly booming stereos. Kelly had grown up in a pretty nice place.
The woman who opened the door to the brick rambler looked like she belonged to it. The dark circles under her eyes detracted from the picture, but she was still a mom, with enough beauty left over from her youth to make an older man smile but not enough to excite a teenager.
“Good morning, Mrs. McRae. I’m Detective Mors; we spoke on the phone? I’m sorry to bother you, but I had some questions about Kelly.” I tried to sound upbeat. At the mention of Kelly’s name, her eyes filled with tears.
“Please come in,” she said, standing aside to open the door for me. I walked through the tiled entry way into the formal living room. It was picture book perfect with a matching couch, pair of chairs, and bookcases filled with the kind of good looking books people don’t really read. I could even see the vacuum cleaner tracks in the thick carpet. There was only one thing out of place.
“Is that Kelly’s?” I asked, gesturing to the flute. It was set up with a music stand and sheet music standing at a dozen different angles.
“Yes. They say music helps people in math, so we started her when she was little. She’s in the concert orchestra. I mean, she was in the concert orchestra.” She stopped and pressed her lips together. “Is my daughter dead, detective?”
She caught me off guard, and I answered too quickly, “No.”
“Then you’ve found her.” Her face broke into a smile.
“No, I’m sorry. We found where she was working a month ago, from there we’re out of leads. That’s what I need to talk to you about. We think Kelly may be involved with a vampire or maybe a witch.”
“Of course she is,” she said with a bitter laugh. “I’m sorry; you obviously don’t know the whole story. Kelly was a wonderful daughter, and then she got caught up with this boy.” Her lips pressed together into such an angry line I wondered if they would disappear before she spoke again.
“Then suddenly, there weren’t enough things in the world for her to do to try to hurt us. We gave her a home, clothes, everything she wanted. Nothing we did was enough. She was angry all the time. She shut us out. We had a wonderful Christmas, but January came, and it was like my daughter was another person. By the end of the school year, I was happy to send her off to my parents for the summer.”
Fire in Her Blood Page 23