Douglas felt that was an understatement. It was better than that. It was like he had been in the desert dying of hunger and thirst and found a fresh apple. Surely nothing could be better.
Ross crunched into his. “I don’t even like apples, but . . . Damn.”
Tallow smiled as he took a bite of his own quarter. “So here’s what I think has happened. Our wizard friend that’s here in Atlanta has found a way to create a stable portal between our worlds. He is bringing in contraband from Gaiana and selling it.”
“To whom?” said Ross. “We’ve seen no evidence of that.”
Douglas couldn’t understand how his partner could manage to be skeptical while eating that apple.
“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Tallow said. “Why else do it? And what better way to generate interest in his line of magical items than with the gift of an elven apple?”
“Give ‘em a taste and they’ll want more,” Brenda agreed. She looked longingly at the crates. “We definitely can’t let these be destroyed. I want to take all of them home.”
“You sure this isn’t drugged?” Ross said worriedly.
“It just tastes good. It’s no more drugged than a chocolate candy bar.” Tallow assured him. “Except that it has minor healing properties and-. Anyway, Ross, you don’t need to worry. Hmm . . . I wonder.”
Tallow walked over to the crates and bent down to touch one of them. A gasp escaped his lips and he jerked back his hand as if burned. He blinked and turned to face them with a look of comprehension on his face.
“What is it, Uncle?” Douglas asked. “I didn’t see anything happen.”
“We should leave here before the captain comes back here,” Tallow said.
“Okay,” said Douglas. They left the room and went down the hall and Captain Ogletree scowled at them from within his office as they headed for the elevator.
When the door shut behind them, Tallow ignored the elevator’s lurch and said, “Brenda, I would like you to check something for me if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Sure,” she said, still looking regretful that her piece of apple was gone.
“Can you look into properties owned by ERL Investments or Peachtree Warehousing? In particular, I’m looking for something outside the perimeter. Somewhere in a rural area, but not too far from the city,” said Tallow.
“Why is that?” Ross wondered.
Tallow rubbed his chin. “I’m hoping to locate the place they took Asher to. The van that we think he was in left the travel agency at 8:35 and was back at 11:07. That’s a two and a half hour window. Give them a half hour for unloading Asher and loading the van back up with whatever else they were transporting, I’m thinking it was maybe an hour drive there and back.”
“That’s a lot of maybe,” Ross said. “There could have been other stops along the way. Maybe they got gas. Ate tacos.”
“Call it a hunch,” Tallow said.
There was another lurch as they stopped at Brenda’s floor and the four of them stepped out into the hallway. Douglas gave his uncle a questioning look. “Why a rural area? Why couldn’t they have taken him to a place inside city limits?”
Tallow hesitated. “Well, I don’t usually mention this because it’s odd even among wizards, but I have an occasional ability. I can’t control it, but sometimes I get mental impressions about things. When I touched that crate of apples I was hit by a very specific memory.”
“The crate had a memory?” Brenda said.
“No, it was from the person who was loading the crate into the back of a van. His thoughts were a bit foreign. I think he spoke Spanish because there was this Mexican-sounding song stuck in his head and he knew what the words meant,” Tallow explained.
Douglas gestured to his partner. “Remember those reports we were supposed to look into, Bob? Allegations that the travel agency was hiring illegals?”
“Right,” said Ross slowly. He was giving Tallow an odd look. “So you touched the crate and saw the memory of a Latino with an earworm?”
“Yes. And I know he was in a rural area because he had been scolded for dropping the crate and was glad that they weren’t in a warehouse where the goods would have been damaged. He had dropped it in the grass. He could hear cicadas and smell freshly tilled earth,” said Tallow.
“He has a busy mind, this Latino,” Ross said, his voice tinged with suspicion.
Douglas frowned at his partner. “Why is this any harder to believe than the other kind of magic Tallow uses?”
Ross rolled his eyes. “It’s just that now your uncle’s suddenly got psychic powers too.”
“It’s called spirit magic, but let’s not argue about it,” Tallow said. “It’s not something I control and it only happens rarely, but I saw what I saw.”
“Well, you can’t call me a skeptic,” said Brenda. “I’ll try to find that property for you.”
“Thank you,” Tallow said with a slight bow and, as she walked towards her office, he looked to the others. “There’s something else I think we should do tomorrow.”
“What’s that?” Douglas asked.
“Pay a visit to ERL Investments’ headquarters,” he replied. “I want to meet the people in charge.”
Chapter 21: Erl
Douglas arrived at the police headquarters at 8:30 the next morning. He got out of his car to find Tallow waiting for him. This morning the wizard was wearing his tan corduroy jacket with wide-collared white shirt beneath it.
“Check it out,” Tallow said and held open a leather badge that identified him as an official police consultant. It was a laminated identification card with a small picture of his face on it. “No more visitor pass on a lanyard. Now I can move around in the building without getting hassled all the time.” He looked at it with slight disappointment. “Doesn’t allow me to arrest anybody, though.”
“Well, that’s because you’re still a P.I. Just now you are on our payroll,” Douglas reminded him.
“I know,” said Tallow. He flipped the badge closed and stowed it in his jacket pocket. “I wanted one of those cool shields, though. It would look so much more official that way.”
Douglas walked towards the rear entrance to the building. “If you like the shield so much why did you quit the force so long ago?”
Tallow pursed his lips and walked at Douglas’ side. “That’s ancient history and I don’t like to talk about it. You read my emails with Asher. You know my reasons.”
Douglas hadn’t forgotten. It hadn’t been easy for Asher to get an answer. Errand had refused to tell him several times before finally admitting his reasons. The darkness of that Spudnut Strangler case had taken its toll on him. “Yeah. But if it was a simple case of burn out, Tallow, why keep being a P.I.?”
“Because I love detective work too much to stay away from it completely. Besides, the money was better,” Tallow said, which was pretty much what he had told Asher when asked that same question. “Anyway, how was your night with the new nanny in the house?”
“It was long,” Douglas said with a sigh. It had started out nice. The house had been remarkably clean and they’d even had a plate of chili dogs ready for him when he walked through the door. But that had been just the beginning. “Both girls were still pretty traumatized after what happened earlier. They didn’t want to go to bed so we ended up watching Disney cartoons until late. Finally I put my foot down and Aarin ended up sleeping on the floor in Aggie’s room.”
Tallow swiped his new keycard at the entrance. He held the door open for Douglas and nodded approvingly. “You’re a good dad.”
Douglas walked in and gave Tallow a helpless look. “I checked on them before I left this morning. They were both still asleep and that rock thing was between them on the floor. It was three feet tall and its face was drawn with this challenging look like it was daring me to try something. It was scary.”
“He can definitely look threatening,” Tallow agreed with a self-satisfied grin.
“It’s not that,” Douglas said,
though he had to admit that the rock’s stare had sent a shiver up his spine. “I was worried that he was going to fall through the floor.”
“Oh,” said Tallow as they walked towards the elevator. “You don’t need to worry about that. Reginald can change his weight as well as his size. He keeps in mind the structure that he is resting on. Believe me, centuries of experience have taught him not to throw his weight around too much.”
Douglas blinked. “Centuries?”
“Oh yeah,” Tallow replied. “He was ancient before I got him.”
Douglas opened his mouth to ask another question, but the elevator dinged ahead of them and opened to let out the TV Squad. Detectives Cheese and Martinez smiled their award-winning smiles and held the doors open for them.
“Already on the way out?” Douglas asked as he and Tallow climbed in.
There was an old axiom that said crime didn’t keep working hours. In Douglas’ experience that wasn’t exactly true. Crime kept hours. It just worked second and third shift. For detectives this meant that mornings were mainly used for paperwork.
Cheese shrugged. “Yeah, the chief sent us on an errand.”
“Don’t expect any donuts to be left when you get up there,” said Martinez.
“Huh? Already? Why?” asked Douglas.
“Your partner got here early,” she said with a laugh as the doors shut.
Douglas grunted. Ross rarely arrived at the office before nine. It was odd enough that he almost forgot to ask Tallow his question. He remembered halfway up the lift. “Tallow, if this rock-er ‘Reginald’ is as powerful a magic thing as you say he is, why did you give it away?”
“Well . . . she’s my niece. And she’s Asher’s sister and he looked after her and I can’t help but feel somewhat responsible for him being gone,” Tallow explained, looking uncomfortable. “After all, I am the one who encouraged him and helped him on the path that got him in trouble.”
Douglas couldn’t really argue with that. “Well, thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”
As the elevator doors opened on the 8th floor Douglas could hear the squelch of his partner’s chair. They headed to Ross’ desk and found him scowling at his computer monitor while licking sticky fingers.
“You save any for us?” Douglas asked.
“Don’t look at me. I just had two.” He jerked his thumb towards the desk across the aisle from him. “It was Jimenez.”
The sergeant glared at him. “Don’t try blaming nothing on me, I saw him sneaking back here with an easy half-dozen.”
Ross gave them an innocent expression. “Don’t you listen to Mister Double Negatives.” He opened a desk drawer and pulled out a paper plate with two Krispy Kreme glazed on it. “I saved one for both of you. Third shift was on ’em like jackals before they left.”
“Gee, thanks, Ross!” said Tallow. He grabbed one of them and took a bite. He groaned, his eyes rolling up in his head. “I forgot how good these were. You have no idea how long it’s been since I had one of these.”
“That’s what you get for living in the far north where no one knows about Krispy Kremes,” Ross told him.
“Actually, they got them in Idaho a few years back. They’re just under the illusion that spudnuts are better.” He took a bite of his own donut and walked around Ross’ desk to sit at his own. “How long have you been here anyway, Bob?”
“Got here around seven,” Ross said. He had gone back to scowling at his monitor. “I had a few things to check up on early.”
Douglas turned on his computer and waited for it to boot up. “Anything important?”
Ross hesitated before responding which told Douglas that his partner was holding something back. Then Ross said, “We’ve run into a bit of a snag as far as getting a warrant to search Peachtree Warehousing’s fleet of vans.”
Douglas frowned. “What is it?”
“We got Judge Loren,” said Ross in disgust. He smashed the enter button on his keyboard. “I just forwarded you the message.”
Douglas’ frown turned into a scowl to match his partner’s. “What? Why’d you call her?”
Ross placed an offended hand on his chest. “I didn’t! I just-. Well, it was early and I figured we had a slam dunk with the evidence so I just used the café system.”
“Ugh, why did you do that?” Douglas complained. “Why not call Markham or Todd?”
“They hate it when you call before nine!” Ross replied.
“What’s this café system?” Tallow asked, licking his fingers, the donut already gone.
“It’s a computer system that the deputy chief wants everyone to use to submit warrant requests,” said Douglas with disdain. It was supposed to make things easier on the judges so that none of them got too hammered by requests. “It does work pretty fast. Only thing is that they get distributed to random judges and every once in a while you get a harda-.” Douglas closed his mouth and sighed. “A hardcase.”
“I’m impressed that you’ve stuck with your promise to Aggie this long,” said Tallow with a smile.
Douglas ignored him, and turned his attention to his computer which had just booted up. He clicked on his email icon. “Judge Loren has a problem with the chief. Always gives the FIU grief.” He looked at the message Ross had forwarded him. “She thinks our evidence is too circumstantial? It’s plenty!” He pointed at the screen. “And look. You were thorough with your explanation.”
“Of course I was,” said Ross.
“This is one of the reasons I prefer being a P.I.” said Tallow, shaking his head. “Politics don’t belong in an investigation.”
Ross snorted. “You’re preaching to the choir, brother.”
“I’m forwarding this to the chief,” Douglas said angrily.
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Ross said. “She don’t like us asking her to intervene in this stuff.”
Susan was well aware of the stigma FIU agents got as being part of her pet project. There was a lot of resentment built up within the other departments. In order to keep complaints to a minimum she tried to avoid looking like she was swinging her weight around whenever possible.
Douglas shook his head. “This is Judge Loren. The chief will go to bat for us on this one.”
“Maybe. But it’s your neck,” Ross said. His shoulders slumped. “Even if she pulls through it’s gonna take awhile. Man, that was my plan for the rest of the morning. I really wanted at those vans.”
“What about the swordsman? The one Tallow, uh.” Douglas lowered his voice. “Zapped. I heard they were transferring him from the hospital to the lockup. Maybe he can give us something to link the white vans that he and his buddies used to the fleet at Peachtree Warehousing.”
“He could probably tell us a lot more than that,” Tallow said. “Like who gave him his orders.”
“Right. Who knows how much he’s seen?” Douglas said.
“Eh,” Ross said. “I looked into that yesterday and so far no one’s got a peep out of him. The guy won’t even say his name. The doctor who treated him at the hospital thinks he’s a mute.”
“So we get him a pad and paper,” said Douglas. “Get him to write what he knows.”
Ross shook his head. “He won’t do that either. Just shakes his head and gestures like he doesn’t know how to read and write. The doctor even brought a sign language expert that the hospital keeps on staff. The dude just looked at them like they were crazy.”
“Of course he can’t read or write,” Douglas said with a bitter laugh. “Yeah right. Like a deaf man could get that far in life nowadays without some kind of learning.”
Ross looked to Tallow. “What about you, Wiz?”
“You really think that’s a good nickname to call him?” Douglas said.
Tallow didn’t respond right away. He was rubbing his chin, deep in thought, his lips moving slightly as if having a conversation with himself. Then he blinked, realizing that both men were staring at him. “Oh, uh, I think Douglas is right. It’s not likely the man’s a t
otal stone. We should pay him a visit. But what I really want to do right now is head over to ERL Investments.”
Ross grinned and stood, his chair letting out a screech of relief. “Oh yeah. I’ve got some questions for them.”
They headed to the address of ERL Investments’ headquarters. It was just inside the perimeter right off of I-75. Douglas was expecting to find them in an ugly skyrise building. He was surprised when they pulled into a bland-looking office park.
“This is the headquarters of a multimillion dollar business that owns half of downtown?” he said.
“The ugly half, remember?” said Ross.
Of course, they were both exaggerating. According to Brenda, the company owned and leased out a hundred different properties both inside and outside the perimeter, but that was just a drop in the bucket. Atlanta was a big place.
“Brenda says they own every building on this lot.” Ross added, glancing down at a text on his phone.
“So they’re a big company that doesn’t want to look big,” said Tallow. “That fits what we know of them so far.”
The office park seemed remarkably empty seeing as it wasn’t in a bad part of town. There were only a handful of cars parked around most of the buildings. Only the center building had a lot that was decently full and it stood out like a sore thumb.
Most of the buildings were newer construction, probably built all at the same time. But the building that housed ERL Investments was an old three story brick building. It looked out of place, as if when the office park was proposed, there was one old company holdout that refused to sell their property and the office park was just built around it.
Ross grinned as they parked in front of the place. “It’s like we’re heading into a mob movie. There’s probably offices in here where people do nothing but count ill-gotten cash all day. How much do you want to bet the big boss wears gold chains under his suit and smokes fat cigars?”
“I wouldn’t think too stereotypically,” Douglas said as they got out of the car. “This isn’t Chicago in the 1920s.”
Tallow Jones: Wizard Detective (The Tallow Novels Book 1) Page 25