Cloak of Wolves

by Moeller, Jonathan

  And maybe Brauner was scared.

  “Wait, let me rephrase that,” I said. “I think it’s a coincidence. As far as I know at the moment, it’s a coincidence. But maybe you know better. Do you know why Doyle was killed, Governor?”

  Brauner snorted. “Now you sound like a Homeland Security officer. Perhaps I should speak to you with my lawyer present.”

  “For God’s sake,” I said. “We’re on your lawyer’s phone. And I’m not a Homeland Security officer. If I have a problem with you, we’re going to settle it face to face.”

  “As the toothbrush demonstrated,” said Brauner. “All right. Let me ask you a question. You may or may not be allowed to answer it.”

  “Go ahead,” I said.

  “Were Ronald Doyle and his family killed by a Shadowlands creature?” said Brauner.

  I remembered the two-legged wraithwolf on the video, the odd echo on my aetherometer.

  “Yes,” I said. “Beyond any possible doubt.”

  Brauner’s breath hissed. “I see.”

  “Look,” I said. “If you know something about why Doyle was killed, I think it’s in your best interests to tell me. And not because of the investigation or the law or anything like that. Someone hated Doyle enough to send a Shadowlands creature after him, and that’s not a trivial thing to do. And it’s probably not something Homeland Security or your private security would be able to protect you against.”

  “Is that a threat, Mrs. MacCormac?” said Brauner.

  “Nope,” I said. “I’m just laying it out for you. Someone had a reason to send that creature after Doyle, and if you know what that reason is, or if it applies to you…then you had really better tell me.” I felt the anger creeping into my tone. “Because the creature also killed Doyle’s kids. I’m not going to forget or forgive that. When I find the summoner, and I’m going to find him, he’s going to regret it. If that doesn’t matter to you, then think about this. If whoever had a grudge against Doyle has it out for you, then you might be the next target.”

  Neither of us spoke for about ten seconds.

  “You must be hell on wheels when you’re angry, Mrs. MacCormac,” said Brauner.

  “I occasionally have anger management issues,” I said. Among others.

  “You’ve convinced me, so I’m going to be straight with you,” said Brauner. I heard Hawley protest in the background. “No, Tom. If Shadowlands creatures are involved, this goes beyond Homeland Security. Sooner or later, the Inquisition or the Elven lords will take action.”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “I don’t know why Doyle was murdered,” said Brauner, “but I can think of any number of reasons that he might have been.”

  I waited.

  “As I’m sure you’ve realized, Doyle was in a lot of trouble,” said Brauner. “To save money, he had been cutting costs at his construction company, which included producing what turned out to be defective concrete. That led to a collapse of a building which killed several people and injured several more. Doyle was facing numerous civil lawsuits and the possibility of criminal charges.”

  “What about you?” I said. “Don’t you own Doyle’s company?”

  “I own a substantial portion of it,” said Brauner. “I personally stand to lose between five and six million dollars, depending on how and when Doyle’s company enters bankruptcy. But to be honest, while a six million dollar loss would be painful, it wouldn’t be more than an inconvenience. I suppose some of the families of the victims could sue me, but since I wasn’t personally involved in directing Doyle’s business, my liability would be minimal, and the lawsuits would likely not make it to court.”

  Yeah. I bet that Brauner had made sure that none of Doyle’s business troubles would land on his doorstep.

  “Okay,” I said. “You’re saying there are a lot of pissed-off people who might have summoned a Shadowlands creature and sent it after Doyle.”

  “Yes,” said Brauner. “It is also possible that Doyle might have other enemies.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Ronald was having financial difficulties even before the collapse and the lawsuits,” said Brauner. “I think he made several investments of questionable legality.”

  “You’re worried about questionable legality?” I said.

  “You know as well as I do that laws can be bent as easily as paperclips,” said Brauner. “But there are degrees of illegality. Things that the Elven nobles would care about. I think that in hopes of a quick profit Doyle was investing in technologies that the High Queen has forbidden.”

  “Like what?” I said.

  “I don’t know,” said Brauner. “As I’ve said, I don’t completely know the extent of Doyle’s businesses.” A dry note entered his voice. “People might think I know every damn thing about my associates, but I don’t. Would be helpful if I did, but I don’t.”

  “Who do you think summoned the Shadowlands creature and sent it after him?” I said.

  “Probably one of the families of the victims of the collapse, or someone from one of his more questionable investments,” said Brauner.

  “Well,” I said. “I suppose that narrows it down. Least it should give us a starting point.”

  Unless, of course, Brauner was the one who had summoned the wraithwolf, or he knew who had done it. But my gut feeling was to believe him. It didn’t make sense for Brauner to talk to me about this if he had done it. Hell, he had sent Homeland Security officers to harass me, so if he had summoned the creature, he would have had the influence to shut down the investigation or push it in another direction.

  “Mrs. MacCormac,” said Brauner. “If you need any assistance with this matter, please give me a call. My resources will be at your disposable.”

  “That’s very generous of you,” I said.

  “As you said, it may be a matter of survival,” said Brauner, voice grim. “And you don’t know how bad these matters can get.” A reasonable assumption for him to make, but he was wrong about that. “It is surprisingly easy for people to summon Shadowlands creatures, and if they work a spell empowered by blood, they may not even need magical talent. But the bond with the summoned creature works both ways, and it can twist the mind of the summoner. These things can quickly escalate into a bloodbath.”

  “You’re very well-informed about forbidden magic,” I said.

  Brauner snorted. “I was the governor of Wisconsin for twelve years. We had a few cases like this. Homeland Security and the Inquisition caught the summoners and suppressed the news, but I saw the details. I know you think I’m a thug and a racketeer, but Wisconsin is my state, and I don’t want this kind of shit happening here. That a good enough reason for you?”

  “As it happens,” I said, “I agree with you. Thanks for the information. If we need your help, I’ll give you a call.”

  “Good luck, Mrs. MacCormac,” said Brauner, and he ended the call.

  I blew out a breath and stepped off the treadmill. I had been standing still long enough to cool off, and the sweat soaking my tank top and shorts had chilled. Shivering, I stripped off my sodden clothes, dumped them into the hamper, and head back upstairs to take a shower. I thought about what Brauner had told me. That was a good starting point for further investigation. Of course, Brauner might have been trying to throw me off his trail, but I doubted it.

  In another hour, I had my meeting with Owen Quell. He had more resources for investigation, and maybe I could get him to look in directions Brauner had suggested. I got dressed in black jeans, a blue sweater, and my black pea coat, and headed across Milwaukee to the Central Office. Traffic was unpleasant, but at least it was a cloudless day, though it was still cold. I parked in the same ramp as before and walked to the Central Office. I thought about using my consultant’s badge to gain entry but decided I didn’t want to deal with that, so once again I Cloaked and made my way up to the homicide department and settled into Owen Quell’s guest chair.

  It was three minutes before nine. I was on time.


  Owen was on the phone, scowling and writing in a small notebook.

  “Uh-huh,” he said. “Okay, that’s good. That many calls? Great. Thanks for taking care of that so fast, Barbara. I owe you one. I’ll tell Anna hi.”

  He hung up, and I dropped my Cloak spell as he looked up from the notebook.

  Owen didn’t flinch, which was impressive, but his eye did twitch before I caught it.

  “Morning, Colonel,” I said.

  “Mrs. MacCormac,” said Owen. “You’re very punctual.”

  “Yeah, I’m all kinds of punctual,” I said. “Ready to get to it?”

  “I am,” said Owen. “Just had an interesting phone call from an officer in the cybercrime division. We got a warrant for Doyle’s phone records and pulled them. We’d already been over his official office phone and his personal cell phone, but nothing stood out. But it turns out that Doyle had a burner phone that he paid for quietly on the side, and the day he was killed, he made seven calls to a guy named Pablo Leon. Know the name?”

  “No,” I said, my brow furrowing. “No, wait. He’s in construction, isn’t he?”

  And, unless I missed my guess, he was another of Arnold Brauner’s friends.

  “His company’s specialty is sewers and septic systems,” said Owen. “He and Doyle had a cozy arrangement. Doyle built the buildings, and Leon laid the sewer pipe. I think we should start today by paying Mr. Leon a visit. Find out what they talked about over those seven phone calls.”

  “Agreed,” I said. Owen started to stand up. “But before we go, I should tell you this.” Owen sat back down. “This morning, I had a phone call from Arnold Brauner.”

  Owen frowned. “Did you now? I didn’t know you knew a former governor.”

  “We met when he coerced me into paying one percent of my brother’s company’s profits to the Brauner Foundation,” I said.

  “Uh huh,” said Owen. The look he gave me set my teeth on edge. It was the expression of a Homeland Security officer considering a suspect. “And what did you get from Governor Arnold in exchange for that one percent?”

  “He leaves us alone,” I said, irritated. “He wanted more, but I convinced him it was in his best interest not to make trouble for us.”

  “Sure,” said Owen. “How did you manage that?”

  I grinned my mirthless grin at him. “I’m very persuasive.”

  “If Brauner was trying to coerce you, why didn’t you report him?” said Owen.

  “To who? You people?” I said, making no effort to hide my derision. “Who do you think Brauner sent to bully us? Homeland Security officers on his payroll.”

  “Are you accusing Homeland Security officers of corruption?” said Owen.

  “For God’s sake, were you born yesterday?” I said. “Brauner is Duke Tamirlas’s shadow councilor. If I accused him, what would happen? Evidence would disappear, his powerful friends would make trouble for the company, and God only knows what else. I’m sure he’d make a call to one of your superiors, and the investigation would disappear.”

  “You’re part of Brauner’s organization,” said Owen.

  “Nope,” I said. “We donate to his damn foundation, and he leaves us alone. If he breaks the deal, we’ll renegotiate.”

  “Bet we would find all sorts of interesting things in your company’s tax records,” said Owen.

  “No, you wouldn’t,” I said. Not after what we paid for quarterly auditing. “But do you want to nitpick, or do you want to find whoever killed the Doyles? Which is what the High Queen told us to do.”

  Owen sighed. “What did Brauner tell you?”

  “He said that Doyle was having financial trouble even before the lawsuits from the building collapse,” I said. “Doyle was apparently trying to make up his losses by risky investment in illegal technology.”

  Owen’s brows furrowed. “What kind of illegal technology?”

  “Good question. Brauner claimed he didn’t know,” I said.

  “Or he knows and was involved in it himself,” said Owen. He fiddled with his pen a moment, thinking. “There’s a couple different avenues here. Might be drug-related. That’s pretty heavily restricted. Most illegal drugs are produced with protein printers in people’s basements. Or automation technology.”

  “Automation?” I said.

  “Yeah, anything that can replace a job,” said Owen. “You’ve probably realized that the High Queen values social stability more than economic innovation. A couple years ago a chain of grocery stores tried to install self-checkout kiosks, and they almost got shut down, and the owners very nearly were prosecuted. That’s been relaxed a little since the Day of Return, but maybe Doyle was working on something like that, something computer-related.” He shrugged. “Or, hell, maybe he was straight-up involved in computer fraud. We’re just speculating. We need more concrete evidence, and our best chance for finding it right now is to talk with Pablo Leon.” He rose to his feet. “Ready to go?”

  “You can drive,” I said.

  ***

  Chapter 8: A Shame If Anything Happened

  Pablo Leon’s company, Modern Sewer Solutions, operated out of an industrial site in Menomonee Falls, northwest of Milwaukee proper. Owen got on Interstate 41, joining the flow of morning traffic.

  Nadia sat in silence in the passenger seat, watching the scenery go by and ignoring him.

  Owen decided that he had handled the conversation in his office badly. She had come with useful information from Arnold Brauner, and he had basically accused her of racketeering. That had been a knee-jerk reaction. She reminded him too much of Peter Walsh and Luke Corbisher, though she was nothing like them. But the idea that she was a powerful woman using her connections to escape punishment for her crimes set his teeth on edge and brought back memories of Christopher’s death.

  That didn’t matter. Owen had to work with her.

  “How did you wind up owning a fruit company?” said Owen.

  “Why do you want to know?” said Nadia. “Going to make up some tax violations and report us?”

  “No,” said Owen. “Just curious. Not many twenty-two-year-old women own fruit import companies.”

  A ghost of a smile flickered over her face. “Don’t believe what it says in UNICORN. I’m a lot older than I look. I just moisturize a lot.”

  She lapsed into silence. Owen had activated his aurasight, partly because he needed to work with Nadia and keeping from offending her was a good way to do that, and partly because it let him watch out for drivers in a state of rage or inebriation. Though even in Wisconsin, drunk drivers were not all that common on the interstate at half-past nine in the morning. From the corner of his eye, he saw the twisting in her emotional aura as irritation and dislike battled with reason. She, too, realized they had to work together.

  Finally, she sighed. “It’s not really my company. I own part of it, but it’s my brother’s idea. I’m just helping manage it until he finishes dealing with high school and can run it full time. Only another couple of months.”

  “He’s, what, seventeen?” said Owen. Nadia nodded, the wariness in her aura increasing. “So how does a seventeen-year-old kid wind up with a fruit import company?”

  “He asked nicely,” said Nadia. “The High Queen came to my wedding. Apparently, it’s traditional for an Elven noble to present her retainers with a gift on the day of their marriage.” Owen hadn’t known that, but he had already been married when Tarlia recruited him. “One of the High Queen’s handmaidens brought a fruit basket. Russell ate half of it, and I don’t know how he did it, but he convinced the High Queen to give him the exclusive right to import fruit from Kalvarion.” She shrugged. “So, Moran Imports. If it makes you feel any better, it might not be profitable, so we wouldn’t wind up paying the Brauner Foundation a cent.”

  Owen said nothing, his mind sifting through that. He had interrogated a lot of different people over the years and had a great deal of practice at reading people’s motivations even without the benefit of the aurasig
ht and mindtouch spells. Suddenly he realized why she had gotten so angry when he had implied her brother’s company was part of Brauner’s organization. Tarlia had somehow used Russell Moran to recruit Nadia as her shadow agent, just as she had used Owen’s twin daughters to recruit him. Maybe Tarlia had healed Russell or somehow gotten him out of trouble. If the data in UNICORN was accurate, Russell was Nadia’s only family, not counting her husband.

  She would be protective of him.

  “Makes sense, I suppose,” said Owen. “It’s hard to have a large business in Wisconsin without at least kissing Arnold Brauner’s ring. Sounds like you managed to get a good deal from him.”

  Her startled expression perfectly matched the emotion in her aura. “Wasn’t expecting that from you.”

  “I don’t like Brauner, and I know that he’s a crook,” said Owen, “but like you said, he’s Duke Tamirlas’s shadow councilor. And he’s not as bad as someone like him could be. Some of the shadow councilors in South America and eastern Asia make Brauner look like a model citizen.”

  “Yeah,” said Nadia.

  “Seems like your brother started a good business,” said Owen. “The High Queen is going to spend a mountain of money rebuilding Kalvarion, and a lot of people here are going to get rich. Some company in New York is building robotic tractors, and the Elves never allowed those here.”

  “Kalvarion’s going to need them,” said Nadia.

  He gave her a surprised look. “You’ve been there?”

  “I was, once, on the day of the Mage Fall,” said Nadia, her expression distant. “Kalvarion was in bad shape. The Archons drove it into the ground. I think about nine billion Elves lived on Kalvarion when the Archons took over, something like that. When Morvilind killed all the Archons, there were less than a billion Elves still alive on Kalvarion. Archons killed them all.” She smirked. “Suppose that puts dealing with a crook like Brauner in perspective, doesn’t it?”

  “Perspective is a healthy thing,” said Owen.

  “When we arrive, how are we going to play this?” said Nadia. It seemed she wanted to get down to business.