by Lily Webb
“What does that mean, exactly?” I asked, not at all sure I wanted to know the answer.
“Well, it’ll probably be better if I let you see for yourself. Come with me,” Aimes said and turned to walk through the door behind her.
“I don’t like the sound of this at all,” Zoe said as she followed.
I gulped. “That makes two of us,” I said, but pulled Thorn with me, anyway. At least two dozen cells lined both sides of the room, each only ten feet by ten feet wide — and all unoccupied, which surprised me given the increased rate of incidents Aimes said Starfall had been having.
At the end of the hall, we stopped in front of an even smaller cell that faced us. Inside, Marcus sat on a stool bolted to the floor. Aimes had cuffed his hands behind his back and chained his feet to the stool — a sight that made me feel even worse about what we were dealing with.
At the sound of our approach, Marcus’ head shot up, and he stared at us with crazed, watering eyes. “Ah, you young women! Yes, you’ll be my salvation, for I am reformed; rejoice, I am a reformed!” he said, and I instinctively took a step back from him, despite knowing there was no way he could reach or hurt me.
“He’s been talking like this ever since I found him still with a smoking wand in his hand,” Officer Aimes said.
“Wait, he had a wand? I thought Moon Grove’s Council had it snapped when he went to prison?” Zoe asked.
“According to his records from the MGPD, they did, as is standard protocol. I don’t know where he got the wand, but he had it, and he’d definitely used it. I cast Ostendo on the wand to see what magic he’d used recently, and there’s no denying that the wand in Marcus’ hand was the one that killed Dunham.”
Marcus threw his head back and wailed at Aimes’ words. “She won’t listen! She hears no reason! I killed no one, not a soul. Can’t you see I’m not in control? The silver tongue guides my hand! If you would only look, you would see!”
“What on Earth is he babbling about?” I whispered to Aimes, hoping Marcus wouldn’t hear.
“No idea. Like I said, he’s been this way since I found him. Believe me, I’ve tried to talk to him and make some sense out of it, but he’s just confusing me more. It’s sad, but I think his few years in prison did real damage to his mental health.”
I shuddered at the implication and the recollection of the argument I’d seen between Marcus and Aimes earlier. If Zoe and I hadn’t been there to intervene, would it be Aimes dead right now? Given that interaction, Marcus’ already imperfect reputation, and that the wand he’d held directly tied him to Dunham’s murder, what other conclusions could I draw? But it seemed strange to me that a run-in with Dunham made Marcus snap, so I wondered if there was more to the story.
I turned to Zoe. “Are you getting anything from his thoughts?”
Zoe frowned and shook her head. “I’m getting bits and pieces, but they’re scattered and just as nonsensical as the words coming out of his mouth.”
“Still, that sounds like an improvement from earlier.”
“Yeah, it’s weird. It’s almost like whatever block he had on his thoughts is lifting. Not everything’s coming through, but some of it is leaking out.”
“Is that common?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure. I can’t say I’ve ever been around someone when their thought blocker waned. It’s usually all or nothing.”
As fear twisted in my stomach like a bad case of food poisoning, I swallowed and tried to summon my courage because I knew what I had to do. “Officer Aimes, you have to let me get close to him.”
“What? Are you out of your mind, Selena? No way! The guy’s a murderer,” Thorn objected, squeezing my hand.
“I know that, but we don’t have a choice. We clearly can’t talk to him for information, and my magic only works through touch. If there’s even a sliver of a chance I can force a vision, I have to do it. Besides, look at him; he’s all chained up, he can’t hurt me.”
“Maybe not with his hands, but we don’t know what else this guy is capable of magically,” Thorn said, and though he was right, I still didn’t see any way around it.
“Are you sure about this, Selena?” Officer Aimes asked. “I doubt anything will happen, but I can’t be sure. I don’t want to put you in danger.”
“I’m sure. Just keep your wands ready in case he tries anything,” I said. Aimes hesitated for a moment before eventually pulling her wand from the holster strapped to her waist and waving it at Marcus’ cell. The door unlocked with a click and creaked as it swung open slowly.
I stepped forward, but Thorn squeezed my hand again, freezing me. His eyes all but pleaded with me not to do this until I planted a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll be fine, I promise. Just watch my back, okay?”
“I don’t like this one bit, Selena,” he said, but let go of my hand, anyway. He and Zoe readied their wands, aiming them squarely at Marcus’ chest as I entered his cell. Marcus’ eyes fixated on me, watching my every move, and when I reached for his shoulder, he sobbed.
“I didn’t kill her, young lady. I swear,” he insisted. “Whatever you see, I. Didn’t. Kill. Her.”
“Time will tell,” I said and rested my hand on his shoulder, which heaved under my grip as Marcus devolved into sobs again. For a few disappointing moments, nothing happened, but just as I was about to take my hand away, magic surged through my body, and my ears tingled as a vision started.
I squeezed my eyes shut to avoid getting sensory overload, and when I reopened them, I stood somewhere dark, dank, and musty smelling. There was so little light that I couldn’t make out my hand as I waved it in front of me. I squinted and turned around, looking for anything that might give me a clue where I was, but other than the smell — which reminded me of an old basement — I found nothing.
“Is everything ready?” a voice whispered from several feet away, making me jump out of my skin. I turned toward the source of it and squeezed my eyes until they were just barely open, but I still couldn’t see who’d asked, and it was impossible to recognize their voice at such a low volume.
“Almost. There’s only one more shipment left to move,” another unfamiliar voice said directly behind me, so close I felt the warmth of their breath on the back of my neck. Startled, I jumped away and collided with a soft, damp wall that smelled an awful lot like dirt. The realization gave me an idea, so I dug my fingers into the wall and smiled when I realized it was, in fact, dirt — which meant that I was probably underground, and that one voice belonged to Marcus. But what the heck was he doing in a tunnel?
“Good. The police are sticking their wands where they don’t belong, so make it quick,” the other voice said a bit more loudly, but I still didn’t recognize it. “Perhaps telling them the truth about your secret little business would motivate you to move faster.”
“No, please, don’t! I’m trying my best, okay? You don’t understand how difficult it is to find ton—”
“I know exactly how difficult it is,” the other voice interrupted. “Why do you think I hired you? Don’t make me regret it.”
“I won’t, Mr. Blackwood. I swear,” the first voice said, and my heart skipped a beat at the name. What was Leo Blackwood doing in a dark tunnel with Marcus Drach?
“Your words mean nothing, Drach. It’s your actions that count, so get me my product, and get it here fast. Understood?”
“Yes, Mr. Blackwood,” Marcus answered, and I heard footsteps thud against the packed earth ground as Blackwood moved closer to Marcus — and started mumbling something in a language I’d never heard, one that sounded like snakes writhing in a pit.
More footsteps thudded as Blackwood moved away. After a few moments of silence, followed by a heavy door slamming somewhere far off I couldn’t see, Marcus seemed to snap out of a trance because he whimpered, thudded to his knees, and started crying.
Chapter 10
I snapped out of the vision in a whirl, but Marcus’ crying still rang in my ears — because he sat beside me, sobbing.
“I didn’t kill her. I didn’t,” he mumbled. Though my vision didn’t prove that, it also didn’t disprove it. The only thing it did was ask many more questions than it answered. Why did Marcus meet Leo Blackwood in a tunnel, and where was that tunnel? Based on what I’d heard of their conversation, it was pretty clear Marcus was back to his old smuggling ways. But what was he moving for Blackwood, and why?
My eyes drifted to Marcus’ sad, shrunken body as he hunched forward with his legs and arms bound. I wasn’t sure if I could get any coherent information out of him, but I had to try.
“Marcus?” I asked gingerly. He glanced up at me, but quickly diverted his eyes. “I know you’ve been working with Leo Blackwood. Why?”
Marcus’ gaze shot to me, and his brows furrowed, seeming stunned that I asked him that rather than something about Officer Dunham’s murder. I had plenty of questions about that too, but we’d have to circle back. “He left me no choice,” he answered, to my surprise. For a moment, I wondered if he might have slipped back into lucidity.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m beholden to my master; he who pulls the strings of his purse to give me my purpose,” Marcus said with a glazed look in his eyes, and I sighed as I realized we’d lost him again.
“Is everything okay, Selena?” Thorn asked. He clutched his wand so tightly his knuckles had turned white.
“Everything’s fine. I’m just confused by what I saw.”
“Which was?” Zoe asked with a raised brow. So I filled the group in on my vision.
“Then hold on a second. Marcus might not be spouting total nonsense,” Zoe said when I’d finished. “I think we know who was behind Marcus’ early release from prison now,” she continued, and I laughed in incredulity as I realized she’d nailed it. How had we not put it together sooner? Leo Blackwood was probably the only person I knew of with the power and influence to orchestrate something like that.
Based on Marcus’ conversation with Leo in my vision, it made perfect sense why Leo would want Marcus released too — he needed a service only Marcus could provide, and getting Marcus out of prison to do his dirty work gave Leo the perfect leverage because if Marcus even thought about stepping out of line, Leo could turn him in.
“As exploitative as it is, I have to admit it’s a genius play on Leo’s part,” Zoe said. “But what were you moving for him, Marcus?” she asked him directly.
“If I use my tongue now, I’m not likely to keep it, young lady,” he answered coldly.
Officer Aimes lowered her wand and stepped closer to Marcus and me. “Mr. Blackwood can’t hurt you here, Marcus. And trust me, you’ve got much less to lose if you cooperate with us. Whatever you tell us about your deal with Blackwood might help mitigate your punishment for Officer Dunham’s death.”
“You’re offering him a plea deal?” Zoe asked, surprised.
Aimes shrugged. “What choice do we have? There aren’t any other leads.”
“None of you understand! Why can’t you see? There’s no hope for me,” Marcus shouted, rattling his chains and making everyone jump. “He’s tied his purse strings around my throat!”
“I think we’d better give Marcus some time to cool down,” Aimes said, watching him uneasily as I left his cell. When I was safely out, Aimes locked it magically, and Thorn pulled me into him before kissing the top of my head.
“I’m fine, really,” I told him, but it was a lie. Though I tried to play it cool, my vision of Marcus and Leo’s subterranean soiree had shaken me because previously incompatible pieces of the puzzle were now slotting together in a deeply unsettling way.
As the four of us left the cells for the front office of the SVPD, I realized Zoe must’ve been monitoring my thoughts because she glanced over her shoulder and shot me a worried look — but I wasn’t sure if her worry stemmed from my well being or her own realizations about the case we’d been chasing.
“Well, like it or not, it looks like we’re gonna be working on this together from now on,” Officer Aimes said as she closed the hidden door to the cells behind us.
“Are you okay?” I asked her. “There hasn’t really been time to slow down and feel all this.”
“No, there hasn’t been, and there still isn’t. Something’s going on here, something big, and I’m not giving up until we figure out what it is. I owe Eva that much,” Aimes said with a forlorn glance at Dunham’s empty desk.
“Could it be as simple as Officer Dunham being in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Zoe asked, and Aimes shrugged.
“If Dunham were still alive, we could ask her, but that’s not the case. That said, I don’t think Marcus ever would’ve targeted her without a good reason, so you’re probably on to something.”
“Wait a second. Did you see Marcus’ suitcase anywhere near the scene?”
Aimes shook her head. “I was too busy chasing after him to pay attention, but he didn’t have it when I found him, and I didn’t go back to look for it either. It was more important to get him in custody here.”
“Do you think whatever Marcus was smuggling for Blackwood was in the suitcase?” Zoe asked me.
“I don’t have any proof, but what else would scare him enough to attack Dunham? Maybe she figured out what was going on and tried to confiscate the suitcase.”
“Then we need to find that bag, wherever it is,” Zoe said, and her face scrunched as she thought.
“That could be like looking for a needle in a haystack. It’s probably going to be easier to go after the bigger stash wherever Blackwood’s hiding it,” I said, and Zoe’s face lit up.
“Genius!” she shouted. “Besides, not even Blackwood can credibly claim it’s merely a coincidence that Rory died on his property anymore — especially not when he’s meeting convicted smugglers underground. But how are we going to get to him again?”
“Can’t you arrest him or something, Officer Aimes?”
Aimes laughed and shook her head. “If only! Unfortunately for us, no matter how accurate your vision might be, it’s not permissible evidence of a crime. Then again, even if I arrested him, he’d probably be out of custody in a matter of minutes. The man has an army of lawyers.”
“It must be nice to be so rich,” Thorn muttered, and I nodded against his chest. “Wait… What if you showed up and asked to talk to him, Officer Aimes? Wouldn’t he be obligated?”
“Sure, but he’s not legally required to tell me anything, much less the truth. Besides, I don’t have any hard evidence of a crime. All I have is a dead body on his property and now Selena’s vision. But that amounts to nothing more than a ‘he said, she said’ scenario.”
“Hold on a second,” Zoe said as she reached into her robes and pulled out her phone. She tapped and swiped around for a few moments until she found what she was looking for. “Bingo! Looks like Blackwood is giving another campaign speech tomorrow morning, so we can accost him after without it looking suspicious, since most of the press will cover it.”
“No doubt news of Officer Dunham’s death will reach his ears by then, and I’m sure he’ll work it into his speech,” Thorn said, and rolled his eyes. “But the silver lining there is that we have time to prepare before you’re in front of him again.”
“Good, because I’m falling asleep standing up,” I said, and I meant it. “Our trip back to Kindred Spirits didn’t last long, and wasn’t nearly restful enough.”
“It’s been a long day, that’s for sure. Will you be okay without us, Officer Aimes?” Zoe asked.
“I’ll be fine, thanks. I’ll try to track down Marcus’ suitcase — and figure out where he got that wand.”
“Good idea. Let us know right away if you find anything, okay?” I asked, and Aimes nodded.
“Of course. Good night, everyone. Thank you for coming. I needed company more than I realized,” she said, and I offered her a somber smile because I didn’t think I’d ever seen her so vulnerable. In all my interactions with Aimes, she’d always been so confident and commanding, but
now she seemed on the verge of breaking — not that I blamed her. After all, she’d just lost one half of the SVPD, someone she’d probably worked with for years and knew well. For Aimes’ sake, if nothing else, I wanted to find to find out what had driven
On a whim, I freed myself from Thorn’s arms and walked over to rest my hand on Aimes’ shoulder. “We’re here if you need anything else, Astrid,” I said, daring to use her first name.
Aimes pulled me into a hug. “Thank you, Selena. That means a lot,” she said, then released me with a smile. “Now go home and get some rest. I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”
I woke the next morning with no memory of the preceding twelve hours, like someone had knocked me out. I sat up slowly and realized I was at least in my bed, and Jadis lay sleeping soundly in hers beside me in the room we shared at Kindred Spirits.
If I had to guess, I must’ve fallen asleep downstairs, so Thorn probably carried me up here. It wouldn’t have been the first time, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. Despite literally sleeping like the dead, my eyelids still drooped with exhaustion. Even so, my mind had already started racing, chasing after every uninhibited theory that popped into my not-quite-awake brain.
There wasn’t any denying that Marcus and Leo were in business together, and that Leo had sprung Marcus from prison to serve his purposes. But just what the heck were they doing together? How had both Rory and Eva ended up dead in a few days of each other, and were their deaths related? As much as I tried, I couldn’t convince myself that they weren’t because they shared one glaring connection: Leo Blackwood.
We had no leads on who or what killed Rory — for all we knew, she might have simply fallen off a mountainous perch like it looked — but I couldn’t ignore that she’d been on that perch in the first place to spy on Leo from a distance and ended up dead on his property.
We knew without a doubt who’d killed Eva, thanks to Marcus’ literally smoking wand. But why? What on Earth would have possessed him to attack her? Even if Zoe’s theory about Officer Dunham being in the wrong place at the wrong time was true, it didn’t explain why she had to die, nor Marcus’ bizarre behavior and block on his thoughts.