You’re wrong, big brother. So very, very wrong. But then, I couldn’t blame them for not helping the one time I’d ever really needed it when my father had banned me from saying anything, ever. I understood his reasons, but it rankled that they still considered me their sweet little sister without knowing the real me. The dark me. The taker-of-life me....
I shivered. In truth, that was probably a good thing. I’d hate for the inner darkness to destroy the connection we all had.
“Can you tell me if Tane was being investigated—openly or surreptitiously—by the High Council or anyone else?”
“I am not aware of any investigations, but that does not mean there isn’t one. The Society’s network is strong, but we will never be across every scrap of legal stuff that is going on, let alone all the underhanded activities that abound in the witch world. None could.”
“You make it seem like there’s almost nothingbutunderhanded and illegal dealings.”
“Some days that’s exactly what it feels like.”
“Sounds like you need a holiday, brother.”
“So Rochelle keeps saying, but there are the twins to consider.”
“You can take them with you,” I said dryly.
“Yeah, but then it will hardly be a holiday. I love them to death, but those boys are terrors.”
I laughed. “Is there any chance you can shove a firecracker up forensics’ ass for me? We really need to know what they found in the murdered women’s bedrooms.”
“We’ve sent up another team, and a specialist is on the way?—”
“On the way? I thought he or she was supposed to arrive this afternoon?”
“Another case reared its head and scuttled those plans. She should arrive tomorrow afternoon at the latest, as long as nothing else arises.”
My eyebrows rose. “Surely we’ve got more than one expert on blood magic working for us?”
“Yes, but Chantel’s expertise comes from personal experience, and your report suggests her knowledge might come in handy.”
“Only if she gets here in time.”
“She should. I take it you’re still in possession of the shard?”
“It’s in a safe rather than here in the hospital with me, and thank god for that, because it likely would have been taken.”
“Will the magic protecting it hold until you get back to the apartment? Or do we need to send a retrieval team in?”
“A retrieval team—and maybe even the specialist—might not be able to unpick my magic without me there. Not without destroying the shard.”
“Point. You might not be the strongest of witches, but you do imbue some seriously weird energy through your spells.”
You don’t know the half of it, brother...“I’m sure Lowell and his team appreciated the extra personnel, but we’ve now three open cases that may or may not be connected, and forensics are not keeping up.”
“I’ll talk to Soph. In the meantime, you be careful.”
“You know me—careful is my middle name.”
He laughed. “That depends entirely on the situation.”
We talked some more about kids and family life—his and mine—then I hung up with a promise to keep him updated. After sending him the notes as promised, I tucked the laptop back into its bag, slipped under the blankets, and settled down to sleep. Not that a good night’s sleep was ever a true possibility when the nurses kept insisting on taking my blood pressure every hour or so. To say I woke feeling less than refreshed and rather grumpy would be an understatement. Breakfast was at least decent, even if the coffee remained watery.
I took a hot shower that went some way to easing the various aches, then got dressed into the jeans and crop top Ginny had brought me. The doctors arrived midmorning and, after a quick examination, declared me fit to go but advised avoiding anything too strenuous for another couple of days. They also handed me some pain tablets to help ease the ache of the various bruised and battered bits of my body.
I shot a message through to Ginny, then gathered everything together and went outside to wait for her in the parking area. Once I’d thrown my stuff on the back seat of the Toyota—which still was covered in fingerprint dust—I climbed in the front and said, “What? No coffee? I am bereft.”
She laughed and handed me a new earwig. “I’ve already checked out the local coffee options, and we’re heading for a drive-through now.”
