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She cleared her throat and said, “And in other news, today, at the Faerie-Human Crime Scene Investigations headquarters, a protest involving around fifty people was staged in support of Andy Gambit, reporter for the Seattle Tattler, who was arrested on rape charges this morning. Accused of raping several women, including a woman from Otherworld, Gambit remains in custody without bail.
“His supporters—primarily members of the Church of the Earthborn Brethren—were passing out anti-Supe literature. A counterprotest ensued, sponsored by a combined effort from the United Worlds Church, the Rainbow Community Action Center, the Reclaim the Night Women’s Coalition, and the Supe Community Council, and quickly swelled to encompass more than four hundred people.”
The scene cut to a reporter interviewing people at the scene. They showed a montage of comments, cutting from one person to another.
“Seattle has no place for hate crimes. If he did it, Gambit should be locked up for good—”
“Rapists deserve to be castrated—”
“The Church of the Earthborn Brethren have been stirring up trouble for a while…we want people to know that most of Seattle doesn’t feel this way—”
“If the Supes don’t want to be targets, they should get out of town—”
“Hate groups have no place in this area. It’s time Seattle woke up and took care of them before they become a serious problem. There’s no room for supremacists here—”
And then Neely came on screen. She smiled and held up a new pamphlet that looked fresh off the presses. “We invite anyone who doesn’t want Seattle to seen as a mire of hate and bigotry to join our new organization. Sponsored by the United Worlds Church, the Supe Community Council, Vampires Anonymous, and the Sovereign Nation of Talamh Lonrach Oll, we have formed an inclusive organization—All Worlds United in Peace. AWUP. Please, feel free to take some of our literature if you are interested.”
And the comments went on. After a moment, Yugi turned down the sound. “As hard as it is to say, considering Alfina’s injuries, the attack may be a blessing in disguise. This seems to have woken the city up. People don’t want their home to be known for hate crimes.”
I stared at him. Yugi was usually as sensitive as they come. “You’re saying you glad Gambit raped her? Don’t let Camille hear that garbage when she comes in here.”
“No! I’m not saying that. But let’s face it—as we’ve seen, this doesn’t seem to be his first attack. We still need to get the DNA back, but there’s no doubt in my mind that he attacked all those other women first. And there may be more. He may be a murderer. After all, from what Alfina says, he was all for killing her afterward, but the Tregarts wanted to leave her alive. They wanted to make the city believe that the FBHs were hurting the Supes and maybe start a fire.”
He sat down at his desk. “I’ll bet Gambit was quaking in his boots when he realized she’d be able to tell us about him. The Tregarts sold him down the river along with the Earthborn Brethren. We’d better pull our unsolved cases and see if we can match any of them up with him.”
As he flipped through some papers on his desk, looking for something, Chase came striding out of his office.
“Good work on the protests. Thank Tim for me, will you? That news coverage did us a world of good. I’ve already gotten five requests to talk to neighborhood watch associations who don’t want this kind of crap in their part of town. Did you catch the report right before it about the rise in hate crimes lately? They segued nicely into the piece about the protests.”
We headed back to his office. “Chase, are you going to be available tonight? We’re planning a raid on the Energy Exchange, and it would be helpful to have a member of the FH-CSI there to shut it down officially if we can capture Van. We know he ordered the bombings—”
The phone on Chase’s desk rang and he held up one hand. “Yes?…Where? Oh crap, all right, we’ll get a unit right over there. How many injured?…Right.” As he hung up, he pushed himself out of his chair. “Come on. The Supe-Urban Café just went up in flames. Five injured so far, no known deaths at this point.”
“Motherfucking son of a bitch. Van’s going to wreak havoc on the city because we caught Jaycee and he had to kill her to make sure she didn’t talk.” I followed him out, Shade on my heels.
“What? You caught one of them?”
“Yeah, but Van sent in Tregarts to kill her. I’ll explain how they found us later. Right now, we’ll see you at the café.”
On the way out, we caught Camille and the others coming in from talking to the protesters. I waylaid her. “To Marion’s café, now. It’s on fire.”>At the mention of Shadow Wing, Jaycee blinked. Aha—we were right.
“We know you’re working with Shadow Wing; you might as well tell us the truth.” I stood up and motioned for Camille to stand back.
“If I’m working with Shadow Wing, what makes you think I have any intention of talking to you? I’m not getting out of here alive. I’d be an imbecile to think so. You can do what you like, but I’m not talking.”
Her bluster was real. I could see it in her eyes. She was waiting for us to kill her. Which we’d have to do. We’d never turn her to our side. Even if we did manage to secure her cooperation, we wouldn’t be able to trust that she was telling the truth.
I shoved her back on the bed. “Shade, hold her down while I search her pockets.”
Jaycee struggled, but Shade was too strong for her and I went through all her pockets, searching for anything that might help. I found her wallet and phone, and stepped back.
“No, those are mine—give them back!”
“I don’t think so.” I sat at the table with Camille and we started going through the wallet. “Our demon here has a driver’s license, and her address is printed on it. And it’s not the safe house they used last time.” I jotted down the address.
“Found her smart phone. Let’s see what we have in here…” Camille frowned. “It won’t work.”
“Remember? Most electronics won’t work in this room. Step outside and check it out.” I was still going through the various receipts and cards in Jaycee’s wallet. Camille exited the room.
