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“But Sentinel … and you didn’t call in.” She sounded worried.
“I know, and I’m sorry about that. Got a lot going on. But right now I need to speak with Vaughn. I just heard about Rotten Row, and I may have information for him. Have him call me.”
“I’ll get on it right now.”
When Lily ended the call, Iris asked, “Don’t you have his cell number?”
“It doesn’t work that way in Crescent when we’re on duty. We can place outgoing calls, but all other communication goes directly through Lily and her gang. We tried it the other way, but the numbers got out and our phones got jammed up quick.”
“Understood. And who’s Vaughn?”
“A good friend. He’s worked Border Patrol almost as long as I have. He’s also been assigned to Rotten Row for the past two years.”
Iris didn’t know Officer Vaughn, but if he was a good friend, she knew Connor trusted him.
When the commercials ended, Connor unmuted the TV. The female anchor shared the gruesome stats. “More than forty dead so far, but the count isn’t final. The owner of the club, Gary Smith, was not found among the bodies. Wait a minute. I have Jose on location with a live feed from the canal near Amado Bridge in Crescent Territory. Go ahead Jose.”
Amado again.
The Hispanic reporter was standing with a finger up to his earpiece. Behind him a body lay on the ground covered in a white sheet. “Thanks, Evelyn. We’ve just had confirmation that this is the body of Gary Smith, owner of the House of Big Sex. And apparently, he’s missing the part of his anatomy that gave him his famous nickname.”
“Jesus,” Connor murmured.
“No kidding.” Iris felt a chill go straight through her. The reporter spoke for another thirty seconds but had nothing to add to the basic info. There were no suspects, no one saw anything.
Typical of Five Bridges.
~ ~ ~
Connor stared at the body on the ground behind the reporter. Big Nuts had been alive a few hours ago. Now he was dead.
He tried to picture what kind of force could have overcome Gary’s powerful security entourage and his gaze slid to Iris. As a witch, she’d been able to incapacitate them. If either he or Iris had been motivated, they could have done some killing. But that’s not who either of them were.
But what about the vampire he’d seen in Gary’s club? If he’d used a witch’s spell to disguise his identity, maybe he’d employed a dark witch’s talent for a lot more than that.
His phone rang, breaking his train of thought. Vaughn’s name came up on the screen. “This is him.”
Iris nodded. She had her arms crossed tight over her chest, and her lips were pinched together. He could relate.
He tapped the front of the phone to answer, but kept it flat on the table, on speaker. “Vaughn. Thanks for getting back to me.”
“Connor, good to hear your voice. We’ve got a mess out at Big Nuts’s place. They’re all dead.”
“I’ve seen the footage. That’s some rough stuff you’ve got over there. But how did they die?”
“Looks like it was a witch, using her killing power.”
“A witch?” And there it was. The missing piece.
“Yeah, and a damn powerful one. She somehow got into the place and had a field day. She also employed a blade, or had someone with her who did. She even killed the sex workers as well as their clients.”
Frowning, he glanced at Iris, who in turn offered a bemused shrug.
Connor glanced at the TV, which had switched from Big Nuts back to Rotten Row. “Vaughn, I’m looking at a live copter feed of Gary’s place. Are you okay out there?” He knew what the local businesses could get like when their clientele got disrupted.
“We’re okay for now. We’ve got the scene contained and enough officers to keep the locals from rioting. But I won’t mind getting the hell out of here. You know this area. The owners only care about one thing and for that the traffic needs to move and keep moving. But before I answer any more of your questions, you have to tell me what happened out at Sentinel Bridge. How the hell did you survive the blast?”
Connor held out his hand to Iris. She immediately unfolded her arms and settled her hand in his. “The witch I was with, a TPS officer, had a premonition and I took her at her word. Maybe a second after I headed into the air with her, t
