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I took a careful breath. I really didn’t want to eat my left shoe. “Are you?”
“No. I just like her. A lot.”
Ryan had holstered his gun as well and regarded Carl with a frown. “It’s easy to say you’re someone’s boyfriend if they’re not here to support the story.”
Carl inclined his head in understanding. “Yes, I know what you’re saying.” He thought for a few seconds, then looked at me. “She told me that when you were fourteen, you had to be taken to the hospital for a drug overdose.”
I flushed hotly. Trust Tessa to share that bit of wonder-fulness. My teen years—before I began training to be a summoner—had been an unpleasant foray into drugs, rebellion, and general acting-out. If not for the summoning and the focus that helped me get my life back on track, I’d probably be dead by now. “All right, you two know each other pretty well, I guess.” Then I frowned. “So you’re not a summoner, but you must know how to shape wards. I had to take them down to come in.”
He shook his head. “Actually, they don’t affect me.”
“’Scuse me?”
He shrugged. “I don’t really know why or how. Honestly, I know that there are wards only because Tessa showed me their effect on others. But they don’t affect me. I can walk right through them.”
“That’s … interesting,” I said, unable to put anything more coherent into words. But at least some things were starting to make sense. “You’ve been visiting my aunt at the neuro center?”
“Yes. I don’t know if it helps, but it makes me feel better. Look, if you’re convinced that I’m not robbing the place, I really need to get going. I’m on call today.”
“Um, sure.” Tessa has a boyfriend. It would take some time for me to wrap my mind around that one. “Thanks for taking care of the lawn.”
He inclined his head slightly, then gave more of a nod to Ryan. “I’ll be seeing you around, then.” And with that he slipped out the door. I watched him as he walked off down the street.
“He must live in the area?” Ryan said as much as asked.
“I’ll check,” I said, grimacing. “I’ll check it all out. But I need to eat first.”
“I’ll go get your gourmet repast,” Ryan said.
“I’m going to look through the rest of the house.” I believed Carl, which was odd, considering how shocked I’d been to hear that he and Tessa were an item, but it was the kind of thing that was utterly believable even if I never would have thought of it on my own. Still, I felt a fairly compulsive need to search and secure the house and the library. I could believe they were dating, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t also out to find something. Like an open portal that my darling aunt failed to tell me about.
I sighed and scrubbed at my face as I entered the library and flicked on the lights. Tessa could be erratic, impulsive, and even annoying at times, but I could never say that she didn’t always have my best interests at heart. Plus, she’s mine, I thought fiercely.
I quickly examined the wards in the library, especially the ones over and around the portal, finding nothing amiss. But would I even know? It was shameful, really, that my skills were so weak. I clearly had the ability and the affinity to handle and see the wards. And the more I came to know about my aunt and the wardings in her house, the more my suspicion grew that Tessa’s ability to ward was also minimal at best. She had enough skill to shape the protections needed for summonings, but beyond that it looked as if she’d relied on others to do the work for her.
I squared my shoulders and returned to the kitchen, replacing the wards as I left the library. Ryan came in and sat on a stool on the opposite side of the counter from me, setting two bags from Taco House and a pad of paper in front of him.
“Let’s start figuring out what we know,” he said as he pulled about a dozen wrapped tacos out of the bag.
“Okay. We’ll just list everything to start,” I said. “Carol and Brian Roth are dead. Davis Sharp is dead. Brian and Sharp both had their essence eaten. A demon dog-thing attacked us. And the Galloways had their essence ripped away and are dead.”
He nodded, jotting quick notes in a crabbed script. “And your aunt has an open portal in her library, and you were attacked by a—a psycho pixie-thing.”
I unwrapped a taco, dribbling cheese onto the black granite of the countertop. “The big question I have is whether there’s really a connection between any of this shit.”
“I’m not finished,” Ryan said, still writing. “We should include the fact that I’m investigating Judge Harris Roth for misconduct.”
I’d just taken a bite of taco, and I was forced to actually continue to chew and then swallow instead of staring at him openmouthed. “He’s the one you’re investigating? ’Splain, please?”
He wiped a strand of lettuce off his chin with the back of his hand. “Witness intimidation, improper disposition of drug seizure property, possible planting of drug evidence, not pursuing cases against major supporters. That sort of thing.”
I felt a little mental click as a couple of pieces fit together. “The Galloways?”
“Exactly. After their restaurant was seized, it was auctioned. To Davis Sharp.”
The damn lightbulb finally went off over my head. “Ohhhhh. That’s Sharp’s restaurant now!”
Ryan gave me a thin smile. “Correct. And Sharp bought it for a song. The judge who presided over the seizure and the plea deal concerning the son was …” He looked at me expectantly.
