AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I can see where you’re going with it, yes.” He paused. “Kara, I hate to point this out, but the Carol Roth murder isn’t your case anymore.”
I could feel myself stiffening. “Sarge, I know, but the detail with the surveillance video and the—”
Crawford cut me off with a sharp laugh. “Don’t sweat that shit. Fuck Pellini and Boudreaux. Lazy, useless fucks. I’ll take care of any heat that comes down about you horning in on the case. Especially since it started out as yours. Easy enough to deal with.”
I let my breath out, relieved. “Thanks, Cory.”
“But, Kara,” he continued, “if you’re wrong about this, you’re killing your career. Even a buccal-swab warrant is going to be a big slap in the face for a public figure of that stature. I’m not gonna tell you not to go ahead with this, but I want to be sure that you’re sure.”
“I’m sure,” I said, trying to fill my voice with as much confidence as possible.
I heard him sigh gustily. “All right. I can meet you in about half an hour at—”
“Sarge,” I interrupted him. “I … think it would be better if you, um, didn’t come.” I cringed at how that came out. But there was no easy way to put it. If Harris Roth could kill by ripping essence out, I didn’t want to risk having someone there who had no way to defend himself or even know if he was in danger.
“I’m your sergeant, Detective Gillian,” he reminded me, tone distinctly frosty.
I framed my words carefully. “Sarge, you once said that you’d seen a lot of shit in your career, and you were probably more willing than most to believe that some things defy explanation.”
He was silent for several heartbeats. “And … this is one of those things that defy explanation?” I could hear the disbelief in his voice, but I thought I could also sense the barest edge of acceptance.
“It is, Sarge. I … I just need you to trust me.” I rolled my eyes at myself. Holy crap, but that sounded lame, even to me. “Look,” I said quickly before he could say anything else, “when all of this is over, I promise I’ll give you as much explanation as you want.” If you really want it, I thought. And if everything works out.
He fell silent again, but I could hear background noise, so I knew we hadn’t been disconnected. “Is Agent Kristoff going with you?” he said finally.
My shoulders sagged in relief. “Yes, he is.”
I heard him sigh again. “Fine. Keep me posted. I’ll cover as well as I can if there are any questions.”
He was hanging his own ass on the line for me as well, I knew. “Thanks, Sarge.” I didn’t add anything trite like I won’t let you down or you won’t regret it. There was too good a chance that either or both could happen.
“Be careful, Kara.”
“I will.”>“Like the psycho pixies?”
“No, those are some sort of pest and can make their way through on their own if the portal is open. Which, of course, it was. I was referring to something bigger. With teeth. And claws.”
“The dog-thing,” Zack breathed, sitting back.
I met his eyes and nodded. “It’s called a kzak. And Zhergalet seemed to think that it had been pushed through when the wards were down.”
A series of expressions rippled over Zack’s face, too quickly for me to get any sense of what he was thinking. I glanced at Ryan, but his expression was nothing but stony, brow lowered in a frown. “So the question is,” Ryan finally said, “who or what pushed it through, and why.”
The waitress came up at that point, and we paused our conversation long enough to order ridiculous amounts of unhealthy food.
“It went from that portal to the Ice House,” I pointed out after the waitress had poured coffee and bustled off with our order. “Carl said that he’d fixed a broken window, so I’m guessing that it came through and busted out of the house. I think it’s safe to assume that it was specifically sent after one of us.” I paused, waiting to see if either of them would react or respond. Especially Ryan. Yet the baffled expression remained on his face. I looked at Zack. He didn’t look baffled, at least, just quietly thoughtful. “Unless you think that the busboy was somehow the target of an arcane attack?” I said. I could feel myself getting frustrated and snarky, and I fought to control it.
After a couple of seconds with neither of them saying anything, I took a deep breath and continued. “It’s … possible that it was after me. Rhyzkahl has asked me to be his summoner, which would increase his status and power. If an opposing lord wanted to thwart that, then the easiest way to do it would be to remove me.” I shrugged lightly, though I sure as hell didn’t feel in a light shrug kinda mood. I glanced at Ryan, nearly daring him to react negatively to the reminder that Rhyzkahl wanted me as his summoner, but he didn’t react at all.
“Or it could be after me,” Ryan said, voice low and rough. “For whatever reason …” He trailed off, then lifted his eyes to mine. “Kara, I swear I’m not holding anything back from you. I honestly don’t know.”
I gave a short nod. Oddly, I believed him. I turned to Zack. “What about you?”
Zack blinked. “I wasn’t there when it first attacked. It couldn’t have been after me.”
I narrowed my eyes. “No, but you sure as hell knew what Ryan was doing afterward.”
A pained expression flickered on his face as he shook his head. “Only because I’ve seen him do it before, after other … odd encounters. We’ve worked together for several years now. There’ve been quite a few of those.”
