AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is that all?”
“Also, I had a funny dream about it.”
“He has these dreams sometimes,” says Candy. “Sometimes they mean he should have taken an aspirin before bed, but sometimes they mean something.”
Julie goes to a file cabinet, takes out a key, and unlocks it. From the bottom drawer, she removes the knife and brings it back to the desk. I pick it up, turn it over in my hands.
“Well?” she says. “Any vibrations from the spirit realm?”
“Not yet. Can I keep it for a couple of days?”
Julie sighs.
“Just be careful with it. Besides Vincent’s clothes, it’s our only piece of physical evidence.”
“What did the Vigil techs tell you about it?” says Candy.
Julie picks up her coffee cup, sets it down again in a gesture of exasperation.
“Nothing. No one would touch it. They know I’m working with Stark on the case and that makes it too hot for them to handle.”
“You always make an impression, Jimmy,” says Brigitte.
“That’s what my mom said.”
I put the knife in my coat pocket.
“I have a question about Tamerlan,” I say. “If he’s involved with this Wormwood thing, doesn’t it make sense that I was right and he’s working with the White Light Legion? It makes sense. He’s the brains and they’re the muscle. The enforcers.”
Julie says, “Then why wasn’t he at the ceremony at Murphy Ranch? From what Varg said, it sounds like the woman, Sigrun, could have been performing the ritual.”
“And he specifically said he didn’t see anyone who looked like Tamerlan at the ceremony,” says Candy.
“He’s deeper in this thing than we know yet, I’m sure of it. And he’s part of what happened on Wonderland Avenue. What if those people owed him money, or owed Wormwood, and he sent his thugs to get them? Maybe it doesn’t relate directly to this case, but it’s something we could use as pressure against him to get some answers.”
Brigitte takes a piece of paper from her purse and sets it on the desk.
“One of the gentlemen I chatted with was good enough to give me Tamerlan’s contact information.”
Julie snatches the paper off the desk before I can get near it. Too late, though. I already saw the address. She puts the paper in a drawer.
“I have an assignment for you, Stark,” she says. “Starting tomorrow, I want you to shadow each of Brigitte’s necromancer contacts. Maybe one of them will reveal something without meaning to.”
“Stake out six people? How am I supposed to do that?”
“One at a time,” she says.
I sit back in my chair.
“This is just busywork, while you and Candy do the big-brain stuff.”
“We need to keep you from playing in traffic,” says Candy.
“Or getting stung by a bee,” says Brigitte.
“You know, you two should do a ventriloquist act. You can take turns being the dummy.”
Julie says, “It’s only busywork if that’s what you make it. Real investigative work isn’t always exciting, but seeing people at unguarded moments can be key to finding out what they’re really up to.”
