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“Possibly both Izar and Julian, but they started courting Julian after Izar and Antonio contracted the Arcanavirus. Encouraging and sponsoring Julian to become more involved in local business. Providing support for him to join various boards and community projects.”
“Grooming him, you mean? Now that their brood sow had the fucking audacity to become a faun.”
“You do have a way with words, Hart.”
I worked at the edges of the egg in the pan, ignoring Doc’s comment. “But how do we know that he isn’t all-in on this? Hasn’t drunk the fucking Kool-Aid?”
“Flavor-Aid.”
“What?”
“Flavor— Nevermind. And the answer is because while he might want to become mayor, he’s been pretty careful about his investments.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning,” the orc explained with a surprising amount of patience, “that he hasn’t been making or accepting contributions from certain parties.”
That didn’t provide a particularly clear picture, but I got enough to get the idea, and I wanted to get back to my brunch with my boyfriend… who was eating his without me. “And we know this how?”
“Vito Landa.”
“Ward talked to him?”
“Indeed.” Doc sounded amused. “He had all sorts of useful information about what had been taken along with his work bag, once Ward got him calmed down.”
“Goddamn it, Doc. I’ve got an omelet with my name on it, and I don’t want it to get fucking cold waiting for you to tell me what I need to know.”
He laughed outright at that. “Fine, Hart. The point is that I think Izar might be right about her brother not being responsible for the theft of her pendant. More importantly, we want to look not at Vidal, but at his connections.Theyare more likely to be members—and therefore targets for the Ordo—than Vidal himself. Especially because he isvery muchin the public eye.”
He had a point. Except for one thing. “That didn’t stop the Ordo from killing the Oldhams,” I pointed out.
“True enough, but the Oldhams were far more problematic to the Ordo than Vidal. Vidal and his compatriots might be Culhua, but the Oldhams were trying to criminalize magic entirely. They were a direct and immediate threat. Vidal isn’t. Not yet, anyway.”
I sighed. “Okay, fine. We’ll look at Vidal’s connections. After brunch.”
Doc laughed again. “Call if you figure anything out.”
“I will.”Be polite on the phone,I told myself. “Thanks, Doc.”
“I’ll see you later, Hart.”
I hung up, then turned to Taavi, who was more than halfway through his omelet.
I poured more egg into the pan after quickly stuffing a bite into my mouth. “You heard?” I knew he had, but asking bought me some time to process what Doc had told me.
“That Vidal isn’t the problem?”
“Probably isn’t the problem,” I corrected.
“Yes.” He took another bite, as did I. “Val?”
“Yeah?”
“What does that mean? How does that help us?”
I sighed. “It doesn’t, really. It eliminates our most likely suspect, which I suppose is progress, but it doesn’t help us figure out whoiskilling shifters or, for that matter, who’s killing Culhua members.”
“Oh.” He sounded disappointed.
