Ryan nodded toward the back door just as Zack emerged. Blond and tan, Agent Zachary Garner resembled a lifeguard more than a federal agent. It didn’t help that he looked like he was barely twenty, though I knew he surely had to be older to be a federal agent.
“Good to see you again, Detective Gillian,” he said with a broad smile.
“Likewise, Agent Garner,” I replied, then grinned as he came forward and gave me a hug. “Good grief, Zack, what did you do to your hair? Did you try to highlight it?”
He ran a hand over his head and gave me a sheepish smile. “Yeah. I was trying for blond tips, but it didn’t quite work out.”
I eyed him. “Your hair was already blond. Now you have …”
“Orange,” Ryan stated. “You can dance around it all you want, but the truth is that his hair is Oompa Loompa orange.”
“Well, just the tips,” I said, “but, yeah. Wow. You need to get someone to fix that.”
“I’ve already made the appointment,” Zack assured me with a smile. “You look quite dressed up. Court?”
“Funeral.” I made a face. “Victim from a case I had over the weekend—parish councilman who was ass end up in the shower. At first we thought it was an accidental positional asphyxiation, but now it’s looking like a homicide.” I took a deep breath and looked over at Ryan. “He was like Brian Roth. I mean, he had no essence left either.”
Ryan frowned. “Missing? Or consumed?”
I fought the urge to shiver. “Consumed. So it definitely wasn’t an isolated event with Brian.”
“Can you fill me in?” Zack asked. I did so, quickly outlining the pertinent details. Special Agent Zack Garner was also well informed about the arcane, though I had no idea if he had any particular talent for anything of that ilk.
He looked intensely troubled after I finished. “Only those two so far?”
“Yeah, but that’s two more than I’m comfortable with.” I paused. “I shouldn’t even be using the word comfortable at all. Frankly, it worries the shit out of me.”
“I can understand that,” Zack said, brow creased. “What was the councilman’s name?”
“Davis Sharp. He owned Sharp’s restaurant, among others.”
The frown deepened on Zack’s face, and he and Ryan exchanged a look. “Is there any connection between him and the other one?” Zack asked me.
“I don’t know that yet. I still have a lot of digging to do. Brian probably ate at Sharp’s every now and then, but other than that I got nothin’.” I frowned at the two of them. “Do y’all know something about this?”
Zack leaned back against one of the metal desks. “Davis Sharp’s name came up in the case we’re working on. I don’t see how it could have a connection to what you’re working, but I’ll see if we can get clearance to share what we have with you, in case it does.”
“I appreciate that,” I said. “You never know what’ll turn out to be important.”
“Are you sure it’s not some sort of naturally occurring thing?” Ryan asked. “Maybe it’s not something sinister at all.”
“No, I’m not sure,” I replied honestly, “but I find it hard to believe.” I looked back to Zack. “Kinda like I find it hard to believe that you actually go out in public with that hair.”
“You never used to be so cruel, Kara.” Zack made a comically tragic face. “You’ve obviously been spending too much time with Ryan.”
“No fair!” Ryan said with a laugh. “She summons demons, yet I’m the bad guy?”
“Hey, at least the demons don’t hate me,” I teased in retort.
Zack seemed to tense. “What do you mean by that, Kara?”
I hesitated, for some reason feeling that I’d be tattling on Ryan if I spoke about what happened during the summoning. But Ryan didn’t seem to care. “She let me watch a summoning of a reyza,” he explained. “Big fucker by the name of Kehlirik—who seemed to pretty much hate me on sight. Called me a krakkahl or some shit like that.”
“Kiraknikahl,” I corrected, but my eyes were on Zack. He hadn’t moved or twitched or reacted at all to what Ryan said—remaining so still and expressionless that I had the eerie impression that he was fighting not to react.
Then Zack grinned and it was gone. “See? It’s true, Ryan. Everyone hates you. Even the demons.”
Ryan gave a dramatic sigh. “And here I was planning to treat you two to dinner.”
“That’s a good start,” I said with an approving smile. “But I’m not sitting at the same table with him.” I jerked my chin toward Zack and his orange-tipped hair. “That is, not unless he wears a hat.”
“So very cruel,” Zack moaned. But he opened the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet and pulled out a baseball cap that had FBI in large gold letters across the front. He tugged it on and looked to me for approval. “Better?”
“Much. Now, let’s go before Ryan changes his mind about paying.”
I exited the small building with the two agents following. “Where are we going? We should probably take separate cars since I—” I broke off, going still as an odd nauseating sensation shimmered past me.
“Did you feel that?” I said after a few seconds. I hadn’t missed that the two agents had gone still and silent as well.
“I did,” Ryan replied, as Zack nodded agreement. “What was it?”
“Dunno. It’s arcane, but—” I stopped again, feeling as if something had slithered by. There was a strange hint of menace to it, but nothing I could put a finger on. I shifted into othersight, slowly scanning the parking lot, but the enhanced perception merely intensified the feel of nasty. “It’s dangerous,” I whispered, shifting back to normal sight.
“We should go,” Zack murmured, hand on his gun. “Kara, get in your car. We’ll wait until you’re in. Get on the road and we’ll call you to arrange where we’re going.”
I didn’t need any convincing. I walked quickly to my car and slid in, locking the doors immediately. I pulled out of the parking lot, glancing back to see that Ryan and Zack were getting into their car with similar dispatch. About a minute later, my cell phone rang.
“Any idea what that was?” Ryan asked.
“Not a clue,” I admitted. “I couldn’t pinpoint anything, so it might have been some sort of random wash of potency. But it was skeeving me out, so I’m totally cool with running away.”
“Same here. Look, I’ll have to give you a rain check on the free meal. Zack got a call about this Galloway case and needs to take care of some things.”
“Not a problem,” I said. “But, please, do one thing for me?”
“Yes?”
“Take Zack to a hairdresser first.”
Chapter 15
I scowled at my reflection in the full-length mirror in my bedroom. Brian Roth’s funeral was in an hour, and my dress blue uniform hung on me like an oversize sack. My choice of attire for the funeral yesterday had been easy—dress like a detective. But this was a funeral for a fellow officer, which meant that everyone—from the chief on down—would be dusting off the dress blues. Until this moment, though, I hadn’t realized quite how much weight I’d lost, thanks to the too-stressed-to-eat diet that I’d been on for the last few months. On the one hand, I was elated that the insistent little pudge at my belly was gone. Flat stomach! Hooray! However, the idea of buying a whole new wardrobe was nowhere near as pleasant. Not on a cop’s salary.
I sighed and cinched my belt a notch tighter in an effort to keep my pants from falling down. The extra fabric wrinkled uncomfortably at my waist, but it was better than giving the entire community a free show. I scowled down at my clown-sized pants, glad that I didn’t have to wear a fully rigged duty belt, with holster and handcuffs and baton. My pants would definitely end up around my ankles then.
I fiddled with the positioning of my name tag and tried to remember when I’d last put the damn uniform on. Two years ago, I decided, at the annual departmental awards ceremony when I’d dutifully accepted my five-year service pin. I wrinkled my nose and leaned closer to the mirror, repositioning said pin on my right breast pocket. Since making detective, I hadn’t had any other need to wear the uniform. I rarely worked off-duty details like so many of the other detectives did. And, fortunately, the department hadn’t lost a cop in the line of duty since I’d been there.
My fingers paused on the pin. Except for me. There was a part of me that still felt guilty for subjecting everyone to the agony of thinking I’d died, even though it wasn’t my fault and the only other option would have been for me to actually die permanently. But funerals were horrible, wrenching affairs, and the brotherhood of police officers was a tight one. The loss of a cop was the loss of a family member, and I knew I wasn’t the only one dreading going to this funeral.
And Brian’s is guaranteed to be a ridiculously overblown affair. Since he’d been the son of Judge Harris Roth, that meant that every attorney, politician, and kiss-ass would be there.
I winced and gave myself a mental smack for the uncharitable thoughts. Brian had been a cop, and as such he would get the honor due a cop, even though he hadn’t died in the line of duty, and even though his death had numerous questions still surrounding it. However, apparently word had leaked out that there were questions as to whether Brian had killed Carol. I suspected that Pellini had probably let something slip, but on this occasion I couldn’t find it in myself to be annoyed with him for sharing information about an ongoing investigation. Everyone’s morale had lifted immeasurably, just knowing that there was a chance Brian had been innocent.
But this service would be a far cry from Carol Roth’s funeral. Her parents had insisted on a very private, very personal service, which had been performed with an extreme minimum of fuss the day before. I wasn’t sure if her former father-in-law, Judge Roth, had attended—or been invited. I couldn’t blame Carol’s family for that. Since it had been assumed that Brian killed her, I could see why they didn’t want any of his family there. Plus, Judge Roth was likely having a hard enough time as it was.
Sighing, I stepped back and regarded myself in the mirror again. I looked like shit. Even I could recognize that. I had dark circles permanently embedded under my eyes, my face was sallow, and my uniform was about three sizes too big for me now. Yeah, well, maybe averaging only three hours sleep a night isn’t helping much either. And that’s only with the help of a few glasses of wine.
A hard knock on the door interrupted my self-loathing. I stuck my tongue out at my reflection, then went to the door and peeked out through the peephole.
I pulled the door open and frowned at Ryan. “You look sharp,” I said. And he did too, which made me feel ten times as sloppy. He looked one hundred percent Fed, in a well-tailored dark-blue suit, crisp white shirt, and gray tie. “Why?”
“I figured I’d come with you to the funeral.”
My knees nearly wobbled in relief, and I realized how nervous I’d been about facing the rest of the department. I knew I was being stupid, but since the last funeral had been mine, I couldn’t help but feel an odd sense of awkward. “Thanks,” I said fervently. I didn’t need to say any more. He got it.
“You need a new uniform,” he said, narrow-eyed gaze traveling over me.
I snorted and grabbed my keys. “I wear the damn thing barely once a year, and we don’t get our annual uniform allowance until next January. By then I’ll probably have gained all the weight back.” I headed out the door, locking it behind me.
“Good,” he said as he followed me down the stairs. “You’re all angles and elbows right now.”
I gave him a sour look. “You certainly know how to make a girl feel sexy.”
He grinned. “Well, how about: If anyone can make an oversize polyester uniform look hot, it’s you.”
I had to fight to keep from revealing how tickled I was at the thought that he might consider me hot. Not that he did. He’d already said I was all angles and elbows. Instead, I made a point of looking down at my attire and then rolling my eyes. “You are obviously incredibly desperate for female company.”
He shrugged. “Maybe I have a thing for smart chicks in uniform?”
This time I did laugh. “And apparently the heat is affecting your perception. Just get in the damn car.”
I’d been more than right about the expected turnout. The location of the funeral had been changed at the last minute to the municipal auditorium, since none of the churches in the area had anywhere near sufficient capacity to handle the number of people who wished to pay their respects—even with Brian a suspect in Carol’s death. I found a spot against the wall and did my best to blend in and stay unnoticed, though I wasn’t having too much success with Special Agent Ryan Kristoff standing beside me in full-fledged FBI mode.
The line for the viewing snaked throughout the auditorium, and I couldn’t help but think that the place would have been best served by having a setup with ropes and poles like the ones for the rides at Disney. I didn’t join the queue. I’d never had a desire to look at the carefully waxed and made-up faces of the dead, and I also felt no desire or need to offer my regrets to the grieving parents. I didn’t know them, they didn’t know me, and there was no need to make the line even longer, in my opinion.
I casually scanned the crowd. About every third person was a police officer—either from Beaulac PD or from neighboring agencies. Brian had been fairly well-known and had also worked with the sheriff’s office for a time, so I could understand why so many officers were here. But I had to force myself not to roll my eyes at the insane number of political hangers-on that streamed in. This place was a local lobbyist’s wet dream. I mentally tagged every parish and city councilman, darn near every courthouse employee, the entire DA’s office, the mayor, constables, judges, justices of the peace …