Home > Mist and Magic (Death Before Dragons #0.5)(14)

Mist and Magic (Death Before Dragons #0.5)(14)
Author: Lindsay Buroker

“He’s a local,” Rodriguez said. “A boat mechanic who works at the marina.”

“A strange place for tigers to hang out.”

The medical examiner raised her eyebrows. “We don’t have tigers. We do have cougars.”

“Tigers have been on my mind.”

I wondered if Michael might have been brought up here by boat rather than in a van. That wouldn’t change anything about where he was now, but the ogres might have tramped past this Davie and that was how he’d ended up involved. A witness who’d reported them to O’Sullivan?

“So, are we looking at a cat-shifter wizard, or what?” Willard looked at Rodriguez.

The medical examiner lifted her eyebrows again but didn’t appear shocked by the question. She must have seen the occasional body mauled by magic.

“Or a cat shifter and a wizard?” Rodriguez suggested.

Or maybe not a shifter at all. I thought of the cub sleeping in my Jeep and wondered if there was a grown-up version of her around. Would the cub react to the body—and whatever scent the predator might have left on it—if I brought her in?

Willard tilted the folder, and the magical item I’d sensed slid out onto her palm. A slender metal stick with an emblem on a hook at the top, it looked like a fancy bookmark.

I concentrated on the magic emanating from it and tried to guess which species had crafted it. The elegance of the work, from what I could see across the room, reminded me of elves, and the magic lingering about it did too.

Just what we needed. Another species involved in the mystery here.

“Nice toothpick,” Rodriguez grunted.

“I was thinking bookmark,” Willard said.

“That’s because you’re erudite and stuff.”

Willard was erudite? I supposed she wouldn’t have been picked to head an intelligence-gathering unit if she was a thug, but she reminded me so much of that drill sergeant I’d had—and she had definitely been a thug.

“I’m more into eating than reading,” Rodriguez added.

“Are you supposed to admit things like that to a woman?”

“I’m an open book, ma’am.”

“A book with pictures?”

“Yup.” He grinned.

“You said our agent was the one with it?” Willard asked the medical examiner.

“Yes. He stored it in an interesting place.”

Willard dropped it in the folder and wiped her hand on her pants.

“Not that interesting.” The medical examiner shook her head. “But he had stuffed it in his underwear. His pockets were empty except for his car keys.”

“Maybe he thought he would be searched.” Rodriguez picked it up and looked it over, then shrugged. “I don’t know if it’s magical or some useless souvenir or what. Maybe you should call Thorvald in here.”

I’d been about to leave to retrieve the cub and walk back in without my stealth charm engaged, but I paused in the doorway, curious if Willard would admit that she could use me.

“Having someone who doesn’t follow orders on a team is a good way to get everyone killed,” Willard said.

“She can sense magic though. Colonel Hobbs used to call her in to hunt down people we couldn’t.”

“I don’t want a maverick working with our unit. It’s a liability. Especially a maverick who skulks in the shadows and doesn’t admit she’s here spying on us.”

I arched my eyebrows. Did she truly know? Or was she guessing? I’d parked in the shadow of a dumpster in an alley behind the building, so she shouldn’t have seen my Jeep.

“You think she’s here?” Rodriguez looked toward the corners—toward the shadows.

“Yes.” Willard didn’t look around, but she addressed me directly. “You left wet footprints in the hallway, Thorvald.”

Hm, maybe she was smarter than I’d thought. Or at least more observant. Colonel Willard Holmes.

I thought about confessing, but I didn’t want her to feel smug, so I slipped out and retrieved the cub from the Jeep before returning, this time with my camouflaging charm deactivated.

Willard squinted at me when I walked in, and I had a feeling she was still positive she’d been right.

“You can’t bring a pet in here,” the medical examiner objected.

I was carrying the cub in my arms—she still hadn’t recovered her energy from the day before—and doubted the medical examiner could tell what she was.

“She’s not a pet. She’s a young tiger from Del’noth.” I thought that was what the goblin had said. “A magical tiger.”

All three of them looked at the claw-mauled body.

“She’s been with me so obviously isn’t responsible for that, but I thought she might sense something.” As I walked over, the cub did perk her head up. She sniffed the air and tried to climb out of my arms to get to the body.

I set her down, but that didn’t help her since she was too short to reach the body. With a little more growing, she would be able to jump that high but not yet. She gave me a flat look with her green eyes, as if to inform me of that fact.

“I can’t put you on the table, kid. There’s a dead guy on it.”

Rodriguez arched his eyebrows. “Does she speak back?”

“Merow.” The cub pawed at the base of the table.

“Obviously,” I told him. “Unfortunately, my translation charm doesn’t have any suggestions as to what she’s saying.”

The cub walked around the table, sniffing at the air—sniffing toward the body. The body that had been electrocuted didn’t hold any interest for her at all.

“Which is too bad,” I added, “because I’d like to know if she’s aware of any other larger tigers in the area.”

Willard squinted at me. “I’d been thinking we’re dealing with a feline shifter of some kind.”

“It’s possible, but this girl was in Michael’s boat when I got there. The same night he was kidnapped. By ogres, one of whom died on his dock with that address in his pocket.”

“That address.” Willard snorted. “If that’s a real address, I’m not convinced we were on the right road.”

“Have you had a chance to look at the USGS maps yet?”

“No.” She covered her mouth as she cracked a yawn. “We were talking about doing it next over some food.”

“You got any idea what this is, Thorvald?” Rodriguez brought the bookmark tool over to me.

I paused in the middle of reaching for it. Before, I hadn’t been able to see the emblem on the top. Now, I could.

“Don’t worry,” Willard said. “Our good medical examiner promises it wasn’t stored inside any body cavities.”

“I’m not sure being nestled against somebody’s balls is better.” But that wasn’t why I’d paused, and I finished reaching for it.

“I knew you were in here,” Willard growled.

“Yeah. I wanted to hear evidence that you’re erudite.”

I turned the item over in my hand, then held the emblem toward the light.

“I’ll recite some encyclopedias for you later.”

“That’ll be sure to keep me awake. So… this is a castle.” I held it up.

“Brilliant observation,” Willard said.

“Didn’t Lieutenant Reynolds mention the castle to you?”

Willard looked at Rodriguez, who shook his head. They must not have asked to be apprised of new information related to Michael. After all, they’d come up because of the maulings and their missing agent. It was also possible Reynolds had dug up the tidbit about the bounty after sharing the address with Willard.

“He told me about a bounty out for Michael, some unnamed person offering a reward for him if he was brought alive to the castle in Bellingham.”

“There aren’t any castles in Bellingham,” the medical examiner said.

“There must be.” I held up the emblem. “And I have a hunch this is the key.”

“The key to the front door or the key that would let us find it from a neglected logging road?” Willard asked.

“I don’t know that, but this key is magical.”

The cub made a pitiful noise and flopped onto her side on the tile floor. She was under the table, still looking up at the body, but she seemed to have given up on reaching it.

“Your cat doesn’t look right,” Willard said. “She was a lot perkier this morning when she was swatting at your braid.”

“I know.” I hesitated, not sure if I should admit my fears, but maybe one of them would know something about this strange species that didn’t eat or drink, at least not on Earth. I relayed what the goblin had told me.

“If that’s true, being stuck here could kill her.” Willard frowned, then knelt beside the cub and stroked her fur. It seemed the hardened army officer had a soft spot for animals.

“That’s what I’m afraid of. We need to hurry.”

Hurry and do what, I didn’t know. All I had were hopes and hunches at this point that everything was tied together and that I’d find a solution for the cub at the same time I found Michael.

“Let’s go over those maps first,” Willard said. “We’re not driving back out to that road so we can stick that bookmark out the window and wave it hopefully at the trees. Not without making sure that truly is Misty Loop Lane.”

Though urgency battered at my nerves, I couldn’t object to the logic. It had taken nearly an hour to navigate that pothole-filled road the first time, and even if this magical key was linked to the castle, I had no idea if it would help us locate it. I hoped the cub could hold out for a few more hours.

12

It was still early enough, and dark and rainy enough outside, that we had an entire section at Denny’s to ourselves. That was good because Willard spread out maps across three tables. That flummoxed the waitress, who didn’t know where to set down our food. I took my sizzling skillet and plopped it down on Puget Sound, not caring if gravy tumbled off onto the map.

   
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