Dirty Magic (33 page)

Mez licked his front teeth and nodded. “So you figured you’d what—cook up an antipotion here?”

I shook my head. “Not exactly. It’s been ten years since I cooked. But I figured”—I let it hang there for a second—“maybe you’d be able to help?” I cringed, bracing myself for rejection.

He sighed. “Look, Kate, I like you, but you’re asking too much. First of all, I’m not allowed to use MEA resources for potions not directly related to an active case. But even if I was willing to bend that rule, if Gardner ever found out I was cooking dirty potions, she’d kick my ass out of the agency so fast my dreads would straighten out.” He leaned back until I was forced to look up at him. “Why can’t you do it?”

I raised my hands in a futile gesture. “I don’t have a lab, for one thing, and it would take too much time and a lot more money than I can access to get one set up. Second, I haven’t cooked in so long that I’m not even sure I’d be able to do any good.”

He scoffed. “Magic is like sex. You really never forget.”

“Regardless, it’s not an option here.”

“Isn’t there someone else you can ask? Family or an old friend, maybe?”

That was precisely the problem. Not that I’d tell Mez about John’s offer. “Not exactly.”

He placed a hand on my arm. “Look, it’s probably for the best. The only way to reverse a dirty potion like that is with something even dirtier. I know you’re worried about Danny, but you’re talking about breaking, like, ten federal statutes here. If Gardner or Eldritch found out you cooked dirty—even to help your brother—you’d be out of a job and probably thrown in Crowley. And then who would look after Danny?”

By the time he finished listing all the reasons it was a bad idea, I felt like a drowning woman with cinder blocks tied to every limb. “I can’t just stand by while he dies, Mez,” I whispered. He came forward to give me a hug. The scent of ozone and burnt cedar from the sticks he used to light the burners clung to his lab coat and dreads. The combo was oddly comforting.

“Stay strong, sister,” he said. “All of us are pulling for you and the kid. Morales and Shadi are out pretty much twenty-four/seven trying to find Bane.” He pulled back and made me look at him. “We will find him. Then we’ll do whatever it takes to get the formula from Bane.”

I snorted through the tears that sprung to my eyes. “Good luck with that.”

“Are you kidding? Applying the thumbscrews is Morales’s specialty. His old squad called him the Bull.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m so stubborn I always win.”

I turned toward the doorway to the lab. “Shit, Morales. We didn’t hear you come in.”

“I did,” Mez said. I shot him a look.

“What you doing here, Cupcake?” His tone was casual, as was his posture, but I sensed a leashed energy inside.

“I came by to see how things are going.”

“Could have just called,” he said. Then he snapped his fingers as if he’d forgotten something. “Oh wait. I get it, you prefer to call people ‘Asshole’ to their faces.”

My shoulders drooped. It’s not that I didn’t feel bad for hanging up on him the other day, but I wasn’t really up for adding groveling to my to-do list that day. Before I could, though, Mez cleared his throat. “I, uh, guess I’ll go … do something somewhere else.” He shot me a weighted look, a reminder to heed his advice about the potion stuff and walked off.

When he was gone, Morales crossed his arms and shot me a challenging look.

I sighed because it was easier than cussing. “Look, I’m sorry I called you an asshole.”

“And for hanging up on me?”

I nodded. “Yes, for that, too. I know you’re doing your job, it’s just”—I cleared the pride clogging my throat—“it’s been torture to sit around and not be able to help you guys get Bane.”

A speculative gleam lit up his brown eyes. “Who said you couldn’t help us?”

I paused. “Gardner—”

“Said you couldn’t go after Bane yourself. She didn’t say anything about not helping us with the investigation.”

A weight lifted off my shoulders. It hadn’t occurred to me that while I was sitting around that hospital room I could be going over files or something, anything to help make progress. “What did you have in mind?”

He licked his bottom lip and squinted at me. “Remember when that snitch told you the potion was being sold out of that absinthe bar?”

“The Green Faerie—yeah?”

“We’re scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as leads go. Any chance he’s got a bead on Bane’s location?”

I tilted my head and regarded him with mock doubt. “I don’t know, Morales. Introducing you to my favorite snitch is a pretty big step.”

“Like it or not, Cupcake, if we’re able to nab Bane we’ll be stuck together for a good long time.”

“Hmm.” I grimaced as if the prospect wasn’t exactly what I’d been hoping for since I met Gardner in Eldritch’s office. “All right. But keep your trap shut, okay? As it is I’m going to have to do some fast talking so he doesn’t shut down the minute I bring a stranger onto his turf.”

“I can live with that.”

“Okay, let’s go,” I said. “Oh, and one thing?”

He raised his brows.

“Don’t say anything about the diaper.”

H
ey, lady.”

One of Mary’s massive paws rested protectively on Little Man’s rounded belly. The homunculus’s eyes were closed as he basked like a drowsy lizard in the afternoon sun. When his sister saw Morales walking up behind me, her other arm tightened protectively.

“Stranger,” she whispered fiercely.

“Hi, Mary. This is my friend Drew.” I smiled at her. “He’s nice.”

Her eyes narrowed at the holster peeking from beneath Morales’s jacket. “Guns.”

“Put your hands up,” I said under my breath. He shot me an annoyed look but complied. “Drew’s a police officer, too, Mary. He would never hurt Baby.”

“Damn straight he won’t,” LM said with his eyes still closed. “Because I’d fuck his shit up.”

Morales jerked and he openly gaped. “What the fuck?” he breathed.

Little Man’s eyes snapped open and he speared the cop with a disgusted look. “What’s wrong with your friend?” He shot Morales an evil, mostly toothless grin.

I waved a hand and forced a laugh. “Apparently he’s never talked to a homunculus before.”

Little Man leaned forward, using his tiny elbows for leverage against Mary’s flat chest. He looked Morales up and down with eyes too wise for his infantile body. “I guess we’re even, then, because I ain’t never seen no beaner cop look as retarded as this one here.”

Morales raised a bored brow. “I prefer ‘spic,’ asshole.”

Little Man threw back his head and laughed. “Oh, I like this one, Prospero.”

“I’m so relieved,” Morales said in a monotone.

“Now that the pleasantries are done,” I said, “I need some help.”

Little Man raised a tiny hand and rubbed his thumb across the tops of his fingers.

Shit. Seeing how, according to the MEA and the BPD, we shouldn’t even have been there, I didn’t have access to petty cash to pay informants. I nudged Morales, figuring that, unlike me, he had more money than lint in his wallet. He shot me an annoyed look. “Nice.”

“I’ll buy you a beer later,” I said.

He rolled his eyes and approached LM. As he walked he jerked the wallet out of his right back pocket.

When he reached LM, he handed him a ten. The homunculus gaped at the cop. “You trying to insult me?”

Morales sighed the sigh of the martyred and removed another ten from the wallet. “You better have a good singing voice.”

“Throw in an extra twenty and I’ll do a little dance.” LM performed a slow hip thrust.

I threw up a little in my mouth. “We’ll just settle for an address for Bane’s safe house.”

Mary stiffened as if she smelled trouble and LM’s smile froze. “Why would you think I’d know something like that?”

“Because not much happens in the Cauldron without you knowing.”

He chuckled. “Your high opinion of me makes me feel all warm and gooey, Prospero, but ain’t
nobody
that connected.”

“All right,” I said, crossing my arms. “How much?”

Morales made a disgusted sound. I ignored him and stared down my tiny informant.

“I’ll take all the money you got, but it still isn’t going to get you the answer you want.”

“Come on, LM, give me something. This is important.”

“Always is with you.” He looked at me for a moment with pursed lips. “Heard Hieronymus got collared.”

“What’d you hear?”

“It was you, right?”

I flinched before I could stop myself. “Yeah.”

He shook his head. “Is it true he snitched on Bane?”

“No,” I lied.

LM digested that with a nod. “Heard Bane went after your kin as payback.”

All he got in return was a nod. I was so not discussing Danny with him.

A low whistle escaped his rosebud mouth. “Good luck, girlie,” Little Man said. “You’ll need it.”

“She won’t need luck if we find Bane first,” Morales said.

“You’ll need plenty of luck for that, too, Macho.”

Morales’s eyes widened at his new nickname. I put a hand on his arm to remind him not to assault my CI. “So who would know where Bane is?”

“I admire your tenacity, but the only cats who’d know something like that are Bane and Harry.” The homunculus shook his head. “You ask the Frost Prince about that?”

“We tried,” Morales said. “But that creepy motherfucker’s already got his deal signed and sealed. He won’t give up jack shit anymore.”

“C’mon, LM. Give me something,” I said, my voice rising in frustration.

“Whaddaya want from me?” Little Man huffed out an offended breath.

“You don’t know where Bane is or who could tell us.” Morales snapped his fingers. “Give me my money back.”

LM cringed. Mary’s arms wrapped around her burden as she leaned forward to growl at Morales. My partner stepped back with his hands up. “Relax. I’m not going to hurt the little bastard. Just want my cash.”

The homunculus patted Mary’s arms. She relaxed but kept her eyes on Morales. “All right,” LM said. “You’re right. I don’t know what you’re asking. But I do know something you haven’t asked about.”

I pursed my lips, growing tired of this myself. “Spill it.”

He rolled his eyes and settled back against Mary with his arms crossed. “You’re no fun.”

Morales and I both shot him cut-the-shit glares.

“All right, all right,” he said finally. He leaned forward on the edge of his carrier. “Did you wonder how Bane knew about the early morning raid? How he had enough time to clear out?”

I glanced at Morales. All this time I figured Bane had just gotten spooked when he found out we nabbed Harry. “I bet you have a theory.”

He shrugged. “I been hearing some rumbling about maybe Bane having a guy on the inside.”

Morales frowned at him. “Inside where?”

LM’s eyes sparked with excitement. “BPD.”

“Bullshit,” Morales snapped. But I put a hand on his arm.

Mary looked up. “No yell at Baby.”

“Then tell
Baby
he needs to do better than spread rumors if he wants money,” he snapped back.

I closed my eyes and prayed for a break that I knew was never going to come. By the time I reopened them, Mary was rocking back and forth on the bench.

“Shit, Macho,” LM said, sounding frantic as he tried to pat his sister’s arm. “Now you’ve upset her.”

“Mary, it’s okay,” I said quickly. “He didn’t mean to yell.”

Mary’s rocking became more frenzied. Her large hands came up to grip her oily hair and a high-pitched keening came from her slack jaw.

“Shhh,” LM soothed. “It’s okay, Mama. It’s okay. Baby’s here.”

Morales shot me a worried look. “Prospero, maybe—”

“LM, is she okay?”

Two mean, black eyes looked up at me from the infant’s face. “Get out of here,” he gritted out between clenched gums. “Fuck off!”

Morales grabbed my arms and pulled me away. I went along but kept my eyes on them. By that time Mary’s rocking was so violent, the legs of the bench squeaked in protest. Her hands tore large clumps of hair from her scalp. Little Man pulled something from his diaper. I couldn’t make out what, but it looked like an ampoule. With his tiny hand, he stabbed the attached needle into her fleshy forearm. Two seconds later, the rocking and the keening stopped altogether.

I could have gone back and arrested them for using a potion on public property. LM and Mary weren’t wizards, so there was no way they’d brewed that shit by themselves. But I didn’t bother. I was too freaked out by the suddenness of Mary’s episode and the gentle care LM took with her. Plus, I couldn’t afford to lose my best snitch.

I dragged my eyes from the pitiful pair on the park bench. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Yeah, I’m wondering which freak show you raided to find those snitches.”

I rolled my eyes. “No, about the mole thing.”

“Do you trust the homunculus enough to tell Eldritch he might have a crooked cop on his staff?”

I shook my head and met his eyes over the roof of the car. The strain of the last few days pressed down with a sensation that bore a striking resemblance to hopelessness. “Let’s just go.”