“Round up the team. We’ve got crimes to solve.”
* * *
Morales wasted no time getting down to business. Without sparing me a glance, he walked back out the door. “Round up!” he called to the others.
Gardner passed me to follow him out. “Well? Come on.”
I blew out a sigh and followed. The sooner we got the formalities out of the way, the sooner we could get moving on the case.
We all gathered by the entrance of the makeshift lab I’d spied earlier. Well, “lab” was a generous term for what was basically a long table and a counter with cabinets overhead. The shelves were filled with various herbs and liquids—all neatly labeled. Bunsen burners flickered under glass beakers with simmering liquids of varying colors and viscosities on the counter. It had been a long time since I’d entered another wizard’s lab. Despite the bare-bones setup, I still experienced a little quickening in my veins. My eyes eagerly inspected the liquids, identifying most from scent or color. The rest I couldn’t name without further inspection, but I wasn’t about to do that until I was invited to do so. First rule of visiting another Adept’s lab: Don’t touch without permission. Usually this was as much a safety precaution as just good manners, and for me it was also self-preservation. Just being this close to the apparatus was making my palms itch.
I glanced toward the window and saw that the wizard’s view was a large billboard rising high above the freeway a couple blocks over. It advertised a new self-tanning elixir from Sortilege, Inc., that no one in the Cauldron could afford. Clearly the picture of a young blond woman playing on the beach was meant for the Mundane commuters who zoomed through the Cauldron on their commute to the suburbs.
Now that the team was gathered again, the jokey, hazing atmosphere had been forgotten entirely.
Gardner jerked her thumb toward me. “You’ve met Officer Prospero.”
I bit my tongue since I wouldn’t exactly describe the scene earlier as an introduction.
“The Cauldron’s her beat,” she continued. “I’ve invited her on the team because of her extensive knowledge of the covens and their key players. Officially she’s a consultant, but as far as we are all concerned she’s as much a full member of this squad as any of us. Is that clear?”
I blinked at her public support after the warnings she’d just delivered in her office.
The guy with the dreads shot me an impish smile. Gardner pointed to Morales. “I believe you caught Special Agent Morales’s name when you arrived.”
I nodded. “Hey.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s up?”
“Morales is second in charge around here. If I’m not available you take your cues from him.”
“Okay,” I said. Inside, however, I was thinking, Oh shit. The shit-eating grin he shot me confirmed my concern that he wasn’t done with the hazing.
“That’s Shadi Pruitt,” Gardner continued. “She was recruited into the MEA from Detroit PD. She’s our surveillance expert.”
The female jerked her chin up in greeting.
“Agent Pruitt,” I said.
“Shadi,” she corrected. Her tone wasn’t combative, exactly, but she was definitely sending off a vibe that our shared gender didn’t make us automatic allies.
“And this,” Gardner continued, “is Kichiri Ren.”
The other guy came forward and held out his left hand. “They call me Mesmer.”
“Mesmer?”
“Mez, for short.” He nodded back knowingly. “I’m the team wiz. You need a protection amulet or magical weapon, I’m your man.”
“He’s a magical bad ass.” Shadi winked at him. “Right, Mez?”
He shrugged, but his smirk was self-assured. “I try.”
Gardner decided the social hour was over. “Any hits on the blood sample yet?” she asked Mesmer.
“Yeah, about that,” Mez hemmed. “There’s some bad news and some bad news.”
“Start with the bad.” Gardner leaned a hip against the counter.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in a dirty alchemy potion before. It’s got some elements I haven’t identified yet.”
“Because you can’t?” Gardner asked.
“Don’t insult me.” Mez rolled his eyes. “I will be able to identify every component—it just takes some time. It’d be easier if we could get a sample of the potion off the street to break down.”
“What’s different about it?” I asked.
He looked up as if he’d forgotten I was there. “In addition to the antimony, there’s also oil of rose quartz.”
My eyebrows slammed down. “You’re sure?” Oil of rose quartz was a distillation often used by alchemists to improve physical stamina. It was even thought to make men more virile, which is why the Big Magic companies used it in erectile-dysfunction potions.
“Why?” Shadi asked.
I glanced at her. “Most street wizards use down-and-dirty ingredients to cook. Their potions have more in common with moonshine or a meth lab than a true alchemical potion,” I explained. “They prefer quick and cheap so they can turn a faster profit.”
“It’s kind of like alchemy’s redneck cousin,” Mez added. “But oil of rose quartz of this quality is not cheap to come by, and even if a wizard saves money by brewing it himself it’s pretty time consuming.” He turned and looked at me, clearly enjoying talking to someone who spoke his language. “But that’s not all—there’s also blood.”
Shadi raised her hand. “And that’s bad why?”
“Most wizards from the alchemical tradition won’t touch blood potions,” I said. “They think it’s the dirtiest kind of magic.”
“But alchemy’s dirty, too,” Morales said, coming closer.
“It’s one of those weird hierarchy things,” I said. “The street alchemists see themselves at the top of the food chain, magically. Sex and blood magic are bastardized from other magical traditions, so alchemists consider those potions beneath them.”
My fingers itched to get a hold of a sample of Gray Wolf. Unfortunately, even if we had a sample and I somehow overcame my aversion to using magic, the fact remained that the courts had deemed evidence gathered through magical means inadmissible. Still, part of me wished that shortcut was available to us because I had a feeling getting the evidence through conventional means was going to be a pain in the ass.