“Keep working on it,” Gardner said to Mez. “Let us know what you find out. Soon.”
The wizard nodded.
“Shadi?” Gardner prompted. “Any leads on your end?”
“I hit all the apartments that looked down on that alley where Harkins killed the vic. People ain’t talkin’ as usual.”
“Keep trying. I want to know if Harkins knew the vic or if he just attacked at random. You find out anything about who she was?”
“Her name was Jessica Sprote. She was on her way to work.” She glanced down at her notebook. “She’s a cleaning lady at Volos Towers.”
My head jerked up. “Really?”
“What?” Gardner said.
Part of me wanted to keep the whispers I’d heard about Volos’s involvement close to my vest. But in the end, I accepted that if I was going to prove myself good enough to stay on this team, I’d have to start sharing intel. “Not sure it’s solid. Lots of people work in Volos Tower.” I shifted on my feet and crossed my arms. “But John Volos’s name has been cropping up ever since I killed Harkins. He’s got the mayor and the chief convinced he’s gone straight, but no one at the street level believes it.”
“Wait,” Morales said, “isn’t Volos the hotshot land developer?”
I nodded. “Yeah. He grew up in the Cauldron, though. He was Abe Prospero’s right hand.” I didn’t add that he’d gained that position once I’d walked away. “He’d certainly be capable of cooking a potion like this.”
I waited for someone to question me about sharing a last name with the former leader of the covens, but no one did. That meant they’d probably already been briefed on my background, which, frankly, was a relief.
“But you don’t think it’s him?” Morales asked.
“Not likely,” I admitted. “Volos is an alchemist, sure—a talented one. But I can’t wrap my mind around a motive for him. He’s already got money and power. Why screw up his sweet position as Babylon’s golden boy with a dirty potion?”
“Just because we can’t think of a motive doesn’t mean one doesn’t exist,” Morales countered.
I nodded. “Sure.”
“We shouldn’t rule anyone out at this point,” Gardner said. “But I’m inclined to agree that it’s too soon to focus our lens too tightly on Volos.”
Morales nodded, but I could see his detective instincts filing away that conversation for later use. He turned to Shadi. “What about the blueprints of the Arteries?”
I raised my brows to Gardner—a silent request to be brought up to speed.
“Since Harkins was trying so hard to get there, we thought he’d probably already been in the tunnels. Maybe someone saw something.”
I snorted. “No offense, sir, but even if someone saw him questioning the tunnel rats it wouldn’t help much. Between them all, they don’t have ten brain cells left to rub together.”
“Still,” she said, “it’s an angle I intend to pursue.”
I nodded and shrugged. “Of course.”
Shadi sucked at her teeth. “Gettin’ the runaround down at the department of records.”
“Who you talking to down there?” I asked.
She pulled out her notepad and flipped through a few pages. “Guy by the name of Stewart.”
“Ah,” I said. “You need to go through his assistant instead. Her name’s Nancy and she’s a sweetheart if you use your polite words.”
“Thanks,” she grunted. She turned to Gardner. “On that note, I’m heading back to the hall of records before I go back for more interviews.” She snatched a few ampoules off Mez’s workbench. “You mind if I take a few of these protection shots?”
Mez shot her a look. “What happened to the doses I gave you last week?”
“It’s a dangerous world out there.”
“Hmm.”
With that Shadi pocketed the vials. As she walked away, she said, “Thanks for the tip, Prospero.”
Once she was gone, Gardner turned toward Morales. “All right, that leaves you two,” she said to us. “Any idea where to start tracking down Bane’s involvement?”
I did an inner high five with myself for having the forethought to talk to Little Man. “A bar called the Green Faerie on Exposition. I have intel that indicates a dealer might be dispensing Gray Wolf from there.”
Morales crossed his arms and shot me a dubious look. “Where’d you get this intel?”
I shrugged. “I got a source.” I was willing to share intel, but I was too protective of my CIs to hand LM’s name over. If they wanted to use my sources, they needed to keep me around.
“How reliable is this source?” Gardner asked.
“Reliable enough to bring it up to you.”
“Morales, you have any leads?” she asked.
His jaw clenched. “No, sir.” A chill filled the space between him and me. Guess he didn’t like the new girl showing him up.
Gardner’s eyes narrowed as she considered her options. “All right. You two check it out. Let me know what you come up with.”
“Probably nothing,” Morales said under his breath. To me, he turned and snapped, “Well?”
I smiled sweetly. “After you.”
Chapter Ten
On the dark side of Exposition Boulevard, a discreet green door sat in a red brick wall. Over that, a small, faded sign depicted a faerie with green wings. The Green Faerie—a whimsical name for an establishment that catered to some of the most dangerous magical criminals in all of Babylon.
The club used to be an old speakeasy dating back to the dark decade in the twenties when the US government tried to outlaw alcohol during Prohibition. Little had Uncle Sam known that magic would pose a far greater threat to the moral fabric of America than alcohol ever could. Unfortunately it took another four decades for that lesson to hit home and by then it was too late to close Pandora’s box.
You didn’t need a password or secret handshake to enter the club these days, but it was probably a good idea to have a gun or other weapon easily accessible.
As it stood, Morales and I weren’t planning on entering the club, since they’d smell the bacon on us the minute we crossed the threshold. Instead, our goal was to watch the perimeter for any of the usual suspects or signs of deals.
“Gardner seems like a real ballbuster.” My tone was conversational instead of accusatory. We’d been sitting in the car for more than an hour without much conversation and I was getting antsy.