“You guys need me to call DMV to find out Harry’s license plate and car model?” Shadi asked.
I shook my head and smiled. “I don’t think that will be a problem.”
Chapter Twenty-One
An hour later, we were in Morales’s SUV, following a neon-green Trans Am through the Cauldron. The license on the pimpmobile read WIZ-LIFE. Deep bass thumped from its open windows and T-tops. Occasionally, puffs of smoke would escape, too.
I’d called Baba before we left the gym. She had been home celebrating her twenty-buck victory at bingo and said she was happy to keep an eye on Danny until I could get home. When we’d dropped him off, Baba was very interested to meet Morales. She’d pulled me aside and said, “I see the Sexy Juice is already working.” I didn’t bother correcting her. Mostly because it was funny to see Morales get all uncomfortable when Baba waggled her eyebrows at him and checked out his butt.
As for Danny, he hadn’t said much before we left. Eventually I’d have to figure out how to get him to drop this magic business, but for the time being I was off to arrest the kind of asshole I was terrified Danny would become if he started cooking.
Unlike his dad, Harry didn’t spend all his time down in the Arteries; Bane needed a man aboveground he could trust. For Morales’s and my sake, I just hoped some of that trust was misplaced.
“What an idiot,” Morales complained. “We’ve been following this douchebag for fifteen minutes and he hasn’t gone above twenty.”
“He’s cruising,” I said. “Wants to show off those sweet rims.”
We were five cars back, keeping our distance for the time being. Eventually, he’d take a wide right turn or forget to use his blinker, but with the time crunch over our heads it was hard not to be impatient. Any minute now Val and the detective on the case would make the connection to the cigarette brand. We wanted to be sure we had our shot at Harry before they figured it out.
“Tell me something,” Morales said, scooting his ass around on the seat like it was growing numb.
“Yeah?” I had my eyes on Harry’s taillights, willing one to go out.
“What’s the real reason you don’t use magic?”
My head jerked around at the suspicion in his tone. “Isn’t doing this job for the last five years reason enough?”
“Nope. Every cop I know uses magic in some form.”
I sighed. “Most cops didn’t grow up in a coven. I’ve seen firsthand the damage cooking can do to people and those they love.”
He shot me a look that made me shift in my seat. I felt as though he saw the truth through my skin. “Who died?”
That one simple question had the effect of a small explosion going off in my midsection. Was I that transparent? “I don’t—”
“Cut the shit, Kate. It’s obvious. You wouldn’t be fighting so hard to keep Danny off the burners and avoiding magic if there wasn’t some deep pain associated with it. Who was it?”
I clenched my teeth. “My mother.”
His eyes widened. “I’m sorry.” The shit of it was he sounded sincere so I couldn’t be too mad at him for making me admit it.
I forced a shrug. “It was a long time ago.”
“Some pain only sharpens with time.”
I jerked my head toward him. He was speaking from experience. I raised my brows in challenge. It was his turn.
He sighed. “Don’t pretend you haven’t wondered about my hand.”
I nodded. “What happened?”
“My dad was an Adept. That’s where my sister and I got the gene.” My eyebrows rose in shock. Morales always used his right hand. He lifted his left and clenched it. As he did he grimaced. “Doesn’t work so well anymore. After the accident.” It never occurred to me he didn’t use his left because he simply couldn’t.
“What accident?”
“My dad wasn’t formally trained. He grew up poor and his parents were Catholic. They saw his gifts as a curse from the devil and tried to beat it out of him.”
I cringed in sympathy. Over the years, I’d heard too many tales of Mundane parents who couldn’t handle having Adept kids. They’d tie the kid’s left hand behind his back so he had to use his right—or worse.
“Anyway, I was pretty young when it happened. Eight. My little sister, Blanca, was only three. Dad was in the basement cooking some potion he said was going to make us rich. He was always trying to invent a formula he could sell to one of the Big Magic companies.”
I nodded and swallowed, bracing myself for the punch line.
“When the explosion happened…” He swallowed hard, his throat clicking drily. “My mom was helping me with homework in the back of the house. Blanca was down for a nap. Mom tried to get me out the back door before the fire could reach us, but I ran back in to save Blanca. By that point, the fire was so intense, the front of the house was basically an inferno. Unfortunately, she didn’t get to me before I thrust my hand into the flames.”
I slammed my eyes shut and cursed silently. “Jesus, Drew.”
My eyes opened in time to see him smile tightly. “After we buried Dad and Blanca”—he cleared the catch in his throat—“we moved in with Mom’s Mundane family. I learned how to use my right hand, moved to a new school, and started living as a Mundane kid.”
“So why did you encourage me to let Danny study magic?”
“I made my own choice.” He shrugged. “My mom, as much pain as losing them caused, never said I couldn’t study magic. She said if I wanted to she’d figure out a way to send me to a real school so I could learn to use it safely, but she let me decide. I chose to live as a Mundane. But Danny should be able to choose his own path, too.”
I blinked at him.
“What?”
“Nothing, I’m just … shocked, I guess. Didn’t mark you for the philosophical type.”
He smirked at me. “Oh, I got lots of layers, Cupcake.”
I shook my head at him but couldn’t help smiling. Part of me was relieved to have him back to his cocky self again. The brief glimpse of the sort-of-nice guy hinted at a complexity I wasn’t comfortable handling.
“Anyway,” he said when I didn’t immediately offer a response, “you’re gonna have to do something about the kid. If he keeps knocking on our suspect’s doors, Gardner’s gonna lose it.” He looked over at me. “You’re a pain in the ass, but it’d be a shame for the team to lose you.”