“It’s so optimistic of you,” he drawled, “to assume he’ll live long enough to go to jail.”
I sighed. The truth was I couldn’t blame him for not trusting us to get the job done. In the Cauldron, the wizards were the law. Plus, no kids grew up in the magical ghetto feeling like the BPD was there to protect and serve them. Aphrodite had grown up a decade or so ahead of me, but I was willing to bet I wasn’t the only one who grew up watching relatives being taken away in cuffs. Hard, then, to grow up and trust a cop to settle what you saw as a personal offense. Especially when you had your own ready supply of poisons for just that occasion.
“Look.” I sighed. “I know you want to go after this guy, but you need to leave this to us.”
“You haven’t been out of the game long enough to have grown that naive,” he said. “If I get a chance at this asshole, I will fertilize my night plants with his blood.”
“You do realize that if the guilty party shows up dead,” Morales cut in, “the statements you’ve made today will make you the lead suspect.”
“The city labs are so overworked and under budget that without strong evidence that poison was used, most won’t do the specific tests for common poisons when another cause of death could be used.” He smiled tightly. “Besides, you’d have to find a body in order to charge someone with murder.”
“You seem to have done your homework on how to beat the system,” I said.
“Let’s not play coy, Detective. I make my living selling sex as religion. It’s in my best interest to know how to work around the laws.”
Morales looked at me. “He has a point.”
I shot him a look. “You’re not helping.”
My partner shrugged.
I glanced back at the hermaphrodite. “It would be nice if you could provide us a list of your enemies.”
The air shifted again, and suddenly Aphrodite was back. Now she was a Lefty again with her graceful gestures and serpentine smile. She licked her lips, as if tasting the air. “The list of allies would be shorter, Detective,” she purred.
Pressing my lips together to ensure I didn’t speak the curse that would push me further up her enemies list, I changed tactics. “We’ll also need to speak to those who were at the temple at the time of the robbery.”
“I suppose I could allow you to speak to the priestess who was on duty last night.”
She’d just thrown us a bone, so I didn’t mention again that with a couple of calls I could get a warrant to gain access to her client roster. She was smart enough to know that herself. I just hoped for both our sakes her employees could give us some concrete leads so the warrant wouldn’t be necessary. “That would be great. May we speak with her now?”
She made a pout. “So soon?”
I tilted my head. “You do want your property back, correct?”
She rolled her eyes. “I suppose.” She snapped her fingers at the guard who was standing sentinel near the door we’d entered through. He came over and listened as she whispered instructions.
“Gregor will take you to meet her. If you need anything, she can help you.”
“Thank you,” Morales said.
She raised her left hand and pointed a single dragon-lady fingernail at him like a gun. “Of course, handsome.”
I didn’t bother suppressing the urge to roll my eyes. While I did that, Morales leaned forward and handed her his business card. “You think of anything else that might assist us, don’t hesitate to call us.”
She dragged her eyes from my partner with great reluctance to shoot me a resentful glance. “Is this your personal number?” she asked.
“It’s the main number to our office,” he said. “Anyone who answers will be able to reach us.”
“I’d feel better if I had your direct line,” she said, looking up at Morales.
He smiled wide, flashing his teeth. “Sure thing.” He took the card from her, and I noted she managed to fit a brief finger-to-hand caress as he took it. In a flash he’d jotted down a number and handed it back.
I stood to end the meeting and made quick work of excusing us from the hermaphrodite’s revenge garden. It wasn’t until we’d returned to the lobby that Morales executed a full-body shiver. “She didn’t even buy me dinner before she fucked me with her eyes.”
I snorted. “You didn’t seem to mind the attention when we were in there.”
“I was playing good cop.”
“Seemed more like you were playing horny cop,” I teased.
“Trust me, Cupcake, when I’m horny you’ll know it.”
I grimaced. “Ignorance is bliss, Macho.”
He chuckled and looked around. “So where’s this other girl?”
The elevator on the other end of the lobby dinged. The doors opened. Gregor emerged first, but I caught movement behind him. I assumed it was the whore Aphrodite had told us about. I nudged Morales, who turned to look that direction.
At that moment trouble emerged from behind the bulky guard. Piles of glossy black hair piled on top of her head in an intricate updo. A red silk corset hugged her torso, and her bottom half sported a pair of ruffled black underpants on top of fishnets and a pair of sky-high red stilettos.
It took me a second to recognize her through the sugar skull makeup all of Aphrodite’s girls wore when working. But once I realized who she was, I groaned.
“Shayla King,” I spat like a preacher cursing the devil’s name.
She paused with one hip jutted to the side. “Katie Prospero.”
“Kate,” I snapped. “As in Detective Kate Prospero.”
She pointed a thumb at her ample bosom. “And I am Priestess Shayla.”
Morales cleared his throat beside me. I shot him a look that I hoped indicated how unhappy I was with this turn of events. His smile told me he was going to enjoy watching me squirm almost as much as he liked eyeing the whore’s revealing getup.
Turning away from me, he went to introduce himself to our tour guide. Her gaze took in his height like she was a monkey looking for a new tree to climb. But when he held out his hand to shake hers, she paused.
She looked down, shocked he’d offered it. A lot of cops would never deign to touch an O Coven whore, but Morales wasn’t most cops. He might have an edge to him, but he wasn’t a prick. Despite my obvious bad history with the girl, he was going to treat her with respect until her actions dictated otherwise. After a second’s hesitation, she finally put her palm into his and gave it a lingering shake. “Wow, Prospero,” she said, “you hit the jackpot.”