“Now’s not the right time,” John said. “Abe’s expecting retribution. Suspect that’s why he’s calling. He wants to find out if you know what he did and plan to make him pay.”
I sighed. “He can keep waiting. Between the Blue Moon bearing down on the city and this new case, I don’t have time to think about Abe.” I handed the bottle to John. He hesitated, then took it without a word. I’m not sure why I decided to share it freely, except it felt nice to have the call off my chest.
“What case?” he asked, taking a drink.
“You haven’t heard?” I looked at him with wide eyes. When he shook his head, I made a surprised sound. Surely the great John Volos knew everything that went down in the Cauldron. “Someone knocked over Aphrodite’s temple.”
John grimaced. “That’s why I haven’t heard. Hermaphrodite and I aren’t exactly friendly.”
“Ah,” I said, “s/he’s mad at you for turning Abe in to the cops.”
He smiled behind the mouth of the bottle. “Among other things.”
The detective in me wanted to press him for more details, but I didn’t want him thinking I was interested in his life.
He handed over the bottle. I took it and polished off the last mouthful. “Well, I wish I could say this has been fun, but, well—you know.” I pushed my hands against my thighs for leverage and rose to stand over him. Standing made me finally feel the effects of the wine, and I swayed a little. John rose quickly to try to steady me, but I pushed him off. “I’m fine, I’m fine.” I took two steps away from him. “Stay away from Danny or I’ll break your kneecaps.”
“How about you, Katie?” He crossed his arms and smiled. The way the porch light hit his face, he looked like a devil standing on my back porch. “Do I have to stay away from you, too?”
The problem is, as devils went, he was one I knew all too intimately. In my life I’d seen that look in his eyes more times than I could count. It was the expression he wore when he’d decided to prove me wrong about something. The only thing John Volos loved more than power or money was being right.
I took a step forward and poked a finger into the wine stain over his heart. “You come near me and I’ll put a bullet right here.”
He captured my finger and pulled me in closer. I could smell the wine on his breath when he whispered, “You already did that ten years ago, sweetheart.”
Chapter Nine
October 19
Waxing Crescent
The next morning Morales and I were driving around looking for Little Man and Mary again. I was nursing a wicked wine hangover, so I wore dark shades and clung to a bucket of coffee like a life raft.
After the conversation with Volos the night before, the party had wrapped up pretty quickly. Pen had slipped out while I was outside, so I hadn’t had to deal with that awkwardness, but I knew it was only a matter of time before we had a real come-to-Jesus.
After the party ended, Baba had stuck around to help clean up. She’s been so enthusiastic about reliving every second of the event that I’d resorted to drinking another bottle of wine. By the time she’d waddled back home, it had been one in the morning. What’s worse, after only getting about five hours of sleep, I’d had to drive Danny to school when Pen didn’t show up to take him. I’d tried calling a couple of times, but she hadn’t answered. It was unusual for her to ditch the kid like that, but I figured she just needed some space after our argument.
The fact we weren’t having much luck finding the Wonder Twins didn’t do much to help my disposition. “Where the hell are they?” I said after about an hour of driving by all their usual spots.
Morales shot me a sharp glance, but before he could call me on my mood, both of our phones buzzed at once. I read Gardner’s message out loud: “Get your asses to the gym ASAP.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Morales said.
“You do anything to piss her off recently?” I asked.
He shook his head. “You?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Guess this means some other shit has hit the fan.”
I groaned and winced from the flare of pain in my head. “Next time I decide to drink a bottle of wine, remind me of this moment, okay?”
Morales made a clucking sound. “Serves you right.” He shot me a sideways glance as he turned the car back toward the office. “What were you and Volos talking about out there anyway?”
I kept my head down and sent Gardner a quick text that we were on our way.
“Kate?”
“Hmm?” I said, looking up.
“Volos?”
“What about him?”
“What gives?”
“He wanted to ask me how Danny was doing.”
“You two were outside talking for a good hour.”
I filed away the knowledge that Morales had been paying enough attention to time our talk. “Oh, then I asked him if he’d heard any gossip about the Aphrodite break-in.”
Morales’s shoulders relaxed a fraction. “And?”
I shook my head even as I patted myself on the back mentally for the evasive maneuver. “Hadn’t even heard about it. He and Aphrodite aren’t on good terms after John testified against Abe.” I paused to glance over and see if Morales looked suspicious. When he merely nodded, I continued. “I told him he might want to make sure his security is tight just in case.”
“Why? Do you have a reason to think he’s a target?”
“Just a precaution. Last time we had a Raven in the Cauldron, we almost had a turf war break out. Figured it was better to warn him in case someone was dumb enough to target him, too.”
“What’s a Raven?”
“That’s what we call rogue wizards who steal from other wizards’ labs.”
“Ah,” Morales said. “In LA we called them Scavengers.”
I nodded. “Right. Anyway, we don’t have proof the guy who knocked over Aphrodite is a Raven, but if all the coven leaders are on the lookout for one they might see something useful.”
Morales laughed. “That’d be great if we believed for a minute a wizard would call the cops to report suspicious activity.”
He had a point, but I wasn’t really trying to argue a case here. Mainly I just wanted to cover my ass so he didn’t keep asking about my conversation with Volos.
You did that ten years ago, sweetheart.
What game had John been playing anyway? Like I was supposed to believe he’d been heartbroken all this time? Give me a break.