I’d been a cop for five years. In that time, I’d heard every excuse in the book from potion junkies. My life would have been a hell of a lot easier in some ways if I’d never quit magic. I certainly would have had more money. Most likely, I’d be the head of the Votary Coven, assuming no one put a bullet in me and I hadn’t gone down with Uncle Abe.
I had walked away not because it was the easy thing, but because it was the right thing. So my tolerance for other people’s excuses for weak behavior was pretty much zero. Especially people I knew were capable of being strong, like Pen. She’d put herself through college and created a nice life for herself despite a very troubled past. If she thought I was going to stand by and watch her throw all that away, she was sorely mistaken.
“Yo, Prospero!” Shadi called the instant I walked into the gym.
“What?” I snapped.
She paused and widened her eyes. “Who pissed in your cereal?”
“How much time you got?”
She laughed. “Might have something here could change your luck.” She waved a file folder like it was chocolate or a bottle of good whiskey.
“What’s that?”
“I spent my night going over the information we got from Dionysus’s landlord.”
“And?”
“I found him, Kate.”
I went very still, praying she wasn’t fucking with me. “Found him found him?”
“The name he used on his lease matched an alias used by an escaped mental patient from New York.”
“Holy shit, Shadi.” I couldn’t help it. Despite my best efforts to be in a pissy mood, a smile broke out across my face. “Tell me everything.”
She waved me over to a desk and opened the folder. Inside were several printed pages that looked like hospital forms.
“His real name is Scott McQueen.”
“Scott McQueen.” I sampled the name on my tongue. “Seems too… Mundane.”
Shadi nodded. “Figure that’s why he decided to call himself Dionysus.”
“What else you got?”
She pulled out some forms. “Called in a favor from some MEA agents who called in some of their own favors to get access to his files. I was worried we’d need a warrant, but turns out the MEA in New York already had his records on file.”
I frowned. “They’re looking for the same guy?”
She nodded. “Scott was arrested five years ago for murdering his parents. The guy went nuts at trial, claiming his father had been abusing him for years and his mother turned a blind eye.”
I frowned. “Did the jury believe him?”
She shook her head. “His father was a judge and his mother was on the board of every charity in their town. Real upstanding folks.” She shrugged. “Anyway, didn’t matter really because his behavior was so erratic everyone believed he’d just gone insane and killed them. What did him in was one day in court he tackled a guard and got ahold of the S and P spray the guy was carrying. Before anyone could stop him, he sprayed himself in the face with the stuff.”
I whistled low. “Ouch.”
She nodded. “No shit. Anyway, they sentenced him to a prison for the criminally insane. And that should have been the end of it.”
I crossed my arms and leaned back against the desk to wait for her to continue.
“About six months ago, there was a riot among the inmates.” She looked up. “Several guards were injured. A few inmates killed. Took a full day to lock the place down. But when they did, guess who wasn’t accounted for?”
My brows shot to my hairline. “Scotty McQueen.”
She nodded. “Before he left, he raided the prison’s infirmary and stole all of the potions in their stockroom.”
“How did the MEA get involved?”
“The agent I spoke to said he first hit their radar in Boston. Local wizes started reporting thefts. Thought they had a new Raven in town. After a few weeks, though, the activity died down. But then the MEA in Chicago had similar reports. Same MO. Near as they can tell he’s been moving from city to city funding his moves by robbing the top covens in each city.”
“And now he’s in Babylon.”
She nodded. “But his moves here haven’t fit the pattern.”
“Why?”
“First of all, he stayed under the radar before. Didn’t taunt cops or city officials like he’s done here. The Dionysus thing is new, too. Reports we have out of the other cities don’t show any mention of a name.”
“So why put on a special show for Babylon?”
She shrugged. “Could be this was his destination the whole time. He seems too organized for this to be a random place to pull off the Blue Moon plan.”
I chewed my bottom lip and thought it over. “What do we know about his parents?”
“I need to do some more digging,” she said. “I did see some notes from the mental hospital that he kept up the abuse story even after he was sent away.”
“Nothing new for a criminal to deny guilt.”
“Yeah, but one of his therapists seemed to believe him.”
“You got a name?”
Shadi glanced down at the report. “Dr. Flamel.”
“Hmm,” I said. “According to O’Lachlan, McQueen is preaching to his followers about stripping society of its masks. Might be a connection to his parents putting on a front.” I shrugged. “Or he’s just batshit insane.”
“Clearly he’s that. Question is why’d he bring all that crazy to our town?”
“See if you can track down Flamel. Maybe he can give us some insight about why McQueen chose Babylon. Also ask if there’s any specific connection to the full moon.”
“I tried and couldn’t find anything specific, but I’ll try to get in touch with some of our agents in New York.” She nodded and slapped the folder shut. “Anything else?”
“Is Gardner around?”
She shook her head. “She was here earlier, but she got a call and ran off in a hurry.”
I frowned. “All right. I’ll catch her later.” I paused and smiled at her. “Thanks for finding this intel.”
She grinned back. “I just hope it helps us nab this SOB.”
“Amen, sister.” While she returned to her bloodhounding, I went to my desk and set down all my things. About that time, Morales came out of the door that led to the old locker room. His hair was wet, which meant he’d gotten to work early to make use of the old punching bags and grabbed a shower after. “What’s up, Prospero?”