Claimed by the Immortal (The Claiming) (14 page)

“You’re just jealous that I found something out.”

Jude spoke. “We’re still waiting to hear what exactly you learned. How about getting to the point and saving the parade until later? Do you know what time it is?”

Garner froze, looking momentarily crestfallen, but then his high spirits resurged. “It’s Pritchett.”

“We know it’s Pritchett,” Chloe said sarcastically. “He’s dead.”

“That’s not what I mean. You know he’s a big deal in real estate.”

“That wasn’t hard to learn,” Jude reminded him.

“I know, I know. And all these years he’s been making his money from rents. But about six months ago, something changed. He’s spread out into redevelopment.”

Silence greeted the words.

“How exactly?” Damien asked.

“He was planning to tear down some of his older buildings and replace them. That’s why he needed his brother-in-law. The guy apparently went to bat for him at the planning office. But the point is this—some people are going to lose their homes. And some of them are seriously unhappy about it.”

Caro’s heart accelerated. “That could explain a lot. Did you find out which buildings? Who’s unhappy?”

Garner shook his head. “I figured that would be easy for you guys to find out. I’m just passing along what I learned on the street. I don’t know how many people are going to lose their places, but apparently eviction notices went out to some of them just two weeks ago. And more are or were on the way. A lot of people who haven’t gotten evicted yet were wondering when they’d get a notice, or even
if
they’d get a notice. So you could say the guy made himself a target.”

“Obviously,” Jude drawled, but his expression didn’t match his tone. Indeed, his frown deepened.

Caro glanced around at all of them. “That would do it,” she said. “I’d almost be willing to bet the buildings he’s planning to tear down house the poorest people for the most part. Isn’t that always the way?”

“Usually,” Jude said.

“How very odd,” Damien remarked.

Caro looked at him. “How so?”

“In my country renewal means fixing what we have, not tearing down the places where people live. I live in a building that’s nearly three hundred years old. It’s been refurbished many times.”

“But you have to understand the calculus here,” Jude said. “If he tears down low-rent tenements and replaces them with something much more modern, he can charge more rent and make more money. Lots more money.”

“Then where do the people go?”

“Exactly.” Jude sighed. “It’s getting to be time. Chloe, see what you and Caro can learn about Pritchett’s plans. At least then we can focus in on some particular neighborhoods.”

“You got it, boss. Although if you ask me, hunting demons is easier.”

Everyone looked at her.

“Well, it is,” she insisted. “They leave their stench everywhere, and Garner can usually suss them out in no time at all. This whatever-it-is doesn’t seem to be leaving a trail. At least not one that leads directly back to the persons who called it.”

“It will,” Jude said wearily. “It will. One way or another.” Then without another word, he reached for Terri’s hand and led her into his bedroom in the back.

Damien straightened to follow. “I’ll be in the inner office,” he said. “Wake me if you need me.”

That left Caro, Chloe and Garner alone. Chloe sighed. “That’s a vampire for you. Leave a bunch of orders then hit the vault. Sheesh.”

* * *

Caro had to sleep. No escaping it. She took Chloe’s offer of the cot in a tiny room off the outer office and fell into a deep sleep that seemed empty of dreams.

Her cell phone ringing woke her sometime around noon and she answered it sleepily, glad to hear Detective Pat Matthews’s familiar voice. Only as she heard it did she realize how cut off she’d been feeling from her life, her habits and her friends.

“So how’s it going?” Pat asked. “Is Messenger being any help?”

“Actually, yes. Is Malloy missing me yet?”

“Not really. Not with two cases he can’t explain. He’s looking a little grayer these days. But it definitely would
not
be a good time to come back, Caro.”

“Why not?”

“Because some other people are muttering that something weird is going on here. If you show up, Malloy will probably blame you for the whispers. You don’t need that. Just stay out of the way for a little longer.”

“We’re working on solving these cases,” Caro reminded her.

“I know. Don’t give me any details. There are some things I simply don’t want to know.”

After she felt sufficiently caught up on the news from the precinct and her friends there, Caro disconnected and sat staring at her phone.

There was one problem here, she realized. One that nobody had mentioned and one that was going to drive the cop in her nuts.

Even if they found the person who had set these murders in motion, there was no way they could bring him to justice. The crimes would remain unsolved. The perp would never be punished.

“Damn,” she said. “Double damn.”

“You okay?” Chloe called from the office.

“No.”

Caro jumped up and hurried to dress and brush her hair into some semblance of order. Then she stormed out to confront Chloe.

“Why are we doing this?”

“Doing what?”

“Hunting for the person who caused these murders?”

“To protect
you,
” Chloe reminded her. “Remember? That’s why you came here in the first place. Something is following you. Something that probably wasn’t too happy about having a witness.”

Caro sagged into the chair beside Chloe’s desk. “I haven’t exactly forgotten that part.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“If we find the person who caused all of this, there’s nothing we can do about him. No arrest, no trial, no punishment.”

Chloe rapped her pencil eraser on the desk in a short tattoo. “Have you considered that some crimes never reach that kind of resolution? That most of what Jude deals with he considers settled if he can just send it back to hell? Not everything in this world fits cop definitions of justice.”

Caro put her chin in her hand. “So we just stop this and it’s over?”

“That may be all we can do. People don’t go to jail anymore for practicing witchcraft.”

The answer left Caro unsatisfied, but she couldn’t argue with it. She certainly wasn’t about to advocate vigilante justice.

“You find anything?”

“Yeah, I’ve been pulling up the development plans. Apparently Pritchett had just started to really roll on this. He has about six approvals for eviction and demolition. But you know what?”

“What?”

“I’m wondering what else is going on here.”

“Why?”

“Because,” Chloe said, “that man got more approvals for demolition in the last few months than this city has seen in over five years.”

Caro sat up straighter and met Chloe’s gaze. “You think he was into something?”

“Some kind of bad mojo, you mean?” Chloe nodded. “I’m starting to wonder.”

“So maybe it rebounded on him.”

“Well, maybe. Except there’d be no reason for it to come after you.” She leaned forward, looking almost excited. “What if he was up to some spell-casting himself? And what if he ticked off someone else with the power?”

Caro almost gaped.

“Think about it,” Chloe said. “The guy pulls off the near impossible with these demolition permits. That brother-in-law of his wasn’t all that powerful. More like a pawn. What if someone else didn’t like what Pritchett was doing?”

“Clearly someone didn’t,” Caro agreed. “But, Chloe, this sounds like a bad movie.”

“When you’ve worked with Jude long enough, bad movies start to seem real.”

Caro had to admit she’d seen things backfire on people before, things that had nothing to do with magic or mystical powers. The more you did bad things, the more likely you were to become someone’s target—or get yourself into hot water up to your neck when it was discovered.

“Okay,” she said slowly, “I’ll admit the possibility here. Pritchett may have been dabbling in some black arts. It could have rebounded. God knows I’ve seen enough criminals screw themselves up in ordinary ways.”

“Aha, you’re getting it.”

“But by the same token, I’ve seen others get into plenty of trouble because they ticked off the wrong person.”

“It could be one. It could be both.”

“You should be a cop, Chloe. That’s some devious thinking.”

Chloe grinned. “You’d have thought of it if you weren’t still balking at magic.”

Possibly true,
Caro admitted to herself. That side of this whole affair was still troubling, still making her hesitate as she waded into this strange world. Maybe it was time to stop hesitating and just dive in with both feet.

Hell, she was walking around with some kind of talisman in her pocket and locked into some kind of sensual dance with a vampire. Why stick at a little black magic?

“I’m going out,” she announced.

“Oh, no, you’re not!” Chloe jumped to her feet. “The whole reason I’m here is to make sure you’re not alone because Jude and Damien have taken a notion that this thing that’s after you doesn’t want to be witnessed, and that’s all that’s protecting you. Are you insane?”

“No. Listen, Chloe, out on the daytime streets I won’t be alone. There will be dozens of people out there. Plenty of witnesses. How likely do you think it is to act?”

Chloe sank slowly back into her chair. “Even in a busy city it’s possible to be alone some of the time.”

“How about if I promise to avoid that?”

Chloe’s expression turned glum. “Do you really believe that thing couldn’t make your heart explode in public like it did to Pritchett’s brother-in-law? Everyone would think it’s a heart attack.”

“Then maybe having witnesses isn’t protecting me at all.”

Chloe shook her head. “Then what
is?
If you had some idea, I’d feel better. Maybe the point is having witnesses who would know what’s happening. Like me. Like Jude and Damien. People on the street wouldn’t know, would they?”

Caro had to admit Chloe might be right. But the need to act in at least some way was beginning to overwhelm her. Sitting here all afternoon speculating about what might have caused all this was apt to drive her to distraction.

“I’m going to need a straightjacket,” she muttered. “I can’t stand being constantly cooped up this way.”

“I don’t blame you. But that doesn’t mean you need to take this on alone. What could you learn out there anyway?”

“What people are talking about in the vicinity of the buildings that are scheduled for demolition.”

“Nice idea, if folks will talk. You think they want to talk to a cop?”

“Not in some of those neighborhoods,” Caro admitted. “But I won’t be going as a cop.”

“Then what? A social worker? Get real. You cops don’t realize how obvious you are to people even in street clothes. Especially in places they don’t like cops.”

“Give me the addresses, Chloe.”

“No. I happen to like this job and I want to keep it.” With that Chloe pointedly turned off her computer.

“You’re gonna make me mad,” Caro warned her.

“You can’t arrest me for that. Garner told us what they were talking about anyway. Wouldn’t it make more sense for you to find out if there’s some voodoo queen out there in the locales? Some weird kind of church maybe.”

“Voodoo isn’t weird,” Caro said. “It’s an established religion, unlike some. Why did you pick that in particular?”

Chloe shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know. Too many movies, maybe. But one thing I know for sure—we ought to be searching for something very different from a traditional religion. Something that could and would call down a curse.”

Caro gave in. Chloe was making sense, and her desire for action was getting in her way. Didn’t she want to be a detective? Yes. And what did detectives do most of the time? It sure wasn’t cops and robbers. It was research and questioning. Questioning in those neighborhoods would meet a lot of resistance. That meant she needed to skip the action and do the mental legwork.

She sighed. “Can we at least get out of here for a walk?”

Chloe chewed her lip. “Well, if you promise it’s just a walk, and not very far, I’ll admit I could use some sunshine, too. But it’s cold out there.”

“I spend a lot of time on the streets. I don’t mind. Just bundle yourself up. Say just for a walk around the block.”

“This isn’t one of the best parts of town,” Chloe reminded her.

Caro patted her belt holster. “How often do you have an armed escort?”

At that Chloe giggled and bounced off to find something warm to wear.

Not that a gun would do much against the threat they were worried about, Caro thought. But God, she needed some sunshine. Living like a bat might suit vampires, but not her. Checking her pocket, she felt the talisman again and closed her eyes. She could still sense the invisible bubble it seemed to wrap around her, and she wondered if it would extend to Chloe, as well.

While she waited, she reached out, trying to sense even more. Little by little she picked up on things. The vampires and Terri sleeping in the next rooms. The wards Jude had put around this place. In fact, the more she concentrated on the wards, the more they became visible until they nearly glowed.

Oh, wow!
She could see those invisible marks of chrism, and some of the things Chloe had spread around, as if they were lit from within. Inevitably, she pulled the talisman out and looked at it. It, too, seemed to glow, though differently. Not bright and white like Jude’s chrism, but more of a lavender. A different kind of power?

Trying to reach out even farther, she found herself blocked by the wards, as if they created an impenetrable shield she couldn’t see beyond. That was interesting, she thought. Now she wondered what might happen out on the streets where there were no wards. What she might see and sense apart from the auras she had for so long tried to ignore. What if she could read those auras? What if she could sense other things about people, as well?

All of a sudden a desire to know her own inherent powers burst to full life within her.

She definitely had to get out for a walk.