"It was yesterday!"
"Time moves differently in Dead End," I muttered. "Anyway, how do you even know about that? It just happened last night!"
Jack leaned toward the phone. "The government probably has a hotline into Dead End now that I live here, right?"
"Hey, you're not that important, my friend. If we had tabs on anyone, it would be Tess. Things seem to happen around her."
"Not my fault," I protested. "Did I ask a crazy man to send me stalker gifts? No, I did not."
"I'm just glad you're all right," Alejandro said, his richly accented voice turning even deeper. "I've grown fond of you. I hope that cat is treating you well."
"Not that it's any of your business how I'm treating Tess," Jack's voice had turned silky. "How's Rose? I've heard through the grapevine that her family has gotten into some trouble."
The Cardinal Witches, Rose's family, were part of a fairly famous and magically powerful clan in Ohio. Alejandro had first met them when called out to investigate a basilisk incident and never left. It had been love at first sight, or so the rumor mill went.
"They're all fine, but things are… complicated. I'm taking some leave to deal with some issues that have come up. But I'm calling to offer some advice and possibly a warning. Be careful of that magical resonance expert Sheriff Gonzalez is working with."
"What magical resonance expert?" I shot a puzzled glance at Jack, who shrugged.
"The one who identified your fifty-year-old skeleton."
I stopped wasting time asking how Alejandro knew things. He just did.
"Her name is Dr. Rachel Booker," he continued. "She's… just a minute. Okay, here it is. She's on her way to Miami for some family issue but did a drive-by to identify your skeleton."
"It's notmyskeleton," I pointed out. Not every dead body in Dead End had something to do with me, much of the last year notwithstanding. "Shouldn't Susan be looking at DNA or something? Not leaning on some random 'expert'?"
"I'm not sure what your sheriff is looking at, because she hasn't returned my call yet. Anyway, I've just learned that P-Ops has started an investigation into Booker's methods and her background after she gave what turned out to be shaky evidence in a murder trial."
Jack's green gaze sharpened. "Shaky as in careless or shaky as in fraudulent?"
"The latter but that's off the record. The agents on the case think the defendant may have paid her off."
Alejandro respected Jack and his past work so much that he'd repeatedly requested that Jack consider becoming his partner, so I wasn't surprised that he'd disclose sensitive information to him, but I was a little surprised and oddly honored that he'd do the same for me.
"We won't say anything," I hastened to reassure him.
"I know you won't. I also know the suspect is your friend, though, and I wanted to warn you. Okay, I need to get going. I've got an emergency getting ready to happen."
That didn't sound good.
"Be careful, Alejandro! Is it evil warlocks? Vicious serial killers? Deranged shifters?"
Jack lifted an eyebrow at that last one. "Do you really think deranged shifters is a common problem?"
Alejandro laughed. "Well, she knowsyou, my friend. If we're talking about deranged…"
Jack made a low growling sound in the direction of the phone, but he grinned at me. "You forget I heard about your invasion of the big, scary basilisks, speaking of deranged, P-Ops."
I blinked. "Big, scary basilisks? Aren't they basically the size of chickens?"
On the other end of the phone, Alejandro made a pained noise. "Fine. Yes. They're little lizard chickens. Are you happy now?"
I started laughing. "I want to hear that story, the next time we see you."
"Maybe. But now I have to run."
"Right. You never told us what the emergency was," I prompted.
