Her lip curled. “So you’re telling me he sends out an escorted Bentley SUV for every person he’s worked with?” My surprise must have been shown, since Roseanne spat, “They dropped you off right in front of the lobby, little girl. Do you think people wouldn’t notice?” Her voice started to rise. “You wanted to be seen and so you were seen—-”
“Is this official business, Roseanne,” a cool voice interrupted, “or could you spare Blair for a second?”
Roseanne’s lips tightened when she saw who it was. “The little girl’s all yours, Agent Gries.” She stalked away without looking back, and Tamara shook her head as she leaned against the wall of my cubicle. “She really has it for you, doesn’t she?”
“We have our differences,” I said lamely, wondering all the while if everyone in SMHS knew of Roseanne’s inexplicable grudge against me.
“Then again, everyonedidsee the shiny Bentley coming up the driveway...”
I could only shrug awkwardly in response, knowing that any honest explanation would only make things sound more serious between Paul and me. He had called me up early this morning, saying that he had assigned two of his men to follow me around as added protection, in the event that our anonymous shooter had me as his next target.
‘It’s either me or them, Blair,’ he had asserted calmly. ‘It’s your choice.’
But of course Paul had known it wasn’t a choice at all. I’d have to be the most selfish idiot to have Paul act a chauffeur when he had so many better things to do with his time.
“Your face is giving you away, Agent Vavrin,” Tamara said with a sympathetic smile. “I’m guessing our INTERPOL detective didn’t give you a choice over this morning’s ride?”
“Well...” I didn’t really want to say anything against Paul, but I had no intentions of lying either.
“No need to cover up for him, Agent Vavrin,” the CIA agent dryly. “Don’t forget – I’ve had the pleasure of seeing him in action, and he strikes me as the kind of person who’s used to getting his way.”
You don’t know the half of it, I thought, but out loud, I said diplomatically, “It’s probably because he’s INTERPOL.”
“That was what I was thinking, too,” Tamara admitted. “And that’s why I sought you out now actually. I just wanted to make sure everything’s alright between us after yesterday—-”
“It is,” I said quickly. “I truly understand where you were coming me from—-” The other agent started shaking her head, and I stopped speaking.
“I was out of line, Blair,” she said ruefully. “It’s as you said, you know. He’s INTERPOL, and I had no right to question his decision like that. I still don’t understand what it is that you can do that I can’t, but obviously Detective Paul Without A Surname—-”
I choked back a laugh.
“—-sees differently, and I should have respected that.” She offered her hand. “So...no hard feelings?”
“Not a one.” I shook her hand, touched that the older woman would go out of her way to clear things up like this.
Tamara had already started to walk away when she suddenly turned back to look at me, saying, “I almost forgot. Any new updates on the case?”
“No, unfortunately. But if Paul lets me know or anything, I’ll keep you posted.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
Tristan and Maria pounced on me as soon as Agent Gries left the office. “What was that about?” Maria asked curiously while Tristan perched himself on my desk and pulled his girlfriend close to sit on his lap.
“Minor case-related issue,” I said evasively. “What are you guys working on right now?”
“A will,” Tristan answered, “possibly falsified.” Forgery was as much a crime as it was in the non-human world, and Maria specialized in detecting spells used to forge documents. Tristan’s field of expertise, on the other hand, was the equivalent of forensic biology. Every time an individual performed a spell, the magic a non-human wielded left an impression as unique as a person’s DNA. Unfortunately, a person with the right knowledge could also avoid leaving such impressions, the way a human criminal would remove all traces of blood from a crime scene.
“It seems strange, doesn’t it?” Maria’s voice was unusually somber. “Working like everything’s normal even when it’s not.”
I looked outside our window. It was a deceptively sunny day, but who knew how long it would last?
Chapter Ten
TIME MOVED EVER SOslowly, and I had just finished writing my case reports for the entire month when I got a call from Lana. “I might have found a possible hit,” she told me in a rush, “but it’s well below our benchmark.”
“I’ll take it,” I said without hesitation. At this point, verifying the flimsiest of leads was better than doing nothing, which was gradually driving me crazy.
“I conducted a new search based on the assumption that a retroactive camouflage spell was in effect.”
