I pulled my sword from its sheath without thinking, and certainly without warning anyone first.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” J.M. held up his hands. “What’s going—”
“Let her work,” the head detective barked.
Huh. This was the first time one of the human police had let me wave my very pretty, though very deadly, sword around. I might grow to like this guy.
I didn’t wait for him to take the directive back. Sword in two hands, I went through the motions of chopping at the guy’s neck. Then switched to one hand to see how my body positioning, and the sword positioning, might change.
“Two-handed, definitely,” I said. “Two-handed, and the person swinging the hardware wasn’t very strong. A woman would be my guess, but maybe a scrawny guy.”
“What gives you that impression?” J.M. asked, bracing his hands on his hips. The lead detective had a notepad out.
“I mean, look at the hacking she had to do tonearlybehead him.” I mimed the motions. “There’s all this torn skin around the wound.” I mimed the attack a little more and then stepped to the side, getting a better angle and more power. “Yes, look, she must’ve ended up here. She kept her distance—she didn’t bend over the guy and create downward cuts. That says woman to me. Women know they can be overpowered by a man, in general, soas a rule they keep their distance. Men just go forth. I could be wrong.” I shrugged. I wasn’t one of those women, so this was all guesswork.
“But that guy looks like he just sat there and took it.” J.M. gestured at the body, arms rested on the armrests and feet on the floor like anyone sitting in a recliner watching TV.
I glanced back at the lead detective. “I have some theories, but they are in the realm of divinity and crystal balls.” I sounded absurd, but that should get the point across. It was time to talk magic.
“J.M., I got this,” the lead detective said to the younger guy. “We’re looking for a sword. Search the house again and talk to the neighbors.”
“But I—”
With alookfrom the lead detective, J.M. pinned me with a flat stare before turning and stalking from the room.
“He’s not ready to know what I know,” the lead detective said quietly. “Hopefully someday, because he is driven and intelligent, but right now, he’s too hotheaded for his own good.”
I nodded politely, which was miraculous, because not only did I not care, but it was also quitting time and I wanted to go home.
“Right,” I said to get the show on the road. I sheathed my sword and glanced at Clarissa. “Hey, Ithink there was a spell used in the sitting room.” I gestured that way. “Can you check that out while I talk to him?”
“How do you know there was a spell?” she asked, confused.
“I, uh…” I dug in the leather pouch wrapped around my middle. As I did so, I felt my phone vibrate. Tilting it toward me, I saw an unfamiliar number.
I pushed the button to still the phone and held up an empty casing for Clarissa to see. “I used a spell that I got…from a friend.”
Clarissa’s brow furrowed and her head tilted. “I’ve never heard of a spell that can determine if magic was used.”
“You do it.”
She held up her bay leaf and baggie of powder. “Like this, yes. It takes time and practice. You can’t encase this type of spell. It doesn’t work that way.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Are you trying experimental magic? Because you do know that is forbidden in our line of work, don’t you?”
I tried to look sheepish. It was as difficult as sounding polite. “Sorry. I’d used one before and it worked, so I figured, you know, the homeowner was already dead, so…”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s not how we do things, Reagan. Let me see it.” I moved to hand over the emptycasing. She dodged the offering. “No, I meant, let me see a loaded shell.”
“Oh. I don’t have any more. This was my last one.”
Her expression turned disbelieving. And it should’ve. When someone said it was their last piece of gum, how often was that legit? Rarely.
“Ladies,” the lead detective said. “Can we get moving?”
“Sorry. Yes. Reagan, I’ll talk to you about it later.” Clarissa sniffed, turned up her nose, and walked from the room.
“Effective,” I muttered, putting away the empty casing and letting my palm hover near the wound.
“You’re a terrible liar.”
