“Don’t suppose she trained with Morgan?” I asked him.
Ramirez walked over to join me at the edge of the roof and lookedout over the neighborhood, and past it, to the illuminated towers of the nicer parts of the city. “Early on. Then with Luccio. She”—he paused—“has been shaped by some of the same forces, I think.”
“I kind of miss Morgan sometimes,” I said.
“So do I. He was a pain in the ass.”
“But you always knew where he stood,” I said.
“Amen to that.”
I went over to the pile of workout clothes I’d slipped out of before starting rounds with Will and found my wallet. I pulled the business card Drakul had given me out of it and handed it to Ramirez.
Carlos held up a hand and muttered a gentle light spell into being. He read the card and looked up at me. “What’s this?”
“Drakul’s address,” I said. “I think he was telling the truth.”
Ramirez exhaled slowly. “Tell me.”
I did.
He shook his head. “He’s given us a legal license to hunt him down.”
“Seemed to think it would simplify things for him if we did.”
“Cocky bastard.”
I shrugged and slipped my shirt on. “Or maybe he’s just that good. Guy creeps me.”
“Does that change anything?”
“Hell, no,” I said. “But…I’m not ready. There was a fight. Ghouls. I, uh. Misfired.”
Ramirez tilted his head sharply.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m just not…”
“You’re mourning,” he said quietly. “Murphy.”
It didn’t feel exactly like a knife going into my heart, I think, to hear her name aloud.
“She was good people,” he said. “I only knew her a little. But I could tell that much.”
“Yeah,” I said quietly.
“You blame yourself for her death,” he noted.
I shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe.”
“You’re too quick to take things like that on. Like you did with the twins.”
I didn’t answer him. The twins were the reason I hated ghouls. Young wizards in training, back at Camp Kaboom. The ghouls hadn’t left much.
Neither had I.
“Our world is dangerous,” he said. “Even if we could see every possible future, had the time and the knowledge to make the best choice every time, people would still die, Harry.”
“Maybe,” I said. “God. If I could go back…”
