“None of it would matter to the case at all, except Racine Alcock, aka Cadence Blue Thompkins Merriweather—and that’s a mouthful—her husband’s family benefited from the Tennessee Valley Authority and the coal-fired power plants from the outset. He has a trust fund that makes my eyes bug out of my head. He has access to fully ten times the county’s annual mean income each year. His family contributes to local politics and gives heavily to charity.”
“And?” he asked with exquisite patience.
“We can’t just bulldoze our way in there and expect no pushback. Local law enforcement will side with the Merriweathers, who likely support both sides of any campaign.”
“You and the other members of Unit Eighteen seem to feel that I am unfamiliar with social graces and appropriate methods to approach a wary witness or possible suspect.” His lips lifted slightly. “I assume that is because when I accepted the position over the eastern seaboard, I was less than elegant upon my approach to the unit.”
“Less than elegant?” I let my question settle on the air as Ithought about my answer. “You’ve been rude more than once and bossy more than once, and you’ve stuck your nose where it doesn’t belong more than once, but I don’t necessarily think you’re obnoxious by nature, stupid, or trying to tick us off.”
FireWind’s eyebrows rose, black as raven’s wings. Amused, still patient, he asked, “No?”
I frowned, putting things together, things he had said, things that had been going on and that I hadn’t paid much attention to. “I think... I think you’ve been trying to integrate us into PsyLED, the first mostly nonhuman unit. I think we were an experiment started by Soul, and that you wanted a hand in what we were becoming. I think there might have been a lot of pushback about that, about letting paranormals into the department at all, starting with Rick and Paka, the first were-creatures in PsyLED. I think the pushback got worse after the Blood Tarot case. I think you’ve been trying to keep us safe and to make us better at our job, and better as a team. I think you’ve pushed to make Knoxville PsyLED the regional HQ because you want to protect us.” I glanced to see if I’d made the big boss mad before I added, “I think you want to protect Rick especially, maybe because he was involved with Jane Yellowrock, and Jane is your sister.”
“Interesting.” He glanced at me as he drove. “You would be correct. You have a gift for complicated relationships and for figuring out motives. Even mine.” He was silent, but I had a feeling he wasn’t finished. “Yes. This has been an experiment for all of us, even me. I am accustomed to certain protocols, and they are not always suitable to the unit or the circumstances. I have never worked with other paranormals.” He glanced at me from the corner of his eye and a faint smile touched the corner of his lips. “Yet even someone as old as I can learn. We’ll tread carefully with our witness.”
“Good.” I went back to my study, but nothing else jumped out at me.
JoJo sent more info to our cells and, faster than I expected, we were in Kingston, our GPS directing us to the Merriweather home. I expected a mansion, but the house was modest sized for the trust fund and the business’ coffers, but it backed up to a water view, the roof was new, the trim had been recently painted, and the landscaping was clearly professional, using allthe latest chemicals and fertilizers and planted with the fanciest of nonnative, imported flora. There were two new cars parked beside the house and, as we pulled down the street, one backed out and passed us at a sedate speed. The driver looked like a rich businessman. I checked the business’ website and identified the driver as Luther Merriweather.
We parked in front of the house and took the walkway to the front porch, rang the bell, and stood there. Two minutes passed. I rang the bell again, and this time held my ID in front of the doorbell alarm.
“Mrs. Merriweather. Your car is in the drive. We know you are home,” I said, speaking in a normal tone of voice, assuming she was listening and watching us through the security cameras. “I’m Special Agent Nell Ingram. With me is Senior Special Agent Ayatas FireWind.” I folded my ID and put it away. “We’d like to talk to you about Stella Mae Ragel. We’d like to do so in the privacy of your home, but if you wish to come to Knoxville PsyLED headquarters that can be arranged. However, it will be much more public. And you may not want that.”
Over the doorbell speaker an elegant female voice said, “My lawyer will arrive in fifteen minutes. I’ve been instructed to tell you to wait outside unless you have a subpoena. Do you?”
“No, ma’am,” I said. “No one in PsyLED wanted to make this public.”
There was a silence, as if she was digesting my meaning, then she said, “My lawyer will come to the front door shortly. After she arrives, you will be invited in. Until then, please leave my property.”
I turned and went back to the car. More slowly, FireWind followed. On the way, I not-so-accidentally dropped my cell phone onto the grass. I used the excuse to touch the grass and then push through to the ground beneath. Nodeath and decay, just snobby grass that had started out as snobby sod.
We got in the car and FireWind touched the starter button. The air conditioner blasted in, though the day wasn’t hot enough to need it. We waited for several silent minutes until my boss said, “What did you detect when you picked up your cell phone?”
“Not a thing. Nodeath and decaythere at all.”
He made a littlehmmmingsound and tapped his fingers onthe steering wheel as he stared out the windshield, thinking. “I misspoke. I’m not certain I’ll ever fit into this electronic world. I know about doorbell cameras and security systems, but I am still occasionally flummoxed by the swift pattern of changes and developments.”
“Me too, and not because I’ve lived too long but because I lived off the grid for so long. Technology is confusing.”
We exchanged wry smiles and drank water from bottles offered by FireWind. The water wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t hot either.
“You got any idea how the man drove the truck? The man who tried to kill me? That’s magic, not electronics. And I still don’t understand.”
“No. T. Laine is working on discovering how it was accomplished. The four members of the local coven who helped on scene are joining her. They are all quite curious. One of them used the termhomunculus.”
I looked that up to discover that it was a small, artificially produced human sometimes grown in a flask. A manikin. Which made no sense at all, when looking at two dead men driving trucks.
“Of course, they also used the termzombie. They were brainstorming.”
A black Lexus passed us, pulled into the Merriweathers’ drive, and parked. A long, lean woman in a pencil-thin black suit got out and adjusted her sunglasses, staring at us. The stare went on a little too long before she strode to the house and entered.
“Interesting,” FireWind said. And I had a feeling hisinterestingwas of a sexual nature rather than an intellectual nature. FireWind liked strong women. Andthatwas interesting to me. In a strictly intellectual capacity, of course. FireWind put a tiny device behind his ear and pressed an even smaller earpiece inside his ear canal. He said, “Testing. Do you copy? Excellent.” He looked at me. “We have intel backup with Jones at HQ. If anything needs to be verified or researched on the fly, she will be able to do so.”
More minutes passed. As we sat, a car pulled up behind us and parked. I had thought Occam was hyperaware, but my cat-man had nothing on FireWind, who went from relaxed toholding a weapon in about a quarter second. His eyes were on his rearview and the weapon vanished just as fast. I blinked, uncertain what I had just seen. “LaFleur,” he said to me, casually, as if he hadn’t just done a magician’s parlor trick. He glanced at me and that almost-smile lit his face again and was gone as he turned off the car and reached for the door handle.
“You’re playing games with me, ain’tcha?”
My boss halted his motion and turned his yellow eyes on me, an odd expression on his face. “Yes. I suppose I am. Oddly, I feel quite comfortable with you. I know that if I overstep my bounds you will tell me to my face.” He breathed out through his nose, a short, sharp sound. “You remind me of my wife that way. She was a straight-speaking, strong woman too. So few people speak their minds, men or women. In another time and place, you and I might have been good friends.”
