Mathys opened his mouth, but Westberg lifted his hand in a wordlessshut upgesture the lawyer surprisingly obeyed.
“If you’re asking me to account for every single minute between now and whenever this person died, then I should simply forward you the itinerary Kristen gave me. I’ve been scheduled to be somewhere practically every hour of the day for the past two weeks.”
Patrick tried not to react to the assumed identity of a goddess he was pretty sure was Hel. Tracking her down was turning into a wild goose chase according to the SOA agents assigned that task. Kristen Lief was nowhere to be found at the moment.
“Except you missed a day, didn’t you? You made up for it at the senior brunch this past week that should’ve happened last week. What day was that again?” Patrick asked.
Westberg’s eyes narrowed. “Rescheduling events happens during a campaign.”
“Sure, but I have a dead body and you have a period of time you’re unaccounted for.”
“You have no proof my client has done anything wrong. If you did, you would have arrested him, or the Chicago PD would have. We’ll be leaving now,” Mathys said.
Patrick watched both men stand up, not moving from his own seat. “Someone performed a ritual in your home, Mr. Westberg. There was no sign of forced entry, but they left behind a spell that would’ve resulted in the very messy death of anyone who crossed it. I was under the impression you didn’t care for magic.”
“Howdareyou imply I’ve hired someone to use magic on my behalf in my home,” Westberg spat out. “I don’t care what other people do in their lives, but magic goes against my faith. Perhaps your time would be better spent investigating the pro-magic groups who’ve harassed my family since I entered the race. I wouldn’t put it past any of them to break into my home and desecrate it as they’ve done.”
“If that’s the case, send me your itinerary.”
Tracking down all the people they would have to interview to corroborate his locations for the past two weeks was a headache Patrick thankfully wouldn’t have to share alone. The SOA was throwing more agents at the Westberg case than they had been now that a murder had hit the news. Patrick was curious about the spin Westberg’s campaign would use to try to distance him from the mess.
Mathys shot Patrick a dirty look. “Get a subpoena. If you aren’t charging my client with anything, then we’re done here.”
Mathys gestured for Westberg to precede him out of the room. Patrick didn’t bother calling them back. He gathered up the photograph and sorted it back into the file. He carried the documents out of the room with him. A junior agent was seeing Westberg and Mathys out, but since Patrick was heading up to see SAIC Andrew Dabrowski, they all had to wait for the elevators for an uncomfortable minute.
Patrick’s came first, and he took it up, stopping at a couple of floors along the way to let other people off. Despite it being late in the afternoon on a Saturday, Dabrowski hadn’t gone home. He’d stayed after the backlash on the ley lines to coordinate the SOA’s response to the threat. Patrick didn’t have to resort to a phone call, merely knocked on the already open door before heading into the SAIC’s office.
“Westberg and his lawyer left. They claim his whereabouts can be accounted for in the last two weeks. He missed an event last week that was rescheduled for this week. It’ll be interesting what excuse he comes up with,” Patrick said.
Dabrowski frowned. He looked better than he had earlier but still tired. “We’ve notified the attorney general’s office about what’s happened. Considering the other case in the pipeline, we couldn’t keep this information from them.”
“Too bad we couldn’t keep it from the news.”
“Or your fight with hellhounds in Lincoln Park. I heard you declined a ride to the hospital.”
Patrick rubbed at the back of his neck, the twinge he’d felt there after the car accident gone thanks to a healing potion. “I didn’t need to be held up in a hospital when a potion from one of your witches here worked just fine. The wreck wasn’t that bad.”
“If you’re sure, though I’m concerned about the Dominion Sect targeting you twice now.”
Patrick tried not to laugh. “Maybe they just don’t like me.”
Dabrowski rolled his eyes. “It’s a problem if they’re targeting SOA agents.”
“I fought them in the Thirty-Day War. They’re terrible with grudges.”
“I’d offer you a temporary partner to watch your back, but the director said it wasn’t necessary.”
Patrick would’ve fought him on that offer if Dabrowski had gone through with it. “I’m used to handling my cases alone. I’ll be fine, sir.”
“Chicago might not be,” Dabrowski drawled.
“I’ll do my best not to allow demons to scratch the Bean again.”
“It’s ugly. I might look the other way if you do.” Dabrowski sighed and leaned back in his chair, causing the leather to squeak. “We have witches in Lincoln Park working through the addresses affected from being within the radius of the spell’s epicenter. Everyone’s souls should be cleansed by tomorrow morning. If we miss anyone, we’re telling them to call a support number rather than going to a hospital to keep contamination to a minimum.”
“Want me to get Legal to work on subpoenas for Westberg’s itinerary?”
“Send in the request, and have them work with the AG’s office. I have a feeling we’ll need to move faster on the rent payment by way of souls case. See if you can’t track down Westberg’s campaign manager.”
