The court record might be what mattered when it came to his freedom, but his reputation was already being torn to shreds.
“Very well. I’ll request a secured bond at your hearing.”
“Great.” Patrick blew out a breath. “Do you know where the body is being held?”
“At the morgue in the PCB. Why?”
Patrick nodded, glad it wasn’t in the hands of the SOA yet. “See if you can’t keep it there. I trust Casale to keep the body untampered with.”
Danai raised an eyebrow. “But not your agency?”
“Ethan Greene was a former SOA special agent. He left supporters behind when he went on the run. The director and those who held the position before her have spent years trying to remove Dominion Sect members and sympathizers from its ranks. The agency isn’t clean. I’m not saying the NYPD is clean, but they don’t have the reach of a federal agency. A PCB in any city was never going to be worth the Dominion Sect’s time to infiltrate.”
“You sound like you’re familiar with the man.”
Patrick had to choke back his laughter so he wouldn’t get sick. “I’ve handled cases for the SOA where he and the Dominion Sect turned out to be the perpetrators. I fought him directly in the Thirty-Day War.”
“If that’s the case, then we’ll need to look into the angle that you were framed for getting too close to them for reasons related to national security. It wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened.” Danai wrote on her notepad a reminder in what looked like her own personal shorthand. “I’ll reach out to Casale with our concerns after I leave. The last thing we need is contaminated or missing evidence.”
“Right.” Patrick uncurled his fingers to scrape his fingernails against the tabletop. “How’s Jono?”
“Worried, like the rest of your pack.”
“Have there been any more attacks against them?” Danai hesitated, which told Patrick all he needed to know. “Fuck.”
“Not against Jono and your pack directly, but some of the packs under your protection. From what I understand, your arrest and the spillover of the god pack civil war is bringing unwanted attention from the public to all the packs, and several are thinking about leaving.”
“Permanently?”
“No, only until this all dies down.”
Patrick laughed, no humor in the sound. “That’s not going to happen.”
He hoped Jono could convince everyone to stay. If packs started leaving, that would be a blow to their leadership, not that Patrick’s arrest on a false charge wasn’t already. More than that, it would be a loss of territory they’d have to scramble to hold onto.
“I anticipate discovery will happen quickly whether or not you are released.”
Patrick couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice. “You really think that will happen when I’m up for murder?”
Danai turned in her seat to face him, expression serious, but her voice was kind. “I’m working on gathering letters of support to bring to the hearing tomorrow. My partner is in the midst of that outreach right now while I meet with you. I’ll be heading to the office after I leave to continue preparing. I’m not saying it’s an impossible task to get you out of jail, just for you to have a little faith.”
The problem was, he didn’t.
Patrick sighed, knowing his freedom was in her hands, and there was nothing else he could do except go back to his cell after she briefed him in-depth on the charges against him.
* * *
Monday dawned hot and muggy,but Patrick was awake well before the lights turned on in his cell block three hours before his hearing was scheduled to start. Patrick drifted through his monitored shower and the shitty breakfast in a haze, scratching at the skin beneath the spelled bracelets that kept his magic in check.
The containment spell didn’t interfere with his soul, but it would short-circuit his ability to focus and call on his magic. Any hint at reaching for his magic would induce a painful shock, the force of which would escalate depending on the strength of the spell he tried to cast.
As a precaution against his status as a mage, every guard assigned to overseeing Patrick was required to be a magic user. Mages were the most powerful, but the least numerous. The only reason the sorcerer currently on duty would be able to take him out was because of the bracelets.
Patrick wanted to burn the damn things.
He was taken to a room where a crumpled suit was laid out on a table, along with a pair of shoes. Patrick recognized it as one he kept in the back of the closet, and he bit his lip as he realized Jono must have given it to Danai.
“Get dressed,” the guard in the room with him ordered.
