I glanced at Brody wondering if he’d be offended, but he was scowling and trying to wipe dusty paw prints off his black pants, curtesy of his Pack.
My gaze strayed to Clarence and Tetiana. Tetiana had taken possession of the deck of cards she, April, Binx, and Juggernaut used, and it sat neatly in its box in front of her. Clarence had joined them today, and he’d spent every moment of it sweating like crazy. Even now, he was still tugging on his cravat.
He was nervous, but it didn’t seem like Tetiana forced him to play…
I took one last swig of tonight’s smoothie—a strawberry red bell pepper concoction that tasted better than I’d expected—finishing it off.
I’d been playing with the idea of coming extra early some day and asking Tetiana and the wizards if I could join the game, but I wouldn’t do that if Clarence wanted to play—he was terrified of me.
“Tonight, I want Team Blood—which is Blood, April, and Binx—to follow up with the library fire. Talk to the librarians and check the premises—you’ll need to do it as soon as we break as the library will be closing soon. Once finished, return to your regular patrol pattern.”
CHAPTER
EIGHT
Jade
Iblinked in surprise.He wants us to check out the library? Why? It’s not on the whiteboard, so they can’t consider it a crime.
I’d left a notation in my report that I thought it was suspicious House Tellier swooped in, but while the supernatural community avoided flashing magic around in front of humans—we didn’t want them realizing just how powerful and dangerous supernaturals really were—helping put out the fire with magic wasn’t actually a crime.
Sarge turned to the last page in his packet, and it seemed like he was already moving on, so I raised my hand. “Sir?”
Sarge glanced up, his steely eyes settling on me. “Yes, Blood?”
I hesitated, and carefully chose my words. “May I ask why you want us to check in on the library?”
Sarge nodded. “Captain Reese and I went over the case notes. The movement of the fire is suspicious, and the convenient involvement of House Tellier has raised some questions. As aresult, it merits a second look. Officially, however, we’re using this as an opportunity to build rapport with the humans—something we need since Orrin dealt a fair amount of damage to public property.”
I traced the rim of my slayer mask with my thumb. “Is there something specific you want us to watch for?”
Sarge met my gaze. “I’ll leave that up to your discretion, Blood.”
Woah. That’s something I’ve never heard before.
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, either. He was Sarge: he was supposed to tell me what to do. I wasn’t in a position to make calls.
Either way, he wants us to dig, so we’ll dig.
The meeting room was suffocatingly silent until Sarge cleared his throat. “The division for the two remaining teams is as follows.”
He continued listing out names, but I picked up my mask and started fastening it into place.
We’ll start with the library as instructed. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to find out what House Tellier was doing near the library that late at night…
It wasdark and drizzling by the time Binx, April, and I arrived at the library.
Rain spattered us as we elbowed our way through gusts of wind, staggering into the library.
The book drop off station was directly to our right, and crammed next to it was the circulation desk.
I studied the librarians standing at their stations—an older woman with thick, bottle cap glasses wearing a brightly coloredmumu despite the cold weather, and a younger woman who seemed to be compensating for her coworker by wearing two thick knit sweaters.
I glanced from the librarians to April and Binx. “April, do you want to take point on speaking to them?”
April blinked at me. “No.”
“No?” I repeated back.
