“Last minute cancellation. She said to go in by myself.”
“Really.” King’s voice was dry. “You know this is Derek McCallum’s house?”
“It is?” I said, feigning surprise. “You’re kidding. I should fire my agent. McCallum would kill me if he found out I broke his window.”
“Yeah,” King agreed. “He would.”
His tone made it clear that he didn’t believe a word I was saying, but he did know that McCallum was going to be furious at me. Crouching in front of me, he said, “What happened, Ferro?”
“I guess my real estate agent made a mistake,” I said. “If this is McCallum’s house.”
I felt something in my chest go tight and hot as I realized that no matter what the outcome here — even if King let me go — I wasn’t going to get my revenge tonight. If McCallum came home while I was still here, he would know I was alive and the element of surprise would be gone.
I tried to reassure myself that revenge was a dish best served when your dinner guests knew it was poisoned, but it was the sort of pep talk you had to give yourself when you were a second string basketball player who had just lost the game by passing the ball to the opposing team.
Helping me to my feet, King seemed to be checking me for injuries and stopped when he got to my head. He pulled out a flashlight and aimed it directly at my face. I winced back, the light so bright it blinded me. King’s free hand was on my face and he touched the edges of the bruise carefully.
“Did you hit your head when you fell?” He brought the light closer, and his touch was gentle as he seemed to be mapping the injury. “Any loss of consciousness? Any problems with your vision?”
“You mean other than the giant bright light I see? Should I go into the light? I’m not ready to die.” My tone was so dry it could grow succulents.
King immediately clicked the light off and walked over to the switch on the wall. When he flicked it on, I saw something that I hadn’t noticed when I’d initially cased the house. Things were missing.
It was obvious to me now, because I had just walked through the house five hours prior, and I had been so anxious, that I’d automatically cataloged everything. With the lights on, I could tell that there were knickknacks missing from the hallway table. A painting at the end of the hall had been removed. Glancing at King to see if he’d stop me, I strode towards the back office where I’d last met Derek McCallum.
“Ferro…” But King didn’t move to stop me, trailing behind as I sped down the hallway, my movements only slightly awkward because of the handcuffs. “You know, I wasn’t kidding. Youareunder arrest.”
Reaching the office, the door was slightly ajar, and I nudged it open with my shoulder. My vision swam as I realized that all the papers on McCallum’s desk were gone. There was nothing there.
“Open his desk,” I said.
King raised an eyebrow and I jerked with my chin towards the massive wooden desk.
“The thing is, I’m arresting you for breaking and entering. If you start opening things and taking anything, then it’s upgraded to burglary which comes with a different set of mandatory minimums.”
“I’mnot opening his desk,youare.”
King held up his hand. “You wantmeto burglarize Derek McCallum?”
“I think that’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”
Half-concussed, I’d been slightly confused when King magically appeared out of the shadows to tackle me, but now I was beginning to get a better shape of it. He wasn’t in the blue uniform of a cop walking the beat. In fact, he was wearing a suit with a tie and his badge displayed from the front pocket in the jacket. I was sure that it pained him to wear a badge there instead of a tasteful handkerchief.
“I think the reason you caught me was because you were already here. You saw what I was going to do and you watched me do it so that you and your partner and whoever else is on the way would have an excuse to enter Derek McCallum’s house. After all, you are allowed to go onto private property if you’re stopping a crime. You were staking out McCallum, and I’m your golden ticket into his place. How my doing so far, Officer King?”
“It’s actually Detective King now,” he corrected. “Pretty good, though. We’ve been staking him out all night, but he hasn’t been home in a few hours.”
“Ohhh, fancy. Where did the detective’s badge come from?” He didn’t seem like the type who would have stayed a beat cop for long, anyway.
“After the haunted house, Paranormal Crimes had me transfer over and gave me the new rank.” He raised his chin, almost a challenge.
“So, it sounds like you should thank me, then,” I said. “How about you start by getting these cuffs off me?”
The look that King gave me was a mix of amused and genuinely offended. Yeah, I hadn’t thought that he was the kind of cop who would let someone go because he thought that he owed them. He’d probably arrest his own mother if he caught her jaywalking.
“Why is Paranormal Crimes interested in Derek McCallum? Is he doing something magically illegal?”
King hesitated, clearly unwilling to give away police secrets. After a pause, he shrugged. “I’m just here temporarily. It’s actually Organized Crime who’s in charge of the case. If you have any information on him…”
