“Who?”
Annoyance soured the corners of Lawrence’s mouth as she shrugged. “He wouldn’t tell us unless we offered him some sort of deal. The discussions on that are ongoing with the Charleston DA.”
That did complicate things. VINE didn’t have to negotiate or keep their word if they decided someone didn’t deserve the second chance they had on offer. But while the boyars debated whether to reopen the case, they had to abide by the local rules. At least they did until decided not to.
It was one thing to wrest the body of a dhampir child from the morgue. To invade the local watchhouse and seize a human who was affiliated, however loosely, with the Hunters? That was a different kettle of sharks entirely, and too redolent of the bad, old days when the only law was what Madoc said.
Well, some people called them bad.
“Did you believe him?”
Lawrence tilted her head to the side as she considered. “Yes,” she said finally. “He’s not bright enough to make something up, and he’s confident his information is good enough to seal him soft time in daylight. Who, though? None of the major Hunter cells have their fingers in Charleston. The Templars?”
Madoc glanced upstairs to where he could hear the soft creak of Pally’s feet on the floorboards. “If there were, Pally would know. Waiting for them to step out of line so he can come down like the hammer of God is the first hobby he’s ever indulged. I’ll get Quick to run through the chatter, see if anyone has made inroads that we weren’t aware of. You? Stay in touch with the DA’s office. The minute your bottom-feeder spits out a name, I want to know.”
She nodded and stood up. “Can I stay to see what Quick found out about the Proverbial involvement?” She paused for a second and then punctiliously corrected herself. “If any.”
Madoc raised an eyebrow at her. “You’re a Biter, Lawrence. I’m not going to dismiss your service because Took is back.”
“Is he?” she asked. “For good?”
That was the question and, if Madoc was honest with himself, the answer was probably no. Took had rejected every clean bill of health VINE’s psychs had offered him. He clung to his PTSD like a “get out of jail free” card. Even after the other night, Took still had the date of his last psych eval pigeonholed as his fully pensioned release.
Madoc resented it. He bridled at the idea that he was bundled in with VINE as a bad memory to be left behind, but he couldn’t entirely blame Took for it either. He suffered because of VINE.
But probably wasn’t definitely.
“If he is,” he said, “it’s not as your replacement.”
“No,” Lawrence said as she pulled the door open. “I was his. There’s one hole in the team to fill, and he called dibs.”
Madoc laughed with a low, dark growl of sensual amusement as he thought of the other night. The sound made Lawrence go pink around the ears, a flash of awareness that Madoc was wryly pleased to see. His tastes had always run to men, but it was mildly reassuring to see he could still charm a woman if necessary.
“It doesn’t work that way,” he told her. “You have qualities he lacks.”
“Like?”
“Never ask that question. The next person might not have an answer,” Madoc told her. “You are better with victims, your political instincts are impeccable, and frankly, you’re a better tactician.”
Lawrence snorted. “He took out two Hunters and helped you escape a burning house.”
“Counterpoint—he set himself on fire, caused a major explosion in a residential neighborhood, and shot a suspect in the foot. Itworked, but if we’d planned that, I like to think one of us would have pointed out the flaws.”
“I can hear you,” Took said dryly from the other room.
Lawrence cackled despite herself and then sobered as they walked in and found Took at the dinner table with the charred box from the Aron house in front of him. She gagged, one hand pressed against her mouth.
“What the hell are you doing?” Madoc growled.
Chapter Thirteen
“PETER ARON’Sfather bought that house nearly fifty years ago,” Took said as he tossed his tablet across the room to Madoc. “Fifteen years ago he died and Peter inherited the property. Six months later, one of the neighbors made a noise complaint. It turned out that Peter had decided that he needed to put in a new kitchen for his wife and him.”
Madoc glanced at the tablet, handed it off to Lawrence, and raised his eyebrows.
“Your point?”
Before Took could say anything, Lawrence answered the question without raising her eyes from the tablet.
