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Then the rest of it caught up with me.
My baby brother had apparently decided to acquire a supernatural tutor without consulting anyone. A mentor who lived across the Veil. In a house built into a tree. Soaked with magic so thick even I, a ghost, could choke on it.
And somehow, despite every alarm bell ringing in my head, Ivan looked... safe. Calm. More relaxed than I’d seen him since I died.
Well. Fuck.
23
ANGEL
Jude appeared at my side and vanished a heartbeat after hearing Xavier’s explanation. I ground my teeth, fighting the need to follow, but I was trapped. Surrounded by the chaos of a crime scene. Surrounded by my team. My team, who needed me to oversee the case I’d just fought to keep us on.
And Ivan. Missing.
Fuck.
Victor tucked my phone into my pocket and leaned in close. “I can cover for you,” he offered.
But he’d been doing that a lot. Eventually it would come back to bite us both in the ass. Major General Phelps was watching. How many times could I claim a family emergency before everyone decided I was too distracted to do my job?
And without the job, how would I keep any of them safe?
I caught a glimpse of Sergeant Hanna moving through the techs and had a moment of considering another bargain with the Fae. Her people would be able to find Ivan. But Xavier was already pissed about taking over my last bargain, and I was certain that was going to smack me in the face eventually too.
“We have bodies to identify,” I reminded them. “A scene to catalog.” A job to do. And didn’t that just grind my soul to dust, when all I wanted was to be anywhere else.
Wade flinched. “What about Ivan?”
“He’ll be found. Xavier is on it.” And so is Jude, went unsaid.
“The wife isn’t here,” Remi added quietly, pulling my thoughts back to Michael Thayerson’s body and the hole this scene had just blown open in the middle of everything.
“How do you know? I thought we had unidentifiable remains.”
“A spell.” Remi gestured vaguely. “It’s a little like using a Ouija board to get letters. None of them match the wife.” His gaze went unfocused as if seeing something we couldn’t, and hell, he probably could.
“We’ve got Tiana tracing her,” Ezra added. “She and the husband were separated. Both out on bond awaiting trial, with strict rules not to leave town. From what we can tell, she’s been doing her normal stuff—yoga, book club, influencing mom blogging.” He paused, disgust creeping into his voice. “No idea why anyone is still listening to her, since she’s being tried for child abuse. Maybe trading your kid for a supernatural monster is part of the new trad wife trend?” A shrug. “We don’t have much on where Michael should have been.”
“Do we have a list of those identified yet?” I asked, voice tight. “Other than Thayerson. Anyone of interest?”
Wade held up his phone and tapped the screen. “It’s a mixed bag. Not homeless at all, from what we can tell. Or at least not the ones who are identifiable.” He glanced at Remi. “We’ve got folks from every walk of life.” He nodded toward the press line, which had grown unusually large with outlets beyond the local. “Possibly a few A-listers.”
Which meant things had just gone from bad to worse, and we’d soon have national, if not international attention. Victor peered over his shoulder to review the list.
“Hardy found a section of candles and rune work,” Remi added. “We’ve got the area on lockdown in case there’s another curse.” He coughed and took an unconscious step back, likely remembering how I’d attacked him after Jude vanished in Bowman’s apartment before we’d all been hit by the death curse. “A team of practitioners will be out here to triple check the area before anyone touches it.”
“Bobby’s reviewing the video interviews of both of the Thayersons,” Wade added. “Looking for a tie to any of this. We’re also pulling his phone records trying to see if he came to this location willingly.”
“Wait, go back,” Victor said, pointing at the list on Wade’s phone.
Wade scrolled up. “Where?”
“Middle near the celeb with an ED.”
Wade’s thumb hovered. His face went pale.
I moved closer. “What is it?”
