Inola updated Gale and Gideon by phone as she and Ronin headed for Katerina's townhouse. The woman wasn't there or at her store.
Ronin slammed a palm on the steering wheel. His mind circled the fact she tricked him. Slipped under his radar. Made a complete mockery of himself and his team. Whatever the witch wanted to hide, enough to almost scrambled Kaliope's brain in the process, he'd discover what it was.
"Boss?"
Gideon's quiet question over the speakerphone refocused his attention.
"Gideon, stay with Kaliope. Update me on her condition."
"Yes, sir."
The med department was the safest spot for the werewolf, away from Ronin. He'd called Gideon to check on him after his outburst in the office, and as he expected, the man passed it off as nothing. Gideon's understanding worsened Ronin's guilt as he accepted the pardon without protest. He was supposed to protect his team, not cause them distress.
"Gale. Find Katerina's last known whereabouts." They'd puzzle over her records later.
"On it, boss."
Inola hung up the phone.
Ronin's grip tightened on the steering wheel, and it groaned in protest. Inola patted his hand.
"It's not your fault, Ro. It's not on you alone. We all missed it."
His team's agitation at Katerina outfoxing them mirrored his, as none of their investigations revealed anything suspicious about the jeweler. It wouldn't surprise him if Katerina wasn't Katerina Kelmor but someone else. The Witcher Registry singled out non-element-linked mages upon their registration for a reason—Supreme and Archaic talents. They were the most dangerous—the ones the Assembly actively supervised.
"I think she charmed Rowena, too." Ronin recounted his unsuccessful interview with her. They required proof of Katerina's meddling to free the girl. And if they released Rowena, chance also weighed in favor of Zohar's innocence.
"Think the ring the investigators have is fake?"
"More than likely."
"Gonna tell them?"
Ronin considered Inola's question. "Not at this time."
Ronin returned to the office while Inola tracked Katerina. Gale picked up images of the jeweler on surveillance cameras downtown boarding a cab. He paced as Gale directed Inola's search for the cab driver. The lycan in him clawed to rage, unaccustomed to defeat. Ronin wanted to be out hunting the witch, but he'd assembled his team for this purpose. He couldn't be everywhere or do everything alone. His station was at the helm. And as the leader, their failures fell on him.
It all started with Katerina's records in the Witcher Registry. They'd reviewed them at the start of the investigation. No red flags indicated her records might be fraudulent. But she was a charm mage. They'd have to dismantle all her documentation to determine how the wrong talent designation reached her file. Perhaps she or her parents charmed the evaluator. Bribery? Ronin foresaw another shitstorm once the higher-ups learned about Katerina's scam of the system.
Gideon entered the office with three cups of coffee. Ronin redoubled his efforts to reign in his aura as close to himself as possible. The strain pulsed behind his eyes because he was on edge. Although he'd located the thorn, his emotions remained too volatile for him to control completely.
"Gideon, you're supposed to be with Kaliope."
"I'm not running away, sir."
Pale-skinned and doing his best to seem unaffected by Ronin, Gideon rested Gale's cup on his desk. Absorbed in the tasks he performed on his many screens, Gale ignored the caffeinated offering. The werewolf resolutely approached Ronin, who retreated as if the meager distance mattered. Gideon matched his step forward.
Ronin snatched the second cup. "Leave."
"When you recruited me, I understood the conditions, sir. Werewolves avoid lycans out of fear. I'm not afraid of you." Gideon sipped his coffee. His hand trembled, and he steadied it. "Also, I have a report on Kaliope. There was...a minor hitch with her procedure."
The top of Ronin's coffee cup exploded, and a geyser of scalding coffee blew out. He didn't flinch as it burned his skin, turning his hand bright red. Gideon scrambled to clean up the mess.
"What kind of hitch, Gideon?"
"The rest of the charm disintegrated, sir. The aftershock triggered a cardiac arrest. Kaliope's stable now. They're not sure why it happened, but they think—"
The ringing of Ronin's phone clipped Gideon's sentence as Ronin answered Inola's call on speakerphone. "Tell me you found her."
"I think so. But there's a slight problem, boss. I'm pretty sure Katerina's dead."
~
They knew the precise moment Katerina died—when the charm disintegrated in Kaliope's head, sending her into cardiac arrest. At their passing, whatever enchantments a charm mage crafted in life died with them. Inanimate objects assumed their original states, and those spelled regained their freedom. Unfortunately, they had a possible crime scene and no dead body, which meant no way of comparing Katerina's sigil with the charm in Kaliope's head. All the same, Ronin remained convinced of Katerina's involvement.
Ronin and Inola watched the Assembly's investigative unit crime scene team scour the area for evidence. Inola called them in as murder fell under their jurisdiction. But while she waited, Inola examined the scene and discovered a discarded gun in a dumpster and several cigarette butts nearby. Ronin inspected the pictures, brows pinched.
"At least two humans. No blood. No gunpowder residue."
"So they never fired the gun?"
Inola shook her head. "But it smells like magic and death. Boss, it's the first time someone's been murdered in one of our cases."
Ronin gritted his teeth. In their five years as a team, they'd fought off scandals, settled land disputes, and staved off economic collapses, but no one linked to their assignments died. What was Katerina doing here with the humans? What happened to their bodies? The case was slipping further and further out of Ronin's control. What the hell else did it intend to throw at his head next?
As much as Ronin disliked his current dilemma, he loathed the man who approached them in a plaid trench coat, with a fedora tilted on his head, a million times over.
Inola patted Ronin on the shoulder. "I'll let you handle this one." She strolled away.
"Ronin."
"Darcy."
Darcy Wellington was the Occult Assembly's version of a police captain. He handled the criminal elements of the Occult world, with the occasional Noccult overlap. The two divisions had few reasons to cross paths in their line of work. Still, on the few occurrences they did, the middle-aged nature mage with a chip the size of Sage Tower on his shoulders forever rubbed Ronin the wrong way. Darcy wore a mood stone, but there was no hiding his contempt.
The lead investigator checked his notepad. "My men confirmed recent magic use, and that multiple people died in the alley. They also said one of the possible deceased is, or I should say, was part of the Falgor case, and your little fox tracked her to this location."
"Correct."
"Any idea why a classy jewelry designer like Katerina Kelmor would be skulking around a seedy area like this." Darcy indicated their surroundings.
Strewn litter and debris decorated the cracked sidewalks, and the crumbling buildings with their boarded-up windows appeared to have been abandoned long ago. A musty bouquet of dampness and rot thickened the air; the once-vibrant graffiti on the walls faded, dull and lifeless. It was as if time had forgotten this place, left to wither away and crumble from neglect and decay. There was only one reason for anyone to be in an area like this, and it was for nothing good.
Darcy calling Katerina a classy jewelry designer amused Ronin. He can't honestly believe the woman was innocent, slumming it with humans in a shady rendezvous. Darcy was fishing for information. The investigator's intel lagged behind Ronin's team. It pleased him. Wait until they learn about the possible tampering of registry records right under their noses.
"We wanted to ask her the same, but unfortunately." Ronin eyed the opening of the alley. He'd lost his lead suspect in the theft of the Falgor's gem and the machinations scheming the demise of the Great House under the most bizarre circumstance. He wasn't about to reveal any of his information to Investigator Darcy for a few hours unless under the duress of certain death. Or an official mandate from the Assembly. Petty tit for tat or not.
Without Katerina, Kaliope was their only hope of uncovering answers. The last thing he wanted was Darcy picking at her like the carrion feeder he was while in her current condition. Once she recovered, she'd be more than a match for the investigator. A wicked idea plucked at the side of Ronin's lips.
"Something on your mind, Ronin?" Darcy gave him a pleasant vulture-like smile. "Perhaps something you'd like to share?"
How soon the investigator forgot his willful obstruction of CMT's investigation mere hours ago.
Ronin returned the man's smile, crediting Inola for his shameless pettiness. "I'll send my official report to your office by morning."
~~~
To read the entire first season, along with Seasons 2 and 3, join me on Ream. The link's in my bio on the home page. Hope to see you there.