There was only one line that was a deal breaker and would prevent me from signing. I turned the page around, holding it up toward Briar. “This line that reads, ‘The contractor agrees to disclose any and all information pertaining to the case at the earliest opportune time.’ That’s not going to work for me.”
A muscle above Briar’s jaw bulged and she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re flat-out admitting you plan to keep things from me during the case?”
“No.” Well, yes. Even if she hired me, I still couldn’t tell her everything I saw in the bank, at least not the parts that pertained to the soul collectors. I was oath-bound to keep their secrets. “There may be some things I can’t tell you. I will share everything I can.”
Her glare should have sliced the skin from my bones. I forced myself to meet her gaze, but it took effort. After a moment, she rolled her eyes, but that didn’t lessen her glare.
“I probably shouldn’t have told you about the premonition before you signed. You know you have me over a barrel.” She glided to her feet and snatched the contract from me. She crossed out the words “any and all” and initialed the change before handing it back to me. “Better?”
I read over it one more time and then glanced at Falin. He gave a small nod, which I took to mean he didn’t spot any binding loopholes I’d missed. I initialed the change as well, then signed on the line.
It wasn’t a magical oath, but it was still a binding contract, and I was fae enough that I could feel the agreement etching itself into me as I wrote my name. It was disconcerting.
“So does this mean you want me to raise the shades from the robbers at the bank?” I asked, holding out the contract.
“I’m working on it. Unfortunately, you’re still the NCPD’s main suspect. You can’t go anywhere near those bodies until you’re cleared or we finagle you special permission.” Briar plucked the contract from my stunned fingers and tucked it into her folder. “Now that the paperwork is out of the way, tell me what you left out yesterday at the police station. Derrick said you have a lead already.”
I should have seen that coming. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell her more. Everything else I had was guesses or pertained to the soul collectors. So what lead did I have?
The tracking charm.
“Remember when I said I tracked Remy to the bank using a charm, but that the soul navigating his body wasn’t actually his?”
Briar nodded.
“There was an . . . irregularity when I was following the spell. At one point the trail split in two different directions. At the time, I thought the focus was contaminated.” I took a breath, because I hadn’t actually said this next part out loud before. “Now, I wonder if the other trail might lead to Remy’s soul; probably in someone else’s body, if the pattern holds.”
Briar stared at me a moment. “You can track a soul?”
“Maybe? I don’t know. To my knowledge, it’s never been attempted.” The research I’d done last night hadn’t turned up any verifiable cases. People tried to summon ghosts with personal objects all the time, but aside from some bragging posts with no details on inactive profiles, I couldn’t find a single mention of people trying to track one. Either it couldn’t be done, or no one had ever been successful. “Or maybe the focus really was contaminated and the charm will lead me to some acquaintance of my client’s.” I shrugged. “I’d planned to check it out today.”
“Sounds like a lead.” Briar pushed out of her chair. “Grab your stuff. I’m driving.”
“Uh, no,” I said, not standing.
She turned, her eyebrow cocking. “What’s the issue, Craft?”
I made a conscious effort not to glance at Falin. He wasn’t the issue, and if I looked at him, she’d think he was. The issue was his glamour, and the fact that underneath it, I was still more or less in glorified underwear. Also that I had no idea what she was driving, but last time it was a Hummer with so much metal in it I got physically sick. If I stepped into it now, the glamoured outfit didn’t stand a chance.
“The problem is that she has other responsibilities,” Falin said without missing a beat. “You woke her, which means her dog hasn’t been walked or fed. You never once asked if she had client appointments on the books this morning. And you never even asked if she has this tracking charm on her.” He glanced at me and I shook my head. It was still at the castle. He turned back to Briar. “This case is probably the only reason you’re in town, but it’s not Alex’s only priority.”
I gaped at Falin. Okay, yeah, he had my back.
Briar glared. “There are four bodies in the morgue, and if her theory is correct about Remy’s ghost piloting another body, there are more bodies out there.”
Now I did stand, holding up my hand to Falin before he answered. I appreciated the knight-in-glamoured-clothing act, but I could fight this particular battle on my own.
“You hired me. I’m working this case, and plan to give it my best, but he’s right, I have other responsibilities too. Also, if you’re still driving that steel monster of an SUV, I can’t ride with you.”
That last part clearly caught her off guard, and I saw the momentary confusion flicker through her dark eyes before they flashed with understanding.
“Too much iron?” she asked, and at my nod she made a small hmmm sound before saying, “I never considered that. This might take a little adjustment for me. I’ve never worked with a nonhuman before.”
And there was me cringing again.
“I can meet you at my office in about an hour,” I said, then thought better of it. “Actually, we should meet at Central Precinct. The tracking charm will pick up Remy’s body in the morgue and we don’t want to get distracted by that trail. But with that drive, give me an hour and a half.”
Though she didn’t look happy about it, she nodded, seeing herself out a moment later so that I could focus on getting ready. Which was good; I was going to be pushing it as it was, even with Holly’s bike, which I probably needed to return. I was definitely going to need a bike of my own. But first I needed to get back to the castle and put on real clothes.
• • •
Nearly two hours later, I was standing in front of Central Precinct. The clothes I was wearing were nowhere near as nice as the glamoured ones I’d had to discard, but at least they wouldn’t vanish if I walked too close to a cast-iron gate. Briar had been waiting for me when I arrived, which wasn’t surprising, and now we were both staring at the small bag dangling from my clenched fist.
“What do you mean it’s not working?” she asked, glaring at both me and the charm in turn.
“Well, it is working—it is pulling me toward the body in the morgue—but the other trail it found yesterday is missing.” I frowned at the charm and reached out with my ability to sense magic, examining it. I’d had Rianna recharge it before I left the castle this morning, as the original charm hadn’t been designed for long-term use, but that shouldn’t have changed anything about how it functioned. The spell itself felt exactly the same as it had yesterday, but it was definitely only pulling me in one direction, toward the basement and Remy’s body.
I turned a full circle, holding the charm out as if I could dowse a trail better that way. It didn’t change anything. I shook my head.
“Either there is no longer anything else to track”—which would mean the collectors had found and collected Remy’s soul already—“or he’s behind wards.”
“Or it was some weird magical fluke,” Briar said.
I nodded, acknowledging the possibility. “Now what?”
“You were supposed to be my lead, Craft,” Briar said. She looked up, as if judging the time by the position of the sun crawling over the surrounding buildings. Then she pressed both her palms into her eyes a moment before dragging them down her face. She looked tired, which made sense. She’d shown up at my house right before dawn, and she’d drafted that hire paperwork before that. If her partner “woke” from his premonition as she said, it had probably been the middle of the night.