Blood and Fire (2 page)

“Like what?” the cop demanded, his baby blues growing suspicious.

“Oh, crushed organs. Curdled blood.” Her tone was matter-of-fact. “I don’t know the exact form of the attack, but I think our victim was killed by a curse.”

* * *

Ari left Ryan to finish processing the scene and climbed up the cliff path. The fishy smell, so strong on the rocky beach below, was less noticeable up at the top. She stood near the edge of the overlook, estimating the fall distance to the bottom by sight. Close to a hundred and fifty feet. The highest point in the area and a lengthy drop. If he wasn’t dead when he went over, he might have had a heart attack from sheer fright. For sure, his landing would have been fatal, but it would also have caused fresh blood on the rocks below.

She turned away, examining the ground as she walked, looking for shoe prints or recent signs of disturbance. It was mostly rock and kept its secrets well. About thirty feet away, she found and followed a well-beaten hiking trail. It wound around the cliff edge, offering scenic views of the Mississippi River and the high cliffs on the opposite bank, nearly identical to where she stood. Her current path didn’t appear to go anywhere in particular. Bushes, mostly bare, and dried prairie grasses starting to green crowded up to the rocks along the trail’s edge. Whenever she saw a break in the brush, she stepped off the path to look around for anything of interest.

As she turned a bend in the path where she could no longer see the crime scene behind her, she discovered a crevasse in the rocky bluff. It offered her access to a lower ledge, perhaps twenty feet down from the top. She slid on her butt. Landing at the bottom, she looked over the edge. The river waters churned below her, creating strings of foam. If the victim had gone over here, his body would have washed away in the river current. That raised an interesting question. Why was the body on the lower riverbank? Had the killer wanted it found?

She scanned the craggy surface around her. The only directions to go were back up or to burrow farther into the cliff side by entering a rocky ravine created by an upheaval of the earth. Using her hands to lever her way between two rock walls at the narrow opening, she moved deeper into the large fissure. The area widened to seven or eight feet inside and was still open to the sky at the top. The bright sun bounced off the walls, turning the enclosure into a dry sauna. Even the tiny lizard clinging to the rock wall at shoulder height seemed immobilized by the welcome warmth of early spring.

Ari brushed her hands together to remove the dust and pushed her hair behind her ears. Of all the mornings not to have a ponytail tie. As the ravine narrowed again and grew deeper, she climbed through another slit in the rock and immediately smelled dampness. The sun no longer reached the ground, but she could still see well enough. Turning her head to the left, she spied a cave opening hidden in the shadows of a low projection of limestone. Numerous scuffmarks disturbed the sandy dirt that overlaid the rock floor, and she knelt beside them to examine the entrance.

Tight spot. Someone had wanted inside badly enough to crawl on his belly. Not necessarily the victim, but it was a possibility. The marks were recent or they would have been washed away by last weekend’s rain.

She considered following the unknown trespasser, but even with her superior vision, the total darkness of the cave would limit an investigation. Better to return after she gathered the proper equipment and talked with Andreas. The vampires couldn’t object to her intrusion if she had their leader’s approval. Maybe he’d even come with her.

The thought of seeing Andreas brought a frown to her face as she climbed back through the ravine passage. She wasn’t ready to talk to him after last night’s fight. Arrogant bloodsucker. He always thought he had the best…no, the only answer.

At least she didn’t have to worry about him until late afternoon. By the time he was awake, maybe she’d have reached a decision that would make facing him a bit easier.

* * *

Forty minutes later, Ari walked into the four-story building that housed the Olde Town annex of the Riverdale Police Department. It used to be the only police building in the metro until they built the new justice center in modern downtown Riverdale. Ari had approved of the decision to leave Ryan’s unit in the annex. It suited her just fine to interact only with the officers and departments who had some knowledge of Otherworlders. Many of the cops downtown pretended supernaturals didn’t exist. Ari was satisfied to return the courtesy.

The presence of uniformed officers stationed at the elevator and stairs piqued her interest. “Why the extra security?” She directed the question toward the cop blocking the stairs. “Expecting an invasion?”

“Something like that.” He tipped his head as he stepped aside. “Reporters. It’s that dead body from this morning. Lt. Foster’s all bent out of shape.”

Ari sped up the stairs, taking them two at a time. When she entered Ryan’s office on the third floor, she immediately noticed a murder board already covered with notes and crime scene photos. Not a surprise. Since he’d taken the Homeland Security refresher course two months ago as a result of contacts from a prior case, he’d been springing procedural upgrades on a regular basis. The crime board had been one of them. Suddenly, file folders were no longer good enough.

What she found unusual, even amazing, about the current murder board was the picture pinned in the center. No wonder the victim had looked familiar yet escaped her recognition. She’d never before seen this particular face without a brown Stetson on top.

Jase Barron, reality TV’s answer to Indiana Jones. Adventurer, treasure hunter, actor. Celeb. And now, dead body.

One glance at Ryan’s frowning face told her the cop on the stairs hadn’t exaggerated. “High profile victim,” she said.

“We’re being hounded already. Someone leaked the ID, and now the entire floor is off limits to the public. The chief assigned us a PR guy,” Ryan grumbled. “He’s already been in and suggested I wear a suit and tie.”

Ari struggled to hide a smile. A sports jacket, maybe. But a tie? Ryan only tolerated a tie when he was in dress uniform or at formal occasions like weddings and funerals. She waved at the photo. “Does this ID mean the autopsy’s complete?”

“No, but fingerprints pulled up the name, and everyone was alerted right away. The brasses, including my sarge, are in a stew and want this solved yesterday.” He slid a glance toward her. “I never mentioned your suspicions about the black magic stuff.”

She let the grin show this time. “Didn’t figure you had. Why is it your bosses are always ready with the pressure? Ignore them.” She dropped into one of two wooden visitor chairs. “Do we know why Barron was in Riverdale?”

“Ignore them? Easy for you to say. Just because your bosses are so accommodating.” When she continued to look at him, he finally sighed. “No, I don’t know why he was in town. Not yet. But he had a whole film crew with him. His yacht, the
Seeker
,” Ryan rolled his eyes at the name, “is tied up down at the docks, and my officers are giving everyone on board a ride to the station. I’ve already called a judge and applied for a search warrant. If you have time, I thought we’d check out this fancy boat after the interviews.” When she nodded, he went on. “Did you find anything on the cliffs?”

“A cave opening. Someone’s been inside the caverns. Since I didn’t have a flashlight, I didn’t go in. It might not have anything to do with Barron, just kids or tourists poking around, but I’ll go back.”

Ryan didn’t even suggest he might go with her. As a Guardian, a supernatural cop employed by the Magic Council, Ari had the authority to enter restricted vampire territory, even without permission from the vampire court or her boyfriend the vampire prince. For her to take a human inside the cliff caves would be a serious breach of protocol. Not to mention some of the vampires might not trust her again. Besides, Ryan left the magic users to Ari whenever possible. He preferred dealing with humans. Whether that would include Barron’s crew of Hollywood types was an interesting question.

* * *

Jase Barron’s all-human crew of four men and three women sat around a table in the police conference room. The moment Ryan and Ari entered, a dark blond man, suntanned and fit, stood and thrust out a hand. “Max Carmody,” he said. “This is terrible news. Can you tell us what happened to Jase?”

Ryan introduced himself, then motioned toward Ari. “This is Arianna Calin, from the Magic Council. We’ll try to answer your questions, but first, we have some of our own.”

“Magic Council?” Carmody looked at Ari with interest. “Are you an Otherworlder?”

Accepting the common usage of Otherworlder as covering all of the various magic races, Ari gave him a level look. “Yes. Does it matter?”

“Not at all. I just wondered why you’re involved in an accident investigation.”

She hesitated, considering the best answer, but Ryan saved her the trouble. He broke in to ask for the crew’s names and relationships to the victim.

Carmody explained he was Jase’s partner in Barron & Carmody Adventures. The other six provided lengthy credentials, but Ari paid little attention beyond first names and positions on the crew.

Dyani, a dark-haired woman of Native American heritage, was an archeologist. Tom, crew photographer, a lanky young man with bulging arm muscles likely gained while handling heavy camera equipment; cavers—MaryAnn, plain and short, and Rico, dark and wiry; Cole, dark Hollywood glamor, the climber and assistant boat pilot. Cole explained his boat duties tended to be light as Jase had liked to handle the wheel. Platinum-haired Bev, whose baby-doll blue eyes were red from crying, kept the group’s written and recorded observations, and Sara, crisp white shirt and short black hair, was in charge of PR and everything else that need to be done—accommodations and equipment.

“We’re filming an exploration,” Carmody said in answer to Ryan’s next question. “We docked yesterday morning and spent the day wandering around Olde Town, checking out all the picturesque shops. Jase was supposed to meet with us first thing this morning to talk about our schedule.” He spread his hands. “That’s it. That’s all I know. Jase kept the details to himself. I can’t even tell you the subject of our latest quest. Our TV sponsors would scream like banshees if I leaked the information before we were prepared to make the announcement.”

“You’ll have to do better than that,” Ryan said. “We’re investigating a death. I think that trumps your TV contract. We need to know everything you know.”

“Sorry, I can’t do that. Perhaps we should wait for our attorneys to arrive before we say anything else.” Carmody kept his tone smooth. “I called them before we left the boat. They’ll be here by the end of the day. Or tomorrow, at the latest.” He waved a careless hand. “We have to think about the business end of this.”

Ari took a step forward. “Do you have something to hide?”

Carmody’s head swung to look at her. “No, I don’t think so, but I don’t know exactly what you want. I have a huge investment riding on this venture. Besides, the lawyers have all the details.”

“You don’t seem terribly broken up by your partner’s death,” she said. “In fact, no one seems sad, with the exception of Bev.”

“Now wait a minute,” Cole, the climbing expert, interrupted. “We’re all sorry about Jase. He was the star of our show. Worldwide fans will miss him.”

“Is that all he was to you? The star of the show? Doesn’t sound very warm and fuzzy.” Ari cut her eyes to Ryan, surprised he hadn’t intervened to stop her from antagonizing the crew. He seemed totally focused on them, studying their behavior.

Carmody’s face creased in a crooked smile. “Jase was a hard man. He drove himself and his crew. Not a man to encourage sentimentality. And he’d be the last one to expect it. We’re all shocked by Jase’s sudden death. He had talent, and he pulled in huge ratings. But, right now, I’m concerned about where we go from here.”

“Even if your partner was murdered?”

Ignoring a couple gasps from the crew, Carmody focused on her face. “Jase was murdered? I thought it was a fall. Who the hell would kill Jase?”

Ryan spoke up. “We’re trying to figure out exactly what happened, and I hope we’ll know more after the autopsy. While we’re waiting for those results, we’d appreciate your cooperation in giving us some background information. A quick resolution to this matter would be in everyone’s best interests.”

“You’d keep any details out of the press? If somebody killed him, the press will be voracious.” Carmody scrubbed his face with both hands. “What a mess. Let us handle the media. Sara is good at the PR angle.”

“I’d be happy to let you, but I can’t guarantee what my department will do.” Ryan glanced at Ari. She nodded, and his attention returned to Carmody. “They won’t hear anything from the two of us.”

Ari watched Carmody’s face. Would news of the murder really be such a bad thing for the TV show? It might even boost ratings. Of course, if the true cause of death was leaked, it would be really bad for everyone else. Any hint of black magic would make the coverage go viral, burying the police and the Magic Council with public and media demands.

Carmody shook his head, then dropped into a chair. “All right, ask your questions. If we think we can answer them, we will. But don’t ask us why we’re here. Only the lawyers can release more than we’ve already told you.”

Although impatient for information, Ari gave Carmody points for his handling of the situation. He’d remained nonbelligerent, yet had firmly drawn a line. Ryan’s face conveyed annoyance, but he grabbed a chair to join Ari and the crew at the conference table.

“The body was found on the bank of the river early this morning,” he began. “Can you tell me when and where each of you last saw him?”

“We all had dinner together at the River Vista hotel restaurant. It broke up about ten o’clock.” Carmody looked toward his colleagues. The others confirmed this, and everyone except Carmody reported they had gone straight back to the yacht and to bed. “Jase and I had one drink in the hotel bar, and I left him there at 10:30.”