Elemental Shadows (7 page)

"Did you ever organize a search of the city?"

Arden sipped her tea. Then she took several large swallows. I assumed she was getting that sugar rush. "Not a very large search. But I can remedy that."

"Good. Now, let's get back to someone framing you and why." I leaned back in the chair as it creaked beneath me. Grey huffed and flopped down on the floor in a very good imitation of being bored. "I'm pretty sure if I told you to make a list of your enemies…"
 

"We'd be here for a year. Someone in my position always has enemies. My enemies have enemies
because
they're my enemies."
 

"You really need to learn to play well with others."
 

Arden shook her head. One short, curt shake. "It will never happen. And I've been racking my brain and yelling at my assistants all morning, trying to come up with someone that would love to see me not only incarcerated in the Cowen world, but in our world."
 

"They're the same world, Arden. Jail's jail."
 

"Not if you're warlocked."
 

True dat. "I don't know about DNA or the usual physical forensic anomalies that were found in their homes. But whoever did this knew the right evidence to leave. An email addressed to you in mid-creation works for the NOPD
and
the Clerics," I leaned my head onto my right shoulder. "Have the police come to question you?"
 

"Not yet. But I've left my assistants instructions to call me as soon as they show up. At either residence."
 

The fact the NOPD hadn't brought her in for questioning seemed odd to me.
 

My phone rang and vibrated in my back pocket. I leaned over just as Grey jumped up and loped into the front room.
 

My phone displayed the caller's face. Male, looked to be in his mid to late twenties, possible early thirties. Chiseled features. Full lower lip on a mouth forever pulled to the side in a smirk. Long black lashes framed unusual amber red eyes. A thick shock of sandy brown hair flopped over his face, crowning shaved sides and back.
 

Detective Crwys Holliard.
 

My silent partner, former lover, and unknown species.

"Yeah? Rent's not due for another two weeks."
 

Crwys laughed in my ear, but I could hear the tightness in his voice. "Miss Arden Vervain in there?"
 

"How did you guess?"
 

"This big-ass white limousine taking up half of Bourbon Street was my first clue," he sighed. "Come unlock the front door, Sam. I got a warrant for her arrest."
 

So much for odd.
 

A
rden stepped into the front retail shop with me and remained by the counter as I unlocked the door. Crwys stepped in, squeezed my upper arm as he passed by. Lt. Levi Tulouse, Crwys’s partner, came in as well. Levi was rocking another of his crisp suits while Crwys wore his standard uniform of jeans, boots, t-shirt and leather jacket.
 

What I said earlier about Crwys being an unknown species wasn't a joke. I had a spell I called a
dex
, like a Pokédex, that would magically scan the Spirit of the person I directed it at and tell me what they were. Human, Fetch, Daemon, Revenant, Lamia, and I recently added in Leviathan parameters.
 

When I used it on Crwys, and I used it a lot, it came up with no results. Not even a guess. I didn't know what he was, and he wasn't going to tell me. What I did know about him was that he was sexy as hell. My magic loved something about him and sometimes snapped me to him like a rubber band, and he could set people, places and things on fire.
 

Instantly. Poof. Gone. I’d recently watched him crispy-critter eleven ghouls.
 

Levi, on the other hand, showed up with brilliant flares on my
dex
. Revenant. In other words, vampire. But he seemed like a good guy. He caught the bad guys, and his demon, the thing in him that made him a vampire, was named Ashur.
 

I know it gets confusing. But if you hang in there as long as I have, it starts to make a sort of chaotic sense.
 

Levi gave me a fist bump as he looked around the place. "Looks good in here, Sam."
 

I realized Levi hadn't been in since Dionysus' mad ninja ghouls trashed the place. I wondered if he knew Crwys was one of my silent partners. I wouldn't be surprised if he did. He and Levi had been together a long time. A lot longer than playing cops and robbers as partners on the streets.
 

"Well, well, well, Detectives What and Vague. So nice to see you again."
 

Again? I looked at Crwys. He shrugged at me before he faced Arden. "You're not going to give us any trouble are you? 'Cause you know I love using my Witch mojo on you."
 

"That,
shugar
, could be misconstrued as a lewd and lascivious comment," she reached out and ran her long, red lacquered nail under his lightly bearded chin. "Do it again."
 

I didn't like her touching him.
 

Crwys wasn't mine. We weren't even a thing anymore. I was seeing Robin. Robin was mine.
 

But I still didn't like her touching Crwys. "So," I ventured and put a hand on Crwys's upper arm. That gesture disengaged his stare-down with Arden. "You’re here to arrest Arden."
 

Arden's frown echoed my own. She moved her finger from Crwys's chin and pressed it against her own chest, just above her very visible cleavage. "Me? What can I do for you boys?"
 

Crwys's smile was a bit creepy. "You can turn around and put your hands behind your back." He held up a pair of handcuffs.
 

"Wait…you really are arresting her?" I looked from Crwys to Levi and back again. "Why?"

"Murder," Levi held up three fingers. "Three of them. Old white dudes. Not sure what she killed them with, but from the looks on their faces, it wasn't pretty."
 

Arden took a step back. I half expected her to summon a smoke cloud and do a classic disappearing act while she ran out the door and into her waiting car. When she didn't, I was a little proud of her.
 

A little.
 

"I haven't murdered anyone. I told you that yesterday."
 

"Turn around," Crwys took her upper arm and forced Arden to turn. "Hands behind your back."
 

Arden complied as Crwys slapped cuffs on her and Levi read her her rights. When they were done, I held up my hand. "Okay, so wait a minute. This has to do with the three dead Elders."
 

Crwys smiled at me. "I figured you'd know about that already."
 

"She only knows because I told her," Arden said. She turned to face us.
 

Crap. Even handcuffed Arden looked sexy. Having her hands pinned behind her just made her boobs stick out.
 

More.
 

"You might want to remain silent," Crwys warned.
 

"I told you. I had a meeting with them on Sunday. I did not kill them."
 

"DNA evidence says otherwise."
 

I blinked. "You got DNA evidence back—that fast? That's unbelievable."
 

"Not really," Levi said. "One of the stiffs is a friend of the Chef of Detectives. He's mad as hell the guy's dead so he's on the warpath."
 

"And next year is an election year," I muttered. "So you're arresting her on DNA evidence. What kind?"
 

"Sorry, Sam." Crwys took Arden's upper arm and sort of handed her off to Levi. "I think Frank's outside with a black and white. Just turn her over to him. Need to speak to Sam."
 

Levi looked suspicious, but he nodded.
 

Arden locked eyes with me and I nodded. "I'll look into it. I promise."
 

She mouthed the words 'thank you' before Levi took her out the front of the shop.
 

"That was a pretty lousy way to do that. The tourists out there will see her."
 

Crwys was still watching the door as he shrugged. "Arden'll spin it to her own advantage. More publicity for her," he turned to face me. "Is Ivan around?"
 

"No. He and Kyle are out. Why do you need Ivan?"
 

"Got some questions to ask him, given his particular Gift." He took my arm and led me to a corner of the store as far away from the computer as possible and lowered his voice. "Do you guys know if he's the only one of his kind?"

"You mean a Cyber Witch?"
 

"Yeah. He ever run across others?"
 

I pursed my lips. "He's never said. Most of the stuff he can do is self taught, though recently he's been displaying a few more abilities."
 

"Like what?"
 

I shook my head. "Why are we whispering? There's no one in here but us."
 

Crwys's expression worried me. "Are you sure? Can your magic sense things that aren't there?"

"You mean like ghosts?" I searched his face, my gaze lingering on those red amber eyes. "You think a ghost is in my shop? There's no way, Crwys. I've got wards on wards to keep out the dead—"
 

He put a finger on my lips. Man, it was all I could do not to bite it. "Sshh. Just answer me. Do you have magic to detect invisible entities?"
 

"No. But I'm sure Kyle can make something." I narrowed my eyes at him. "You wanna tell me what this is about? Why are you talking about ghosts? And why arrest Arden when you know she didn't kill those Elders?"
 

"So you know they're Elders."
 

I sighed. "Because Arden
told
me. Weren't you listening? Or were you too focused on her boobs? That's why she was here. She wanted my help finding out who's framing her."
 

Crwys nodded slowly, but I got the feeling he wasn't really paying attention. "That's a good theory, but who said she was framed?"
 

"She did
not
kill those men."
 

"Can you be so sure?" He refocused on me. "How much do you really know about her? About her past? It's pretty colorful. She likes power. And from what I've gathered, those three were the only ones blocking her bid for Grand Master."
 

"I know more about her than I know about you. And you expect me to trust
you
." A shadow passed along the back wall of the shop and I glanced at the front windows. The clouds were out and the only activity outside was a bunch of tourists taking pictures of the socialite in the back seat of the black and white cop cars.
 

Where had the shadow come from?
 

"Touché. But, do me a favor, ask Kyle to make something to detect things you can't see, okay? I'll pay him."
 

"You want a ghost detector."
 

"Yes," he raised his shoulders in an odd shrug. "More like a multi-planner dimensional detector."
 

"Crwys—"

"Say yes."
 

I sighed. "Yes."
 

He lowered his voice again. "Fingerprints were found on the keyboard they were writing those emails too. And they all matched back to Arden Vervain."
 

"That's not DNA. That's fingerprints. And you and I know that kind of thing can be screwed up with magic."
 

"The DNA is going to come from hairs."
 

"Hairs? This is about hairs? She said she talked to them on Sunday. Had dinner with them. There is a logical explanation her hair might be on their jackets or something."
 

"These were in their underwear."