David Coe - Spell Blind

I exhaled, relieved. As much as I wanted to catch this guy, I didn’t want to face him tonight. I tucked my Glock into my belt against my back and returned to the living room.

I checked Robby for a pulse, but I knew I wouldn’t find one. There was a small but bright red glimmering around his head and neck, but to anyone who couldn’t see magic he would appear unmarked.

I’d had enough of this guy killing off my leads and hurting my friends. I wasn’t crazy about him attacking me, either. But most of all, I resented the fact that he always seemed to be one step ahead of me.

I reached for the phone to call the police yet again, but then I stopped myself. Robby wasn’t going anywhere, and it was possible that a quick search of the house might turn up something tangible that would connect Robby with ’Toine and Shari.

My first thought was to use the scrying stone, but I knew from ’Toine’s place that it wouldn’t work here. Then something occurred to me. I pulled out the stone and fished in my jacket pocket for the evidence bag containing Claudia’s hair. I still had it with me. Whatever else this case might have done for me, it was making me an expert at seeing-spells.

I chanted the spell to myself, and a moment later, there was Robby, sitting on the same couch he was lying on now. He was adjusting a scale, measuring out Spark for a sale.

I told you this was good stuff, Claud , he said, his eyes fixed on the balance. It costs, too. So I gotta make sure that the bags are right, you know? I don’t wanna be giving away too much, and I sure don’t want someone coming back at me claiming that I shorted them.

I wouldn’t do that.

He glanced up at her and smiled. I know you wouldn’t. But I wouldn’t want to shortchange you, you know? You least of all.

She didn’t answer and a moment later she started to glance through his DVD collection. I had the feeling she didn’t like the turn their conversation had taken.

Just hurry it up, she said, her voice low.

You still with that Tilo guy?

Don’t, Robby. You and I are history, and I’d like to forget about it, all right?

I’m just asking.

You’re not just asking. You never just ask.

He said nothing, and a moment later he turned his attention back to the scale. He fiddled with it for a few seconds. Then, with utmost care, he brushed the Spark he’d laid out into a bag and handed it to her. Check that out.

For severals moment Claudia stared at it.

Eyeing the stuff lying beside Robby’s body, I understood why. In all the years I’d worked narcotics I’d never seen Spark like this. The color was so deep, so rich, it reminded me of desert dirt, the kind you might see in Monument Valley or the Superstition Wilderness.

Where did you get this? she asked.

Usual place. My scalper said he’d found some great stuff, and, man, did he ever. I’ve tried it, he said, his eyes widening. It’s amazing. He nodded. You want some now? On the house? He was lying to her. Spark was a blocker-it wouldn’t have gotten Robby high; it might have made the phasing less intense, but he wouldn’t have gotten off on it. Of course, she wouldn’t have known this.

I better not, she said. Thanks, though.

She rolled up the bag and put it in her pack. Then she pulled out a wad of twenty-dollar bills and handed it to Robby.

There you go, she said. Three-sixty.

Robby made a quick count and smiled at her. Thanks, Claud. Always a pleasure taking your money.

I don’t like your new prices. I might have to start shopping elsewhere.

You say that now, but after you try this stuff you won’t think twice about what it cost. I promise. Cleanest burn you ever had.

At one-eighty a ‘g’ it better be. She swung her pack onto her shoulder, walked to the door and pulled it open. Later, Robby. Thanks.

Close the door, Claud! You want the whole neighborhood to see what I got here?

She laughed. Hey, everybody! she called, raising her voice. Check out Robby’s stuff!

He jumped up, yanked her back into the house, and slammed the door.

Claudia pulled her arm out of his grasp and rubbed it. Geez, Robby!

Geez, yourself! You think that was funny?

Yeah. It was just a joke.

Robby shook his head. You’re unbelievable. That kind of shit might be funny for a Deegan, but for the rest of us, it’s not. In case you didn’t know, this stuff’s illegal. If I’m caught dealing again, I’ll probably get thrown in jail for the rest of my life.

I know it’s illegal, she said, sounding sullen.

Well, you don’t act like it. I guess you think Daddy will pull your ass out of the fire if anything happens, right?

Fuck you, Robby!

He seemed to deflate, and he twisted his mouth. Sorry, he said. That was outta line.

Yeah, it was. She pulled the door open again, though not too widely this time. I gotta go.

Right.

Claudia left, closing the door behind her, and the image faded.

So she had bought her drugs from Robby, and Sommer had been telling the truth about their relationship. He hadn’t mentioned, though, that she’d ticked him off the last time he saw her alive, and it seemed he’d lied to me about knowing the Blind Angel Killer. I didn’t think it had been Robby’s intention to point out Claudia to Red. He cared about her too much. But I’d have bet every dollar in my pocket that the sorcerer had been watching Robby’s house, and had chosen her from a distance, without knowing who she was. That was the only way to explain why Claudia Deegan would have ended up a victim of the same murderer who’d killed Gracia Rosado, Maria Santana, and the others.

I didn’t want to take too much more time here, but I wanted to search all the rooms before I dialed 911 yet again. Maybe Robby had a red stone, too. I started in the living room-a bit of a misnomer with a corpse in the middle of it, but I tried to ignore that. There was drug paraphernalia everywhere. The open bag of Spark next to Robby was one of several lying in plain sight. A couple of the others were pretty big; glancing around the room I could see close to ten thousand dollars worth of the drug. The scale was still there on the table, and beside it a box loaded with empty plastic bags, waiting to be filled. All of it struck me as being a bit heavy-handed. It was almost as if the red sorcerer had left Robby as an offering to the PPD.

Robby wasn’t wearing a pendant, and I didn’t know where he would have kept a stone like Shari’s. Not that it had to be a stone; I would have been satisfied with finding anything-other than Robby himself-that had red magic on it. But after a few minutes of this I stopped in the middle of the room, staring at the body again. I had that same dull feeling in my head-the damn moon. Why would Red care what the police thought about Robby’s death? He’d had a busy night: trying to burn a hole in my chest, destroying Q’s place, killing ’Toine and Robby. But he hadn’t made any effort to hide the rest of what he’d done. He’d tried to kill me in a crowded club. His attacks on the two street sorcerers-Q and ’Toine-had been brutal, spectacular even. He’d left their homes in shambles.

He could have blown the door off of Robby’s house, too. But his touch here had been as gentle as it had been rough in Maryvale and Mountain View.

I surveyed the room, trying to see it as I would if I was still a cop. The drugs scattered all over the room, Robby dead on the couch. And me standing right in the middle of it.