Kelly Gay - The Better Part of Darkness

“So you think Cassius Mott has something to do with this?”

“Don’t you? It fits. And I have a hunch Mott Tech isn’t far behind. Haven’t figured out how Mynogan and the jinn fit yet, but they do. I know they do.”

“Well, while you were rolling out of limos, I finally got an ID on the third jinn that attacked you and Auggie,” he said. “Guess who was signing his paycheck?”

I knew the answer to that.

“Yeah. The CPP,” Hank said.

“So Mott and the CPP could be partners, manufacturing the ash, and they’re using the jinn to distribute it. It’d be a good way to fund their campaign. And maybe Cass wants his own money, to get out from under Titus.”

“Eh, too weak. The jinn could’ve attacked you on their own, Charlie. It might have had nothing to do with the CPP. Plus the only evidence we’ve got is Auggie pointing the finger at Veritas, and Mynogan happened to be there when we went to take a look. And why would the CPP need to create a drug trade to fund their campaign when they have some of the richest nobles in the universe as members? The jinn or Cass could be solely responsible for this whole operation.”

“Thank you, counselor.” My cell phone rang again. I didn’t recognize the number. “Madigan,” I answered.

“Detective.” Titus Mott’s voice breathed relief into the phone. I held the mouthpiece and leaned over to whisper his name to Hank. “I was hoping you’d have time to come back to the lab.”

“For the physical?”

A long pause followed, and my skin tingled.

“I’ve remembered more details about your death … details I think you need to know. Will you come?”

Goose bumps spread like waves down my arms and legs. I swallowed. “Sure. When?”

“This evening, tonight … I’ll be here until morning. Come anytime.”

“All right,” I said, trying to sound casual even as warning bells were going off in my head. “This evening then.”

Mott mumbled a quick good-bye. I closed the phone and turned to Hank. “He’s scared. Spooked, like Auggie was.”

“I’m coming with you,” Hank said before I could argue. “If Cass is working with the CPP and they are responsible for the ash, Titus could be, too … I mean, they are brothers. It might be a setup, Charlie. If they are involved, they already know you’re on to them, especially after your little limo ride. You’re not going alone. We’ll go in, I’ll take off the voice-mod, and we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

I turned in the seat. “Yeah, and you know it’s against the law to do that. We’d need an interrogation warrant for you to use your voice. Civil rights, remember? You go in there and question the head of the CPP and the best-known scientist since Einstein, and we’ll have the biggest lawsuit on our hands the department has ever seen.”

Sirens couldn’t just go around making people follow commands or talk against their will. It had taken years of legislature to create laws and restrictions to protect everyone from the individual powers of the off-worlders. And law enforcement, especially, had to be careful. Use a siren’s power before you had an interrogation warrant securely in hand, and it’d make everything a suspect said, criminal or not, inadmissible in court.

“Since when did you go all procedural?” Hank glanced in his rearview mirror before switching lanes.

“Since nailing the people who put Amanda in the hospital and made me enemy number one is a promise I made to my kid and myself. I’m not going to screw it up. If they’re responsible, they won’t walk free on a technicality.”

“Unless we take a mage with us. I’ll make them talk, and he’ll make them forget we were ever there.”

“If only,” I said, knowing neither one of us would go that far.

We both had suggested going off the book a time or two, and, yeah, we’d taken a lot of leeway with police procedure, but never anything that would let a suspect off the hook.

“Since we’re on the subject of you,” he said carefully, “I heard you’re thinking about giving Will another chance.”

Immediately I realized where he’d gotten his information. Emma.

This morning in the bathroom I told her I’d think about it. Now my mistake was glaringly obvious. I’d given her hope without meaning to, without considering my words and how she’d take them.

The air in the Mercedes turned tense. I swiped the tea and took a long drink.

“Is it true then?”

“I don’t know. Will’s been clean ever since that night. He’s done the twelve-step program for black crafting addiction and still attends meetings. He’s even sponsoring a new member. Who knows … maybe in the future …” I fiddled with the straw in my tea. Why did I feel like a kid suddenly in trouble, like I had to explain myself? “Everyone is guilty of bad judgment once in—”

“ Bad judgment? I think it was a little more than bad judgment, Charlie! Wagering your marriage, black crafting, basically leading a whole other life in secret … Every time he lied about where he was going and what he was doing, it was premeditated. You almost died because of him. Doesn’t that matter to you?”

“Of course it does; why the hell do you think I divorced him? Jesus, Hank. Will went through a decade of black crafting addiction. That’s what addiction does, it ruins lives, takes lives, destroys everything …” Old memories grabbed hold of my heart and the never-ending reservoir of hurt closed my throat. Hank didn’t have a clue what it was like to have your entire world pulled out from under you, to grieve for the loss of the fucking fairy tale you thought you had. Fuck Hank. He didn’t know what it was like to love someone the way I had loved Will. How hard it was, even now, to stop caring completely. Twelve years of loving someone just doesn’t go away overnight, divorce or not.

Something stirred inside me, snaking beneath my skin, wanting release, wanting a fight. I swallowed it back down. “Just back off, okay? I know how you feel about it, but …” It’s none of your business.

Sometimes words didn’t need to be said aloud to be understood. I could feel him look over at me in shock.

“It is my goddamn business, Charlie, whether you like it or not.”

Fine. I turned in my seat. I knew where this was heading but I couldn’t stop myself. “Then why the hell didn’t you say anything? You’re a siren. You can sense shit like that. All that time you had to have known, and you’re going to sit here and lecture me? When you knew ?”

So there it was. Finally out in the open. Hank, being an off-worlder, was way more in tune to sensing auras and the taint caused by black crafting. There was no way he had missed sensing it on Will back then. Yet he’d said nothing at the time. Had he told me, maybe that night never would have happened.

“It wasn’t my place.” He kept his eyes focused on the road.

“So first, it’s not your business. And now it is. Which is it, Hank? Because you can’t have it both ways.”

He held up his hands for a second as though he was about to make a point, but then put them back on the steering wheel. He stared ahead for a long moment, and I knew he was trying his hardest to calm down. We were both treading on the edge of an explosive situation if one of us lost it.

A thought occurred to me. “Let me ask you this then: have you sensed it on him since that night?” I certainly hadn’t, and I’d gotten pretty good at detecting the fine, smoky odor since learning of Will’s addiction.

“No.”

“Well, gee, don’t sound so happy about it,” I snapped. I returned to my proper sitting position and folded my arms over my chest. “You could give me a little credit, you know. And Will, too. He’s been clean for eight months, going to therapy once a week, and he’s a good father. So lay off him.”