magic you favor. You might be able to tear a slip of paper in half, leave one side inside the bottle, and destroy the other. The right ceremony could destroy the bottle from a distance, although you’d likely need quite a bit of preparation time. The point is that the trigger varies with the witch.”
A terrible thought occurred to me. “What about a cord witch? Could you set off the trigger with knots or whatever?”
Beau shot me a startled look.
“Knots or whatever,” Sophia repeated in disgust. “Good gods, you are ignorant. But yes, in theory cord magic could be altered to form a trigger. I haven’t seen it done, but just about any kind of magic could be adapted to activate the bottle. You’re looking at a very strong witch or a small coven, though.”
Beau gave me a troubled look. “I don’t have any more questions,” I said quietly.
He nodded. “Miss Sophia? I do believe that’s all we have for now. If I think of something else, may I call upon you for assistance?”
“That wasn’t part of the deal I made with Lex . . .” she said, but there was no heat to it. “Oh, fine. You can call back, Beau, but only you.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded to me, and I ended the call.
“You don’t suspect Tallulah?” Beau said right away.
I grimaced. “I know that you haven’t been able to think of a motive for her, but there’s no proof she wasn’t involved. Whoever did this figured out the weaknesses in her wards.”
“True.” Beau still didn’t look convinced. He looked worried, and I couldn’t blame him.
Still, it felt like I was missing something. “Let’s start over,” I said, thinking out loud. “It probably isn’t a vampire or werewolf, because those two shooters weren’t fast or strong. And it isn’t a boundary witch, because of the mandragora. It basically has to be a trades witch, or a human who can do magic.” Like crystals, mandragora was infused with its own magic. In theory, a human with knowledge could use it.
“I haven’t met many of those,” Beau said, shaking his head. “At least, not with the gumption to do this. Most of the humans who find out about magic learn a few tricks, like how to manipulate cards or use sage to cleanse a new home. As Sophia said, this is witchcraft on a pretty large scale.”
“Yeah.” I was thinking of Emil again. He’d used a scrying mirror and crystals to influence things around him. But Sophia was his mother; she would have been able to teach him to use magical artifacts.
“Besides,” Beau said with a frown, “as many enemies as I may have, I can’t think of a single one who is human.”
Yeah, because you can press them to be happy with you, I thought but did not say. “A witch, then. Did you think of any witches or clans you’ve seriously pissed off?”
“Honestly? No. After I was turned I had very little to do with the witch clans, until I became cardinal vampire in 1921. And then it was all dealmaking.” His mustache twitched as he pressed his lips together, thinking. “I don’t believe I’ve ever killed so much as a single witch.”
Typical vampire thinking: if no one died, it was barely a crime.
Then I actually slapped myself in the forehead, though at least I did it with my right hand. “The blood tribute!” I said. “What if one of the witch clans is doing this to stop the tribute?”
Beau frowned. “That . . . is possible,” he admitted. “Another cardinal vampire would be unable to run Promenade, at least for some time, which would give the witches a reprieve.”
I thought back to the frightened witches in line, and their determined clan leader. What leader wouldn’t try to save her people from going through that? Shit, it was obvious. “Have any of them stood out as particularly disgruntled?” I asked, trying to choose my words carefully. “Any serious complaints?”
He shook his head. “Not to me, anyway. It could be any of them.”
“Except Tallulah’s people,” I said, unable to keep a little acid out of my tone. “Because they don’t have to do it.”
He stood up. “Let’s go speak to her.”
I followed him back into the foyer, where Tobias was waiting just outside the office door, pacing.
I’d spent enough time around the werewolves by now to recognize this as a relaxed pacing, a way of burning off physical energy rather than a sign that he was anxious or upset. “Hi!”