Blood and Blade (Goddess with a Blade #6) - Lauren Dane Page 0,69
times. Longest stint was three years in Louisiana in the seventies for some sort of embezzlement from the bank she worked for. She’s originally from Southern Italy. Came to the US in the forties, after World War II ended, but from some of the things we found, she was running from some people she’d made very angry back in Italy. Connected to organized crime.”
“So she came here and started over a dozen times or so. Our girl sure does like to bilk people.” Rowan looked over the arrests of the aliases. Most Patrizia’d skipped bail on. Then another in some other state, a new name, similar charges and the same outcome. She’d done a few thirty and sixty day stints between 1957 and 2015. The three year stretch—in Louisiana no less—in the seventies was the longest and there’d been a five year period after she’d been released where she showed no law enforcement interaction. She’d maybe tried to go clean or she’d been smarter and hadn’t gotten caught.
“Is she a member of the Conclave?” Some witches were independent practitioners who refused to participate in magic user organizations. As long as they obeyed the rules about not harming anyone with magic they were generally left alone. Certainly Pat-whoeverthefuck wasn’t a rule follower so she should have been sending up red flags somewhere.
“She’s fallen through the cracks, I think. She filed as independent in 1955. None of her crimes would pop as using magic to harm humans. We can’t keep track of everyone and everything so we focus on crimes or activities when witches use their magic to harm humans. Embezzlement isn’t going to set off an alarm. If it was in a gaming establishment we would look because witches can’t use their power to cheat at games of chance. But she never went near anything like that.” Genevieve looked up from the screen a moment. “Last known address is about three hours north of here. She’s got land in the middle of nowhere with some kind of living space on it but I don’t know what type. I don’t know if it’s fenced or anything like that either. All my investigator found were some tax records and the deed. No employment that we could find either.”
Rowan sat back in her chair and looked out the window while she stroked Star’s head. The dog liked to check in with Rowan while she worked. Star would come up, put her chin on Rowan’s thigh until Rowan gave her some love.
It was a good reminder to get up and move around from time to time. Especially now that she had a dog who liked to run and play and get exercise.
Rowan nodded. “She’s the independent contractor type anyway. Got herself sent away for three years when she worked for the bank and stole their money, didn’t she? All those aliases say she’s always sort of preferred to be her own boss, so to speak. She’s smarter now. Works her grift on the low to keep out of jail. Jail sucks. She’s too old for that shit. And that she’s kept herself outside any illegal activity that would raise suspicions within the Conclave, I don’t think she’s stupid. I think she knew what she was doing. It can’t be a secret that you all only really look for certain kinds of lawbreaking. That’s only common sense.”
Genevieve said, “We don’t care about ninety percent of the stupid and illegal things witches do. They’re living in a human world. They do human crimes. They lie and cheat and steal and get into fights. They might even write up spells to get rid of acne or regrow hair or better erections, but we aren’t interested in policing the universe. Our job as the Conclave is to protect and advocate for magic users. Together we are more powerful than apart. We’ve lived through wars and drownings and trials. We care about witches being put on trial and executed for helping a child with croup.”
Rowan nodded. “I understand. And I agree. I see a lot of things all day long that are wrong or bad or even illegal but I can’t let that all get in the way of what my real job is. I can’t stop paranormals from making mistakes. But I don’t need to stake a Vampire for every little infraction. I’m not attacking you over this. I’m just trying to put together the facts so we can find her and figure out what she’s got to do