“I don’t know.” I didn’t. I had ideas. The storm was brewing. They didn’t know exactly when it would hit. They thought we had a few days. They could be wrong.
We were on the other side of the bridge. Davy didn’t say anything. Just waited as I slowed the car, weighing my odds of actually getting him home, out of the car, and locked in his apartment while I used his car to get to Stotts.
Wasn’t gonna happen.
I headed into town.
“Thanks,” he said. He didn’t say anything else until it started raining.
“Wipers are on the left.”
I flicked them on. Glanced at him. His eyes were closed again. Still tired, but the pain seemed to have passed. Maybe the pain was physical. Side effect from his head wound, from his collapsed lung. Appendix or something.
Magic wasn’t the only way people got hurt.
“I noticed Zayvion was there,” he said.
“And?”
“I didn’t think he had an investment in your dad’s business.”
“He’s my boyfriend,” I said. “We have an investment in each other.”
“And Shame?”
“Anyone tell you how nosy you are?” And how damn observant? I thought.
“No. I usually keep my nosy questions to myself.”
“Shame’s mother owns the inn. She used to know my father. They weren’t friends, but she is a smart business-woman. If you were paying that close of attention, you also noticed he’d had a couple beers. I don’t think he was there to enhance his portfolio. I think he was there for the free booze.”
Davy smiled again. “My kind of guy.”
“Do not make friends with him,” I said. “He’s trouble.”
“And I’m not?”
“No, Davy,” I said, angling the car toward Chapman Square. “You’re a good kid. If you’d work on your pain-in-the-ass tendencies, you’d be real nice.”
“Too bad that isn’t going to happen anytime soon,” he muttered. “Real nice doesn’t get you very far.”
“Real nice can keep you from getting beat up,” I said.
He smiled. “Right. Maybe we should both work on it, then.”
Like I said. Pain in the ass.
The blue and red lights of the ambulance glided over the dark, magic-caged buildings that surrounded the area. I spotted the MERC’s cleanup van, and a few people who might have been Stotts’s crew moving around in the shadows. The ambulance was just easing away from the curb, lights on, but no siren. I wanted to follow it, go to the hospital, make sure Bea was all right.
I briefly considered sending Davy along to do just that, but his eyes were closed. Kid was in no shape to drive. From the pace of his breathing he’d be asleep soon.
Police tape and traffic cones sectioned off part of the park, which as far as I could see was empty. I didn’t know what job Bea would have been Hounding. Sometimes a Hound was hired by the city to make sure there wasn’t any magical mischief going down on city property, but usually Jack took those calls. I searched my memory, wondering if he or Bea had mentioned going to Hound Chapman Square.
“Davy?”
He sucked in a quick breath. I’d just woken him. He blinked, sat a little straighter, got his bearings pretty fast, and glanced over at me. “Yeah?”
“Did Bea or Jack say they were doing the park?”
He looked out the window at the police tape. “No. Not at last week’s meeting. Maybe a last-minute jobber?”
“Maybe.” I parked the car a block away. “Stay here. Get some sleep. I’m going to be right over there with the cops—”
“The cursed cop,” he corrected.
“Allegedly cursed cop,” I said. “Stay here. Do not walk out on that street. Do not drive this car. You are too tired, and would probably get yourself killed if you tried to do either.”
He shook his head. “You just can’t give a guy a compliment, can you?”
It wasn’t a promise. But it was all I had time to get out of him.
I left the keys in the ignition and got out of the car. I still wore the void stone necklace. I couldn’t take it off and leave it with Davy. If he touched it, he would know it was a kind of magic unavailable to the common user, and then he’d start digging for answers. Luckily, I could cast magic while wearing the stone—it just made it a little more difficult.
The wind was stronger here, funneled by the buildings, and cold enough I was glad I’d worn my heavier coat. I pulled up my hood and made quick work of the sidewalk. Stotts stood at the end of the