Sorren and Lucinda exchanged a glance I couldn’t decipher. “For Moran, the warding should cause him more trouble than I think he’ll want,” Sorren said.
“Loas are jealous spirits,” Lucinda replied. “Once they’ve been invoked, they feel a mite possessive.
They won’t take kindly to a demon poking about.”
In both cases, less than an iron-clad guarantee, but magic didn’t come with a warranty. It would have to do. I had a moment’s mental image of a bunch of frustrated spirits and demon minions milling around outside my piazza gate.
“Thank you,” I said again. “And thanks for doing Teag’s place as well.” Lucinda inclined her head. “Of course.”
I rose to walk them to the door. Baxter nested happily in the warm cushion I had left behind. “Good night,” I said, suddenly feeling the full effect of the last few days. I locked the door behind them, turned off lights and scooped Baxter into the crook of my arm, and then headed up the stairs to bed. Maybe it was Lucinda’s wardings, or sheer exhaustion, but I slept like a log.
Chapter Thirteen
THE NEXT MORNING was drizzling rain. I muttered at my alarm when it rang. I was supposed to be off today but with Maggie still recuperating from food poisoning, it was just another day. Teag and I are going to have to hire some additional help as soon as this is over, I promised myself.
I was running late. Baxter waited patiently while I showered and dressed, then playfully pounced from step to step as we went downstairs, certain that kibble would shortly appear in his dish. He was not disappointed.
I toasted two slices of bread, slathered them with peanut butter and stuck them into a sandwich bag so I could eat at the store. I’d wait for coffee until I got there, too. I liked to have time in the shop before the customers started coming in. Baxter was staying home today. With a quick kiss for Baxter, I slipped out the door, making a mental note to stop for groceries on the way home or I’d be eating dry cereal for supper.
Teag was already at Trifles and Folly when I arrived, and I smelled fresh coffee brewing. He was the best assistant manager ever.
“How did it go with Lucinda last night?”
“She made short work of the apartment,” Teag replied, sipping his cup of tea. “Sorren suggested that she also ward Anthony’s place, to keep the folks who are out for our heads from deciding to go after him to get to us.” He looked as if that possibility had cost him some sleep. “I have a key, so I let her in since he was working late.” He sighed. “I don’t know how I’ll explain the smell.
“I couldn’t sleep last night,” he confessed. “So I spent some time on the Internet and the Darke Web.
Anthony sent me a list of names for the murder victims the police have connected along with the three his friend found out about, so I did some digging and plotted where each body was discovered. I left the map in your office. Take a look when you have a chance. Maybe it can narrow down our search.”
“The real question is – search for what?” I said, tucking my things beneath the counter and heading to the back to make my coffee. He followed.
“We’re pretty sure Moran is behind things, but what does he want? What’s the demon got to do with it? And what’s up with the dead men – or the missing salvage team?” I munched my peanut butter toast as I thought about all the important stuff we didn’t know.
“I’ll watch the front,” Teag said. “Why don’t you have a look at the map?”
His insistence told me that Teag had already formed a theory and that he was waiting for me to validate it or poke holes, so I headed to my office, where Teag had left a map.
I spread the map out on my desk. The old Navy yard was about a forty-five minute drive from the historic section of the city, over in an area that was mostly used for shipping and warehouses. It wasn’t the prettiest part of town, but it also wasn’t known as particularly crime-ridden. Many of the murders had either happened near the Navy yard, or the bodies had been left there. Either way, it suggested a connection. Or maybe it was just a good place to dump a corpse and not be seen.
I let out a long breath and picked up a pencil. I drew a line from dot to dot, and it was an amoeba-like, squiggly sort of thing. With the dots connected, I could see what was inside the sort-of-circle. Squinting, I could make out the names of some of the buildings. To my eye, a lot of what was enclosed by the circle was empty space. That might mean that there really were no buildings – possible since the old military yard was being repurposed, and so many of the original buildings had either been torn down or were abandoned. Or it could mean that any buildings that were in use weren’t big enough to bother mentioning.
I grabbed a piece of paper and made some notes. First, I wrote down the streets that made a rough border around the area where the murders had occurred. Then I wrote down the names of the biggest buildings along that route that showed up on the map. A couple of them appeared to be warehouses.
One spot had a building without a name. There was an office building and something that appeared to be a lab or a research facility. Not much to go on, but it was a start.
When I refilled my coffee, I poked my head out to see if we had customers. One stalwart soul had braved the rain and was browsing, but Teag was taking care of him. I went back to my office and plugged in the names of the buildings I had identified on the map.
None of the places I found screamed supernatural trouble spot. I copied down the names and address of the warehouses, came up completely dry on two of the other buildings, and read the Wikipedia entry about the Navy yard for good measure.
“Made a sale,” Teag sang out when I heard the door close behind our customer. “How about you?”
I brandished my notes as well as a printout of the Wikipedia page. “I found out a few things.”
“Spill!”
I recapped my results, and then smoothed the print out on the counter. “Here’s a tidbit that might be important. The whole Navy yard area has been in use for a long time. During the Civil War, several of the old warehouses were used as hospitals or holding areas for prisoners of war.”
“Meaning some bad mojo,” Teag supplied. I nodded.
“Caskets of soldiers killed in conflict during World War I, World War II, and Vietnam came through the yard, and the unclaimed bodies were stored there until arrangements could be made.” I added. We both knew that could mean restless spirits.
Teag gave me a sidelong look. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
I sighed. “Probably. But Sorren won’t be happy.”
“Road trip!” Teag crowed. He gave me a conspiratorial glance. “And as for Sorren, we could go after we close up shop and be back before it’s dark.”
The rain never let up, but despite the weather, a dozen or more tourists sought shelter in the shop, and half of them bought something, so the day turned out pretty well. It was raining harder at five o’clock, so I felt no guilt about locking up right on the dot.
We climbed into my Mini Cooper, and I handed him the map. “Where to first, boss?” He asked with a grin.
I pointed to one of the larger buildings on the map. “Let’s start with that one.”
Neither of us spoke on the drive over to the de-commissioned Navy yard. I wasn’t sure this was a smart thing to do for two people who had a guy with a demon after them. Then again, hiding in my house didn’t appeal to me, either. Corban Moran couldn’t be everywhere, and I was gambling that tonight, he wouldn’t be any of the places we were going.
Before long we sat in front of a sorry looking warehouse. The building had no sign, and a chain link fence separated it from the street. The windows were boarded shut.