“I’ll let them know. You doing all right?”
“Considering,” I said. “It’s been quite a day.”
“Right,” she said. “About that, your friend Martell wasn’t at his place when the Avondale cops got there, but they tracked him down at the local hospital. Did you break his arm?”
“Yeah, but it was a leg when I did it.”
She frowned.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Kevin asked in a hard voice. I had the sense that he was less convinced than Kona of my innocence in Heather Royce’s killing.
“He’s a were,” I said. “He attacked me in his bear form and I used a spell to break his leg. When he shifted back to human form, that leg became an arm.”
He didn’t say anything. I couldn’t tell from the way he was watching me if he thought I was crazy or lying. Kona, for her part, seemed to be struggling not to laugh.
“Anything on Hain?” I asked.
“Not yet,” she said. “He doesn’t show up in any of our files, and he’s not listed as being a resident of Phoenix or any of the surrounding cities.”
I rubbed a hand over my face. “Yeah,” I said, as much to myself as to her. “I probably should have expected that.”
“We have your description, and the name. Even if it’s an alias, we should be able to track him down.”
“I hope so.” I glanced around again, and after taking a few steps toward them, cast the same muffling spell I’d used in Bear’s house. Neither Kevin nor Kona noticed, of course. But I didn’t want Saorla hearing what I had to say next.
“I need to get out to see my dad. Is anyone from the PPD watching his place?”
“That’s not-”
“No,” Kona said, talking over Kevin and glaring at him. “Nobody’s there. Your place, your office, Billie’s hospital room. They’re all being watched.”
“Kona-”
“What part of ‘he didn’t do it’ do you not understand?” she said, rounding on him.
“I thought we were friends, Kevin.”
He stared at her for another moment before turning back to me. “We are, Jay. But you’re wanted for murder, and I don’t take that lightly.”
“Neither do I. Neither does Kona. But these other murders you’re investigating-Jimmy Howell, the killing in Sweetwater Park and the others like it-those are real, and they were all committed by weremystes. I can help you with those, and the people who framed me for Heather Royce’s murder know that.” To Kona I said, “My father’s trailer would be a natural place for me to go to. How did you keep them from sending someone to watch it?”
She flashed her million dollar smile. “By telling them that we’d take care of it.”
I smiled back at her. “Thanks.” Sobering, I said, “There’s something else you should know. And you’re not going to like it.”
“Okay.”
“When I first mentioned to you that dark magic might have played a role in the murders you’re investigating, you asked me who my source was, and I wouldn’t tell you.”
“I remember. You’re going to tell me now?”
“Only if you promise not to blow a gasket.”
“I’m not promising anything.”
I stared back at her, saying nothing until she rolled her eyes and said, “Fine, I promise. Who was it?”
“Jacinto Amaya.”
Kevin muttered, “Shit.”
Kona looked like she wanted to take a swing at me. “Jacinto freakin’ Amaya?” She said, her voice surging upward and echoing so loudly I was sure Saorla would hear her, despite my spell.
“He hired me,” I said. “I’ve violated the privacy of a client in telling you that, but I thought you should know. A lot can happen between now and tonight’s moonrise, and I’m not sure I’ll survive it all. I know that you have list a mile long of crimes you’d like to pin on him, but in this one respect he’s on the side of the angels.”
“I’m not entirely sure I care. If I can nail him for anything, I’ll do it.”
“Not this, Kona. I need his help. And if something happens to me, you’ll need it, too.”
“What’s going to happen to you?” Kevin asked.
“I don’t know. But I had a similar conversation with Amaya not too long ago. I have a bad feeling about tonight. There’s a powerful myste out there-Namid calls her a necromancer-and she’s good and pissed at me. If she gets a chance to kill me she will. And she might have help from Patty Hesslan-Fine, Regina Witcombe, Palmer Hain, and whoever they hang out with on poker night. I have a lot of enemies right now. Plus, in case you didn’t know, I’m wanted for murder.”
“What can we do to help?” Kona asked.
I hesitated. “Probably nothing.”
“Probably?”
My gaze flicked toward Kevin. “I’m not sure how much I can ask of the two of you right now.”
Kevin and Kona shared a glance before facing me again. For the moment I ignored her and watched Kevin.
“Try us,” he said. “We might surprise you.”
We talked for a while longer, and by the time I left the mall I felt that Kevin was on my side again. I hoped that his and Kona’s faith in me would be enough.
From Scottsdale, I intended to drive out to Wofford, to see my Dad and begin to plan for tonight. But I was still in the side streets near the mall when an all-too familiar voice spoke in my mind.
Once again you have used magic to keep me from hearing a conversation that was of interest to me.
“Saorla,” I said aloud, knowing she could hear me now. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that eavesdropping is rude?”
You will come to me right now and you will come alone.
“No, I don’t think I will. You and I will meet again, soon enough for my taste, but right now-”
Right now I am with a friend of yours. Speak to him. Tell him that I am here.
“Fearsson?”
I don’t know how the necromancer managed it, but it was like she had Billie on a magical speaker phone. I heard her voice as clearly as I heard Saorla’s. Somehow I knew that she would hear me as well when I said, “Are you all right, Billie?”
“Yes.” She sounded frightened. Who could blame her?
She is fine. I have not harmed her, yet. But if you refuse to come here, I will kill her.
“Is she really there with you, Billie?”
“Yes. Who is she?”
Never mind that, Saorla said. I will be waiting for you, and I am not feeling particularly patient.
“Leave Billie where she is and we can meet elsewhere.”
I do not think so.
“I can’t get into that hospital, Saorla. It’s crawling with Phoenix police, and they want to arrest me for a murder committed by your friend Patricia Hesslan-Fine.”
You have proven yourself resourceful, Justis Fearsson, inconveniently so. I am confident that you will find a way past the police. You have thirty minutes to get here.
“No, I need more time than that!”
Nothing.
“Saorla!”
She didn’t answer. I spat a curse and sped up. The last thing I wanted was to end up as one of those classic headlines: “Murder Suspect Arrested After Routine Traffic Stop.” But the threat implied in her time limit was enough to have me pushing the envelope on speed limits all the way back to Mesa.
Only when I reached Banner Medical’s parking complex-with all of four minutes to spare-did I slow down. I didn’t see any police cruisers, but I hadn’t expected that I would. They wanted me to walk right in so that they could nab me in a controlled environment. There were probably a dozen plainclothes cops inside, clustered on Billie’s floor, and a few more near each of the entrances. There was no way I could walk in.
But a transporting spell might work. I had been in Billie’s room once, so I could visualize it, and I knew the magic well enough to pull off the crafting. The problem was the distance. Billie was on the second floor, and for all I knew her room was on the far side of the building. I hadn’t paid much attention to its exact location when I visited earlier in the day. That uncertainty wasn’t going to make this conjuring any easier.