The big warlock had gone rigid, his eyes glazing the way they did when a strong vision hit him. He shuddered and blinked. “I was saying that the only real thing I could tell you was the perp was male and came in through one of the back windows, but even a human could have figured that part out.”
“Yeah, even a human could. It was pretty obvious to me anyway.” Jack rolled his eyes, and Selina suppressed a snort.
“Let’s keep the Normal cracks to a minimum.” Her gaze swept the room, and though she had zero jurisdiction here, most of the Magickals met her eyes and nodded. Age gave her authority where her badge didn’t.
“You just had a vision,” Jack pointed out, his gaze sharpening on the big warlock. “About this case?”
Merek nodded, sweat beading on his forehead, which he ignored. “You need to be involved.”
“It’s my case. So ... yeah.”
“No, somehow a ...” He shook his head. “A more positive outcome is possible if Selina and you are working on it together. And I know how weak that sounds for a vision, but that’s all I’ve got for you.”
“Positive, as in Jack solves the case?” Which was good, since she had no idea at what point in this process she was going to bite it. Hopefully, after she helped nail this son of a bitch. Rage ripped through her system, memories assaulting her of other people this man had killed, the crime scenes so eerily familiar it made her skin crawl. Victims who’d been beaten to within an inch of their lives, then drained of blood, clinching the deal. She’d seen a lot of ugly shit in her life, especially since she’d become a cop, but this case had always made her stomach curdle.
Her cousin’s blank, staring eyes would haunt her for the rest of her life. Was it any wonder her psyche had never let this one go?
The guy had never been caught, never committed another murder in that signature style in New Orleans for her years there. So, why here, why now? Why a thirty-year gap between murders? She damn well wanted to know, and the fact that she hadn’t caught him back then meant that this woman had died.
Not again.
If a positive outcome required Jack, then so be it. She didn’t like it much, but that was just too bad, wasn’t it? Fate didn’t really give a shit what she wanted. Never had, never would. Best to put on her big-girl panties and deal with it.
Merek sighed. “Positive, as in, I have no fucking clue. You know how this can be sometimes.”
Yeah, she did. Something few people knew about Merek’s powerful precognition was that it went on the fritz with people he was close to. A blessing, considering he didn’t have to watch his loved ones die in visions like he’d had with her, but a curse because it meant he couldn’t help them when they needed it the most. That had nearly gotten Chloe and Alex killed the year before, and Selina knew it ate at him. Even with her, his visions tended to be ... incomplete and staticky. Too many years as her partner made him a little too close to her to have full visions anymore. Something else that she was sure bothered him.
“All right, we’ll do our best.” She straightened her shoulders. “You get to your flight. Have one of the uniforms drive you and put the blue lights on.”
“Not necessary.”
“Yeah. Necessary.”
He wavered for a minute, uncertainty flashing across his face. “Maybe I shouldn’t—”
“Go, Kingston.” She jerked her thumb toward the door. “As someone who’s lived for a hell of a lot longer than you, let me assure you that there will always be another crisis around the bend. The rest of us can handle this. Go on your honeymoon. Start your marriage off on the right foot, without serial killers or werewolf terrorists.”
He winced and nodded. “Point taken.”
When he was gone, she was left with Jack. And all the agents and cops in the house, but few of whom she knew on more than a nodding acquaintance. She drew in a breath and let it ease out. “Well, this day went to shit really fast.”
Jack pitched his voice low. “And here I thought we’d be spared the awkward morning-after talk.”
Coughing into her fist, she covered a startled laugh.
“It’s sad you’re not wearing the bridesmaid dress.” His voice turned into a low rumble that made her insides clench. He’d used the same tone before he’d slid his cock inside her the night before. “It did amazing things for your ass.”
She had to work to suppress her grin, something she’d never have guessed she’d do any time soon after she’d seen that victim’s body. “Sorry, I’m so not doing the walk of shame in front of my colleagues. There were a lot of people who saw me in that dress yesterday, who might put two and two together on why I might still be wearing it this morning.”
“Good thing we showered the sex off of us, or the fangs would smell it.” He seesawed his hand through the air, his face sober, as if they were talking about something of vital importance to the case.
“Uh-huh. I guess that’d be the stink of shame?”
Now it was his turn to cough-laugh, his shoulders shaking with silent mirth.
She shrugged. “I’ve never been with another cop. Agent. Whatever.”
“No?” Surprise reflected on his face, as well as a flash of masculine pride. “I was your first, huh?”
Rolling her eyes, she resisted the urge to smack him. Barely. “I don’t mix business with pleasure. Sex is a completely separate thing from my job. Otherwise things get messy, and you compromise your ability to work and your credibility to your colleagues.”
Especially if you were a woman. She didn’t say that last part out loud, but even in Magickal branches of law enforcement, this was a boys’ club. She had to be better than the men to be considered equal.
She only hoped she was better than this killer. She had a lot more experience than she’d had back then, and technology had come a long way in the intervening years. Considering her life was on the line here, she’d take any advantage she could get.
They stepped out of the way while Tess had the body tagged, bagged, and loaded on a gurney for transport to her lab. The crime scene analysts would be doing their things for hours more. Now they had to wait for the forensics and magic detections to give them some clues. Until then, they had to track down Mary Winston’s next of kin and break the news.
Always Selina’s least favorite part of the job.
The puzzle, the mystery, the challenge, she loved. The part where she had to tell people that a huge hole had just been ripped into their hearts was right down there with wrestling a suspect into submission while hip-deep in fresh sewage. In fact, she might just pick the sewage rumble.
Then again, this wasn’t officially her case, so she had no idea what she was supposed to do now. Something else she didn’t care for. She cleared her throat and watched the CSUs work. “So.”
“So.” Jack tilted his head forward to look her in the eyes. “Kingston said you needed to be here. Cavalli arranged for us to have you for as long as we need you. So. Tell me what you know about all of this.”
For as long as they needed her, huh? Great, nothing like getting loaned out indefinitely. Then again, time wasn’t exactly on her side anymore, was it? She sighed. “It would be an understatement to say that this is highly reminiscent of a series of murders we dealt with about thirty years ago in New Orleans.”
He jotted that down in the little notebook he’d had that morning. When she’d been naked and humming with satisfaction. Just the beginning of a long string of rude awakenings this day had served up so far.
He glanced up, his dark brows furrowed in thought. “How many murders?”
“Four.” Her jaw worked in order to get that out. Four people died, and now another. Five people dead, and she still knew no more than she had three decades ago.