Titan Song Dan Stout (top 20 books to read txt) 📖

hall I grabbed Jax and Guyer by the arm, swiveling my head and making sure we were unseen as I pulled them into an open conference room.

“This whole thing is going to Hells,” I said.

“I’d already picked up on that,” said Guyer, “but thank you for the recap.”

I paced the room’s perimeter like a captive animal taking the measure of the cage. “Vandie didn’t lie the whole time. What did we learn from her confession?”

Jax sat on the table’s edge, his nicely shined shoes kicked up on the chair seat. “She explained where the buzz is coming from. If we believe her, that is.”

“Magical rocks?” Guyer braced her hands on the back of another chair. “I guess that’s possible.”

Jax shrugged. “It does sound a little ludicrous when you say it like that.”

“This from the guy who came up with whale ghosts,” I said.

Guyer looked at me. “Whale ghosts?”

“Okay,” Jax said. “If we accept the buzzing rocks for now, and that Vandie’s sorcerer—”

“Serrow!” I said.

“—linked it to snake oil, it at least explains how people all over town are hearing it and being affected. And it fits the general pattern.”

“What pattern?” asked Guyer. “I’d love to hear a pattern about now.”

“I mean the order of events.” Jax ticked the steps off on his fingers. “The buzzing showed up at the festival, then in several locations in town. What Cedrow described was a botched murder attempt at the festival, then another in town. But that one went wrong as well, and it spilled out to affect more people.”

“Not exactly a criminal mastermind,” I said.

“Exactly!” Jax pointed at me. “Which fits with Cedrow, who isn’t an experienced criminal. Plus, let’s face it—when people spin lies they usually make themselves look more competent, not less.”

“She definitely gave us motive for the Petrevisch killing,” I said. “I can see her getting squirrelly if she thought Saul was about to run his mouth. And all the other deaths were accidental casualties.”

Guyer snorted. “Doesn’t do much for her friend-of-the-worker persona.”

“No,” I said. “It certainly does not. And it doesn’t make sense that she’d be working with Paulus.”

Jax nodded. “Cedrow certainly seems to despise the AFS. And that makes Paulus her enemy.”

“Even more than that,” I said. “Paulus would have wanted the mummified bodies to disappear, and Vandie was hoping for them to be found.”

“How do you know?” Guyer asked.

I glanced back at the door. “Because when I found the first body, I also found Jax’s badge. Whoever planted it knew that they’d both be found.”

Guyer crossed her arms. “You think Vandie opened a sinkhole to reveal the old bodies?”

“No,” I said. “She wanted headlines about warmth distribution everywhere from the evening news to the tabloids. Vandie was betting on a big response to her big actions. If mummified bodies made us and the AFS look bad, that was icing on the cake.”

“So.” Jax leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. “What don’t we know?”

“If Vandie’s telling the truth about the buzzing and the stopgap spell—”

“Stopper spell,” Guyer muttered.

“The point is,” I said, “we’re agreed that Vandie wouldn’t be working with Paulus. So how do we find out if Serrow is the real sorcerer behind the Petrevisch stopper spell?”

“And the transformations,” said Guyer. “Is Vandie playing dumb about them? Or does she really not know?”

I was back to pacing the edge of the room. “The Barekusu could be related to the cause of the rock buzz . . .”

“You left off the most pressing item,” said Jax. “Is Vandie lying about the festival? If there’s a chance that Dinah McIntire and all those people could be in danger, we need to warn them.”

“But if it’s just a distraction,” Guyer said, “then whatever resources go into dealing with it will be hours away. The entire city will be vulnerable.”

The three of us stared at each other. The decision was out of our hands. For now, all we could do was wait to hear what our superiors decided to do.

A few hours later I sat in the hallway, my suit coat serving as an impromptu cushion under my rapidly numbing rear end. Guyer and Jax paced nearby. When the door to Auberjois’s office flew open and Doyle stalked down the hall, we knew that at least a decision had been made.

“What’s the word?” I scrambled to my feet and moved to intercept her.

The assistant city attorney had taken off her tuxedo coat, revealing a glittering pair of suspenders.

“The word is quite clear,” she said. “There will be no warrant issued to search Serrow or any other member of the Barekusu caravan. I suggest you drop it entirely.”

“We have—”

“You have speculation and conjecture, against physical evidence and Cedrow’s statement.”

“The unsubstantiated word of a woman desperate to take down anyone around her,” I said.

“Vandie Cedrow used her uncle’s research to enter the geo-vents without permission, and with great malicious intent. She was assisted by a sorcerer we believe to be former Ambassador Paulus. That’s all we need, and thats as far as the investigation goes.” Doyle paused. “There’s no murder here, Carter. There’s no dead body for you to champion, to feel like you know or that you can be the white knight on a golden steed. You found someone doing a crime, you brought her in, and she confessed. You did your job, good for you. Now get out of the way, so the rest of us can do ours.” Doyle stormed away, leaving us in shock.

Vandie’s accusations meant that not only wasn’t Paulus going free, she was going to be facing additional charges. Vandie’s audio tapes of Heidelbrecht would be analyzed, dragging Gellica into the light. And Serrow was going to walk free, for the second time in a week.

Guyer simply shrugged. But her feigned indifference didn’t fool me. I recognized the anger simmering in her eyes. By contrast, Jax’s mandibles shook and his fists clenched.

“We have to at least tell the festival about the threat,” he said.

“We did.” Bryyh entered the hallway, closing the door to Auberjois’s office. “Did