Page 60 of Insidious Monsters
“What else could it be?” Victor said. “You would have felt it otherwise.” He tucked his notepad into his pocket. “I’ll call this in. Looks like we have our missing eldritch, and it wasn’t a person after all.”
Crap. He was right. Which meant the deal with Luphin where I returned his man in exchange for information was off. I’d be returning to Cnaathreth empty-handed.
I’d just have to find a way to convince him to give me the information regardless.
sixteen
NANDI
The day was over, and we still hadn’t heard back from Devyn. She was supposed to be interrogating the mystics and finding out more about this Holy character.
I needed answers. I needednotto be a target any longer. I’d called Devyn three times and gotten an answering machine. I’d left three messages. No response yet, so I scrubbed at the hob while I waited, which, to be fair, was almost spotless thanks to Uncle Fred, but it gave me something to do.
“Oh for Pete’s sake,” Archie said. “Sit down and drink your tea.”
I glared at him. How could he be so relaxed, sitting there with his boots propped on a chair, teacup in hand. And why was he doing that thing with his pinky. “You look ridiculous, you know that?”
He arched a brow and sipped his tea, making a deliberately loud slurping sound. “Tis good tea, Mistress Roja, you must try some.” He patted the seat beside him and fluttered his eyelashes.
I pressed my lips together to stop myself from smiling. “Humor won’t help, Archie.”
He shrugged. “Sorry, it’s all I’ve got right now.”
I threw down the scrubby thing I’d been using. “I want to be able to go out and do my job without worrying about getting kidnapped. Is that too much to ask?”
Archie pressed his lips together. “Not too much to ask. I say we go do our jobs.”
“Huh? Have you forgotten about the psycho on the loose out for my mojo?”
“I don’t forget anything, Nandi. Especially not the fact that you’re a target in this case. That gives you some power.The power to be our client.”
Wait a second. “Are you saying we should investigatetheirinvestigation?”
He grinned. “You have found my wavelength, partner. Devyn has the Holy’s ex-captives, and she’s interviewing them. Let’s get in on that action.”
“Just head down there and ask to speak to them?” I canted my head. “Yeah, like that will work.”
Archie smirked.
My spine tingled. “You have a plan.”
“I do. Listen, the mystics we found looked totally zoned out. Their brains are either mush or they’re so traumatized they’ve locked away the memories of what this Holy did to them. Devyn isn’t going to get anything out of them, but what if these mystics have tag-alongs?” He wiggled his eyebrows.
Of course, a tag-along spirit would have seen it all, been witness to everything. If even one of the mystics had one, then it could be a goldmine of information.
“Archie, you are a genius.”
“Say it again, baby.”
“Archie, you are a genius.” I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door. “Now please drive me to the guild precinct, Jeeves.”
* * *
The guild precinctwas a fancy redbrick building smack-bang in between a bakery and a coffee shop. The perfect location for a supernatural police department, if you asked me.
The building was a gift from the Deville witches, one of the most powerful witch bloodlines in the world. Whereas the Order witches were descended from the Yaga bloodline, no one was entirely sure of the Devilles’ origins, and yet they considered themselves the royalty of witches, above the petty concerns of society. They did have ties to the guild, though.
We climbed the frosty steps and entered the amber warmth of the reception area. The décor was plush carpets and fancy seating. The walls were bare of corkboards and posters, painted a calming magnolia and hung with landscape prints. It looked more like the reception to a hotel than a place where criminals were brought.
