Page 55 of Devil Bound
“Lily…” Christine said behind me, shaking me out of my stupor.
Falling apart now wouldn’t do any good.I was a necromancer, and for all the many times Lily had offered me help I didn’t need, she did need me now.In no reality was what had happened to her not getting solved, not if I had any say.
“Who did this?”I pressed, forcing my voice to remain steady as I poured my magic into her.
Once more, Lily stirred against her bonds.“I was in a trunk, and I thought I would be saved.He said this was my judgment.Justice.The right path.I didn’t think the wood would catch.I didn’t believe it, until it did.I didn’t think I’d die.I didn’t think I’d burn.But I did.”
I felt the pull on my magic like a current in the ocean threatening to take my control away.It was the panic, the fear that carried over into death.This was all I was going to get from her, and if I pushed, I’d only find the panic the brain had known in the last moments.I let my magic seep away, and the struggling limbs stilled at last.
“How could this happen?”I asked, turning to Christine.Her expression looked hard, and her mouth was set in a thin line.While her eyes had a wet sheen, she kept the tears to herself, or kept them for later.
She didn’t bother hiding her fury though.
“That, we will find out.”She pushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear where it had escaped from her bun.“I need to know if this is connected to the other cases.”
I nodded.“Because she worked on that.”Christine had sent her to talk to the magical community, because I… She had sent Lily, and not me.“You think she got too close to something when she asked around?”
That was a scary thought, and not just because a magic user murdering people would be bad.Anyone going on a murder spree was bad, whether they were a wild bear, a guy unable to deal with his place in the world, a magic user, or an immortal with a sinful mouth that could make me feel as if I were on fire… I really needed to forget about that particular immortal.
At the very least, I was his alibi, and that thought made my head reel, but then the wind drove a whiff of my burned colleague into my nose, and I was back to focusing on not throwing up then and there.
The real reason a magic user out to kill was scary was because of all the fear and prejudice it would ignite.It had happened before, and it had ended with pyres much like this one in the past.
Christine gave me a long, hard stare.“We need to follow the evidence.”Her thoughts probably ran along the same lines as mine.“Hawkes, if I get you the bags from the salt marsh, the ones the parts were in, can you tell me if the same person who used them to dispose of the body parts lit this pyre and tied her restraints?”
I scratched my head.“It’s not really my area.You’d want someone with more of a psychic bent to their magic.I could only tell you if Lily was responsible for the bags in the marsh.”
Christine nodded.“That would be a start.Even if you can exclude the possibility.Some idiot is bound to think she was involved, that she worked with a partner and things soured between them.I’ll have someone bring samples over for you to check, and once you do, you’re going home and sitting this one out.”
That didn’t surprise me all that much, but it still sucked.“You realize I’m motivated to solve this?It’s personal.Just because magic users are potentially on the suspect list, it doesn’t mean I’d cover for them.It’s not like I even move around in that community.”
“Lily was my ten o’clock every fucking Thursday for the past three years, so yeah, personal here too.But you know damn well that people will claim your influence slowed us down or some shit, or that you just blamed the next non-magic user who looked at you wrong.This has to be done above board so nothing can overturn a conviction when we get our murderer.And we are going to get him.”
She was right, I knew that.Still, I opened my mouth to argue.
“Don’t.”Christine held up a finger at me.“You know I’m fucking right, whether we both like it or not, and because I know you are smarter than people give you credit for, I know you are going to be a good necromancer and sit this one out, maybe put names to a few Jay Does while you’re at it.There’s a whole shelf full of unsolved homicides if you get really desperate, Hawkes.”
I shoved my hands into my pockets to hide the tight fists my fingers had curled into.“I get it.You don’t have to tie me to a desk to keep an eye on me, Christine.”
She turned to Mitch.“See?Smart.Say what you want about his love for rodents and the odd crow, but at least you never have to worry about Hawkes ruining an investigation.He’d never do that.Never.”
“Heavens, I get it, okay?I’ll stay put.”
And I really did.Christine would do whatever it took to keep me from compromising the investigation, even if she had to put me in a cell for a few days.I shouldn’t have minded, but seeing a fellow magic user burned at the stake, that made me mind.A lot.
30
Lionel
Oncetheyhandedmethe bags from the disposal site in the marshes, I was able to confirm that Lily had nothing to do with any of them.Obviously.I didn’t know her—hadn’t known her—outside of work, but I knew she wouldn’t have done anything vile like that.I hated that it was necessary to go this far when she was a victim, but I also knew there were people out there, even in this day and age, who didn’t trust any magic user.
Once I’d handed the evidence back to the officer and the crime scene technician, I left.I headed home rather than back to the station.If I wanted to go through cold cases like Christine had suggested, I’d have to walk past Dr.Lily’s office, and I just…I went home instead.
Back inside the safety and comfort of my own four walls, I undressed, peeling off my clothes as soon as the door fell shut behind me.My shoes, still mostly clean, I left by the door, and my jacket, shirt, and pants landed on the kitchen floor as I headed toward the shower.
“Why’d it have to be Dr.Lily?”I mumbled.
I knew the question was never going to be answered in a way that was satisfying, even if—when!—Christine solved it.Murder wasn’t ever satisfying, and the motives were foolish, all of them.
