Page 39 of The Dog in the Alley

I thought about this for a moment. “You think this is Antiquus Ordo Arcanum? That they’re national? And actively recruiting out of the force?”

“I think both of those things are possible, but I have questions.”

We stared at each other. “Fuck,” I muttered, hunkering down in my coat. “This is going to take way too long to have this conversation out here, Raj.”

He nodded. “Probably.”

“Your place or mine?” His eyebrows rose. “Don’t you fucking dare take that the wrong way.”

Raj’s lips quirked. “Not my type, Hart,” he replied.

“Too pretty for you?”

He laughed. “Too much of an asshole,” he retorted, although I could see the amusement crinkling around his eyes for a split second before his face settled back into more serious lines.

“Fair,” I replied, because I absolutely was an asshole. “I’ll order pizza and tell you the whole fucking sob story.”

* * *

I ordered morepizza than I thought we needed, along with some Red Eye Cookies, because who doesn’t love delivered cookies? The cookies were sitting in the oven, set on low, so they’d still be warm when we got to them, and Raj and I were sitting on the floor, files and pizza boxes spread out on the carpet between us.

Anubis was in his doggy bed, chewing on a piece of pepperoni pizza and watching us try to sort through all the photos and evidence from the massive Ordo file. Both of us were ignoring the fact that we were essentially sharing a whole bunch of highly sensitive information—some of it federally classified—with a random civilian. In dog form.

“Shelby is clearly part of the Ordo, or at least tied to it,” I said, pushing a copy of the drawing Harding had made when Ward summoned him. “Since he kidnapped Harding and handed him over to be… purged.” That reminded me. “When are we going to get your medium in a room with Ward?”

“Next Friday, I think. I have to confirm with Getz, then I’ll call Campion.” He took a bite of pizza. “Otherwise, though, Harding’s his only victim?”

I shrugged. “That we had a file on,” I answered. “We didn’t go back through any supposedly closed files, although I would bet a fuckton of money that there are going to be a few in his caseload thatheclosed by linking them to gang violence or some bullshit territorial dispute.”

Raj grimaced, running a hand through his dark hair. “Short of asking our mediums to start summoning closed case file victims, how would you suggest we figure that out?”

“Would the feds pay for that?”

“Probably not. At least not without more to go on than a single accusation by proxy through a medium.”

I looked at him, debating internally. Fuck it. Raj was taking a huge risk by bringing me into a federal investigation and trusting me with his identity. I owed him this. “Technically, it wasn’t a proxy,” I told him. “It came directly from the ghost.”

Raj arched his eyebrows. “Channeling isn’t exactlydirectly, Hart.”

“I’m serious. Ward wasn’t channeling him for this. He made him tangible.”

“He told you theghostdrew this?”

“Raj, I fucking watched the ghost draw this,” I told him. “Pencil in translucent hand.”

His gold-brown eyes widened. “Theghostdrew this.”

“Yep.”

“That is…” he trailed off.

“Not normal. Yeah, I know. And it ain’t common knowledge, either, if you catch my drift.” I knew what Ward could do, and Dani Bowman, the precinct witch, knew, but we’d kept it quiet from everybody else. I didn’t like outing Ward without his say-so now, either, but I knew how badly both of us wanted the Harding case resolved in a satisfactory way. Me because I hated dirty cops, and Ward for reasons of his own I didn’t totally follow.

He still asked me about it every couple weeks.

Raj took a deep breath. “If I pass that along, A-branch isn’t going to leave him alone. But if I don’t, then I can’t treat it as anything more than a medium’s testimony.”

“That’s fucking bullshit.”

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