Mortal Sins, page 12
part #5 of World of the Lupi Series
The creak of the wooden floor turned Rule’s attention from his son to his son’s grandmother, entering from the foyer. She moved slowly. Her face was taut, the lines around her eyes and bracketing her mouth deeper than usual, but her makeup was freshly applied.
She smelled of soap. She sounded pissed. “I suppose they’re all still out there.”
“The police and FBI are, yes. Most of the reporters are probably gone.” One to the hospital, one to the morgue, the rest to file their stories—unless they hadn’t yet been interviewed by whichever officers were handling that.
“I am not going to feed them.”
Rule understood this for the radical statement it was. “You aren’t expected to,” he assured her.
“Well, it seems very strange to have people on my property and not …” She hesitated, shrugged, and continued into the kitchen. “I don’t suppose any of us are hungry, but we’d better eat something. I’ve got plenty of roast from last night. Toby, you can help me put together some sandwiches.”
He bounced up. “Okay. Dad needs extra meat on his, and prob’ly extra sandwiches, too. Right, Dad?” He gave Rule a look half searching, half stern. “After a Change you’re supposed to eat. Especially meat.”
Toby didn’t see the fear that flickered through his grandmother’s eyes, but Rule did. The woman had never seen him as wolf before. This had not been a good introduction to his other form. “That’s right.”
Mrs. Asteglio gave one short jerk of a nod and opened the refrigerator. Rule heard another door open, and stood. Toby heard it, too. “Is that Lily? Lily!” he called as he raced for the foyer. “Is Mr. Hodge going to be okay? Do they know what went wrong with him to make him go crazy?”
Lily looked startled when Toby careened into her, but she bent and hugged him. “He’s at the hospital. We don’t know yet what went wrong with him, but evidence indicates it wasn’t really him who shot those people. Something or someone made him do that.”
Toby pulled back, frowning hard. “They took him away in an ambulance, not a police car.”
“According to his Medic Alert bracelet, he has a pacemaker. What happened seems to have disrupted it—magic can do that—which made his heart act up. That’s serious, but he’s getting good care.”
“Did someone do death magic on him?”
Her eyebrows went up. She glanced at Rule. “Death magic is involved, but we don’t know how.”
“How could that make him crazy? Why would someone want to make him crazy?”
“I don’t know yet. It’s my job to find out.”
He was silent a moment. “That’s a big job.”
“Yes, it is. Good thing I have plenty of help.”
“And a sandwich. You should have one. Grammy and me are gonna make some.” Toby gave her a firm nod. “You like pickles, right?”
“Right.” Lily watched him scoot back into the kitchen, her expression baffled, as if she’d tripped over love unexpectedly and wasn’t sure what to do about it.
Rule felt himself smiling. It came as a surprise amid the day’s shocks. He went to her, slid an arm around her waist. “Children have a way of making parents feel helpless at times.”
She tilted her face up, perplexed. “I’m not … well, not exactly. There isn’t a word for my relationship with Toby.”
The lack of a word for her role bothered her. Possibly it struck her as untidy. He smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Parent will do. Parenthood isn’t always biological.”
“I guess not. As parents, then, shouldn’t we be feeding him instead of the other way around?”
“He needs to contribute.”
He could see that click in place. Lily would understand such a need. “I’ll have to eat fast. My backup’s here—four agents from the Charlotte office. That’s good, but they’re regular FBI. No experience with magic, no background or training in this sort of thing. One guy’s pretty senior.” She paused, frowning. “I had them start interviewing the neighbors. I’ll interview Toby and Mrs. Asteglio myself—that’s half the reason I came in now.”
“And the other half?”
“I could use your nose.”
“It’s at your service, but what do you want me to sniff for?”
“I need to check out Hodge’s house before the ERT does. I need to know if he’s had company in the last day or two. We’re asking the neighbors about that, but you should be able to smell it if he’s had visitors recently, right?”
“As long as he hasn’t scrubbed with one of those ghastly pine-scented cleaners.”
“If you do pick up a scent, you’ll know if they were human or not.”
Rule’s eyebrows lifted. “You think you’re looking for an inhuman agent?”
“Maybe. Cullen called this morning, gave me some possibilities. One is that we’re dealing with someone or something from out-realm. Some kind of death magic creature. Will you do your sniffing on two legs?”
Death magic creature? Far be it for him to argue with the expert, but that sounded … just barely possible, he decided. “The wolf’s nose is much better than the man’s. I’ll Change again, though I should eat first, if there’s time.”
“Sure. Try not to shed in his house, okay?”
“I’ll do my best. Lily …” His voice dropped as his heartbeat picked up, a quiet drumbeat of unease.
“Yes?”
“I would have killed him. Hodge. He stopped me. It doesn’t make sense, but he did.”
“I guessed the first,” she said dryly. “As for the second … how could he stop you?”
“He tipped his head back, exposing his throat. He said—called out—that he didn’t know. I have no idea what he meant, but then he submitted to me. He’s not lupus, Lily. Beneath the smear of death magic, his smell was wholly human.”
She frowned. “So how could he know that baring his throat to you would work? I guess the information could be in an article he read, but … no.” She shook her head. “That’s not enough.”
“No, it isn’t. Human instinct is to protect the throat. I’ve a hard time believing a man in the grip of whatever had him pumping shotgun pellets into strangers could remember some article he once read and act accordingly with a wolf about to rip out his throat.”
She winced. “Getting a little graphic there. Why were you going to kill him instead of stopping him, Rule? I’ve seen you in bad situations before. You didn’t stop thinking, didn’t lose control.”
“I’ve never had both you and Toby at risk. And there was the stink, the smell of death magic …” But this time the explanation tasted false in his mouth. He shook his head. “I don’t know, exactly.”
“Could it have something to do with the mantles?”
“I don’t see how. If anything, the presence of two heir’s portions should give me better control, not worsen it.”
“But the new one, the Leidolf portion … you said mantles take on some of the qualities of their holders, and that one has belonged to a ripe old bastard for a very long time.” Her eyes widened. “Rule—if Victor Frey can somehow influence you—”
“No. No, that isn’t possible. The mantles …” He ran a hand over his hair, frustrated. Lily kept blaming the mantles for every oddity or irritation. True, the new mantle had influenced him a couple of times … When I snapped at her about Toby, he thought with a flash of guilt. But that was a different situation entirely. “There isn’t time to explain, and possibly not words, but Victor can’t influence me that way, and I can’t influence him.”
“All right. I’ll ask again later, though, for that explanation. This reminds me that I need to ask you something else. Cullen said—”
“Here you go,” Toby said, hurrying toward them with a plate in each hand. One plate held a single sandwich; the other, three. Three very fat sandwiches. “I’ll get you some Cokes, too.”
“I’ll just take a swig of your dad’s drink,” Lily said, accepting her single-sandwich plate.
Toby frowned sternly. “You don’t want to get dehydrated.”
“Oh,” she said meekly. “Right.”
“Here.” Toby thrust the other plate at Rule. “You know when you Changed like that, in midair? I didn’t know you could do that. It was awesome.”
Surprised, Rule smiled. “Thank you.”
“So is that why I felt it this time? Because you did it so fast?”
Shock hollowed out Rule’s skull.
When he didn’t respond, Toby looked worried. “Dad?”
Lily stepped in as casually as if they were still discussing sandwiches and soft drinks. “I take it you don’t usually feel it when your dad Changes?”
Of course she asked a question. Lily always had questions, which was just as well, because all Rule had were echoes in the empty place between his ears. Increasingly noisy echoes.
“Huh-uh. I thought I wasn’t supposed to until after First Change.” He brightened. “Maybe I’m getting close, and that’s why?”
He was nine. Only nine. A young lupus shouldn’t feel the tug from an adult Changing until he was very near First Change himself. And Toby wasn’t.
“I don’t think so,” Rule said at last, and blessed years of training because he sounded as calm as Lily—who had little idea what might be wrong. “We generally reach puberty slightly later than humans, and you don’t have the scent of one crossing into that territory. Your body may have stepped up production of some of the hormones that trigger puberty, but …” Rule paused, shook his head. “No. That shouldn’t cause you to respond to an adult’s Change, even one as emphatic as mine was.”
“But I did feel it,” Toby insisted.
“What did it feel like?” Lily asked.
“Like … like I was piano wires and someone plucked all of me at the same time.”
Nausea gripped Rule’s gut. “I see.” He could make sure his fear didn’t show, but it was just as well Toby’s nose still functioned at human levels. “Well, the Leidolf Rhej is a healer.”
“Like Nettie?”
“Yes, though trained in a different tradition. We’ll have her take a look at you, see if you’re closer than I think.”
Lily looked at him sharply. “You’re still planning to go?”
“Yes.” God, yes—though he’d be calling Nettie, too. He trusted the Leidolf Rhej, but wanted his own clan’s healer to look at his son. “Today, I think. All else aside, it would be best to have Toby away from whatever or whoever is turning random people into killers.”
Her reaction was a sigh so faint even his hearing barely picked it up. She looked at Toby. “Then I’d better talk to you now, if it’s okay with your grandmother. I’d like to hear what you know about Franklin Hodge.” She glanced up at the woman still in the kitchen. “You, too, Mrs. Asteglio.”
SIXTEEN
RANDOM killers. That’s what Rule had called them, but Lily wasn’t convinced Meacham and Hodge were truly random. There must be something connecting them, some commonality.
Probably some person. She wasn’t discounting Cullen’s theory about an out-realm creature being responsible, but that seemed more of a stretch than a human agent who’d stumbled across a previously unknown ability or ritual.
As she stepped out on the porch, she was hoping hard that Rule’s nose would turn up that connection, human or otherwise.
“I need to talk to Brown a minute,” she said to Rule as he closed the door behind them. The ERT techs were busy combing through Mrs. Asteglio’s grass, but almost everyone else had left. Nathan Brown stood in the next-door neighbor’s driveway, talking to a city cop. “He’s the most senior agent. Before I do, though, what’s worrying you about Toby?”
“Not now. Not here.”
She considered him. His eyes were hard, heavy-lidded—which meant he intended to shut her out. Or maybe he was shutting something else out. But what? Worry squeezed her like a boa softening up dinner, only she didn’t know what she needed to worry about. “All right. But I know something’s wrong.”
“Possibly wrong. Maybe. And I can’t discuss it here.”
Here, with all these pesky humans around … Well, she could understand that. “Okay. Meet me at Hodge’s place?”
His smile was small. “Certainly. I’ll Change into something more furry for the occasion.”
She headed for the neighbor’s drive. Nathan Brown was short, chubby, and pale, a Pillsbury Doughboy of a man with luxuriant hair the color of pecans and an oversize mustache. He had twenty-two years on the job, and he didn’t like her.
Lily didn’t assume his dislike arose from prejudice. It might, but she suspected his resentment was more generic. He was regular FBI; she was Unit. The Turning had led Congress to put a lot of authority into the hands of Unit agents. People like Brown, with all the experience and seniority Lily lacked, didn’t always appreciate being seconded to a newcomer. Especially one as young as Lily.
Tough. She motioned for him to step aside from the young officer he’d been talking with. He scowled, but did, joining her near the street. “You’ve got the city cops doing the knock-on-doors?”
“Partnered with our people, yeah. You got a problem with that?”
“No, it’s a good idea. People might be more comfortable, more forthcoming, with those they see as their own. I’m going to check out Hodge’s house before I let the ERT in. Anything I need to know before I do that?”
“Guess you don’t worry much about contaminating a scene.”
“I’ll take precautions. I need to know if there are magical traces in his house. He wasn’t Gifted himself, so anything I find along those lines could be meaningful.” She paused a beat. “Rule will be checking the place for scents, too.”
Brown’s gaze flickered to Rule, who was headed down the street for the single-story house on the corner. “You’re kidding me, right? You don’t really plan to walk your doggie around the house.”
“The attorney general will be formally issuing a new policy on scent next week. I’m anticipating it.”
His eyebrows lifted in exaggerated surprise. “Friend of yours, the AG? He keeps you posted on things?”
“No. He is friendly with my boss, and Ruben keeps me posted. As I was saying, the new policy will specifically allow the use of witnesses who are able to distinguish scents with great acuity.”
“Great acuity. Huh.” He reached inside his suit jacket and pulled out an opened package of gum. “Guess you are going to walk your doggie around the house.”
Lily drummed her fingers on her thigh. “Okay. I don’t need to know if you dislike me because I’m Unit, or because I’m Gifted, or if I just look like your ex-girlfriend. I do need to know if that dislike will interfere with you doing the job.”
Something flashed in his eyes—anger, maybe, or surprise. Hard to say when his scowl didn’t change. “I always do the job, ma’am. You don’t have to worry about that.” He held out the gum. “Want some? No? You’re probably wondering why the office sent you a son of a bitch with a lousy attitude who doesn’t know shit about magic, and doesn’t much care for those who do.”
“I’m hoping you do know shit about investigating.”
“I do.” He nodded. “I do. But what you really need me for is all these goddamned cops littering the landscape. We’ve got county cops from the previous case, city cops with this one, and no goddamn guarantee any of them will tell us one word more than they have to. But you lucked out. I’m a goddamned genius at keeping things straight with the goddammed locals.”
“Must be your inherent charm and charisma.”
“That’d be it. Now, I’ve got work to do, so unless you need me to hold your hand—”
“Go. Please.” She did, too.
Hodge’s house was a small, single-story frame structure set on a large, unfenced corner lot. There was a lovely mix of annuals, perennials, and small shrubs in the beds flanking the sidewalk that bisected the front yard; the grass was lush. She didn’t see Rule.
He must have decided to check out the yard. She headed for the side of the house, where a large, bushy cedar blocked the view.
His clothes were there, left in the dirt. Automatically she picked them up and folded them, then kept going to the back of the house. As soon as she rounded the corner, she saw him wiggling under the partly closed door of a detached garage. He stood, shook himself, and trotted toward her.
Rule made a very large, very beautiful wolf. His fur was a black and silver mix, heavy on the silver and palest on his face, where his eyes were rimmed in black like an Egyptian houri.
Good, so good, to see you like this.
The thought fluttered across her mind like a breath of smoke tattered by the air it rode—there; then wisp; then gone. But the place it came from wasn’t gone. Mostly she couldn’t touch those memories, but the part of her that had been through hell with Rule, knowing him only as wolf, was still there. Still her.
Lily stopped moving and found that a smile had settled on her face. Rule came to her and pushed his nose against her hand. She grinned.
He wasn’t much like a dog—too big, too smart, too wild—but he did love a good pet. She rubbed him briefly behind the ears. “Did you find anything interesting out here?”
He gave his head a single shake.
“Come on, then. I’ll bag your feet on the porch.”
They’d done this at a couple of other scenes, so had the routine down. Lily put plastic bags on Rule’s feet, securing them with covered rubber bands. Then she took off her shoes, cleaned her feet with an alcohol wipe, and pulled on her gloves.
Bare feet weren’t the preferred way to enter a scene you didn’t want contaminated, but they were the fastest way of picking up any magical traces inside. Lily checked the door, ready with the key she’d taken from Hodge’s pocket. But he hadn’t locked it before leaving home to kill people.
The door opened directly into the living room. It was small, cluttered, and dusty. The sofa was floral and faded; the La-Z-Boy recliner, newer and facing the television. Shelves along one wall held framed photos, books, a hodgepodge of inexpensive collectibles in glass and ceramic.
“He’s been a widower about ten years, according to Mrs. Asteglio. Looks like he kept things the way his wife had them.” Lily moved farther into the room. Here, yes—a prickly foulness on the soles of her feet, faint but unmistakable. “Check along here, where I’m standing. Traces of death magic.”
