Page 75 of Fool Me Twice
“So, you’re saying it’s not a curse?” he asked when Hart finally brought them to that evening and the conundrum it had created. “That’s not what you implied the other day.”
“I’m saying it’s not showing up in diagnostics,” Hart said, “but the behavior of the people involved very much points to something.”
“Something?” Cyrus said. “Well that sounds compelling, doesn’t it?”
“Not all curses come with decomposing bodies and the smell of rot that guides your hand,” Hart said.
“Sadly,” Black pitched in.
“I’ve told you what we have so far. The only thing left to say is that we have invited other teams from other towns to advise on this. So far the Kinport team has sent us a bunch of their case files that might be similar to try and find something useful. We’re waiting for the others to do the same. In the meantime, we’re doing everything we can think of to finally stop this before it gets any worse than it is right now.”
“And your idea was to get a certified cursebreaker involved with an illegal fight ring?” Cyrus asked.
“We have deduced that the curse we’re dealing with, if there is one, is not sedentary,” Hart said, refusing to wince and refusing to confirm or deny the allegations of legality. “It moves around from person to person in a way we’re not familiar with. The fight was a setup. We tried to trap whoever was involved and catch them in the act.”
“And you didn’t think notifying the police or PUMA would be needed for an operation like that?” Cyrus asked the damning question.
Hart struggled to keep his expression in check because, his anger aside, Cyrus had a point. What they’d done wasn’t by the book and they all knew that. That was what this boiled down to. He could talk around it all he liked.
“We needed people to show up,” Hart said. “We needed people to actually attend the fight to catch them. How many of them do you think would show up with you swarming the place before it even started?”
“Not how undercover operations work, and you know it,” Cyrus said.
Hart put his nose in the air, refusing to back down. “It still could have tipped them off.”
Cyrus smirked. “I thought Cane ran a clean business? Why would the presence of police threaten him?”
“The business might be clean,” Hart said, cursing Cyrus and his brain and the way he was outmaneuvering him at every turn. “But not everyone participating in it is. If this curse is set up the way I think it might be, that requires a very powerful caster. A powerful caster like that costs money. Money not a lot of squeaky-clean people in Slatehollow have access to.”
“Right,” Cyrus said, the single word like a guillotine hanging over Hart’s neck. “So that’s your story?”
“It’s the truth,” Hart said, watching Cyrus slam his file closed and rest his crossed fingers on top.
Hart swallowed, his mouth dry. His heart wouldn’t stop hammering.
“Let’s say I believe you,” Cyrus said, after a few moments of tense silence. “For now.”
The whole room was understandably shocked.
Hart was positively gobsmacked.
There was no way he was letting them off that easily.
“Splendid news, truly,” Hart choked.
“The matter of Ash’s involvement in all this is another story,” Cyrus said.
“I thought we settled that,” Hart said.
“No, I got an explanation for your thought process,” Cyrus said. “Which is passable at best, if you squint. Which I am doing. I am squinting very, very hard right now. It doesn’t change the fact that Ash broke several laws and cursebreaker regulations.”
“But I was undercover!” Ash defended himself.
“You were unsanctioned and you are well aware of that, Ash,” Cyrus said. “This will be reported to PUMA. You will be getting a file with the department and Nexus will be notified. The consequences will be determined in consensus with them.”
“Consequences?” Ash asked.
“Cursebreakers aren’t above the law,” Cyrus said harshly. “You of all people should know that.”