Page 20 of Sinister Magic
Alarm flashed in her eyes. Willard pushed the blanket aside, slid out of bed, and patted the mattress through the sheets. Then she lifted up the mattress and looked underit.
“No,I—”
The door opened, and a nurse walked in with a dinner tray. Then halted and stared. Willard, not having found anything under the sheets or mattress, lowered her bed to the properposition.
“Colonel Willard, you’re not performing unauthorized exercises again, areyou?”
“No,ma’am.”
The nurse frowned suspiciously at me. I lifted my hands in innocence, even if Ihadbeenresponsible.
“I’ll set this here. If you need to adjust your bed, please use the remote.” The nurse deposited the food tray and pointed to the device cabled to the bed frame beforeleaving.
“I’m a troublemaker.” Willard sighed and climbed back intobed.
“I knew that already. The magic moved with you. It’s definitely inthere.” I pointed toward herabdomen.
“Shit.”
“Have you made any enemies lately? Accepted candy from strangers? Scratch that. Accepted a salad or grass-fed hamburger patty from astranger?”
She gave me a flat look. “You’rethe one who makes the enemies. I just sit in my office and collatedata.”
“Did any magical beings visit you in that office in the lastmonth?”
“A couple of snitches have been by—it would have been nice if someone had given me a heads-up on the dragonbeforeI sent you out—but the usual guys. The fae coffee shop owner and the female orc who had cosmetic surgery and started one of those axe-throwing businesses. But they’ve been coming in for years. They especially like to rat out anyone who’s competition, magical orotherwise.”
I’d met them both and made a note to look them up. “Anyone come by yourapartment?”
“My neighbor Dan came to get my cat and take care of her, but that was after all thisstarted.”
“The demon cat? Do you like Dan or hate him?” I’d met Maggie the one time I’d visited earlier that year. She’d complained a lot about my presence. Actually, it had been Sindari that she’d objected mostto.
“Funny. Maggie is chatty, not demonic. And a sweetheart in bed at night. But no, nobody came by the apartment that I remember, at least not that I know of. You know I’m not there much except to sleep.” Her eyes widened. “Wait, there was one day that I came home and the door wasn’t locked. I always lock up, so I thought it was strange, but nothing was missing. I assumed I’d been distracted when I left that morning and hadforgotten.”
“How long ago wasthat?”
“Just a few days before I started having pain.” She rested her hand on herabdomen.
“Mind if I go check itout?”
“No. Dan has a key. He can let youin.”
I tapped a key-shaped charm on my necklace. “I can unlock mostdoors.”
“Protection from UV radiationandlock-picking? Is there anything your necklace can’tdo?”
Cure cancer, magical or otherwise, I thought glumly. “I’ve been collecting charms for almost twenty years. Some of these have saved my life numerous times.” My finger strayed to the cat figurine. Sindari had saved my life dozens of times all byhimself.
Willard’s nose wrinkled. “Just don’t let your oversized cat out in my apartment again, please. The scent he leaves makes Maggiecrazy.”
“Sindari doesn’t smell like a real cat. He’smagical.”
“He smells like something. Maggie wouldn’t come out from under the bed for a week that time you stopped by to drop offevidence.”
“I’ll keep your request in mind.” And ignore it. Since Sindari had a cat’s nose, I couldn’t imagine not bringing him out to help with an investigation. “You better enjoy yourdinner.”
“Enjoy,right.”
I wasn’t sure if Willard’s scoff was because of the quality of the food or if she just wasn’t interested in eating because of her treatments. Thinking of all the masses on that scan, I realized I might not have much time to get to the bottom of this. Even if I found out that someone magical had poisoned her or hexed her or something, would there be acure?
The idea of losing her was bad enough, but I couldn’t also help but think of Lieutenant Snotty and what my life would be like if I had to report to an accountant for missions in the future. Would there evenbemissions? It sounded like he wanted to close down the department, not oversee it. If he did, what then? The citizens of the Pacific Northwest had to hope that a snooty dragon who had called humans a verminous infestation kept the murdering magical criminals incheck?
As I walked out, Willard was ignoring her food and pulling her small laptop off the side table. Judging by the determined expression on her face, she meant to do some research. I hoped she wouldn’t wear herself out obsessing over what I’d told her. And I hoped I would actually be able to do something tohelp.