But no matter what you look like or what you call yourself now, I’m going to find you and finish what should have been done a long time ago.

I’ll finally kill Grigori Rasputin.

Chapter Twelve

Monday was a bitch. Two cases left over from the previous DA came to a head while information came in about the weekend murders faster than he had anticipated.

Josiah navigated carefully through all of it. With staff members, he maintained a calm, laid-back facade. He asked to be copied on every report relating to the weekend activity and directed several interview requests from the press to one of the senior assistant DAs.

But when a phone call came in from Sherman & Associates, he chose to take that personally.

Russell’s deep voice boomed over the connection. “Josiah, good of you to take my call.”

“Russell.” He shut his office door. “What can I do for you?”

“I hate to bother you on a Monday, but I’ve just had some detectives here asking a lot of questions about Austin and his wife. They wanted to go through his things, but of course I had to turn them down. Like every other lawyer, Austin has privileged information in his office.” When Russell chuckled, he sounded like how Josiah imagined a toad would when it cackled. “They’ll have to come back with a warrant, I’m afraid. But I wanted to let you know, man to man, it’s nothing personal. We want to cooperate with whatever they’re investigating. We just have to follow the rules.”

Josiah swung his chair around to look out his window. Like any lawyer with magical aptitude, he had developed a highly refined truthsense. He was interested to note that Russell had told only one lie so far.

Russell had no intention of cooperating with any investigation. That meant he was calling to pump Josiah for information.

“None taken, Russell,” he replied easily. “I’m sure the detectives will return shortly with the right paperwork.”

“Do you know what’s going on? Or perhaps you know but you can’t say?”

There it was: the ask.

“You know I can’t speak about ongoing investigations…” He let his voice trail away reluctantly. “But I’m surprised the detectives didn’t tell you.”

“Tell me what? Austin’s not answering his phone, and he hasn’t shown up for work today.” Russell paused, then chuckled again. “So I tried calling his wife, but I’m not sure she’s on speaking terms with me after that party. Austin’s been miserable over the past few weeks. Between me and thee, I think she might have left him for good.”

None of that was a lie either. Josiah picked up his pen and twirled it between his fingers as he injected a note of concern into his voice. “I shouldn’t say anything, but some reports have crossed my desk this morning. Brace yourself. It’s bad.”