Chapters (50)
- Cover
- Roc Books by Jacqueline Carey
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Forty-three
- Forty-four
- Forty-five
- Forty-six
- Forty-seven
- Forty-eight
The chief shifted in his chair. “It’s a tricky business, Daisy. As long as she hasn’t violated any actual laws, I don’t know how I can help you.”
“I know,” I said. “It’s okay, I’m not asking for help. This one’s my responsibility, sir.”
“You’ve got a plan?” he asked.
I temporized. “I’ve got a start. I’ll ask Casimir and the local coven to work on it. If we can figure out how to protect Sinclair so she can’t cast a spell or set a duppy on him, I think we’ll be okay. She took me by surprise this time. The next time, I’ll be ready.”
He blinked. “What the hell’s a duppy?”
“It’s a kind of ghost.”
Chief Bryant processed that for a moment. “All right. If there’s anything I can do, you let me know.”
“Just back me up if I need to have her escorted out of town,” I said.
“Will do.” He nodded. “We can always write her up for loitering or disturbing the peace. You want me to assign Fairfax to work with you on this? The two of you did a good job together on the Vanderhei case.”
My heart leaped a bit, then subsided. “Cody’s, um, on his time off, isn’t he?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Emmeline Palmer said she’d be back in a month,” I said. “I don’t know if that’s four weeks or by the calendar, but . . .” I didn’t finish the thought out loud. Although I was positive that the chief knew about Cody, it wasn’t something he’d ever overtly acknowledged in no uncertain terms.
“Cutting it close either way,” Chief Bryant said in a neutral tone. “A lunar month is twenty-nine and a half days.”
Okay, those were pretty certain terms. “Right.”
He sighed. “All right, then. Fairfax is out. But if you need backup, let me know.”
“Will do.”
With that, the chief dismissed me. I went back to the front office and finished filing the reports I’d reviewed, then clocked out for the day.
I swung by the Sisters of Selene to talk to Casimir about setting up a meeting with Sinclair. He offered to contact the coven and promised to call me when they agreed on a time and place.
Just to be on the safe side, I stopped in at the Idlewild to make sure that Emmeline Palmer had checked out. The hostess wasn’t too pleased to see me—I guess I didn’t make as good an impression as Emmy—but when I showed her my police ID, she confirmed that Sinclair’s sister had left late yesterday afternoon.