“I need that file. Or it needs to get out there. If everyone knows about her it’ll make it a lot harder for her to move around. The less she can maneuver, the safer people are going to be.” And the less likely some random asshole with a grudge is going to come after me.

“I know that,” she says. “It’s just— Fuck it. Fine. I’ll get the file.”

“Thanks,” I say. I’m not sure how to ask this next part, but I need to know, so I just say it. “Why the fuck are you working with that guy? Chu? You’re not the minion type. I get why you’re working with him now. But you’ve been with him a while, not just since these murders started. I don’t get it. The guy’s a fucking narcissist.”

“What’s that thing with pots and kettles?” she says. “I know he’s a narcissist. He also gets shit done. And he has a vision for this city, and for everybody in it. Not just mages, everyone, especially the people on the fringes. I believe we can make it better.

“Eric, I’m a black lesbian LAPD detective and closeted witch, married to a Filipino woman who I have to lie to every day about who I really am, while making sure my day job doesn’t find out about all the magic shit, and doing my real job to clean it all up. You don’t get much more on the fringes than that.”

“You really think he can make a difference?”

“I know he can.”

I tried idealism once. Gave me a rash. Cynicism is just pattern recognition. And no rash. But it’s not exactly doing me any favors. I wish I could believe the way Letitia does.

What really is the difference between Chu and Gabriela? His methods might be different, but he’s pretty much doing the same thing she is; trying to make things better. She’s just ruthless and bloodthirsty about it.

I don’t get the same vibe off Chu that Letitia does. Or the same vibe I get off Gabriela. For all her murderous badassitude, I believe her when she says she wants to improve things because I’ve seen it. I think she’s batshit to try, but hey, not my pig, not my farm. But there’s something wrong with Chu, I just don’t know what.

“Fair enough. You do you,” I say. “Let me know when you get that file, would you? The sooner we can get this out, the better for everybody.”

“What about you? What are you doing?” she says.

“Need to go see someone.” A pit opens in my stomach just thinking about it.

“Who?”

“Honestly, I’m really not sure.”

—