Wolfsbane was used to obscure the scent trail. Once a shapeshifter smelled it, even the best tracker would dissolve into sneezing fits. No wolfsbane meant a slight possibility that somewhere an intact crime scene waited for us and shapeshifters could read its scents like an open book.

“We don’t even know a crime scene exists,” Robert said. “They could’ve set it on fire.”

“No, it exists,” Barabas said.

“D’Ambray likes games,” Derek said. “He wants us to play.”

If there was a crime scene, where could it be? The blood on Mulradin’s body was fresh. “Desandra? Did you get an idea of how long he’s been dead?”

“I’d say less than two hours,” she said.

Jim nodded. “That sounds about right, but it would put Mulradin in the Casino at the time of death.”

My nose had six million olfactory receptors. A wolf’s nose had two hundred and eighty million. If Desandra said he had been dead a couple of hours, I was inclined to believe her, but there was no way a shapeshifter had walked into the Casino, murdered Mulradin, and walked out. I turned to Jim. “Are you sure he was in the Casino?”

“Yes,” Jim said. “Ghastek and Mulradin switch off supervising, so that one of them is at the Casino at all times. Ghastek was at the Conclave, so Mulradin had the evening shift. He wouldn’t have left the Casino.”

“Not necessarily,” Robert said quietly.

Jim turned to him.

“Two weeks ago I got a report that one of my people saw him outside when he was supposed to be on call,” the wererat said.

“Where?” I asked.

“The Warren,” Robert said. “My scout saw Mulradin go into a building, but was unable to follow up because he had a different objective that night.”

“And were you planning on sharing that with the class?” Jim asked.

“There are a number of things the class chose not to share with us,” Robert said.

Clearly there was some tension there. “Which building in the Warren?” I asked.

“The scout didn’t specify.”

That narrowed it down about as much as pointing out which of the haystacks had the needle hidden in it. When magic wrecked Atlanta, it had stomped on the Warren, crushing entire streets. Anyone who could have moved, did. Now the Warren consisted of slums, populated by the destitute, criminals, and street kids, and it was huge.

“Can we ask the scout to narrow it down?” I asked.

Robert looked slightly uncomfortable. “Yes. But he’s at an observation post.”

“Where?” Please don’t say in the People’s territory.

“The People’s territory.”

This was not my night.

“Phone line?” I asked.

Robert shook his head.

Of course. The phone probably wouldn’t have worked with the magic up anyway. “I’ll need a small strike team to go in with me to find the observation post.”

“No,” Jim said. “You can’t go.”