Both doors to the lobby were propped open, allowing the police to come and go as they pleased. Tony moved quickly past the elevator to the stairs—in case of trouble, stairs came with a lot more options than a sealed box hanging off cables.

No surprise upon emerging on the fourth floor to see a small crowd of murmuring tenants staring at the bright yellow police tape stretched across the front of the wizard’s apartment. Staying tight against the wall, he worked his way past the edges of the audience until he could peer through the open door.

Something—someone—had pushed the metal sockets holding the latch and the dead bolt right out of the frame. And done it without putting a mark on the door. Fucking great. Evil wizard with super-strength.

“Can I help you with something?”

Only one profession ever wrapped such a seemingly innocuous question in so much sarcasm. Tony looked up from the damage, got a firm grip on his increasing need for profanity, and asked, “Is there a body?”

On the other side of the tape, the official police glare deepened. “Who wants to know?”

“Tony Foster. I work with the woman who lives here.”

“And yet you don’t seem to be at work.”

No body, then. Cops at a homicide didn’t take the time to exchange smart-ass observations with people hanging around the crime scene. Particularly not at a crime scene that involved a metaphysical, inexplicable death. The sudden surge of relief was intense enough to nearly buckle Tony’s knees. Which was when he realized two things: One, that there didn’t necessarily need to be a body; there had to be a hundred different ways an evil wizard could get rid of a rival that didn’t involve an inconvenient corpse. And two, the cop was still waiting for a response. Tony shrugged. “She didn’t come in, she didn’t call. The boss sent me down to make sure she was all right.”

“Uh-huh. Can anyone here vouch for you?”

Anyone here? Tony turned toward the watching/listening crowd of Arra’s neighbors and spotted a familiar face. “Julian can.”

Julian was ready for his close-up. At the sound of his name he pushed forward, Moira cradled in one arm. “He’s been here before, Officer, with Arra Pelindrake. They do, indeed, work together.” A dramatic pause. “We have spoken together, he and I.”

Oh, yeah. Tony thought as the cop rolled his eyes. I bet that was some Mustardseed.

“I don’t know why Arra didn’t inform her employer she was going away for a few days,” Julian continued. “We all knew.”