Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 108517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
“How, Matt?” Alessandro growled. “I left him at your doorstep.”
“Gross incompetence,” Matt said cheerfully. “He’s been spotted near St. Agnes Academy. We’re reasonably sure he’s going to bomb it. I’ll fill you in on the way.”
Alessandro’s tone was cold. “I’m busy.”
It was my turn to be reasonable. I took his hand and squeezed it. He gave me an outraged look.
“Lenora personally asked for you,” Matt said. “She said she would consider it a favor.”
There were a handful of people in Houston not even the strongest Houses cared to provoke. The Harris County DA was one of them. More importantly, hundreds of children were about to experience a magic meteor shower that would explode on impact.
“It’s okay,” I told him. “Go.”
He shook his head.
“She sent a car,” I told him. “I won’t do anything rash without you. I promise. Look, Cornelius is over there. I’ll pick him up, check on Bern and Runa, and we’ll go straight home.”
Alessandro swore again.
“It’s fine,” I told him. “There are hundreds of children in St. Agnes.”
He exhaled and got into the SUV. “Drive fast, Matt.”
“Always.” Matt smiled at me. “Thank you for your understanding, Ms. Baylor.”
The window rolled back up. The Dodge reversed and sped away.
I forgot to tell him about Konstantin. Well, crap. Not that it would change anything. He would still have had to go to apprehend Dag Gunderson. I would wait to interview the prince until he returned home.
I got into Rhino and drove it to the mouth of the driveway, where Cornelius stood.
“Would you like a lift?”
“Yes, thank you.”
He opened the rear passenger door. Gus hopped onto the seat and lay down, panting. A moment later, Cornelius got into the front passenger seat, and we were off.
“What are you doing here?”
“Gus and I decided to follow Luciana’s scent.”
And it led them straight to her house.
“Did you learn anything from talking to the family?” Cornelius asked.
“Kaylee Cabera is not a halcyon. Alessandro and I don’t know what she is. The FBI has a magic eater, and she didn’t know what Kaylee is either.”
“Do you think she is our killer?”
“Yes. I was five feet from her, and I had to let her go, because I can’t prove it.”
“Yet,” Cornelius said.
“Yes,” I agreed. “Yet.”
“Why would the current Speaker use her daughter to try to murder the former Speaker?”
“She wasn’t trying to murder the former Speaker. She tried to murder the Warden.”
Cornelius tapped his chin, thinking. “Luciana is prudent. Was prudent. I would classify her as having been extremely risk averse. This was rash and ultimately, unsuccessful.”
“It was certainly out of character.”
“It had to be self-defense,” Cornelius said. “She must have felt Linus was a danger to her or someone she loved. She was a single parent like me. Her life revolved around her child. She might not have risked retribution from the Assembly to keep her job or stay out of prison, but she would do almost anything to protect her daughter.”
“Would you have killed Linus to protect Matilda?”
“Absolutely.”
He hadn’t even paused.
“The difference is, I wouldn’t have gotten caught.”
“How would you have done it?”
Cornelius smiled. “Poison would be the cleanest. Did you know that Linus keeps a kitchen towel on the door handle of his icemaker? A large rat or an ermine could grab that towel and use its body weight to open the icemaker. A single rat can easily carry a plastic bag in a pocket of its harness with enough cyanide or any number of other lethal substances to cause death within minutes. The hardest variable to control is making sure the poison is evenly spread over the ice.”
“Wow.”
Cornelius smiled wider.
“So, are you happy with your current position and compensation? Is there anything I can do on behalf of House Baylor to make you feel more valued?”
The smile vanished. He turned toward me. “Catalina, your family is my family. My sister and brother both feel the same. You, Arabella, and Nevada are the only older sisters Matilda will ever have. You never have to worry that I would harm any of you.”
Awww.
I pulled into Linus’ driveway. Cornelius’ electric BMW waited in front of the garage next to one of our armored Humvees. A guard stood by Linus’ front door, one of our Warden people. He held a submachine gun and was doing his best to look as conspicuous as possible. The public at large had no idea what happened to Linus and knowing Linus’ ties with the military, his neighbors wouldn’t find the presence of an armed guard alarming. But if Arkan was watching—and I was a hundred percent sure he was—we wanted to show that the house was well protected.
“By the way, Matilda told me that she felt the spider,” I said.
“Did she?” Cornelius’ eyes sparkled.
“Yes. She said the spider was a she, and she was stressed out and scared. Is it possible she is an arachnid mage?”