Secrets of the Demon

Chapter 22

After leaving the crime lab I headed to the main branch of Lake Pearl Bank, pausing only to zip through the drive-thru at Taco Hut in a carefully orchestrated effort to undo every bit of last night’s unintended purge. I scarfed down two burritos while I drove, musing on the various revelations. Brad had gone on to explain that it was ridiculously easy to wipe a drive with the right kind of software, and that such programs were easily obtained online, with no special expertise needed.

So, if Adam Taylor and Vic Kerry were murdered for the same reason—whatever that was—why wasn’t Kerry’s computer wiped as well? Maybe the murderer didn’t expect it to be pegged as a homicide. Or, since Vic Kerry was actually killed several days ago, perhaps the murderer hadn’t yet realized that Adam needed to be killed too. Or perhaps their murders really were for completely different reasons. I grimaced. I had an ugly feeling I was going to be up late tonight looking at financial information. Woo boy.

As promised, the bank had copies of all Roger’s financial information ready for me. The woman at the service desk smiled cheerily as she passed it over, chirping a “Have a nice day!” at me as I took the thick envelope from her. I thanked her in an equally chirpy tone and began to leave, then paused, looking past the woman at a sign on the wall behind her.

We’re getting a new look! New name, new benefits, same wonderful service! Lake Pearl Bank will soon be Southern Regional National Bank of Louisiana!

“The bank is being bought out?” I asked her.

Her smile increased in radiance. “That’s right! It’s a terrific opportunity for our customers! SRNBL has branches all over, and we’ll now be able to provide even more quality service for this community!”

I was slightly intimidated at how Very! Happy! She! Was! About! It!

I thanked her again and left. Ben Moran has to be pleased about that, I thought as I continued to the station. That would increase his status considerably.

Crawford’s office door was open when I arrived, so I stuck my head in. He gave me a questioning look, then I realized that there was someone in the chair in front of the desk.

“Whoops. Sorry, Sarge, I’ll get up with you in a bit,” I said, then blinked as Detective Marco Knight turned to give me a smile.

“Oh, hey, how’s it going?” I said. Then frowned. “What are you doing here?”

Knight chuckled. “Nice to see you, too.”

Yeah, that had been real friendly. “Sorry. You took me by surprise. You’re a long way from New Orleans.” I paused. “So, what are you doing here?”

Crawford sighed and shook his head. “This is why she’s not our public relations officer.”

Somehow I resisted the urge to give Crawford the finger.

“Lida Moran filed a request to drop the investigation into her attack yesterday, but then I saw that her manager had died.” Knight gave me a shrug, eyes on me. “I hate it when people try to drop cases after I’ve put work into them. Especially when there’s a chance that it was a bullshit case to begin with.”

I snorted and leaned up against the door frame. “Aw, where’s your trust in human nature?”

“That died a long time ago,” he said.

“Well, actually the whole thing may be a lot more complicated than a bullshit publicity stunt,” I told Knight. “I have two murders, and I’m convinced they’re connected, but I haven’t pinned down the link yet.”

“What makes you think they’re connected?” Marco asked.

Crawford cleared his throat and flicked a glance from me to the door.

I took the hint and entered fully, closing the door behind me. “The thing that threw Lida in the river was a golem, or something similar,” I explained in a low voice. “I could feel a weird resonance from it, and I felt that same resonance at the crime scenes for both of these victims. Plus, our pathologist said that whoever killed Vic Kerry was ‘strong as shit’ since he apparently crushed Kerry’s neck.” I flicked a quick glance at Crawford to see how he was handling this, but he merely looked slightly pained. It was progress.

Knight let out a low whistle. “So, how do you kill this golem thing?”

I had to shrug helplessly. “I’m not sure, mostly because I’m not really certain what it is. I’m only calling it a golem because it’s easier to say than ‘arcane construct’, but it really doesn’t quite fit with the stuff about the golems of legend. I didn’t see any letters on its forehead, and it seems a bit too ... nimble for that sort of thing.” I shrugged again. “Not that I’m any sort of expert. My current theory is that maybe it’s some sort of earth elemental that’s being controlled and directed.” I sighed. “And even that’s a wild guess at best. I don’t know a damn thing about elementals.”

Crawford frowned. “Is there anything wrong with just shooting the ever-living shit out of the damn thing?”

I grinned. “Not as far as I know. Extreme violence, for the win!”

Crawford’s phone rang, delaying any further speculation on the best way to destroy a creature I knew next to nothing about. He answered the phone, listened intently to the caller with a deepening frown, then gave me a penetrating look that didn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling. He muttered a thanks to the caller and hung up.

“Roger Peeler was found dead near his apartment,” he said, voice tight. “It supposedly looks like an accidental death. A fall into a drainage culvert.”

“Shit,” I breathed. I knew it was no accident. Guilt rose in a choking wave. I should have seen this coming. I should have done more to warn him, protect him.

“It’s not your fault, Kara,” Knight murmured. “You don’t even know what the connection is. How were you supposed to know for certain he was in danger? And you did warn him, didn’t you?”

I scrubbed at my face, fiercely controlling the sudden desire to cry. “Yeah,” I said hollowly. “I warned him.” I shook my head. “Fuck. It has to have something to do with the money.”

“You’ll find it,” Crawford stated so firmly that I had to smile a bit at his confidence in me. I only hoped it wasn’t misplaced. “Now go,” he said. “Get your ass out to the scene.”

“Mind if I tag along?” Knight said.

“I don’t mind,” I replied, secretly relieved to have the company. “As long as it’s okay with Sarge.”

Crawford nodded. “Fine with me. I’ll meet you out there as soon as I let the various rank know what’s going on.”

I exited Crawford’s office and headed to the door, still trying to shed the clinging guilt.

“Yo, Kara.”

I turned back to see who had called my name, surprised to see Pellini standing about twenty feet down the hall, frantically gesturing me over. I frowned, then glanced at Knight.

“Gimme a sec,” I said. He tilted his head in acknowledgment, and I walked toward Pellini. He looked oddly agitated, which sent my natural distrust and suspicion into full alert.

“I need to talk to you before you leave,” he said in an urgent whisper, gesturing again, this time to the copy room. “In private.”

I scowled. “Pellini, if this is some kind of bullshit stunt—”

He actually looked pained. “It’s not. I just need to talk to you. I swear I’m not pulling anything.”

I gave him my best “I don’t trust you farther than I can throw you” look, but went ahead and stepped into the copy room. He came in behind me and shut the door while I regarded him with narrowed eyes, but to my surprise his face held nothing but something that looked an awful lot like concern.

“What’s up, Pellini?”

He licked his lips in a strange show of nervousness. “That guy you’re with. How do you know him?”

“You mean Detective Knight? He’s on the task force.”

Pellini shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. “Look, I know you and I have never really clicked,” he said in a low urgent voice while I tried to keep my eyebrows from climbing up to my hairline. Clicked? That was putting it mildly. “But I gotta warn you about that guy. About Knight.”

My bullshit defenses were in high gear at this point. “Go on.”

“He’s weird,” Pellini said. “Seriously strange shit.” He paused. “I mean, you’re weird too, but your weirdness is kinda entertaining, but his is seriously fucking creepy.” He shuddered while I stared at him, at a complete loss for words. I was an entertaining weird?

“What ...” I tried. “Um ...” Nope. Couldn’t think of a single coherent response.

“He knows shit,” Pellini continued. “I worked with him at NOPD, and ...” He shook his head. “I know this sounds crazy, but I’m telling you, don’t hang out with him too much. Trust me on this.”

“Trust you on this,” I echoed, unable to keep the disbelief out of my voice.

He looked briefly chagrined. “Yeah. I swear I’m not fucking with you. I’ve just ... well, I’ve seen him fuck people up bad, telling them things ...” He trailed off and scrubbed a hand over his face, then took a deep breath. “I know you got no reason to believe me or trust me. But, uh, I kinda get the feeling you got a lot of secrets. I’m just sayin’ that sometimes secrets don’t stay so secret around that guy.”

“Okay,” I managed after several heartbeats. “Why are you telling me this? I mean ... why do you give a fuck about me and ... my secrets.”

For a second he looked puzzled at the question. “ ’Cuz you’re a cop.”

“So is Knight,” I pointed out.

He frowned. “But I work with you,” he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I’m not gonna let someone from outside fuck with a teammate.”

“Oh. Right,” I said, feeling as if the world was about to tilt and toss me off. “Then I, uh, appreciate the warning.”

He gave me a jerky nod, looking almost relieved, as if he’d gotten something off his chest. Then he turned and yanked the door open and walked away without another word.

I stared at the open door for several heartbeats, then finally shook myself back to some semblance of reality.

“My life,” I muttered to myself as I exited the copy room and returned to the waiting Knight. “It is never dull.”