Mist and Magic: An Urban Fantasy Adventure (Death Before Dragons) by Lindsay Buroker

Author:Lindsay Buroker [Buroker, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-07-28T04:00:00+00:00

11

As I’d promised Willard, I had little trouble sneaking into the building without being seen. The back door was unlocked, and there weren’t any security or police officers waiting to apprehend me. Since the rain had picked up again, I was glad there weren’t any obstacles to bypass, though I had expected Willard to warn someone that an interloper might show up. Maybe she hadn’t wanted to risk putting anybody in my maverick path. Or maybe she secretly believed that I could help.

Even though I’d had assignments in this county before, I hadn’t been in the health center before, and it took me a while to hunt down the stairway to the basement that led down to the morgue. Sensing a magical item somewhere on that level made me pause. I didn’t think it was a weapon. Could it be the knickknack the medical examiner had mentioned to Willard?

I found the morgue and was about to enter, checking to ensure my camouflaging charm was still activated, when voices sounded in the hallway behind me.

Willard and Rodriguez had arrived. Before they came into sight, I slipped into the morgue. I paused to peek out the window in the door as they arrived. Captain Rodriguez was a bullet-shaped man with a bald head and granite jaw. He looked more like an infantry sergeant than an intelligence officer.

I moved away from the door so they wouldn’t be close enough to see through my charm’s magic when they stepped inside. It crossed my mind to make my presence known, but they might try to kick me out. I also might learn more if nobody knew I was there. Willard had shared more information than I’d expected so far, but she’d also made it clear she didn’t want me here.

Two bodies were laid out on exam tables, still zipped into bags. Or maybe already examined and re-zipped into bags. The medical examiner was sitting at a desk, her head in her hand, and her eyes closed. Her scrubs and lab coat were rumpled, as if she’d grabbed them out of a dirty-laundry basket in the middle of the night. Maybe she had. She must have been ordered in late—or early—as a favor to Willard.

The magical item I’d been sensing seemed to be located in a folder under her elbow. That would be difficult to extract without her noticing.

She stirred when the officers walked in carrying coffee cups—I wondered where they had found someplace open this early. Bellingham wasn’t a big city with copious all-night coffee options.

“Here are the reports for both of them, Colonel.” The medical examiner brought two folders to her, including the one with the magical item, then unzipped one of the body bags. “You can take a look at your agent, if you want, but there weren’t any physical marks on him, not even burns. And you’ve already seen the guy who was mauled.” She waved to the body closest to them and farthest from me. “The deep lacerations on his throat

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