Soul Bottles by Lawrence M. Schoen & Brian Thorne

Author:Lawrence M. Schoen & Brian Thorne [Schoen, Lawrence M. & Thorne, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798885413909
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2022-04-25T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Alexander University

Office of Dean Charles Templeton, III

Watson walked into Dean Templeton’s office at 9:05 the next morning. He was five minutes late for a meeting he hadn’t known about until he’d arrived at his own office at 8:55 and found the voicemail informing him of the meeting. He had reluctantly left behind his cup of coffee and bear claw and jogged across campus. In hindsight, a brisk walk would have served him better. In addition to arriving out of breath, he had worked his anxiety into a lather, thinking of all the things that could go wrong.

That list had not included the possibility of finding Agent Colton waiting in the dean’s office, but there he was, standing in front of his boss’ desk, the dean standing on the other side. The mage cop greeted him with a wordless grunt and a damned serious expression on his face.

“Chuck, what’s going on here?” Watson asked, taking a moment to catch his breath.

Templeton gestured for Watson to sit. Watson declined, noting that Colton was still standing. Dean Templeton looked from one man to the other and decided not to press the issue. He shrugged and settled into his chair.

“Derrick, I take it you and Agent Colton are acquainted?”

“We know one another,” said Watson.

“Do we?” asked Colton. “I thought we did. Now, I’m not so sure.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means we haven’t always agreed, but I always believed we were on the same side. That was before I realized you might be obstructing my investigation, which directly led to the escape of a fugitive and known terrorist.”

Watson’s blood ran cold as the dean leaned forward and looked at him over the top of his tortoiseshell glasses. “Derrick, is this true?”

“No. It most certainly is not true. In fact, it’s a gross misrepresentation of the facts, Chuck. What happened is that I went to Durgo’s to try to help a former student. Stanley Chen, who is now with the FBI. The mage cop here was perfectly aware of that since he was with me when I found out the Gliman might be there. When I arrived, Stanley was locked in a magical fight with her as she was trying to steal a portion of the Demon Codex from him. But with some teamwork…” he said, carefully avoiding mention of Trixie’s presence, “we were able to run her off. We did not obstruct his investigation. In fact, I’m wondering why he never showed up to lend assistance.”

Colton laughed. “Now who’s leaving out facts, Watson? I’m not talking about Durgo’s. Hell, I was tied up dealing with the deaths along the river and seeing to your other student who caused that mess. For what it’s worth, I’m pissed the local police sat on their hands and never showed up, but that’s not what I’m talking about.”

“Then what?”

“The factory, Watson.”

Watson rolled his eyes and turned back to Templeton. “Oh, for the love of… First off, events at the factory happened so fast, and I had no way to know the Gliman would show up there.

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