Balance of Power: An Alastair Stone Urban Fantasy Novel (Alastair Stone Chronicles Book 25) by R. L. King

Author:R. L. King [King, R. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Magespace Press
Published: 2021-03-08T22:00:00+00:00

Blum was already at the shop when Stone arrived, disguise amulet once again active, after moving the catalog to Desmond’s vault along with the pyramid.

The detective was sipping a cup of coffee and doing a good job of not looking nervous—at least until Stone got a look at his aura. The place was fairly busy at ten-thirty, mostly full of college students and groups of twentysomethings.

Stone got his own cup and took the seat across from him. “All right—what’s going on?” He used his normal voice so Blum would know it was him.

Blum’s shoulders slumped in relief. “Nice disguise. Wish I could do that—it would help out a lot in my job. Anyway, thanks for coming, and sorry to drag you out so late. I guess this could have waited, but…”

“I’m here now, so tell me what’s on your mind.”

The detective cocked his head. “You sound a little off, but I can’t put my finger on why.”

“Long night.”

“Yeah, okay. None of my business. That’s fine.” He sipped his coffee, leaned back, and met Stone’s gaze. “I got a visit tonight.”

“A visit? From whom?”

“That’s just it. I don’t know exactly. They didn’t introduce themselves.” He leaned closer. “And I gotta tell you before we go on—they told me not to tell you we talked.”

Stone tensed. “Is that right?” He shifted to magical sight and glanced around the room, pausing at each of the groups. Nobody’s aura looked agitated, and no one appeared to be paying any attention to them. Almost without thinking, he cast the “cone of silence” spell around their table.

“Yeah. They were waitin’ for me when I got back to my place. Wanted to go for a drive.”

“And you let that happen?”

Blum let out a slow breath. “I’m pretty sure they were some kind of law enforcement. They didn’t give me names, but I know the type.”

“So you went with them.”

“Yeah. Didn’t have a lot of choice.” He looked up. “They asked me about you.”

“About me?” This wasn’t good. Stone thought back to Glenn Turman, who’d come to his house, and Matthew Fischer, who’d wanted to know what he was up to regarding the “space alien” he and Harrison had busted out of the government facility. Were they connected to these people tonight? “What did they want to know?”

“I’m not sure how they figured it out, but they knew you were interested in the stuff from Hiram Drummond’s collection.”

“It wasn’t exactly a secret. It would be odd if I weren’t interested in it, given my line of work.”

“Yeah, but I got the impression they were aware you were more interested than you should be.”

“I…see.” Stone sipped his coffee and tried to think. “What did you tell them?”

“I said I didn’t know anything about that. Not my jurisdiction.”

“Did they believe you?”

“I don’t think so, but they didn’t push it.”

“What did they look like?”

Blum shrugged. “Pretty generic. A guy and a woman, both in their thirties, clean-cut, nicely dressed. If I had to guess, I’d say they might be feds.”

This was getting better and better.

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