“Why not?”
“Because some other people are muttering that something weird is going on here. If you show up, Malloy will probably blame you for the whispers. You don’t need that. Just stay out of the way for a little longer.”
“We’re working on solving these cases,” Caro reminded her.
“I know. Don’t give me any details. There are some things I simply don’t want to know.”
After she felt sufficiently caught up on the news from the precinct and her friends there, Caro disconnected and sat staring at her phone.
There was one problem here, she realized. One that nobody had mentioned and one that was going to drive the cop in her nuts.
Even if they found the person who had set these murders in motion, there was no way they could bring him to justice. The crimes would remain unsolved. The perp would never be punished.
“Damn,” she said. “Double damn.”
“You okay?” Chloe called from the office.
“No.”
Caro jumped up and hurried to dress and brush her hair into some semblance of order. Then she stormed out to confront Chloe.
“Why are we doing this?”
“Doing what?”
“Hunting for the person who caused these murders?”
“To protect you,” Chloe reminded her. “Remember? That’s why you came here in the first place. Something is following you. Something that probably wasn’t too happy about having a witness.”
Caro sagged into the chair beside Chloe’s desk. “I haven’t exactly forgotten that part.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“If we find the person who caused all of this, there’s nothing we can do about him. No arrest, no trial, no punishment.”
Chloe rapped her pencil eraser on the desk in a short tattoo. “Have you considered that some crimes never reach that kind of resolution? That most of what Jude deals with he considers settled if he can just send it back to hell? Not everything in this world fits cop definitions of justice.”
Caro put her chin in her hand. “So we just stop this and it’s over?”
“That may be all we can do. People don’t go to jail anymore for practicing witchcraft.”
The answer left Caro unsatisfied, but she couldn’t argue with it. She certainly wasn’t about to advocate vigilante justice.
“You find anything?”
“Yeah, I’ve been pulling up the development plans. Apparently Pritchett had just started to really roll on this. He has about six approvals for eviction and demolition. But you know what?”
“What?”
“I’m wondering what else is going on here.”
“Why?”
“Because,” Chloe said, “that man got more approvals for demolition in the last few months than this city has seen in over five years.”
Caro sat up straighter and met Chloe’s gaze. “You think he was into something?”
“Some kind of bad mojo, you mean?” Chloe nodded. “I’m starting to wonder.”
“So maybe it rebounded on him.”
“Well, maybe. Except there’d be no reason for it to come after you.” She leaned forward, looking almost excited. “What if he was up to some spell-casting himself? And what if he ticked off someone else with the power?”
Caro almost gaped.
“Think about it,” Chloe said. “The guy pulls off the near impossible with these demolition permits. That brother-in-law of his wasn’t all that powerful. More like a pawn. What if someone else didn’t like what Pritchett was doing?”
“Clearly someone didn’t,” Caro agreed. “But, Chloe, this sounds like a bad movie.”
“When you’ve worked with Jude long enough, bad movies start to seem real.”
Caro had to admit she’d seen things backfire on people before, things that had nothing to do with magic or mystical powers. The more you did bad things, the more likely you were to become someone’s target—or get yourself into hot water up to your neck when it was discovered.
“Okay,” she said slowly, “I’ll admit the possibility here. Pritchett may have been dabbling in some black arts. It could have rebounded. God knows I’ve seen enough criminals screw themselves up in ordinary ways.”
“Aha, you’re getting it.”
“But by the same token, I’ve seen others get into plenty of trouble because they ticked off the wrong person.”
“It could be one. It could be both.”
“You should be a cop, Chloe. That’s some devious thinking.”
Chloe grinned. “You’d have thought of it if you weren’t still balking at magic.”
Possibly true, Caro admitted to herself. That side of this whole affair was still troubling, still making her hesitate as she waded into this strange world. Maybe it was time to stop hesitating and just dive in with both feet.
Hell, she was walking around with some kind of talisman in her pocket and locked into some kind of sensual dance with a vampire. Why stick at a little black magic?
“I’m going out,” she announced.
“Oh, no, you’re not!” Chloe jumped to her feet. “The whole reason I’m here is to make sure you’re not alone because Jude and Damien have taken a notion that this thing that’s after you doesn’t want to be witnessed, and that’s all that’s protecting you. Are you insane?”
“No. Listen, Chloe, out on the daytime streets I won’t be alone. There will be dozens of people out there. Plenty of witnesses. How likely do you think it is to act?”
Chloe sank slowly back into her chair. “Even in a busy city it’s possible to be alone some of the time.”
“How about if I promise to avoid that?”
Chloe’s expression turned glum. “Do you really believe that thing couldn’t make your heart explode in public like it did to Pritchett’s brother-in-law? Everyone would think it’s a heart attack.”
“Then maybe having witnesses isn’t protecting me at all.”
Chloe shook her head. “Then what is? If you had some idea, I’d feel better. Maybe the point is having witnesses who would know what’s happening. Like me. Like Jude and Damien. People on the street wouldn’t know, would they?”
Caro had to admit Chloe might be right. But the need to act in at least some way was beginning to overwhelm her. Sitting here all afternoon speculating about what might have caused all this was apt to drive her to distraction.
“I’m going to need a straightjacket,” she muttered. “I can’t stand being constantly cooped up this way.”
“I don’t blame you. But that doesn’t mean you need to take this on alone. What could you learn out there anyway?”
“What people are talking about in the vicinity of the buildings that are scheduled for demolition.”
“Nice idea, if folks will talk. You think they want to talk to a cop?”
“Not in some of those neighborhoods,” Caro admitted. “But I won’t be going as a cop.”
“Then what? A social worker? Get real. You cops don’t realize how obvious you are to people even in street clothes. Especially in places they don’t like cops.”
“Give me the addresses, Chloe.”
“No. I happen to like this job and I want to keep it.” With that Chloe pointedly turned off her computer.
“You’re gonna make me mad,” Caro warned her.
“You can’t arrest me for that. Garner told us what they were talking about anyway. Wouldn’t it make more sense for you to find out if there’s some voodoo queen out there in the locales? Some weird kind of church maybe.”
“Voodoo isn’t weird,” Caro said. “It’s an established religion, unlike some. Why did you pick that in particular?”
Chloe shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know. Too many movies, maybe. But one thing I know for sure—we ought to be searching for something very different from a traditional religion. Something that could and would call down a curse.”