Lupi 08 - Death Magic

necessary.”
    “What’s going on?”
    “I’m taking you off limited duty, effective immediately. Report to Special Agent Drummond at 14321 Camber Lane in Georgetown. He’s lead.”
    “Yes, sir. Lead on what?”
    “Senator Robert Bixton has been murdered.”

TEN
     

     
    LILY parked three blocks from 14321 Camber Lane. One block away and she started shoving. As she got closer, the elbow duel got vicious. The press was in feeding frenzy.
    They didn’t seem to know much yet, judging by the questions hurled at her. Well, neither did she. Croft hadn’t told her much. He wanted Drummond to brief her.
    Bixton’s body had been found in his living room by the only person in the house at the time—the maid. His wife was visiting family in North Carolina. The maid’s 9-1-1 call was logged at 12:01. Time of death not established, though Lily assumed they had reason to think it was between 8:30 and 12:30. The probable murder weapon was known. The killer had thoughtfully left the dagger in Bixton’s body. No other visible wounds or trauma.
    Left in his shoulder, that is. Not his chest, not near any vital organs. That’s why Lily was here.
    She saw three possibilities: one, the dagger had not caused Bixton’s death, or had caused it indirectly, triggering a heart attack or other event. Two, the dagger had been dipped in a contact poison. Three, magic was involved.
    Croft was betting on Door Number Three. So was Lily.
    She accepted that she couldn’t be lead on this one. The reason made her stomach churn, but she understood, just as she knew why Croft had had to ask where she’d been when someone slid that knife into Bixton. Rule wasn’t the only enemy Bixton had made in his political career. He wasn’t the only lupus in the city, either. But the press would sure be looking at him . . . and whoever handled the case would have to, as well.
    She hadn’t called Rule. Croft had said the case was “need to know” at the moment. She wasn’t to discuss it with anyone not part of the team Drummond was leading, so she hadn’t called. But she’d been creative as hell in how she followed orders.
    She’d been close to Mika’s lair, after all. If she “shouted” at him that she wasn’t allowed to tell him anything, well, he might have decided to snoop around in her head and find out what she wasn’t telling him. He might even decide to tell someone else.
    He might not, too. She hadn’t heard from him, so she didn’t know.
    With luck, Rule would be alibied by the great man’s top flunky. Lacking luck . . . don’t jump that creek yet , she told herself. And don’t assume the Great Bitch was behind this just because it looked so much like the frame she had arranged for Rule eleven months ago. A frame Lily had taken apart.
    Less obvious was why the lead investigator was regular FBI. Murder by magical means was a crime for the Unit.
    Magical means was not confirmed, she reminded herself, pushing a mic out of her face as she at last reached the barricade. They’d closed the street for a block around the senator’s house. Things weren’t quite as chaotic on the other side of the barrier. Close, but not quite.
    “Special Agent Yu,” she said to the uniform manning the barrier, holding out her badge.
    He looked it over, checked his BlackBerry, and shook his head. “I’m sorry, ma’ am. You’re not on my list.”
    “Then there’s a problem with your list. Get someone here who can—Crawford! Hey!”
    A pale man with busy eyes and a bald head turned, frowning. Terry Crawford had thirty years with the Secret Service and a memory for faces no software could touch. She’d worked with him when she was briefly on loan to the Secret Service last winter. “Agent Yu. I wasn’t told to admit you.”
    Her eyebrows lifted. The Secret Service was handling the perimeter? “You in charge of the scene?”
    “I’m making sure we aren’t flooded with help. If you’re not officially assigned—”
    “I’m officially assigned to Special Agent Drummond. Your list’s wrong.” A cameraman jostled her. She spared him a scowl.
    Crawford’s mouth thinned. “I’ll need to confirm.” He touched his headset.
    Lily waited impatiently. She’d gotten spoiled, she supposed. Used to being in charge. Ever since the Turning, Unit agents had been spread too thin to team up, so she’d been lead on pretty much every investigation she’d been involved with. Plus Unit agents were pretty much top of the food chain, and she’d