Lupi 08 - Death Magic

nervous. Maybe he’s the damn traitor in the Bureau. Although,” she added with a sigh, possibly regretful, “that’s unlikely.”
    “Oh?”
    “I talked to Croft, too. He says Drummond was in D.C. on the day of the attempt on Ruben’s life, but not in Headquarters, and I’m to take that as definite. So unless Drummond’s part of a greater conspiracy within the Bureau, he’s out as a suspect. Most likely he’s a control freak who doesn’t trust me.” Her fingers drummed again. “Do you know what he had me doing most of the day?”
    “Mika didn’t go into that kind of detail.”
    “Knocking on doors. And it’s not that I think I’m too important for that sort of—”
    “Was it Mullins who said that or Drummond?”
    “Mullins.” She grimaced. “I know, I know. I shouldn’t let the little shit get to me. He was in Wyoming when someone dosed Ruben with that potion. Never mind. What happened today was that I followed the perp’s trail—”
    “There was a trail?”
    “That’s one of the things I need to discuss with Cullen. The perp seems to have leaked quite a bit of magic on his or her way into the house. The trail stops at Bixton’s body. I traced it the other direction and ended up at the little park across the street. The trail went right up to a bench, then stopped. That doesn’t make sense. If the perp was loaded up so much he leaked, why would he only start leaking at that bench? Anyway, Drummond decided that once I’d done that, I’d served my main function. He had me knock on doors the rest of the damn day. It’s not like finding wits isn’t important, but it’s a poor use of my time. He doesn’t have anyone other than me who knows shit about tracking down a death magic coven—”
    Rule’s eyebrows shot up. “A coven?”
    “Not a Wiccan coven. A group of practitioners who used ritual killing to create death magic. Um. The ‘death magic’ part should be news to you, but I guess it isn’t. I should ask what you know from Mika.”
    “I know Senator Bixton was killed sometime after 9:30 with a dagger imbued with death magic. His maid believes she admitted Ruben at that time. Ruben says he never left his house. Ah . . . that’s the detail I was considering telling you. Ruben has a witness who can testify to that. Two, actually.”
    “What? Why hasn’t he said so? Or has he, and Drummond didn’t tell me?”
    “Ruben is holding them in reserve. They’re lupi.”
    Her mouth opened. Closed. Then thinned. “I should’ve guessed. He’s been attacked once. When that failed, he should’ve had bodyguards at home as well as at Headquarters. I wasn’t thinking. But why lupi instead of Bureau bodyguards?”
    “Budgetary constraints,” Rule said dryly. “Croft had guards at Ruben’s house at first, but he was told by the director to remove them two weeks ago. Given how important our Lady considers Ruben, the clans were willing to share the duty of protecting him and Deborah. Today’s team was Cynyr.”
    Her eyebrows lifted. “From Wales. They came all the way from Wales. You couldn’t handle it among the U.S. clans?”
    “The Lady named Ruben our ally. Guarding him is an honored duty. No one could be left out without giving offense.”
    “So why hasn’t Ruben mentioned his alibi?”
    “He doesn’t want to draw attention to his unique relationship with the clans. Had today’s guards been Nokolai or Leidolf, we could say I sent them out of concern for a friend. It’s more difficult to explain why a Welsh clan would send bodyguards to protect a man they’ve never met and shouldn’t even know exists. We can’t explain it, not without speaking of the Lady’s instructions to us. And we do not want to make that public.”
    “I suppose not.” Her frown deepened. “Besides, lupi don’t make the best witnesses. No offense, but everyone assumes a lupus will say whatever his Rho wants him to say, so all the prosecution would have to do is establish some reason their Rho might have told them to alibi Ruben. Given that most lupi could be expected to hate Bixton, that shouldn’t be hard.”
    “I gather Ruben thought much the same thing. How much danger is he in?” Rule asked quietly.
    “The only reason he hasn’t been arrested yet is that Drummond’s annoying, but he’s not an idiot. Hard to believe Ruben could be stupid enough to give his name to the maid, then walk in and kill Bixton.” Her jaw tightened. “ She’s behind this. Her first attempt failed, so