Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

tomorrow.”
    “No, I use their delivery trucks, but not that way. UPS vehicles work, too, but FedEx
     was closer.”
    The front door opened. “—said I’d take it. Isn’t there someone else with vital and
     sensitive work you need to interrupt? No? Then you can guard my ass while I…oh. Hello.”
    Cullen had entered pushing a room service cart, trailing his two guards. He stopped
     short when he saw Jasper. “Now that’s interesting. Not interesting enough to justify
     interrupting me, but I suppose you have questions you want to ask.”
    “Something like that,” Rule said dryly. “I’m guessing the Find spell still isn’t working.”
    “Not worth a damn. Weirdest thing I ever saw.” Cullen lifted the lid of one of the
     dishes. “That looks good. Did I eat supper?”
    “Yes, but don’t let that stop you. Perhaps you’d get something for my guest as well.”
    “If you mean me, I don’t want anything,” Jasper said.
    “I’ll take a cup of coffee,” Lily said. “Jasper—”
    “Oh, good, interrupt my spellcasting so I can play waiter.” Cullen did sarcasm so
     well. But he did pour a cup for her and drift in her direction while biting into the
     half sandwich he’d picked up.
    “Are you going to keep interrupting me as some sort of payback?” she asked as she
     took the cup.
    “Maybe. What am I interrupting?”
    “Your prototype wasn’t really missing before. It is now. Jasper dropped by to tell
     us about it. He went to get it today, and it was gone. He was about to explain what
     that has to do with FedEx.”
    “Um. Yes.” Jasper cast a wary glance at Cullen. “I prefer to avoid confrontation with
     those whose property I’ve appropriated. Some of them have nasty tempers and even nastier
     spells. My first goal is always to put as much distance as possible between me and
     the object’s previousowner. If I can hand it off to the person who ordered the job right away, fine. If
     not, I affix the item to a delivery truck. FedEx is my first choice. The trucks stay
     in motion and they—”
    Cullen broke in. “Tell me you didn’t just duct tape the skull to the axle.”
    “I did use duct tape. That takes a few minutes to cut through at retrieval, but it’s
     worth it to make the object secure. But don’t worry. The skull is in a bowling ball
     bag with plenty of padding. That did limit my options for where to tape it. I prefer
     to put objects near the engine, but a dry run showed that wouldn’t work this time.”
    Cullen nodded. “Makes sense.”
    Lily rolled her eyes. First Cullen bitches about having his spellcasting interrupted,
     then he compliments the thief who made it necessary. “Explain.”
    “If you’re using a spell, it’s harder to find something that’s moving, and some Find
     spells—not mine, but some—are dispersed by large chunks of metal, like an engine.
     Doesn’t work against a good Finder, though.”
    “True,” Jasper said, “but last night I needed to hide it from people other than your
     Finder. I was out of her range—or so I’d been told. Her limit is a hundred miles,
     right?”
    Cullen scowled. “Told by who?”
    “Robert Friar.”
    “And you believe a
vesceris corpi
whose word is as rotten and rancid as that which he consumes?”
    Jasper spoke admiringly. “That was a master-level insult. I agree about Friar, but
     in this case I think he spoke accurately. He wanted me to succeed.”
    Lily yanked them back on track. “Tell me when you went to get the prototype, why you
     went at that time, and how you found the right truck.”
    “To answer your last question first—GPS. I went to get it tonight at eight forty because
     it had been stationary for thirty minutes, suggesting the driver was done for the
     day.” He sighed. “Unfortunately, it was at a garage, up on a rack.The GPS tracker was still in place, but the prototype was gone.”
    “You didn’t just look at the truck. You searched elsewhere.”
    “In the trash, the Dumpster—everywhere I could think of.” He leaned forward intently.
     “That’s why I’m here. I don’t think Friar has it. Either one of the other people looking
     for it—”
    “There’s more than Friar after it?” Cullen asked sharply.
    “Yes, yes—I’ll get to that in a minute. Either one of the others somehow tracked it
     down, or one of the mechanics took it home with him. Either way…” He looked directly
     at Rule. “Seabourne can’t find it. He’s tried. We
need
your Finder now.