Ritual Magic

doctor.”
    “That
was
fun.” Reluctantly she started moving—toward the coffeepot, not the door. “I need to keep my brain working long enough to delegate intelligently.”
    “I can’t believe you’re going to drink that.”
    “It’s not quite thick enough to chew, so yes, I’ll drink it.” She poured a half cup. “Ruben’s still up. He’s like you.” Lupus, in other words, and not in need of sleep the way mere humans were . . . though he’d not arrived at that state in a way anyone could have expected. “With me having to run around to verify reports, he’s been coordinating things from D.C. I’ll check in with him and—shit, that reminds me.” She took a sip of sludge and grimaced. Nasty. “Are we private?” His ears would tell him more than hers could.
    “Reasonably. Scott will hear.”
    Scott knew about the Shadow Unit, so that wasn’t a problem. “You know Ruben’s putting Karonski in charge of the Bureau’s investigation. He decided to put me in charge of the other one.”
    Rule didn’t say a thing. Not a thing. He was way too still.
    She frowned. “Is that a problem?”
    “I’m not sure why he didn’t tell me himself.”
    “Extreme busyness, I imagine. He knows you and I work together anyway, so . . . this bugs you. It’s not just that he didn’t tell you personally. You have a problem with me being in charge instead of you.”
    “Nonsense. I don’t object to your doing what you do best, certainly far better than I could. But Ruben should have told me.”
    “Is this a lupi thing? He committed a sin against the hierarchy?”
    “He treated me like a subordinate. Not like a Rho.”
    “You are his subordinate in the Shadow Unit.”
    “I am his second, but I am not of his clan, and I’m a Rho. He misstepped. I’ll explain this to him when there’s time.”
    “He’s very new at being a lupus.”
    “I know. Drop it, Lily.”
    There was something off about Rule’s reaction. She couldn’t put her finger on it, and admittedly, she didn’t know everything there was to know about lupi and their fixation on hierarchy, but she knew Rule, and he was . . . watching her patiently. Not looking at all like he’d had his oh-so-dominant toes stepped on.
    So maybe she was wrong. She rubbed her face. She was tired enough to be wrong about half the things she thought right now. “Okay. Calling Ruben.”
    Ruben was very interested in hearing about Hardy, who might be the saint that Drummond thought would show up, but he agreed that details could wait until morning and seconded Rule’s suggestion that she get some sleep. He would coordinate the ongoing work with Ackleford himself for now.
    “You had another chat with Drummond?” Rule asked when she disconnected. He had, of course, heard both sides of the phone conversation.
    “Yes, and I need to fill you in about that. Drummond says this is connected to an artifact that damn elf gave Friar. He called it evil. But first . . .” She frowned. Something was nagging at her. Something about Hardy that had floated back into her head while she talked to Ruben, then floated out again. What . . .
    Oh, yeah. “What’s this song?” She hummed the tune Hardy had hummed to her.
    “‘Mother and Child Reunion.’ Paul Simon.”
    “Son of a bitch.” Adrenaline worked even better than caffeine. She headed for the door double-quick.
    Rule kept pace. “What is it?”
    “I need to find a nurse. Denise. Brown hair, one-sixty, five-five or so.”
    “I haven’t seen her. Why do you need her?”
    “To help me find someone.” As they headed for the nurses’ station she told him briefly about Hardy, ending with, “Drummond told me I was getting a saint. I thought . . . well, you’d have to meet Hardy to understand, but there’s something otherworldly about him. Plus, it seemed like it would be just my luck to get a brain-damaged, singing saint who can’t answer questions straight out. But he was humming that song to me. He patted my cheek and hummed that song. How does it go? Something about not giving false hope on a ‘strange and mournful day,’ then the refrain about the mother and child reunion. How could Hardy know how well that fit?”
    “I don’t know. Because he’s a saint?”
    “Or because he’s anything but.”

TEN

    D ENISE was gone. While Lily had been talking to Rule, the shift had changed. Plackett, too, had left. Lily checked to make sure the doctor had admitted Liddel, then tried to find out