Black Wings, Gray Skies (Black Hat Bureau 4)

“Yeah, but who says curse like a golem? No one, that’s who.”

After accepting the cell from Asa, I swiped through the gallery while Clay looked on beside me.

“No bones, no organs.” He leaned closer. “No blood either.”

Up to this point, blood had been the only common denominator between the cases.

Then again, those had involved children. This was an adult, though teaching made her kid adjacent.

Asa was fastening the top button on his dress shirt when I glanced up at him. “Black magic?”

Nothing could be done for his wet hair, but I did finger-comb it and re-braid it for a more polished look.

“The bathroom reeked of it,” he confirmed. “The entire bottom floor of the boat is foul.”

“The police are on the way,” Colby announced, peering out of Clay’s pocket. “They’re about to dock.”

Holding open his jacket, I got an eyeful of her fuzzy head, headphones on. “How do you know?”

“Police scanner.” She grinned up at Clay, telling me where she got the idea. “There’s a nifty app for it.”

Leave it to Clay to keep Colby from listening in on us by eavesdropping instead on police.

As he adjusted his jacket, careful of his passenger, a bittersweet pang struck me.

For the longest time, it had been Colby and me. Me and Colby. We had no one else who knew our secrets. Now we had Clay and Asa and Aedan.

I might have saved her, but she didn’t pick me. Specifically. She hadn’t measured me and found me worthy of her trust. She had been grasping for a lifeline, and I threw her one. For better or worse, she caught it.

These days, there was slack in that rope, and it made me as happy for her as it made me…wistful?

Fascination came with a heaping helping of feelings. Worse, those pesky emotions didn’t contain themselves to matters of Asa and me. They dug into all the relationships in my life, forcing me to view them through a different lens. I didn’t always like what I saw, but I was grateful for the clarity.

As if I could outrun my touchy-feely moment, I strode with purpose to meet with our warg contacts.

“How about aerial scout while we’re on board.” I pasted on a smile for Colby. “You don’t need to see this.”

“Too many birds.” A shudder rocked her. “I’ll close my eyes, okay? I don’t want to go up there.”

Since she was happy to play lookout before Asa volunteered, I knew she just wanted to be nosy.

“Then it’s podcast time.” Clay tucked her in tight. “I cued up one on how to cheat in Mystic Realms.”

“It’s not cheating if it’s coded into the game,” she protested. “It’s totally legal, if you know the combos.”

Once she settled in again, I touched Clay on the arm and mouthed Thank you.

“Anything for you, Dollface.” He chucked me on the chin. “You know that.”

With our littlest team member secure, we hit the dock to meet the Marine Police cruiser.

One of the rangers called out to Mr. Officer, who hung back to talk to him with an easy familiarity.

Mrs. Officer dipped her chin at the ranger but strode toward us. “What have we got?”

“Another victim,” Asa supplied. “Her name is Tracy Amerson.”

“Andreas Farmer’s teacher.” Clay fed her the connection. “She rode out with us today.”