“No. I don’t do well when questioned.”
“Good.” I sighed and rubbed my eyes. I was tired and hungry. “Well, I killed that thing, so you’re good. It won’t be coming back. But if you see birds like that again, get to cover, or get to where there are more people. It tends to pick off the loners, apparently.”
“I got really lucky, Reagan. Really lucky. It’s made me question…” He hesitated for a moment. “I’ve been thinking about moving out of this neighborhood. Vampires are one thing, but stuff like this…”
I patted his bony shoulder. “That thing killed two people in the French Quarter. Trust me when I say that of all the neighborhoods in New Orleans, you’re probably safest in this one.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I live here.” I patted him again and turned toward my house as a white Crown Victoria pulled up alongside the cemetery. I glimpsed the man getting out of the passenger side, did a double take, and then noticed the driver, who was stepping out of the other side of the car.
Damn it.
“Get gone,” I said to Smokey.
He didn’t need to be told twice. He was slinking away even as the younger detective, whose name was lost to the black hole, crossed the street.
“Long time no see,” the younger detective said with a smile. He was a handsome devil and he knew it. That cocky grin of his slipped when he stepped up onto the sidewalk next to me. “What happened to your eyebrows?”
I ignored his question. “You guys here to look at the murder?” I pointed at the cemetery as Sean crossed the street after him.
Suspicion crossed the younger detective’s face. “Yeah. What do you know about it?”
“My department ended the threat not that long ago,” I said, taking a seat on my porch steps. “There were two more victims in the French Quarter. I bet you’ll get the call soon.”
“Your department ended the threat?” he asked. “Aren’t you guys psychics?”
“Yeah. We consulted our crystal balls, so we knew just when to drop the piano out of the window.” I clapped my hands together. “Splat.”
“They think it’s a serial killer,” Sean said as the younger detective shifted in confused annoyance. “This was the first. At least, that’s what I’ve heard.”
“A serial killer who does fast work. Of the three victims that I know of, yes, this was the first. Before this, though…” I shook my head. “I have no idea. The creature that did it is called an aswang. Clarissa gave me the basics after we left your last crime scene. It was old, hungry, and really gross. I have no idea where it might’ve come from, or what it was doing here.”
“Wait.” The younger detective held up his hand, blinking repeatedly.
“Is this what you do, then?” I gestured to the young buck without shifting my gaze from Sean. “You just take the new guy around until he finally pieces it together?”
“Piece what together?” the younger detective demanded. I could see his anger boiling just below the surface.
“Never mind, J.M.,” Sean said, not sparing him a glance. “Go check in with the others. Get a feel for what happened. We have a lot of ground to cover tonight.”
“No, wait. What is it I’m supposed to be piecing together?”
Sean straightened his shoulders and turned to J.M. Something in the older man’s bearing read: Do not mess with me, or I will rip your spine out of your mouth and beat you with it.
I grinned, because I hadn’t expected this type of alpha standoff from Sean. J.M., sure, but not Sean. He seemed too sweet.
I waved the whole thing away. “Let him stay. You might not think he’s ready, but it’s better to bring people on when they’re younger and can bounce back than when they’re older and easier to break. Besides, if you’re going to keep bringing him around to these kinds of crime scenes, he’ll be a target. He should know what he’s getting into.”
“Okay, this is starting to piss me off,” J.M. said in a rough voice. “I want answers, and I want them now!”
Sean turned back toward me slowly, his body taut. I had a feeling the two of them would have more than a few standoffs down the road. J.M. didn’t seem the type to blindly do as he was told. It was something we had in common.
“In answer to your question, Reagan,” Sean said, taking out his notebook, “yes, we wait until they start piecing things together. There are probably better ways, but I hate sounding as crazy as I feel.” He readied his pen. “Do you want to tell me what you know?”
I relayed what I’d heard from Smokey, telling them that he had seen the whole thing, but he shouldn’t be questioned by the normal police, for obvious reasons. I made a point of telling them about the bit of blood on his neck, and how it had gotten there, because they’d be sure to notice it. I then went through what I’d seen in the French Quarter, ending with the showdown.
J.M. turned more incredulous as my explanation continued, until he was looking at Sean and me with obvious doubt and disbelief. Also humor. He clearly thought we were pulling his leg.
“At least this case will be easy to put away,” I said when I’d finished. “You can get back to the other one.”
“You guys can’t be serious,” J.M. said with a chuckle. “I mean, I’ve heard about making light of the grisly crimes, but this is ridiculous.”
“Go look at the body,” Sean said in an even voice. “I’ll be right there.”
J.M. sighed, then shook his head and turned away.
“It’s too early and he’s hardheaded,” Sean muttered. “He’ll resist until the very last.”
“You’d be surprised. The body he’s about to see is grrr-oss! Look up an aswang. You’ll see.”
Sean put his notebook away. “Head to bed. I won’t need anything more from your department. I’m sure Captain Lox will have this all written up in the morning.”
“Yes, he will. What about that other case? Did you make any headway?”
“In two hours?” Sean smiled and scratched his shoulder, turning sideways on the sidewalk to watch as J.M. ducked under the police tape and headed into the cemetery. “My hunch says it’s the daughter. We haven’t found the murder weapon yet, but we found a few fibers for the lab to analyze. The crime wasn’t calculated, so there are bound to be over a dozen slip-ups. We’ll solve it. Thanks, by the way. You’re much quicker and more thorough than the rest of the agents at MLE. You’ll make captain someday, I have no doubt.”
“Good God, that sounds horrible. Don’t jinx me.” I stood with a grimace. “Besides, I think I’m fired. I punched my weasel of a coworker. That was my last strike.”
“What’d he do?”
“He was gloating over saving my life even though he technically didn’t. It’s the little things.”