We drew curious looks from the Enforcer trainees manning the front desk as we walked in through the front door, which I guess was only to be expected – Lakin was new in town, and I was something of a conundrum. When I’d dragged the Chief Mage into the silver murders, I’d brought the scrutiny of his office down on the Enforcer’s Guild, and Captain Galling hadn’t forgiven me for making him look bad. But on the other hand, I had the Chief Mage on my side, so Captain Galling couldn’t do anything overt to make my life miserable. As a result, the other Enforcers weren’t sure how to react around me. Some were exceedingly polite, while others glared daggers at me and whispered nasty things about me when they thought I wasn’t within hearing distance. I didn’t know where the foreman of Sillara’s crew stood, or whether his attitude toward me would make this easier or harder.
Lakin and I crossed the lobby, our boots clopping against the scuffed tile, and headed toward the elevator on the other side. The rickety box spit us out on the fourth floor, where the smaller crews’ desks were located – while there were a few Enforcers like me who worked solo, the majority of us worked as crews, each headed up by a foreman who answered to the Guild Captain. I sent a silent prayer up to Magorah, the shifter god, that Sillara’s crew would still be here.
It wasn’t too hard to find them – they were a group of five shifters, clustered toward the far left end of the room as their foreman, Laro Vanit, read off the names on their docket for today. I pursed my lips as I caught sight of the long list – there were at least twenty names on there, more than enough for their crew, and I wished I could snag one of their bounties for myself.
But that wasn’t what I was here for.
“Excuse me, Foreman Vanit,” I said after he was done. “Can I talk to you and your crew for a moment?”
Vanit turned slowly to face me, and if I were a lesser woman I would have been intimidated by the glare he shot my way. A brawny black male with tawny lion shifter eyes, a shaved head and blocky features, he stood a head and a half taller than me, and was looking at me as though I was vermin spawn.
Guess he was a member of the “I Hate Sunaya” camp. Tension curled its stiff fingers around my shoulders, and I stood up straighter, meeting his fiery gaze with my own.
“What do you want, Baine?” he snapped, folding his arms over his chest. He wore standard black mercenary leathers that were only a few shades darker than his skin, making him look like a creature of the night. “As you can see, we’re a little busy around here. Unlike you, some of us have to work for a living.”
The other shifters in his crew snickered, and I clenched my teeth at the insult. But if I rose to the bait, this would degenerate very quickly into a fight, and I needed to stay focused on getting those files.
“This is Inspector Lakin from Shiftertown,” I said, gesturing to Lakin, who was quietly assessing the group from my left. “He’s investigating Sillara’s death, and needs to study the cases she was working on before she died. We were hoping you guys would point us to her files.”
One or two of the crew members shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Lakin’s name, but the rest looked bored or hostile. Like me, these shifters were all clanless, and wouldn’t consider Lakin an authority figure.
“Hmph. I don’t know about that,” Vanit said, turning his tawny glare onto Lakin. “Last I checked, Sillara’s death wasn’t a homicide. Why would you need to dig into it more?”
“It turns out the coroner was mistaken,” Lakin said evenly, his eyes gleaming with impatience. “Sillara died of silver poisoning, just like Petros Yantz’s other victims. Since she was a member of Shiftertown’s tiger clan, her murder falls under my jurisdiction.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Vanit admitted, his scowl lessening slightly. But it returned with a vengeance as his gaze switched back to me. “I’d like to help you, Inspector Lakin, but since you’re attached to this sell-out over here I’m afraid you’ll have to appeal to Captain Galling directly. And as I recall, he’s out of town.” He gave me a vicious grin, baring his fangs.
“You asshole.” I took a step forward, my lip curling back into a snarl of my own. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Sillara was your crew mate. I’d think you’d want her murder solved just as much as we do.”
“Yeah, well she’s been dead for over three months,” Vanit spat. “I think the mystery can wait a few more days if it means I don’t have to lower myself to help a whore like you.”
“Excuse me?”
“Give me a break,” Vanit sneered. “We all know that you’re responsible for the shitty management changes that have been going on down here. Not only did you defect over to the mages’ camp, but you’re sucking mage cock so you can get what you want. So excuse me if I don’t help you.”
“I don’t know where you heard that from, but I’m not sleeping with the Chief Mage.” A hot flush spilled across my cheeks at the accusation, and my thighs quivered with the effort of holding myself back from attacking Vanit. “In case you didn’t know, master and apprentice relationships are supposed to be platonic.”