Page 20 of A Shade Too Far
“Okay, yet, but you’ve been alive forty-four years without incident. I got fifteen with my parents before someone or something killed them, and Fred McMurtry covered it up.”
“Which is one more thing you want me to accept after years of thinking they died in a house fire.”
I did a double take. “Are you blaming me for not having told you the truth? I grew up so terrified that their killer might come after me that I cut ties with the one person I had left from my old life, my uncle Jake, so excuse me for not making honesty a priority with you. Is that how you handle victims, Detective Chu?” I said coldly.
“Obviously not.”
“Just me, then. Good to know.”
“I’m a damn good officer,” he said waspishly.
“Yeah, you are. You’re also a good leader because you don’t second-guess and dismiss your detectives.” I threw him a tight smile.
“They’re trained.”
“Would that help? If I waved a GED from Hogwarts in front of your face, would you trust my capability?”
“I don’t know.” He crossed his arms.
“Exactly. You don’t. But I’m trying to tell you that I do. Or,” I amended, “as much as Sapien cops do when dealing with criminals. There’s an element of unpredictability in both worlds, but I’m doing the best to mitigate that as much as possible with facts and experience.”
“Then let me mitigate it with you. Use my experience to help decide the wisest course of action.”
It took all my willpower not to clench my fists and to speak calmly. “I did, remember? When it came time to take Oliver down, I deferred to you. Now you need to do the same.”
He made a frustrated sound, his body tensing.
I folded my hands in my lap. “Is the issue me, Miri, or me, a Banim Shovavim?”
“From where I’m sitting, there’s no difference between the two.”
I squeezed my fingers tightly together, my old engagement ring digging into my skin. “That sounds a lot like an Ohrist prejudice.”
“I’ve said as much to Ryann about her magic, so I’m pretty equal opportunity prejudiced.” Eli looked up at the ceiling and took a contemplative breath. “I don’t want to fight. Look, I’m grateful that I know about magic now. If I’m being honest, it explains stuff that never added up in certain investigations, little things that I pushed to the side or outright dismissed.”
“You think you had other homicides involving magic?”
“Yeah, and if dealing with this vampire is truly the only way to proceed, then I’ll suck it up. But I want to be there when he comes over. Okay?”
I nodded. “That’s fair.”
He shook his head sadly. “I don’t know if anything about this is fair. Guess I’m getting a taste of my own medicine from when I broke up our marriage.”
“This isn’t some kind of revenge, Eli. Don’t frame it that way.”
“I didn’t…” He gave me a faint smile. “We’ll talk later.”
For years the secret of my magic and my parents’ deaths had weighed down on me. When I accepted my powers back into my life a few weeks ago, those secrets had widened the gulf between me and my family. But now everything was out in the open and that space hadn’t shrunk. How did people with powers navigate close relationships with Sapiens? Were they destined to be out of alignment because the difference between the magical and the mundane was simply too great?
I shook my head. That was more negative thinking and unproductive. I’d suggested to Eli before that we see an Ohrist therapist, and given his comments today and Sadie’s reaction, I’d better get that name from Jude sooner rather than later.
I spent the rest of the day finding reasons to pass by my daughter’s bedroom, but her door remained closed, and I didn’t hear anything inside. She didn’t even come out for our weekly TV date, which was unprecedented. Generally, when she was mad, she’d stomp around the house, making sure I saw her.
I went to bed early, because it beat living out more of this shitty day, but I couldn’t sleep, a host of nightmare what-ifs looping around my brain. After reading the first chapter of the mystery I’d been so excited to dive into without taking in a word, I gave up.
Sadie had given me her promise about not telling anyone else about magic, and I had to trust her to keep it. Eli might think he and Ryann had a bond because she was the daughter of his boss and he’d babysat her when she was young, hiding a special Oreo stash for her, but should Sadie violate the Lonestars’ prime directive of keeping magic hidden, Ryann would come after our kid with the full weight of Ohrist law enforcement behind her.
I crossed my fingers. Please keep your promise.
Moving my domino from the bedside table to under my pillow, I repeated my wish until I fell into a fitful slumber.
