Page 8 of A Shade of Myself
“Is there security camera footage to corroborate who attacked whom first, the enthrallment, or this unfamiliar man?” Ryann said.
“No,” Davide said. He looked at me like a drowning victim hoping I’d throw out a lifeline, but it wasn’t my house, and I shrugged helplessly.
“It’s all true,” I said. “And it happened exactly as we said. This was a setup.”
“Okay,” she said.
“No, it really—wait. What?”
Ryann yawned and rubbed her eyes. “I believe you.”
I stood up and jabbed a finger at her clothes. “Then what’s with the bad cop outfit?”
“I haven’t had a chance to do laundry, and after the call woke me up, I grabbed the nearest clean clothing.” She crossed her arms, scuffing at the ground with the toe of her shoe. “You don’t need to be mean about it.”
An incredulous laugh burst out of me. Laundry. “Do you know how badly you scared me?” I stomped my foot.
The Lonestar looked down at her outfit and quirked her lips.
“Are you going to arrest me?” Davide stood up as well, wringing his hands.
“No,” she said. “The deceased was definitely dybbuk-possessed.”
He sagged against the wall. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” she said. “This is now an official investigation. I made a few calls. Wallace Edwards, the vic?” She checked a note on her phone. “He really did work for that pizza company, but he hadn’t been seen in almost three days. Missed a few shifts. Then tonight he showed up, stole a pizza from the kitchen, and bolted.”
“Wallace must have flipped from enthralled to fully possessed over the weekend,” I said. “But even so, this wasn’t some hastily assembled plan.”
“No,” Ryann agreed. “If the man on the beach whom you spoke with is behind this, he needed time to get all his dominos in a row.”
A shiver ran through me at the analogy, given both a prophecy about me being the first domino played in some game and a literal domino I’d been awarded by the Kefitzat Haderech.
I set that aside to ponder later. “He had to find the best candidates to carry out this test. That takes detailed research and planning.”
“Gerald, my colleague, is running a few more tests.” Ryann gestured inside. “But Wallace appears to have died from a brain aneurysm before Davide attacked, brought on by extreme exertion from using his magic. If the stranger from the beach was culpable in Wallace becoming enthralled, then we can get him for murder. And in the unlikely event that Wallace became inhabited on his own, we can still get this other guy for your attempted murder, Davide.” She handed him an ivory card with her name and number printed on it. “You’ll need to be prepared to answer questions that may lead to finding that man, like why he chose you.”
“Wallace was a pizza delivery guy and I’m pretty public about smoking weed. My late-night habits are well-known. I’d be high and confused.” Davide’s self-awareness was surprising. He threw me a wan smile as if reading my thoughts. “I mean, it’s my lifestyle. I don’t have an issue with it, dude. I just know myself well enough to know my blindspots,” he said, crumbling Ryann’s card in his hand. Realizing what he’d done, he smoothed it out as best he could. “I was an easy target. And now I have to live with the fact that I murdered this du—Wallace.”
“I’m so sorry you were dragged into this,” I said. Although it was a miracle Davide hadn’t been enthralled before now, given how much pot he smoked.
Davide was quiet for a long moment as if wrestling with his next words, and I readied myself for an angry outburst, but when he shook his head, he looked more resigned than anything. “You have to live with this too,” he said. “He wanted to get a rise out of you, and he was prepared to use me to get to you. I don’t know why he’s targeting you, but I guarantee if he’s willing to kill someone to get this far, there’s going to be more to come. Shit rolls downhill, and lady, you’re standing at the bottom of an avalanche.” With that, he went inside.
Ryann clasped my shoulder. “He’s not wrong. How’s your security?”
“At home? Fine. The ward is strong.” Thanks to Vancouver’s master vampire, the entire duplex that I co-owned with my ex-husband, Eli Chu, was protected by a powerful ward. Even demons couldn’t get inside.
“This isn’t Zev’s style,” Ryann said.
“No, and he knows the extent of my powers.” I rubbed my bleary eyes. “You want a ride home or back to HQ?”
“That’s okay, I grabbed a co-op car.” She paused. “I’m surprised you’re not insisting on finding this man yourself.”
“Would you let me?”
“Not in any reality.”
“That’s what I figured, so I’m leaving that to you.”
