Kasey groaned and started heading back to the shop. She couldn’t stay out in the open any longer. Right now, she was two doors down from the bookstore, hovering out of earshot of the police, but close enough she hoped their presence would discourage any enthusiastic admirers.
“Thanks for the warning, and for knocking back the contract,” Kasey replied.
Hades refusing to host the contract sent a message to the city’s underworld, loud and clear. Hades didn’t want the contract filled. It was a subtle gesture but one that might discourage anyone under his influence from taking it up. Perhaps that was unbridled optimism on her part, but at least it was something.
“Kasey, you should know the Garden is in town.”
“The Garden?” Kasey asked.
“Savage Garden. Have you heard of them?”
In her mind she had a faint recollection of the nineties boy band. She'd bought their album when she was in school.
“I thought they stopped touring years ago,” Kasey asked.
There was an audible groan and what sounded like Hades banging his head against the desk again. “Not the boy band, Kasey. The assassins. A pair of gnomes operating under the alias Savage Garden. They are demolitions experts and brutal operators. Normally they work in Europe, but they were spotted slipping out of a cargo hold at JFK yesterday. It can’t be a coincidence.”
“Love the alias,” Kasey replied. “They sound like a riot.”
“They are murderous little bastards with a penchant for explosives. If they are here in New York, it’s because they mean to collect on that bounty. Others will too, so please, be sensible, get off the streets, and wait for this to blow over.”
“I'm working a case, Hades. I can't just take a vacation every time someone wants to settle a score. I’d never get anything done.”
“Just tell Bishop what’s going on. She’ll understand. She wouldn’t want anything to happen to you, either.”
Kasey’s searching gaze paused as she examined the store in front of her. It was an antiques dealer with large bay windows filled with old furniture, jewelry, and a host of other trinkets.
“We’ll see. She isn’t your biggest fan,” Kasey replied as she examined the bay window. High in the right-most corner, almost out of sight, was a camera housing. It was tucked in tight against the internal wall. Its angle would capture the sidewalk in front of the store, but if they were lucky it might just capture the street in front of Casimir's as well.
“You aren’t taking me seriously, Kasey,” Hades said, his voice growing weary or worried, or perhaps both.
“I am, I am,” Kasey replied. “Thanks for the warning. I'll go underground. I just need to check one thing first.”
“Don’t lose your head,” Hades replied. “I've grown rather fond of it.”
With that, the crime lord killed the call. Kasey tucked the phone back into her pocket, scanned the street once more to make sure no one was paying too close attention to her, and then headed for the store. One of the uniformed officers standing at the cordon lifted his head, but she gave him a wave and continued on her way.
Kasey pushed open the door and stepped into the store. The tiny storefront was filled with antique furniture and collectibles but looked more like a hoarder’s paradise than a genuine store. Things were jammed in so tight there was barely enough room to weave between the mountains of junk. Hardwood furniture only provided more surfaces to pile ‘stock’ on. How anyone could find anything in here was a mystery.
Kasey made her way to the counter, and did a double take. A young man in his twenties with a mop of brown hair manned the desk, or at least should have been. He was resting on a three-legged stool doing his level best to hold up the wall.
She’d expected someone, well, older. It would have taken a lifetime to accumulate this much junk. He couldn’t be the owner. Besides, he looked far too interested on whatever was playing on his phone. One ear bud dangled loosely against his chest while the other was tucked in his left ear.
Kasey leaned on the counter. “Hey there, am I interrupting?”
The young man let out a surprised squeal as he looked up, almost overbalancing on the stool as he did.
He clutched at his chest as he tried to recover his cool. “Damn, you nearly gave me a heart attack.”
“Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”
Kasey flashed him a smile, hoping to set him at ease. She wanted that camera footage. She needed to wrap up this case quickly, before it cost her head.
“What can I help you with?” the man asked.
Kasey pointed at the front window. “I notice your store has a camera in the window. Tell me it’s not a fake.”
“It’s real, all right,” the man replied. “Why?”
Kasey grinned. “Excellent. I'm with the Ninth Precinct. We’re looking into the robbery at Casimir’s.”
The man’s eyes played over the Tyvek jumpsuit. “Any luck catching them?”
She shook her head. “It’s still early and we’re building our case. I was outside and noticed the angle of your camera. I don't suppose it caught anything, did it?”
He gave a small nod as he clutched his phone. “It did, but you’re not going to believe it.”
Kasey shook her head. “I think you'll find my threshold for the unbelievable higher than you would expect.”
The man stood up and set his phone on the counter. “Get a load of this, then. I was watching it when you walked in.”
He turned his phone around and pressed the play button.
The screen was small and the video a little grainy. Kasey hunched over the glass counter to better see the screen. The time stamp said 4:50 AM.
The video showed a car pulling up in front of Casimir’s. It was a silver sedan with tinted windows. Two figures climbed out of the backseat and strolled onto the curb. One was tall and wore a heavy black cloak that obscured his face from the camera’s view. The other was of medium height, with a bald head and a scrawny build. The two of them eyed Casimir’s store, before the man in the cloak drew something small out and handed it to his bald companion.
The man looked at the tiny object and then popped it into his mouth.
Without warning, the scrawny figure began to convulse.
Kasey stared at the screen. “What the hell was that?”
Chapter Three
Kasey couldn't believe her eyes as she watched the screen. All of a sudden, the heist at Casimir’s made a lot more sense. Looking up from the screen, she found the young man staring at her.
“That video is evidence of a crime,” she began. “You didn't think to offer it to the police?”
“Uh, well,” the man said, raising both his hands, “I only just found it on the surveillance system. I wanted to see what was on it. I was gonna tell them, I swear.”
His hands trembled at the thought of having done something that might draw the NYPD's displeasure. There was no guile in him. He was just a college kid with something he thought was interesting.
“Let me save you the trouble,” Kasey said. “Send it to me and I'll take it to my partner.”
He eyed Kasey warily. “You don't look like you work for the police.”
“I consult,” she replied, pointed to her Tyvek bodysuit. “I work crime scenes with Detective Bishop from the Ninth Precinct. I can go grab her if you like.”
The man fidgeted. Perhaps the footage wasn’t the cause of his discomfort.
“That won't be necessary. What's your number? I'll send you the footage.”
Clearly, he didn’t want to speak with the police directly, which probably meant he was hiding something. Kasey made a mental note to ensure Bishop sent a few uniforms to have a chat with him, just in case. In the meantime, she gave him her cell number and waited for the footage to arrive.
Her phone vibrated, and she looked down to see the message and the recording. She flashed the man a smile. “Thanks.”
“We're all good, then. No obstruction of justice her
e?” the man asked.
“Yup,” Kasey replied as she headed for the door.
As soon as her feet touched the snow-covered sidewalk, she turned for Casimir’s. She needed to find Bishop and show her what they were dealing with. Kasey looked up the street just in time to see Bishop disappear back into Casimir's. Kasey eased past the police cordon and raced after her, her boots almost sliding on the snow covered sidewalk. She grabbed the door to catch herself and paused to catch her breath before slipping into the store after Bishop.
“Bishop. You have got to see this,” Kasey called, holding out her phone.
Bishop turned to Kasey. The crow’s feet at the corner of her eyes and the series of little wrinkles on her forehead indicated she hadn't forgotten their earlier discussion. “What is it? What did Hades want?”
Kasey shook her head. “No, not Hades. Check this video. The store two doors down had a camera that caught part of the street. We can’t see what happened in here, but the rest is pretty clear.”
“And they just gave you the footage?” Bishop asked.
“Well, I might have told them you were my partner.”
“Kasey,” Bishop warned.
“What? You were just telling me that West wanted me back at the precinct, and we were partners, at least up until a few weeks ago.”
“Impersonating an officer is a crime. One you could be jailed for,” Bishop replied.
Kasey shook the phone. “Don't worry. I told him I was a consultant, not an officer, and that’s true enough, or I wouldn’t be here. Do you want to see the footage or not?”
Bishop let out a low rumble of disapproval but nodded. “Yes, of course. Show it to me.”
Kasey strode over to the glass counter. Three of the sections had been caved in. The aluminum edging lay in a heap in the shattered confines of the display cases, but one panel had managed to survive the assault. She gingerly laid her phone on the counter and hit play.
The footage showed the sedan arriving, pulling up in front of Casimir’s in the early hours of the morning. The two men got out and walked around the vehicle. One wore a heavy robe with a cowl pulled up over his head.
“Shame about that robe,” Bishop said. “We can't get a good look at his face.”
“Yeah, who wears a robe these days anyway?” Kasey replied. “I mean, that’s pretty suspect to start with.”
“Agreed,” Bishop replied, as she pointed at the second one. “The bald one should be easy enough though.”
Unlike his partner, he didn't make any effort to conceal his identity.
Kasey had to agree. Normally, thieves shared a dress code but she'd seen the entire video and knew exactly why Mr. Tall and Mysterious cared little for his companion’s ability to conceal his identity.
The man in the robe handed something small to the bald man, who took one look at it and popped it in his mouth, swallowing it whole as he stared down the entrance to Casimir’s store.
The effect was almost immediate. The bald man began to tremble and shake as if he was having a seizure. Then his entire form rippled and shifted, his torso swelling grotesquely fast as his pectorals and biceps tripled in size. He went from lean to Schwarzenegger so fast that Kasey worried that his entire upper body was going to explode. It looked like someone had plugged him into one of those tire pressure machines at a gas station and pumped him up like a balloon. His veins were swollen and dark, crisscrossing his exposed skin like a spider web.
At this distance, it was difficult to see his eyes, but the man opened his mouth and bellowed what looked like a defiant scream and started toward Casimir’s bookstore. The man vanished off the screen and a few seconds later the entire security grill was hurled through the camera frame.
Bishop gasped. “He did that? By hand?”
“I don't know what was in that pill,” Kasey replied, “but the man just hulked his way through a security grill like it was nothing.”
Bishop shook her head. “Here I was thinking I'd seen everything.”
“Me too,” Kasey replied, pointing at the screen. “Whatever that is, it’s dangerous. The human body can't take that kind of abuse.”
“How is that kind of muscle growth even possible, though?” Bishop asked. “Look at his veins. That can’t be good for him.”
Kasey shrugged. “I don't think his friend cares all too much about his well-being.”
“What makes you say that?” Bishop asked.
“There is more,” Kasey replied.
Kasey fast forwarded a few minutes and the man reappeared, stomping out of the store toward the parked sedan. The man was heaving and gasping for breath, his body struggling to deal with its new bulk. Two steps behind him, the man in the black robe emerged, a large tome tucked under his arm. It was bound in black leather and something on its cover appeared to be glowing, but the angle of the shot made it impossible to read the detail. The hooded man reached into his pocket, pulled out a pistol, and said something to the struggling thug. The man whirled, only to find the pistol’s barrel inches from the front of his face.
His eyes went wide, but before he could lift a hand, the man in the robe pulled the trigger.
It was point blank range, an execution.
The man's body hit the sidewalk, and the leader simply stepped over the corpse, opened the sedan, and slid into the back seat. The car sped out of the frame.
“Well, at least we know what happened,” Bishop replied. “Send me the video so I can run the plate. Hopefully that will give us something.”
“Will do,” Kasey replied, picking up her phone. “It also means Casimir was certainly lying. Whatever that book was, it reeks of the arcane. Glowing glyphs isn't something you would find in the public library.”
Behind Kasey, the door to the store opened. A chill ran down her spine, and she remembered Hades’ warning. She reached into the shattered remains of the desk and grabbed one of the aluminum bars that formed part of the frame. Turning, she raised the bar in self-defense.
Casimir, who had just entered the store, leapt back so quickly he dropped the coffee cup holder he'd been carrying. The two coffees spilled all over the floor of the store.
“What is wrong with you?” Casimir asked, a panicked shriek in his voice.
Realizing how she must look, Kasey set down the piece of metal. “Sorry, you startled me. That's all.”
“Casimir,” Bishop began, approaching the store owner. “We want to know exactly what that book in the safe was.”
“What book?” Casimir stammered. “There was nothing in the safe.”
Bishop shook her head and reached for her cuffs. “You can tell us here or down at the station. We have footage showing the thieves leaving carrying something nasty and bound in black leather. Are you going tell us what it was, or are we going to have to do this the hard way?”
Casimir let out a sigh. “I knew that damn book was nothing but trouble. This is what I get for not listening to my gut.”
“I don’t care about your gut,” Bishop said, looming over him. “Tell us about the book.”
“What do you want to know?” Casimir replied, backing away half a step.
“Everything,” Kasey answered. “But let's start with what it is. If people are willing to kill for it, it must be something special.”
“Especially dangerous,” Casimir replied. “If you’re from our world, that is, and know how to use such things.”
“Our world?” Kasey asked.
“Yeah. If you’re gifted,” Casimir said, looking down at his feet.
“You’re a wizard?”
Casimir straightened his suit. “Not an elementalist like you. My gifts are more subtle. I was a linguist.”
“That's a thing?” Bishop ask
ed, looking at Kasey.
Kasey nodded. “It's a talent, a rare one. Linguists are meant to be able to use their power to understand languages, even those they haven’t encountered before. A useful skill in your vocation, I imagine, Casimir.”
“You could say that,” Casimir replied, straightening up a little. “I think that's why they brought the book to me in the first place. They weren't able to read it.”
“You could?” Bishop asked.
“Indeed, I'm fluent in more than thirty languages and can manage in a dozen others. The tome was ancient. The seller didn’t stand a chance.”
“Tell us more about the book. What was it?” Kasey asked.
“Seriously bad mojo, reeks of the forbidden,” Casimir answered. “Anyone with the gift would recognize it for what it was, but even a vanilla mortal could sense it. The thief was keen to get rid of it, so he sold it to me for five grand cash.”
“How do you know they stole it?” Bishop asked.
“Forbidden tome in the hands of a non-gifted individual.” Casimir shrugged. “I did the math. There was no way he owned that book. Wouldn't tell me where he got it and was more than happy to be rid of it.”
“You know it's illegal to trade in the forbidden,” Kasey said.
“Not under New York state law,” Casimir replied.
“No, under the arcane covenant,” Kasey stepped toward him. “A trip to the station is the least of your worries right now. How do you think the Council will respond to this?”
Casimir raised his hands. “Hey, I'm cooperating. If I tell you what I know, can you leave the Council out of it?”
“That depends how useful it is,” Kasey replied.
Bishop shot her a sideways look, but Kasey shrugged. “We have no real evidence that it was stolen, just suspicion. If someone reports it, you can do with that what you will. In the meantime, we need to know more about the book. Someone with some serious juice just busted down your door to take it. Clearly, they knew what it was, and where to find it.”