Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 121854 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121854 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“What was it?” Illium asked. “The shop? I assume he ran it for Navarro.”
Nodding, Dmitri said, “Place sold liquor.” He pulled up an image of the shop before the fire.
Illium leaned in for a closer look.
Dingy paintwork, faded signage, bottles lined up in the window, this wasn’t the neighborhood shop where folks went to pick up a bottle of wine or a six-pack of beer. This was for serious drinkers. Not the kind of place Illium would’ve expected an angel like Navarro to acquire, but it might’ve been about holding the land rather than any particular desire for the shop.
“The way the fire’s contained to the footprint of the targeted shop,” Aodhan said, the sound of his voice rolling over Illium in a resonant wave. “Is that part of the reason for suspicion?”
“Not the containment but the ferocity of the blaze.” Dmitri switched back to the still of the destroyed building. “While the fire crew managed to keep it from spreading, they remember it being a hard battle. That’s part of why they thought it the result of an angelic strike—with all the alcohol on the scene providing the perfect fuel.”
Illium nodded. While only archangels could create angelfire, the virulent flame that could end the life of another archangel, powerful angels could turn their power into energy. Both Illium and Aodhan could do it, and if they set flame to a place as incendiary as a liquor shop, it was possible it’d burn until it ran out of fuel.
“The buildings on either side and behind it are concrete,” he murmured, working through the mechanics in his head. “Same as Marco’s shop. Not easy to burn without assistance.”
“A mortal could’ve set it up from the inside using additional accelerants,” Aodhan suggested, “but it would’ve required being fatally close to the danger…whereas even a weak angel could ignite it from a safe distance using a weapon.” Frowning, he went around to the other side of the desk so he could look more carefully at the photos and stills.
While Aodhan zoomed in on details, Illium said, “Why was such a young vampire in this part of the city during the war in the first place? Anyone of that age was given a relatively safe task out of the line of fire.” Unlike Lijuan, Raphael hadn’t been out to sacrifice the untrained.
“That’s part of the mystery,” Dmitri said, just as Aodhan stopped on an image of the remains taken by Giulia.
Charred bones, two skulls, colored glass melted onto them.
“No fangs on the right skull. The mortal.”
“Yes.” Dmitri pulled up a photo of a pretty woman with short black curls and skin several shades darker than his own. She wore black-framed spectacles and had a dreaminess about her that was echoed in the print of the blouse she wore—a watercolor of flowers rippling on water, the strokes deliberately smudged by the artist so that nothing was defined or sharp.
“We were able to identify her because Giulia was all but certain it had to be Marco’s girlfriend, Tanika. While her dentist’s building was obliterated in the war, he’d backed up his patient records in the ether.”
“Cloud,” Illium corrected because Dmitri had asked him to point out any such errors; the other man was one of the most technologically savvy of the other Seven, but every so often, he said something that reminded Illium that the second was over a thousand years old.
Dmitri nodded to acknowledge the correction, and Illium knew he wouldn’t make that mistake again. “Marco’s dentist had his pre-Making X-rays. Since only the incisors change in the Making, we were able to verify the vampiric remains as Marco’s with ninety percent certainty. Add in the location and it’s unlikely to be anyone else, but the forensic teams are running further tests.”
“How old was Tanika?” Aodhan asked.
“Twenty-nine.”
All of them went silent. Mortal lives were so short, and this mortal life had been snuffed out at a point where an angel would yet be a child, a being who’d barely even glimpsed the world.
“The pathologist who examined the remains found no signs of visible trauma,” Dmitri said at last, “but it could’ve been a soft-tissue injury obliterated by the fire. I’ve authorized a forensic anthropologist to take a look anyway.”
Illium took in the second’s expression, realized they were missing something. “You’re going to a lot of trouble for a case many people would’ve written off as an accident of war. Especially this long out from the deaths.”
Jaw working, Dmitri slid his hands into the pockets of his pants. “Walk outside with me.”
Once on the balcony, the crisp morning air brushing their faces, the other man said, “According to Giulia, Marco had gained a stalker sometime in the half year prior to his death. Giulia only knew of part of it, but I managed to touch base with Navarro.