Heather Fleming

Around midnight, Tobias was once again considering telling the OCU agents to solve their boring non-occult crime on their own. He’d been standing around for over five hours, staking out the hallway, and though he’d seen a lot of people who looked rather suspicious, they were more the cheating on their spouses type of suspicious. Not the Satanic psychopath kind of suspicious.

He held the microphone clipped to the cuff of his sleeve close enough to his mouth for it to be activated by his voice, and spoke. “Do you see anything at all, Irons?”

The reply came through his earpiece. “Nothing.”

“I’m seeing a fat lot of nothing here in the lobby too,” said an annoyed Special Agent Kelley. “I wonder why?”

Tobias smirked. “And our friends in the security office?”

Casino security had been read the riot act by Irons for putting their boss’ instructions ahead of the law. After threats of being charged with obstruction of justice and evidence tampering, they’d suddenly become very cooperative. “I don’t see anything out of the ordinary on any of the cameras,” said the grunt in the security office.

“What about people wearing sunglasses even though it’s the middle of the night?” Tobias asked. “Or really shady looking hats?”

“This is Vegas, sir. We get all kinds of crazies here.”

“All kinds of incompetence too,” Tobias muttered, but not into his microphone. He unplugged his earpiece and pulled out his phone, thinking that perhaps he could focus on the situation at hand better if he got a hold of Abdiel. His friend still had not called him back yet and Tobias was really starting to worry.

No luck. “This is Abdiel. Leave me a message or leave me alone.”

“Hey,” Tobias said, “It’s me. Again. What are you doing in Garville? I’ve been waiting to hear from you for over twenty-four hours. If you’re not going to follow the rule about not hunting alone, couldn’t you at least follow the one about checking in with someone? So . . . I don’t know, so that the guy who handed you off the job doesn’t think you got your fool self killed? It’s common courtesy –”

“Are you talking to Lucien?”

Tobias jumped and spun to glower at Leon. It seemed that Matthias had passed his stealth down to his son, along with his abysmal personality failures.

“Just get back to me,” Tobias said into the phone. “Soon. I’ll talk to you later.” He turned off his phone and glared at Leon. “Isn’t it past your bedtime?”

“Was that Lucien?” Leon asked stubbornly.

Tobias decided that Leon wasn’t the only one allowed to be childish. “None of your business,” he told him, and smirked when a scowl crossed the teenager’s face.

“He’s my family, so it is my business,” Leon snapped.

“There’s no blood connection, and he was adopted by your father’s best friend, not your father or any of your other blood relatives. Thus, the law does not recognize any connection.”

“You’re a dick, you know that?”

“So you’ve told me,” Tobias said. “Many, many times.”

“Screw you.”

“Where’s your father? And your sister?”

“Natalia’s doing something for Dad. Dad’s trying to figure out who the victim for Justice is going to be,” Leon said. “And I’m in our room, watching TV, for the record.”

“Don’t expect me to cover for you,” Tobias growled.

“I don’t. But I figure that you’re not going to bother calling my dad to come get me. Not since you’re both in the middle of a hunt.” Leon smirked. “He won’t thank you for that.”

The brat was right, though Tobias was loath to admit it. “What do you mean he’s trying to figure out who Justice is going to be?” he asked, deciding to redirect. “Did he miss the posters for one Lady Justice, topless dancer extraordinaire?”

“He saw them,” Leon said dryly. “They’re kinda hard to miss. He just doesn’t think your fake blood mage is stupid. Stupid, being a very relative term in this case.”

“What are you babbling about?” Tobias asked.

“Your guy might not be smart enough to know the difference between a real blood rite and ritual that he found in a horror movie script, but Dad doesn’t think he’s dumb enough to try to kill some chick who is so obviously being tailed by the FBI,” Leon clarified. “Dad’s trying to find an alternative to Lady Justice.”

“Isn’t it a little late in the game to be trying to figure it out?” Tobias asked, even though the youngest Ferrari made a good point. Maybe they should have looked for an alternate option for who might represent Justice.

“Why? Who’re you guys keeping an eye on? Other than the stripper?” Leon wanted to know.

“No one,” Tobias told him.

“No one?”

“That’s what I just said,” Tobias snapped.

“Are you just saying that because you think I’m going to report in to Dad?” Leon asked warily, “Or because you really don’t have any other candidates?”

Tobias blinked at him. “What? Are you spying for Matthias?” he demanded.

Leon sighed, pulled out his phone, and speed dialed a number. “Dad? Tobias doesn’t have any other candidates. Yes, I’m sure. He didn’t realize I was asking for you until after he told me. I’m sure. The guy never could hide anything –”

Tobias snatched the phone from Leon. “Damn it, Matthias!”

“Hey!” Leon tried to snatch the it back. Tobias evaded the attempt without even consciously thinking about it.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked angrily. “Sending your son to spy on me? What the crap?”

“I’ve been too busy to ferret out any more of your secrets myself,” Matthias said calmly. “I thought Leon would be up for the task, though apparently he still has a bit to learn about discretion.”

“Give me back my phone!”

“You couldn’t have just asked?” Tobias growled.

“There has never been an abundance of trust between us,” Matthias pointed out. “Were it not for my astute observation skills, I would still be ignorant of the fact that you are now a gargoyle. As it is now, I’m still in the dark as to how you became one. If you would like to establish a bond of trust between my family and yourself, you could reveal that to me.”

“Even if I knew how it happened, I wouldn’t tell you,” Tobias said. “I don’t trust you anymore than I like you – and I don’t like you at all.”

“Give me back my freaking phone, Smithson!” Leon made another attempt to snatch it away.

“You know, if you want some kind of bond of trust, you could tell me who you’ve got in mind as another candidate for Justice,” Tobias said, batting Leon to the side. “Or do you just enjoy working against me?”

“I enjoy working against you because I don’t like you either,” Matthias said coldly. “I haven’t trusted you in eight years.”

Tobias clenched the phone tighter, but quickly relaxed his grip when he heard the plastic casing start to crack. “Then obviously you’re not going to believe anything I say, so I’d be wasting my time if I tried to convince you. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m quite busy.”

“Give it ba – umph!” Leon made a gagging sound as Tobias shoved the phone into his open mouth.

“You’re not choking,” Tobias snapped at him. “Stop acting like a wuss.”

“Screw you!” Leon snarled, then backtracked very quickly. “No, not you, Dad. I was talking to Tobias.”

Tobias rolled his eyes and started walking toward the other end of the hall. And they wonder why Lucien is avoiding them like the plague, he thought. Maybe he was pissed off at first, after that incident in the mines, but by now I think he’s steering clear of all three Ferraris because he’s realized how much easier life is without them!

That was a nice thought, but Tobias knew that it wasn’t true. Abdiel was screwed up enough to think that what happened really was his fault. Of course, it was Matthias’ fault that Abdiel was that screwed up to begin with. Still . . . the bastard did have a point about searching for alternate candidates. Lady Justice was the obvious person to watch, but their murderer had to know that it would be nearly impossible for him to kill her and perform his ritual without getting caught.

So who else could be Justice? Tobias asked himself. Someone from the casino’s chapel? A justice of the peace, maybe? Whoever our psychopath picks, it’s most likely going to be a woman. All the other victims have had the same gender as the character on their respective card. He plugged his earpiece back in and activated his mic. “Hey, security guy,” he said, “Does the chapel employ any female justices of the peace to perform weddings?”

“No. There are – or at least there were – three Protestant priests and two justices of the peace. All of them male,” the guard told him. “Do you think we should increase security in the chapel?”

“No. We’re already spread out pretty thin,” Tobias said, “And the next victim is most likely going to be a woman. Just keep an eye on the chapel through your monitors.”

“I don’t want to take any chances,” Irons said. “Kelley, head to the chapel and tail that justice. You’ll be more useful there than in the lobby.”

Tobias expected the young agent to agree enthusiastically – she had to be bored out of her mind in the lobby, after all – but no response came.

“Agent Kelley?” Irons asked. “Do you copy?”

Again, there was only dead air.

“Oh crap,” Tobias muttered, realizing their oversight.

A woman in law enforcement would make a pretty good candidate for Justice.