Hargrove slipped into the room a few minutes later. Then he locked the door. “Sorry, but my office doesn’t lock properly.”

“It also has a glass door.”

He smirked. “That too. I know why you’re here. I don’t know who actually did it. Yet. Mike’s a good cop.”

“And a good dad, or at least big brother figure.” I smiled slightly. “I figured you were looking into it. I figured we probably don’t want to be working at cross purposes.”

“You’re going to tell me magic’s involved again, aren’t you?”

“There’s a demon. He’s doing this to get to me.”

Hargrove sighed. “Demon. I wish I could refuse to believe you, but I can’t be Scully any more.”

I didn’t quite get his reference. “It’s a pretty powerful demon. I’ve already banished him once and he managed to come crawling back.”

“Alright.”
“So…be careful. I don’t want you getting hurt.” Could I extend some protection to him? Not unless he let me, and I didn’t think he would.

“I’ll try not to get my soul eaten or whatever.”

“Mind control’s more likely. I already know he’s using some kind of influence on the family’s lawyer and we’re checking the family.”

“…that I hadn’t thought of. Of course, I was assuming it was straight up mistaken identity.”

I shook my head. “It’s not. It’s possible all he did was nudge somebody to identify Mike.”

“Is there a way to check witnesses?”

“I can get you something you can use. It won’t give a lot of detail – that takes somebody really trained in this stuff – but it can give a simple yes/no on mental influence.”

“I’m surprised you aren’t checking me.”

I grinned. “Oh, I am.”

He fell silent for a moment, then nodded. “Thanks.”

“Thanks?”

“If I get mind controlled, can you fix it?”

“I can. You might also…are you religious at all?”

He shook his head. “I haven’t been. Maybe I should change that.”

“I’ll work on something, then. I need to talk to an expert. But…please…keep digging. CPS could show up at any time.”

“Which is presumably the demon’s goal.”
I nodded. “He wants to…” A pause. “Break me up with my girlfriend.”

“…I’d think…no…uh…” He started to look uncomfortable.

“Don’t worry about the why. Please just help Mike. Like you said. He’s a good cop.”