I slowly poked my head out, ready to duck back in again if the firing started again.

It didn’t. Everyone was in cover and maybe at least some people were out of ammo. I knew I still had a couple in mine, if I needed them.

Mundanes. Maybe wannabes, but definitely mundanes. I sensed nothing from them except the slightest hint of darkness.

The one of them stepped out. “You guys going to shoot me?”

“No,” Hargrove called. “But your people started it, and you know about firing on cops.”

“I will deal with the people who fired first. What’s with the dead girl?”

“The dead cop. You didn’t do it?” Hargrove emerged slowly.

Mob. Intrigue. Evil, yes, but I wasn’t sensing the kind of evil that had killed Sanchez.

“I don’t kill cops.” The man examined his gun. “Unless it’s self defense. I’ll deal with them.”

“Two of mine are missing.”

“I don’t kidnap cops either.”

“Then maybe you can give me some idea who would.”

I listened to the negotiations with half an ear, checking to see if I had another clip in my pocket. Drat. I should have checked before leaving home.

Well, if I ran out of bullets, it was my own stupid fault. Or maybe the cops had something compatible.

That they couldn’t give to me. I stuck the weapon back in my pocket before anyone had to see it and listened.

“I think it’s a new player in town.”
“We think there might be a ritualistic element.”

The mob man shuddered. “I don’t run with that crowd. You believe me, right?”

“He doesn’t,” I said, stepping out. “There’s…there’s no taint on him.”

His eyes flicked to me. “Cops running with hunters now?”

I shrugged a bit. “Got an interest in the missing cops. I think they’d rather I was somewhere else.” If he thought I was a hunter with some magic, then…

…in a way it was true.

“Well. I don’t know for sure where your guys are, but if I were you, I’d check the old Stenton building.”

Hargrove nodded. “Thanks for the tip. Go deal with your trigger happy rookies.”

I hoped the dealing wouldn’t involve concrete overshoes. I rather felt it would involve something unpleasant but far less permanent.