I held up my cell phone, and she scowled. “I had everything under control.” She marched over to talk to the guy. I didn’t even have to ask her to.
Sitting hard on the concrete sidewalk, I forced myself to calm down, to steady my nerves. Wolf was snarling, and I pulled her back, gasping for breath while trying not to show it. Cormac didn’t seem at all bothered. Lips pursed, he cradled his arm and gazed thoughtfully at the church.
“So. Did that do what you wanted it to?”
Straightening, he brushed ashes off his jacket and jeans, wincing as he resettled his broken arm in its sling. The wince turned into a grin. “Didn’t manage to knock it down, but I know a little more about it now.”
“You seem inordinately pleased.” Half a block away, Hardin was showing her badge to the firefighter, who had his arms crossed and seemed unhappy.
“Every time it does something, I learn something new. A little more digging and I ought to be able to bust right through that thing.”
He didn’t even seem interested in the vampires anymore. It was all about the spell.
“The plan didn’t work,” I said. “Columban and Rick still haven’t come out.” He glanced at me sidelong but didn’t answer.
A few minutes later, a classroom-sized group of people came out the front door of the church and trailed down the steps, backpacks over their shoulders, talking to each other. Some of them saw the fire engine, and pretty soon they were all staring. But since no alarms were blaring and nothing was actually on fire, the students wandered off.
This could have turned out so badly. I silently thanked whatever might be listening that it hadn’t.
The firefighter whom Hardin had talked to and one of his colleagues started walking around the church, investigating—checking for more stray sparks, which seemed wise. Hardin returned to us, extinguisher tucked under one arm. She put her ash-covered hands in front of her, studying them. Some of the white flecks from the firestorm had drifted onto her hair and showed starkly against its dark color.
“You okay?” I asked her.
“I hid behind my badge and managed to convince them the fire was accidental and that we took care of it. I don’t want to have to explain the whole story. Mostly because I don’t know it.” Frowning, she said to Cormac, “I don’t see my suspect coming out to check on his spell.”
“That’s because the spell is still there,” he said, cradling his arm and wincing. “I didn’t break the protection, just pissed it off.”
“So now what?” she demanded.
“Just give me a few more days,” Cormac said.
“Maybe I can arrest you for fraud,” she muttered. I thought she was joking. Probably. She may have still been bitter that she wasn’t the one to put him away. Maybe she was looking for a second chance. Other than the fried bush and ashy streaks on the wall and sidewalk, no evidence of the conflagration remained. At this point, she didn’t have the physical evidence to charge Cormac with anything. But give it time …
“You can’t arrest him,” I said in a rush. Cormac was so close to finishing his parole, didn’t he see that? Didn’t she see it? If he wrecked that chasing down some wild goose that I’d set him on, I’d never forgive myself.
She said, “Did you learn enough about it to try again?”
“Yes,” he said. He probably would have said yes no matter what.
“And is this going to get my suspect to come out of there so I can arrest him?”
“Keep knocking at his door hard enough, he’ll come out,” he said.
She nodded, apparently satisfied.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said, a hand on Cormac’s shoulder to steer him back to the street.
“Hey,” Hardin said, stepping into our path, stopping us. “What happened to you in prison?”
“What makes you think anything did?” he said in his usual flat tone.
“Ever since you got out, you’ve been … weird. Not crazy, not more crazy at least. In fact I think you’ve been less crazy.”
“Less crazy?” he said, with a short laugh, like he thought it was hilarious. As well he might.
“Before, you acted like you didn’t have anything to live for. Now, you do.”
I looked at him, to see his reaction. Because I thought she was right. Would he tell her the truth?