Blood Double (God Wars #1)(55)
"What about a shrink?"
"Got one coming in this afternoon. I don't know what he might do with this, unless he's got wonder drugs. I can't seem to do anything about it."
"That sucks."
"Yeah. Seen Sali today?"
"Off on the northwest edge," Randy replied. "With Marco and Cori."
*
"Got a body, here," Trevor's newest assistant deputy pointed out the trash container where the dismembered body had been found by a casino employee.
"Any ID?" Trevor could smell the body from twenty feet away.
"Zint Dorn," the deputy handed a comp-vid to Trevor after researching fingerprints.
"Hasn't been here long," Trevor said, reading through Zint's records. "Says he was employed by The Starstrike Casino. What's the cause of death?"
"I can't say for sure, until forensics takes a look. At the moment, I can't say whether his arms and legs were ripped off before his heart was torn out, or vice-versa."
"Nasty way to die, either way," Trevor shook his head. "Get him hauled off to the morgue and get the lab to send me a report as soon as they have it."
"I will."
*
Breanne's Journal
I knew it the moment Zint Dorn's image floated onto the vid-screen inside Queen Lissa's office. I was sitting at her desk after hours, working on disbursements and watching the news at the same time. Zint was Erithia's trained puppy, and chances are he'd run afoul of her temper in some way. She wasn't a nice person—I'd gotten that from my brief reading of her. Squaring my shoulders, I resolved to go hunting again as soon as I finished the pile of requests before me.
*
"My love, I cannot say how happy I am to be with you again." Rathik Erwin kissed Erithia's hands—several times, as he fawned over her. Thankfully, Erithia still had a small stable of rogue Ra'Ak at her command, and they only moved if she commanded it. They were ordered to stay hidden, otherwise.
This one was capable of getting past the shields surrounding Le-Ath Veronis, and that wasn't a simple thing to do. She'd commanded him to bring Rathik to her, to replace Zint. Erithia hid her disgust at Rathik's touch as he continued to kiss her hands.
*
Breanne's Journal
"What do you want?" I'd been working on the final disbursement when Kalenegar the Disgusting appeared, made himself smaller and slid onto a guest chair in the Queen's office.
"Was that you? In those vids?"
"I'm not saying," I tapped figures into my comp-vid.
"Need I tell you how foolishly asinine that was?"
"You don't have to tell me anything. Asinine is as asinine does. I think you've got that whole asinine thing locked up. Anything I can do is just frosting on the brownie."
"Please do not share your food idioms with me."
"Look, I'm sure you got some tasty sunlight somewhere for dinner. I got blood substitute. You have no idea what I'd do for chocolate right now."
"Next time, disable the cameras or I shall be forced to punish you again. I wished to do it this time, but Graegar intervened."
"Then I owe Graegar," I muttered, tapping send on my comp-vid and closing the program. "You, on the other hand," I looked up at him for the first time since he'd arrived, "I owe nothing to you, unless it's a good ass-kicking. Get out. I have things to do."
"None, including the Vhanaraszh, tell me what to do." My head felt as if it had been split open as Kal the * Larentii disappeared.
*
"Can I get you something?" The man behind the desk at the small Visitor's Assistance counter blinked at me in concern. I'd misted to Casino City with a splitting headache, regretting it immediately afterward—the headache was worse.
"Any painkill?" I asked, wondering as I asked whether it would do any good to take it if he did.
"I have packets of painkill," he nodded sympathetically. He looked young, and I held my shield in place so his life wouldn't pass before my eyes. Brown hair, hazel eyes and a nice nose met my gaze instead as he rummaged in a bin below the counter, coming up with a small packet containing two painkill tabs. A cup of water came next, and he stood by as I tossed back both tabs and downed the water in a few gulps.
"Thanks," I said, attempting to smile. With my head pounding as hard as it was, it probably resembled a grimace instead of a frown.
"Too much to drink?" He lifted an eyebrow.
"I wish," I replied and walked out of the tiny Visitor's Assistance Center.
Erithia Cordan had owned and operated the Comet's Tail Casino, and I'd already been there four times, looking through the whole place for her. That included six hundred guest rooms, which currently held nine hundred guests. Who knew where she was? Nevertheless, I looked again, hoping she'd return to the scene of the crime. On my previous trips, I hadn't thought to dig through the attic. I decided to check that while I waited for the painkill to kick in.
Dimly lit, the space was mostly open—there wasn't any need for walls here. It was storage space and little else. What interested me, however, was the large table, more suited to a boardroom than an attic, which took up a corner space. Chairs lined both sides, as if waiting for a meeting to commence. One might assume that it was moved from this meeting room or that when it was needed. It didn't have a bit of dust on it, either. That might not be unusual, if it had been used recently.