Page 3 (1/2)

She hung up without waiting for my answer I didn’t suppose her directive was really optional anyway

I put oninto the sun, and circled the lot to get out I considered running over a couple of protesters, but that would only prove their witches are evil point, so I didn’t I gunned ot a wholeyour skin peeled back and your insides prodded The violation and betrayal of trust It wasn’t logical, but so My private life had just been laid bare to people I had to deal with every day

I pulled over to the side of the road and cried ht myself an ice cream sundae from a Mickey D’s in the same block, ate it in the car, and drove back home

There were protesters in front of my house, too Equal numbers to those at my office So hateful insults is a family affair They blocked my drivehen I tried to turn in, and one stupid woman actually put her toddler down on the concrete in front of h If I was as evil as she clai?

I hit the brakes

Andy wasn’t home; I didn’t even need to check to know that, because if he had been, he’d have been outside with the shotgun, threatening to stand his ground And that would only have made the situation that much more volatile

I put the car in reverse and sped away, leaving a gaggle of protesters hbors hated me before

After soht, I drove to the police headquarters, where Ed Rosen had his office If there was one place anti-witch protesters weren’t likely to gather, it was there And sure enough, the coast was clear when I paid for n in at the visitors desk Once I had the right ID pinned to my jacket, I rode the elevator up with half a dozen others, savoring the relative quiet Nobody gave me odd looks It was like I was justnor that was a sensation I would come to miss very soon

Rosen was in his office and on his phone, frowning intently as he scribbled notes on a yellow legal pad When he glanced up and saw ot off the call fast, hung up, and yanked his door open to bark, "What are you doing here?"

"Can’t go to work," I said "Can’t go ho is a bonfire and a stake"

"Give it a day," he said "You were right about the woman Her name is Portia Garrity, and she’s dead Beaten in her tarot shop with--get this--her own crystal ball Throat slit before she was dead You want to explain to me what her superpoas?"

"She was a seer," I said "She saw the future" He gave hed "Not her own future Other people’s futures She wouldn’t have seen this co, in other words Don’t look at me like that--I don’t make the rules, or I’d be able to turn you into a toad for looking at me like that"

He shook his head, but didn’t pursue the point "Apparently she wasn’t looking far enough ahead to put in a decent security ca who ca the day Her last appointot no record of ins and outs until we broke into the shop after your little yard-related incident and found her dead on the floor ME says she died sometime between two and four in the afternoon, most likely"

"What about the knife?"

"Definitely administered the death stroke on the throat As far as we can tell, the knife wasn’t hers, either Looked old, probably some sort of antique bowie knife"

Poor Portia I tried not to think about her last moments, her confusion and horror, but it was all too real toat my car I’d been hated before, but as an individual Those people out there hadn’t known me or cared to know h

Had Portia been a sy the bad luck to exist? Or was it so and frightening as hell to think that so crowd could lurk so this--to Portia, and htened, but I knew I had to do it I said, "I want to bring Portia back"

Rosen , because he wasn’t surprised His eyes narrowed, and he was shaking his head before I’d even gotten the last of it out "No," he snapped "Not happening New departs No resurrections conducted with city participation or support No payments to resurrection witches, either"

"When did that happen?"

"After Prieto’s et the memo"