Shadow Duel (Prof Croft Book 9) by Brad Magnarella (ereader with android .txt) 📕

“I’m really sorry about this,” I said, gesturing to my supine body.

She leaned over and pressed her lips to mine. “Just shut up and tell me what happened.”

“Which is it, shut up or tell you what happened?”

When she frowned, I snorted a weak laugh. I then told her everything, from my trip to the Discovery Society to being transported into the shadow present to fighting the Cerberus shifter to finally returning to the actual present on West Seventieth Street. The only part I left out was my encounter with her shadow. I didn’t want her feeling guilty for something she’d had no control over. At one point, she touched the place where her shadow’s bullet had seared my cheek, a thin scar now.

“What do you make of it all?” she asked when I finished.

“Well, for starters—and Hoffman’s not going to like this—Bear Goldburn’s killer definitely isn’t Vince Cole. Bear wasn’t even killed here. Everything the scrying spell showed me happened in the shadow present.” That explained the heavily armed security I’d observed at the bar and thought was overkill. “The shifter took Bear to the body shop, where the shifter’s master removed his kidneys.”

“And his kidneys disappeared from his real body?”

“Apparently so. And I’m sure it has to do with the potion I found in his system. The same potion Robert Strock was carrying last night. I think he might be the ‘master’ in question. At the very least, it makes him a person of interest.”

“Robert Strock died early this morning.”

“What?” I pushed myself onto an elbow as she accessed the report on her phone.

“Yeah, his wife got up to use the bathroom, and when she came back to bed, she found him jaundiced and unresponsive. The first responders couldn’t resuscitate him. He was declared dead at the hospital. But here’s the part that’s most interesting: ‘Imaging showed he was absent his liver,’” she read.

“He was carrying the potion last night, just not in a bottle,” I said, wanting to kick myself. “It was in his system. Someone else gave it to him.”

“Any ideas who?”

“The two things the victims have in common are being among the city’s most powerful men and holding fellowship positions at the Discovery Society. Everyone and their mother is going to be talking about the first, but my gut and magic are saying the second. And look at what’s been taken. Kidneys and a liver.”

“Purifying organs,” she remarked.

“Suggesting this may not be a personal vendetta against the victims. The killer is after specific components from specific people. It also suggests they’re not done. What’s left among the purifying organs?” As part of her continuing education, Vega had recently completed a course in forensic anatomy.

“The largest would be the lungs,” she said. “Arguably a couple minor organs.”

“So at least one more victim, possibly more. And the most likely targets are the remaining fellows, Sunita Sharma and Walter Mims. I think the potion in the victims’ systems binds them to the fates of their shadow selves. Messy deaths over there, but complete mysteries here with no evidence or suspects.”

“And if the perp is one of the fellows?”

I thought about Sunita’s preternatural protection and Mims’s consternated look when he spotted me at the meeting. “Could very well be, but they could also be carrying the potion inside them, like Strock. Or on the verge.” I checked our bedside clock. It was a little after seven, meaning we had a shot at catching the two fellows at home. I lowered my legs off the side of the bed and sat up. “I need to see them,” I said as the room wavered and steadied again. “Can the NYPD get their contact info and notify them they’re in danger?”

“On it. I’ll also put a watch on them. Guess who drew the case?”

“Hoffman?” I asked, taking my first tentative steps toward the closet.

“And you,” she said from my elbow. “At the mayor’s request. In fact, he wants you to call him as soon as possible.”

Bear Goldburn and Robert Strock had been two of the cornerstones in Budge’s recovery plans for the city. And now both were dead. I could only imagine the panicked meetings happening over the phone.

“The priority right now is denying the perp any more victims,” I said. “I’ll have to call the mayor from the road.”

I had a shirt halfway off its hanger, when Vega seized my wrist. Her intense eyes reminded me of her shadow. “I have a couple questions first,” she said. “We’re assuming the perp sent you to this alternate present, right? What’s to stop them from sending you again?”

It was a great question. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a great answer.

“I need to figure out how the perp managed it. It wasn’t through the potion—if it’d been in my system, the hunting spell would have alerted me—which leaves remote magic of some kind. I’ll prepare some potions before I head out again. I also have an idea for an enhanced weapon. If I do end up back there, I’ll be ready.”

I kissed her forehead, but her eyes remained grave.

“Who came from the Order?” I asked, changing the subject. “Arianna?”

“No, Gretchen.”

I tuned into the currents of healing magic—traditional, but with odd fae-like swirls. And it was doing its job. I could barely feel the throbbing in my thigh now. Guilt twanged inside me. Maybe I’d been too hard on Gretchen.

“And guess who drove her to the hospital?”

With one leg inside my pants, I looked over. “No.”

Vega nodded. “Bree-yark wanted to hang around until you’d recovered, but Gretchen insisted she needed to be taken home, and off they went.”

“He promised he wouldn’t talk to her.”

“Oh, believe me, I gave him plenty of looks to let him know exactly how I felt. I think he was relieved to get out of there.”

“Well, he’ll be my first call this morning,” I said. “I’m going to ask him to pick up a couple things for me.”

“I’ll get some coffee started while I call the