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"Maybe soested in an unconscious echo of h it was clear that even she didn’t really believe it could be true

"Yeah, well if they think that, I sure wish they’d come forward so that I could thank them with a really hard punch in the neck," I said with a dark scowl

Jill let out a peal of laughter "Oh, good lord, you’ve been spending way too rinned "Careful I’m sure she’s around here somehow She probably heard that"

"How does this killer know that all these people fucked with your life?" she asked, sobering

I rubbed my eyes "Dunno Dauess it wouldn’t be too hard to find out about my dad’s death But Barry Landrieu? Only a few people know about that"

Jill opened her mouth to speak then closed it as Pellini approached

"Betcha it’s a drug overdose," he said as he did his best to hoist his pants a little higher under his gut "Fucking loser What the fuck did you ever see in that dickhead, Gillian?"

Spreading my hands, I said, "Dude I plead teh I was lonely and desperate, and Thomas acted like he understood the lifestyle of a cop After all, he’d been a fireman Of course, later I found out that he’d been fired for a laundry list of infractions--everything from insubordination to violations of safety protocols that put his coworkers at risk

Pellini huffed out a breath under hisa prisoner into the jail sa like a little kid who’d lost his puppy What a duuo, then shot her attention back to h the jail here"

I blinked "That’s right" I thought furiously for a moment "And…my name would be in the records, in the victim impact statements"

"Which means that whoever the summoner is, he or she has access to the arrest reports!"

"But it’s been long enough that those are public record now," I pointed out, wincing "That could be anybody"

Jill frowned "True But what are the odds that whoever’s doing this saw you listed as a victim somewhere and then decided to see if there were any other instances? Isn’t itpeople you didn’t care for would check to see if you’re listed as victim on any police reports?"

I considered her theory It made sense More sense than the theories I already had, which were nonexistent "It’s possible," I ade pool Not just law enforcement, but anyone orks in records, the DA’s office, the public defender’s office…"

"Okay, okay!" She held her hands up in surrender "But we can rule out David the barista, right?" she said with a laugh

I tapped my chin "Fine We can eliminate David the barista as a suspect For now! But if he turns out to be our summoner, then I’ll never let you live it down"

"Deal!"

My phone buzzed with a text e from Tessa

…portal just below surface Pls put wards back after they scrape turd off the lawn

"Dalanced over at Jill "Portal at the Nature Center There goeshappy coincidence"

She winced "And still no clue what these portals are for?"