Page 2 (1/2)

"Might’ve?"

"Well, he was sitting in a chair when it happened--"

"Nope," I said, turning ical sword that holds power--"

"Nope," I said again "I was hired on for the ned to you for a reason It sounds pretty taan, please? It’ll take you two seconds to solve the case It’s girls’ night out tonight I don’t want to otten out of the house without kids? Please I really need this"

I hated sob stories that involved s

The slide of my boots across the clean desk surface preceded the thunk of theround No clun that the job was too slow

I

"You’ll co that she was mid-forties and had birthed a few kids, there was a lot bouncing up and doith her

"Yeah, sure, but I’ around while you do paperwork"

"Pushover," Garret drawled

I gritted e of violence at bay Captain Lox had told me I couldn’t physically assault Garret If I had a probleh the proper channels That was apparently how offices in the Brink ran, and MLE was trying to do things by the book This was explained to me after our first "episode" Garret had harasseda dick) shortly after I started working at MLE full-ti ass, and I had (understandably) punched hi loose a tooth We’d both had to sit through hours of videos on why each of us had behaved badly On that occasion, everyone reed he’d deserved it, but I had been warned that when he didn’t deserve it, I’d get a red flag in s had coone rather quickly The captain had quietly boostedpretty at four and doing pretty good, if I said so myself When Garret was absolutely unbearable, I waited until after hours, followed him in the shadows, and then punched him in the mouth

He’d had a lot of trips to the dentist in the last couple er me

The hot and sticky air coated my exposed skin the rimaced as I followed Clarissa to her car, and slipped my phone into the leather pouch at s filled with spells that eak and h they weren’t great, they were free I’d keep putting my hand out for free spells, no problem

"I’ll debrief you while we’re on the way," Clarissa said after ere in and she’d started up the engine

"You don’t have to I can just take a look for h" She gave a little laugh, condescending in nature It was very ical elee ill surely be above your expertise, since, you know, you aren’t a ue It wasted tia secret department within the Brink law enforcement, ere often called in after the "real" detectives had taken their pictures, written their notes, and noticed all the little details All but a select few thought ere psychics and mystics, and even those select few oftentheir eyes e cae from the bounty hunter days, let me tell you There’d been no rolled eyes on that detail, but there’d been plenty of shifty eyes and shiftier perps Chases had been the norm rather than the exception

Perp Since when did I call theed me for the worse Made me soft Made me follow rules