I poked at Mary Poppins’s picture on
the TV. “It’s her. She’s your conspiracy.”
“What? No. There’s no way corporate
Barbie there could be behind this.”
I grabbed the tablet, fumbling with
it to go back to the wide display with all the notes. I pointed at the arsons.
“She was the partner of the guy responsible. The same guy also made the serial
killer from two years ago.”
“Made? How do you make a serial
killer?” Lindsey folded her arms, staring flatly at me.
I waved that off. “She’s had access
to the top stuff in the city, and probably been arranging things on the side.
The high muckety mucks of the city all get briefed by the city’s police and
fire, right?”
She nodded slowly. “So I’m betting
that they’re pretty free when it comes to their personal assistants. I bet if
you go digging, you’ll find Mary Poppins has some kind of connection to most of
the things on this board.”
“Maybe I’ll look into it, if you
answer me one question.”
“What?”
“Is she supernatural? Some kind of
vampire or mind-controlling bugaboo?”
I squeezed my eyes shut, and sighed.
“No.”
“So she’s not doing anything
magical?”
“That’s not what you asked.”
“I’m asking now.”
“I don’t know. My best guess is that
she’s some kind of sorceress.”
“A witch?”
“Good a word as any, I guess. She
can do magic. How much, I don’t know. But a few weeks back, she popped open
that umbrella and flew like Mary Poppins. Better, actually.”
“You do know how insane that sounds,
right?”
“Fine, blow me off.” I pulled out my
phone, and took a picture of the the councilwoman and the girl from Reese’s
tablet.
“What are you doing?”
“Been looking for her. Now that I’ve
got a solid lead, I’m going to chase it down.”
“You’re actually serious. What, are
you on some kind of crusade?”
I began texting Kate “Got a lead
on her. Top of the steps on her phone with the umbrella. Will contact again
when I’ve got more.”
“Crusade? No. I’ve been hired to
find her.”
“By who?”
I gave her a flat look. She knew I
wasn’t going to disclose the identity of my client, but then I smiled. “A Storm
Rider. I might even be able to introduce you. Then you’ll have your proof of
the supernatural.”
“Uh huh.”
She closed the cover on her table and yanked the cable out of it. “Should’ve
known better than to try and convince a lunatic.”