“Great,” I muttered. My main suspect had been murdered.
I pulled out my phone and dialed Andy, who answered on the second ring.
“Hey, it’s Ali,” I greeted him.
“Oh, hi,” he said warmly. “What’s up?”
“Well, I have some good news, and I have some bad news. Which one do you want first?”
“How about the good news?”
“I found Raoul Lupo.”
“Excellent. Where is he?”
“In the building Vernon Montgomery wants to develop into condos. Tell Jack; he’ll know where it is. You guys are going to want to come over here now.”
“Have you stopped him?”
“In a way.”
“What’s the bad news?”
“I don’t think he’s our killer.”
“Wait, why do you say that?”
“Someone bashed him over the head. He’s dead.”
There was silence on the other end of the line for a split second, then Andy was immediately in Enforcer mode.
“Alright, don’t touch anything. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
About five minutes later, Jack and Andy came through, both wearing gloves. I had undone both my spells and used my wand to create a light that allowed everybody to see, not just me.
“You really have a penchant for finding trouble, don’t you?” Jack said to me with a wry smile.
“Well, if you were better at your job, you would have found him first,” I replied.
“How did you know he was here?” Andy asked, and I recounted my interview with Starr at the coffee shop and my reasoning.
“Good thinking,” Andy said, obviously impressed.
“So what killed him?” Jack asked, squatting down next to the body.
“Well, I’m no Healer, but I’m going to assume it was the giant hole in the back of his head,” I offered, and Jack raised his eyebrows at me.
“Gee, thanks for the tip. Have you found a murder weapon?”
“I think it might be over here,” Andy said, walking towards the pile of garbage that Raoul had left in the corner. “There are three small brass globes over here, and one of them appears to have blood on it.”
“Want to check it for fingerprints?” Jack asked, and Andy nodded, pulling out his wand and pointing it at the globe in his gloved hand. He muttered a spell, and the globe suddenly glowed blue. Above it, like a hologram, appeared a small picture of Raoul’s mug shot.
“Just our victim,” Andy replied, the disappointment in his voice obvious.
“That’s too bad,” Jack said. “I wonder where he got that. Maybe he stole it, hoping to sell it for a bit of cash. I’ve called Chief Enforcer Loeb and the hospital. A Healer will be here soon to look at the body.”
“I honestly didn’t think I’d find him dead,” I said to no one in particular. “I was sure he had killed Rudoldir.”
“Did you speak with Beatrix?” Jack asked, and I nodded.
“Yeah. She was pretty open with me. She admitted to her former problems and told me that she got the job because Rudoldir reached out and offered it to her as a way to help her get her feet under her,” I said. “That was disappointing to hear. I was kind of hoping that Beatrix would have tried to hide the fact that Rudoldir was the elf who did her mother’s appeal and that she had secretly gotten the job so she could undermine him.”
“Well, just because she was honest with you doesn’t mean she didn’t do that,” Jack said. “I wouldn’t write her off as a suspect completely. But you don’t think she did it?”
“No,” I replied, shaking my head. “She didn’t have an alibi for the murder, apart from being able to tell me what happened on the previous night’s Mageopardy game. But anybody could have looked that information up after. That said, I got the impression that she was genuine. I’d be very surprised if she turned out to be the killer. I was sure it was Raoul.”
“What interests me the most is why kill Raoul?” Andy mused. “Who else knew he was in town? He was obviously keeping to himself, and he doesn’t look or smell like he’s been dead for as long as Rudoldir has.”
“Maybe he did kill Rudoldir,” I offered. “Maybe someone else found out and killed him.”
“That’s possible,” Jack said slowly. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence he was killed within days of the elf that he was probably here to see. The two murders have to be linked.”
“I agree,” Andy said, nodding. “If we solve Raoul Lupo’s murder, it will give us a much clearer idea as to who killed Rudoldir. I think the same paranormal committed both murders.”
“You don’t think Raoul killed Rudoldir?” I asked, and Andy shook his head.
“No. What’s the motive there? If someone else found out Rudoldir had been killed by Lupo, why not simply go to the Enforcers? It’s not like we would have a difficult time making a case against him.”
“Personal vendetta? Wanting to get justice for Rudoldir themselves?” Jack suggested with a shrug, but Andy shook his head.
“That still doesn’t make sense. Rudoldir had no close family, no one who would be that upset at his death that they would hunt down the shifter who killed him and hit him over the head.”
I had to admit, Andy had a point.
“Alright,” I said. “Regardless, I think we can all agree these murders are linked. Whoever killed Raoul at least knows what happened to Rudoldir. Let’s solve this murder, and we’ll solve the other one.”
Andy and Jack both nodded right as Willow walked through the door.
Chapter 22
“You know, I was about eighty percent sure you were going to be involved when someone told me there was a body found and they needed a Healer,” Willow said to me with a wink as she put on some gloves and made her way
