Read Online A Murder of Mages by Marshall Ryan Maresca - Free Book Online

“Tea, all around? Just cream, Inspector Rainey?”
    “Right,” Rainey said. “Tattoo on the victim’s body indicates he might be a mage. Otherwise unidentified at the moment.”
    “Real freak case,” Kellman said. “Glad you pulled it.”
    “What’s on your boards, boys?” Cinellan asked.
    “Closed up the two horsemen in Dentonhill,” Mirrell said.
    “Closed it wrong,” Minox muttered.
    “Stow it, Jinx,” Mirrell said. “We’re still working that thing on the docks. Warrant would be nice.”
    “Give the Protector something to base a warrant on, and we’ll get on it. What’s the story on your other case, Welling?”
    “I have twenty-five cases, Captain.”
    “Your actual open case, not the ones you think are—”
    “Unresolved?” Rainey offered.
    “Exactly,” Cinellan said. “As far as I’m concerned, you closed every one of those. And blazing well at that.”
    Minox knew better than to argue with the captain on this point. “Well, I fear I may be at a loss on that one.” The pieces didn’t add up on that particular case.
    “Can you narrow it down at all?” Cinellan asked. “Was she murder or suicide?”
    Minox went with what his instinct told him, even though he couldn’t prove it. “I believe it’s murder. But I can’t prove that.”
    “Well, you’ve got a new partner now,” Cinellan said. “Go over it with her.”
    Nyla came over rolling the teacart. “Word came up from the examinarium. Mister Leppin wants to see the two of you as soon as possible.”
    “Maybe he’s identified the body for you,” Kellman said. He laughed, in the cruel, derisive way he was prone to. “You didn’t figure him out by the dirt of his boots, Jinx?”
    “No boots this time, Inspector Kellman,” Minox said.
    “The man was naked,” Rainey added.
    “You’ve got the extra freak case your first time out, Trick,” Kellman said. “Aren’t you the lucky one?”
    Inspector Rainey stepped up to him, but his height made it impossible for her to glower down on him like she had to Mirrell. “You got something to say to me, Kellman?”
    “Don’t think your head will reach my nose, Tricky.”
    “Leave it, Rainey,” Cinellan said, resigned and tired. “Everyone, get to work. Make the streets a little safer.” He went back to his office.
    Rainey backed away from Kellman. “I’m not out of tricks, you know.”
    “I’m sure you’re not,” Kellman said. Mirrell grumbled something and pulled his partner away to the teacart.
    A page bolted out of the stairwell. “Murder! Two dead workers in the sewers! Silver and Dockview!”
    “Same old Inemar,” Rainey muttered.
    Cinellan waved the boy over. “Mirrell, Kellman. You’ve got this one.”
    “Saints, Captain.” Mirrell still rubbed at his nose. The bleeding had stopped, but it was turning purple. “We shouldn’t have to—”
    “Get on it!” Cinellan barked. “And you two, get back on your case. And try to close up your old business, Welling.”
    “As you say, Captain,” Minox said. Kellman and Mirrell left, both sneering at Rainey as they passed. She held her ground until they were out of sight.
    “So,” she said, turning to Minox, all the confrontation in her face melted away. “Where is the examinarium?”

    The examinarium sat at the bottom floor of the stationhouse, almost as cold as an icehouse. The room was fullof tools, instruments, and lenses, not one of which made the slightest bit of sense to Satrine’s eye. Her nose was assaulted with the scent of decay, slightly masked by astringent chemicals. Leppin seemed utterly in his element here, grinning like an excited schoolboy as he stood next to the body laid out on his examination table. Behind Leppin, wearing an oversize apron and carrying tongs in both hands, was an actual excited schoolboy.
    “What have you learned, Leppin?” Welling asked him.
    “About the victim, or the killer?”
    “Killer first, since you’ve got it,” Welling said.
    “Cuts are surgical. Very