Read Online Cursed Moon (Prospero's War) by Jaye Wells - Free Book Online Page A

patch lay under the glass. I looked back at Mez. “You see this?”
    He frowned and came over. “I got images, but haven’t had a chance to test it yet.”
    “You think our perp was in a hurry and accidentally dropped one?” Morales asked.
    I nodded. “Lack of prints indicates he was wearing gloves, right? Probably grabbed this bottle off the shelf and it slipped from his hand.”
    Morales knelt down and inspected the patch. “You got a black light in there?” he asked Mez.
    The wizard nodded and removed a portable light wand. He glanced at Shayla. “Go close the blinds on all the windows.”
    While she scurried off, I stepped around the area and approached the shelves where the guys were working. “What are you doing?” I asked.
    “Looking for a shoe print,” Morales said.
    The room dimmed as Shayla finally closed all the window treatments. While Mez waved the wand over the floor, I used a flashlight tilted sideways to cast a glow on each shelf just in case there might be a print. “Hand me the camera, will ya?” Mez asked Morales.
    My partner grabbed it for him and brought it over. Mez messed with the controls for a moment before clicking several shots in a row. As he worked, I squinted at the spot on the ground. Sure enough, there was a mark in the ethereal blue pool cast by the black light off the spilled potion.
    “That doesn’t look like a shoe print,” I said.
    Mez put down the camera and looked up. The black light made the charms in his dreads glow. “I’ll need to analyze the images under a magnifier back at the lab, but we definitely got a partial print of some sort.”
    I nodded. “Good.” My phone buzzed on my hip. “One sec.” Pulling the phone out, I answered it without looking at the ID. “Prospero.”
    “Hello. Katherine Prospero?”
    I frowned, not recognizing the staticky female voice. “Yes, who is this please?”
    “This is operator five-four-nine from the Crowley State Penitentiary. Prisoner six-six-six-four-two, Abraxas Prospero, would like to speak with you. May I patch him through?”
    The blood in my arms and legs went frigid. “What?”
    “Prisoner six-six-six-four-two, Abraxas Prospero, has requested to speak with you. Do you accept the call?”
    “No,” I snapped. “Take me off his call list.” With a shaking finger, I punched the End button before the operator could say anything else.
    I stood in shock for I don’t know how long with that phone clutched tight in my hand. The hard plastic dug into my palm, and I had to resist the urge to throw it at the brick wall.
    “Kate?” Morales called from across the room.
    I swallowed the panic and shock, pushing them deep down where they couldn’t interfere. Shoving the phone in my pocket, I turned. “Yeah?”
    My partner was standing next to the graffiti penis. Mez was packing up all his supplies while talking to Shayla about getting the tape she’d promised us earlier. “Everything okay?”
    “Fucking telemarketers.” I feigned an annoyed shrug. “We done here?”
    He watched me for a couple of seconds longer before nodding. “For now. What say we go visit the Wonder Twins? See if maybe they’ve heard of anyone trying to fence some sex potions.”
    The twins he mentioned were named Mary and Little Man. They were my best snitches, and the ones most likely to know if there was chatter on the streets about Aphrodite getting robbed.
    Ignoring the nausea and the fist of worry in the base of my throat, I nodded. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Six

    F ifteen minutes later we were at an intersection near the construction site for Volos’s pet project, the Cauldron Community Center. The groundbreaking had been six weeks earlier, and the crews already had the foundation poured and the framing up for the walls. We’d just passed the sign announcing that the center would open by Thanksgiving when Morales tapped the brakes. “Hey, Prospero?”
    I pulled my gaze away from the side window I’d been glaring out of for the last