Free mission magic 01 - the incubus job by Diana Pharaoh Francis Page A

used.”
    “It seems the killer put a call in to the front desk. Said there was a mess that needed to be cleaned up.”
    “Why would he want to hurry the discovery process?” I mused out loud, my mind tracking over the few facts we had. “It doesn’t make sense. He kills the incubus and reports it; that only cuts down the time he has to escape. If he has to retrieve the box, the time only gets shorter. And another thing—what triggered the shutdown shields?”
    “It could have been any number of things,” Law said.
    “Like?”
    “Certain beings must obey specific protocols within the auberge. If they don’t, the shields trigger.”
    “How often does that happen?”
    “Rarely,” he admitted.
    “What else?” I’d moved into professional mode, my brain trying to pick apart how the shield trigger figured into the incubus and the box. I wanted to rule out other scenarios.
    Law cut to the chase.
    “You’ve got a theory,” he said.
    “More like a gut feeling,” I hedged. I’d never liked to throw my ideas on the table until I had something like proof.
    “Your gut feelings are generally on target. Let’s hear it.”
    “What if the killer triggered the shields on purpose?”
    Law frowned. “Why?”
    “Trigger the shields on the way out, and it gives him time to make a clean escape. Either that or it distracts us and buys time to find the box.”
    “The one Ivan sent you for.”
    I nodded. “Same logic. If the incubus had the box with him and the killer took it, then triggering the shields as he escapes slows me down and maybe I lose his trail. On the other hand, it might all be a play for time—keep you busy and me out of the way while he searches for the box. Then all he has to do is lay low until you lift the shields, which probably won’t be more than a few hours since your clientele will be chasing you with pitchforks if you don’t.”
    Law considered. “It’s possible. Even likely. Until I investigate, I’ll have to look at other possibilities, but I’m willing to put your theory on the top of the likely list for now. The question is whether the killer left Effrayant or if he’s still here. Soon as we’re done here, we’ll go check out the incubus’s room. On the way, I’ll talk to LeeAnne. She has the power to trigger the shields as well.”
    I nodded. Of course. As the housekeeper, LeeAnne would need that option at her fingertips. I considered and dismissed the idea that she’d have activated the shields. If something big enough to make her do that had happened, she’d have sent an army to fetch Law. No, this was something else.
    Law glanced around one more time. “I’m not picking anything useful up here. No traces of any particular magic or ritual, aside from the leftovers of terror and pleasure. You?”
    I examined the scene one more time. Nothing suggested pattern or a ritual. “What happened to all the flesh from the body? The bones look polished, and the skin looks tanned,” I said, trying not to think about the fact that only a few hours ago those bones and skin had been part of a living, breathing incubus—a man I’d never met but had come to know.
    He had been handsome as sin, but that went without saying when talking about an incubus. He liked to laugh, and he liked to drink. Human food did nothing to feed him, but he seemed to enjoy it all the same. He was hedonistic. He liked pleasure in every form. I’d followed him into clubs, restaurants, a baseball game, and a museum. I have to admit that I had envied him a little. He didn’t seem to have a care in the world. Now he really didn’t have one.
    “The killer couldn’t have taken very much time to do this,” Law said. “Between the time you arrived and the murder call came in, it couldn’t have been more than an hour—an hour and a half at most. In that time the incubus was lured here and this happened.” He waved, the gesture taking in the entire scene.
    “The murderer would have been covered with blood and