Roy greeted me at the station. “Are you okay?” “Yeah. I’ll live. Did you take me home? Did I make a mess in your car?” I didn’t remember the trip. I didn’t know if I was still vomiting at that time. “I did but there were no problems. You were dry-heaving by then. And you aren’t casting today.” “No, I won’t. Do we have a crime scene?” “We did yesterday. Based on their pattern, we should have a few days before they hit again. Time for you to recover.” “What did they hit yesterday?” “The Flashing Eagle.” I frowned. “That’s a sporting goods store, isn’t it? What did they take?” “Bows, arrows, and hunting knives.” “No guns?” “They don’t carry them. But it’s odd. There were other more valuable things they could have taken.” “And they’ve never been armed,” I added. “There was something odd about the stuff they took from Blossoms too. That’s why I kept the spell running so long.” “Tell that to the chief. He’s pissed. He’s talking about replacing Ruben and Marcus.” “I’ll talk to him.” I knocked on Thompson’s office door. “How are you doing?” He asked. “Much better.” I took the seat he gestured to. “Connie got a hold of your phone while you were out and called me. How can she do that?” “She’s my phantasm. She knows what I know.” “I meant call from Underhill,” “She must have asked Reenta to open a passage for her. Phantasms can’t open them.” “Reenta?” The woman with the yellow eyes that healed me. She’s the Goddess of Healing.” “I met a Goddess?” Thompson had been still standing but now he sat on the edge of his desk. “The man that was there was Tiphine, God of Architecture.” “That explains why I felt compelled to tell them what I was.” I nodded. “They can be like that. What did Connie call about?” “She wanted to ask me to not have you cast for the rest of the week.” I nodded. I knew I needed to be careful for a few days. “She also said you shouldn’t keep that spell going for longer than fifteen to twenty minutes. “I know my limits,” I claimed. “But do you follow them?” “Usually. Tuesday was an exception.” “Because you let two clowns get to you.” “Because I have a job to do. Marcus and Ruben might have been trying to goad me but I’ve been taunted before. I don’t give in to it. I wanted a list of things stolen. Since they were willing to let me push myself, I did.” Thompson raised and eyebrow. “You took advantage of their behavior?” I sat back in my chair and smiled. “Yes. I did.” “Why? What’s so important about what they took?” “I don’t know. I only know I saw something odd about it. I hadn’t pieced it together and now it’s gone except the feeling.” “I’ll look into a list. I don’t know how complete it will be though.” I understood. Not all of the cities were as interested in working together to solve crimes. And some didn’t want me involved. “Maybe other places where they were oddly choosy,” I suggested. Thompson nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.” “Thanks.” “But next time you feel you need to push, let us know.” “It’s hard to do when I’m in the middle of a spell.” “You draw the whole time. Write a few words. Or work out a signal with Roy.” I nodded. I figured that my continuing casting should have been signal enough, but I could look into something else. He turned to his computer and printed something off. “Here’s the list of what we have from Blossoms and Flashing Eagle.” “Are we sure it’s the same people? They haven’t been armed so far.” Thompson nodded. “Suzie confirmed it.” “Suzie?” “Lorraine’s niece. When Roy told Lorraine what you did, she talked to her brother. He agreed to bring her by since there was no violence. She didn’t even need to get out of the car. I was going to do it, but they just showed up.” I frowned and returned to my desk. I didn’t like Suzie being involved. Fertility is an issue among elves. We tend to be protective of children because of it. And maybe I was a bit more sensitive because I knew I’d never have a child. I tried to reason that Phil and Diane would never knowingly put her in harm’s way. That was assuming Diane even knew. She wasn’t happy to learn Suzie was a mage. She only agreed to let me teach her daughter when we explained that empaths who didn’t learn to control their abilities often turned to drugs to suppress it. I pushed thoughts of Suzie and her family aside and focused on the scene I had been setting up for court. That was tomorrow, I needed to be ready.