Awakening the Fire by Ally Shields Page B

I’ll even let you buy. And maybe you can tell me why the Magic Council is interested in the drug traffic.”
    Ari chuckled. The guy had his own style. Half an hour later, she entered an unpretentious establishment that might have been situated in any small town, USA. A dozen booths. Half as many tables. Vinyl floor. A white-haired couple drank coffee at one of the tables. A forty-something female sat alone in a booth, her attention on the door. The only other occupant was a freckle-faced young man grinning at Ari from a corner booth. He looked seventeen. He waved.
    “Over here,” he said. “I’m Eddie.”
    He read her surprise, for as soon as she slid into the seat, he added, “I’m twenty-four. People always mistake me for a teen. Someday looking younger will be a good deal. Right now it’s a drag.”
    She grinned at his boyish admission. “Sorry about that.”
    “Don’t sweat it. Hope you don’t mind, but I ordered. Haven’t eaten since breakfast. You want something?”
    She said a Diet Coke would be great.
    His brown eyes gave Ari the once-over. A guy look. “You don’t look much like my idea of a Guardian.”
    “No? What did you expect?”
    “Big, tough looking. Lots of weapons. You’re just a cute blonde.”
    Ari rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh. As you said, assumptions are such a drag.”
    Eddie laughed. “OK, you got me. My mistake. And my turn to apologize.”
    His rib sandwich, fries, and shake arrived. Ari ordered her drink and watched in amusement as he took the edge off his hunger. He put down the half-eaten sandwich and wiped the sauce from his mouth. “Sure you don’t want some? Best rib sandwich in town.”
    “No, really, I’m fine. But about the drugs?”
    “Are you going to tell me why you want to know?”
    “We’ll see,” she hedged. Not if she didn’t have to.
    He shrugged, and in between bites, he began to talk about the articles. “First heard about Fantasy when this woman called me at work. About five months ago. Her son OD’d. He’d flunked out of college and brought the stuff home with him. She thought The Clarion should be warning other parents. I was curious, so I asked around. The drug had been in Riverdale two months and already caused three overdoses. That’s when I started writing the series.”
    “Where’s the drug coming from?”
    “Both coasts, and now here in the Midwest. Her son was in a small college in Alabama.”
    “So, everywhere,” she said. “New York, LA, Timbuktu. What about local distributers?”
    He scratched his chin and eyed her. “Got some ideas. Maybe Otherworlders. No proof yet. Maybe you know something.” He paused, as if inviting a comment, then continued. “I had an informant. Good connections, but her boyfriend killed her before we got that far.”
    “What?” Ari straightened in her seat and stared at him. “What informant?” Riverdale didn’t have that many murders. Not the kind the public and press knew about. “Are you talking about Angela Raymond?” Ari scooted forward on the bench. “She was working for you, wasn’t she? Why didn’t you come forward and tell the police after she died?”
    “Hey, calm down. Why do you care if she was working for me?”
    “You’re the source of the cash,” Ari continued unabated. “You did pay her in cash, didn’t you? Hundred dollar bills?”
    “Yeah, I did.” His brows drew into a deep frown. “Is that significant?”
    “Don’t you get it?” Ari stopped. She needed to be careful what she said to the press. “Everything about a victim is important,” she finished, keeping it vague.
    Eddie’d already caught the implication. He shook his head vigorously. “No, uh-uh. If you think she was killed because of her undercover work, you’re wrong. It was the boyfriend. Some domestic thing. I talked with neighbors the night she died. And the PD didn’t deny it when I asked for an official comment. I didn’t mention she was a source, because…well, it’s confidential. And it