C. E. Murphy - Spirit Dances

FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 8:34 A.M.

Walker, Holliday, youre up. Homicide in Ballard, probably domestic violence. Be there yesterday. A set of sedan keys flew across the room at my head. I caught them painlessly, only because Id just come in the door and hadnt yet taken my gloves off. The guy whod thrown them at meour lieutenant, Braxton, who was decent, hardworking, and who never impinged on my consciousness for a single moment beyond those I spent following his direct commandsjerked his jaw at the door, indicating we should already be gone. I did a quick dance of shedding my coat, shrugging on my duty weaponan item which, like Braxton, lay outside my realm of active awareness except when I was actually at workand pulling the coat back on before my partner made it to the door.

Because my desk was three steps from the door, I got there first, and that meant I won: I got to drive. After nine months of that game, I wasnt sure why we bothered, be cause neither of us pretended Billy was the better driver. Not that he was a bad driver, mind you. Its just that it was the only class at the academy Id been too proud to come in anything but first.

He caught up to me and muttered, I hate domestic cases, as we headed out the door.

I know. Nobody liked them, which was part of why Billy and I were up on this one. Braxton tried to rotate the DV cases through the whole Homicide team, because under the best of circumstances, they were emotionally messy, and under the worstwhich was more usualcops ended up the bad guys no matter what they did. Could be worse. At least a murder means there wont be an outraged spouse trying to beat us off because her partner didnt really do anything wrong.

Walker, are you seriously telling me murder is preferable to a live victim who doesnt want to press charges?

That wasnt what I meant. It was, however, kind of what Id said. No wonder I let Billy do most of the talking at crime scenes. We drove over to Ballard while Dispatch offered a few more details on the homicide we were approaching. There was a pattern of abuse in the family, instigated by the wife, one Patricia Patty Raleigh, against whom the city had twice pressed charges. Shed done anger management courses and then a short stint in jail. We werent sure yet if it was herself or her husband, Nathan, or possibly both, who was the victim: one of their children had run out of the house, bloody and screaming hysterically about Mommy and Daddy being dead. The neighbor had called it in.

Billy left his coffee untouched as the information came in, muscle in his jaw bulging like flexible stone. I hate domestic cases.

I know. There was nothing else to say. I pulled up along the curb in front of the Raleighs ranch-style home a few minutes later, and we got out of the car. It wasnt a wealthy part of the city, the houses mostly from the fifties and sixties. They tended to look careworn, with sagging fences, older tricycles and swing sets in small front yards. A few houses stood out as having been renovated: fresh paint, new roofs, lawns trim and shipshape even though winter was only just letting go its grip.

The Raleighs house wasnt one of those. I glanced over it, then met the eyes of a broad-boned black woman standing in the next yard over. She had two kids with her, both white, both huddled against her strong form. Her hands were on their chests, over their hearts: protective, like a mama bear. She was probably the neighbor whod called in the 273D, and the kids were probably Nathan and Patty Raleighs. I nodded to her once and she nodded back, then retreated to her front porch, taking the kids with her. Shed been letting us know where they were, and now planned to stay out of the way until we needed them and her. Most people intimately involved with a murder werent that clearheaded. I chalked it up to equal likelihoods that she was involved or that she was very sensible, and followed Billy up the driveway to the house.

He paused at the door, an eyebrow lifted at me. I gave him a nod much like Id just given the neighbor, then let the Sight filter over my normal vision.

Truth was, though normal investigative homicides like this one made up the bulk of our work, Billy and I werent partnered because we were good at solving run-of-the-mill cases. We were partners because he saw dead people and I was a shaman. A healer, basically, though I had a wider range of talents than that. Together we made up Seattles one and only paranormal detective team, and even on a mundane case, there was no reason to let our esoteric skills go to waste.

The world viewed with the Sight was something of a wonder to behold. Everything shone with purpose, rich aura colors making light of the most ordinary objects. Newly budding leaves on trees thrummed with brilliant blue-green threads that would become bluer as they grew, until they were vibrant with life pouring through them. Houses, buildings and fences tended to radiate a resolute green, a pride in protecting the things they held. Everything, living or in animate, had purpose, and I could See that purpose when I looked with shamanic eyes.

I could also See peoples auras, even through walls, which was unusually handy in clearing a house for entry. There was nothing living inside the Raleighs house, though a bright orange shimmer said a housecat was probably in the back yard hunting early-season bugs. A crawl space beneath the house wouldve been a better choice for the cat: plastic tarp down there kept the earth warm and I could See the squirms of potato bugs and other such small things doing whatever it was bugs did. The attic was quieter than that, not so much as a squirrel hiding out. I nodded to give Billy the all-clear.

He knocked anyway, as was polite, and introduced us loudly before trying the doorknob. It turned, to neither of our surprise: if the kids had come running out, they werent very likely to have stopped and locked the door behind them. And an inSightful all-clear or not, we both went in like we were entering hostile territory, because God forbid I should be wrong and we should fail to follow protocol. Our bossMorrison, the precinct captain, not Baxter-the-forgettablewould rip us apart if we did.