Page 45 of Hextreme Measures

ELEVEN

Dora Landry was a pain. Ofelia had been sparring with the woman for as long as she could remember. When she was younger, just getting into the witch game, Ofelia could never understand the older witch’s animosity. Now she did.

Dora had been the most powerful witch in the city, probably even the state, for decades. When Ofelia came on the scene, a witch with no family pedigree, she’d been considered a threat. Dora wanted to keep her throne after all.

Grudgingly, the women started making inroads with one another. They weren’t exactly friends now. They could work with one another when specific situations arose.

That’s why, when Dora agreed to come with her potion bag, Ofelia wasn’t surprised as much as grateful.

Sully was the one who met Dora in the parking garage. He didn’t smile as she approached, just nodded. “Thank you for coming.”

Dora gestured toward the Jeep Cherokee in the parking spot nearest to the door. “He’s with me. Can he park there?”

Sully peered through the driver’s side window and took in the very large man behind the wheel. He recognized right away that Dora’s companion was a gator shifter. “You brought your own muscle?”

Dora snorted. “I’m not stupid.”

“He can come up if you feel more secure with him being close.”

The offer threw Dora. “Seriously?”

“Yup.” Sully bobbed his head. “You’re doing us a favor.”

“Okay, then.” Dora motioned for the gator shifter to join them.

Sully was not a small man. He was tall — not basketball player tall, but tall all the same — but he looked like a child next to the approaching gator shifter. “Holy crap,” he muttered. “He must shift into the biggest alligator in the world.”

“I told him he looks like that one from that great movie with Betty White — you know the one where they’ve taken over the lake? — but he doesn’t find me funny.” Dora chuckled. “I made him watch the movie and everything, and do you know what he said?”

“That it was crocodiles in the movie?” Sully guessed. He’d seen it too. Once, on a Sunday when he and Ofelia were spending the day in bed, they stumbled over the movie being advertised on Netflix. They’d stopped long enough to make fun of the movie and then accidentally watched the entire thing. It wasn’t as bad as he was expecting.

“Man, what is it with you guys taking the joy out of life?” Dora complained as she clutched her oversized bag tighter. “Crocodiles. Alligators. They’re basically the same.”

Sully flicked his eyes to the big gator shifter and found him frowning. “Yeah, I don’t think they are. Thank you for coming, though.” He extended his hand in greeting to the other shifter. There was no reason for things to be unfriendly. “I’m Zach Sully.”

The gator made a grunting sound and shook his hand. “They call me Rook.”

They call me. Even if Sully hadn’t been a police detective, he could have read between the lines of that statement. The gator shifter wasn’t comfortable giving his real name. He went by a street name, which was usually a sign that there was some sort of gang activity afoot. That was dead low on Sully’s list of worries at present, so he let it go.

“This way.” He motioned for them to follow him inside. The lobby area was still under construction and didn’t look like much. Sully didn’t miss the way Dora’s eyes roamed the space, however. She looked impressed. “It’s a work in progress,” he explained. “The whole building is being gutted, and since dust falls …” He trailed off and held out his hands in a “what are you gonna do” gesture.

“I get it,” Dora said. “She’s being smart about it. The construction is starting high and going low.” She paused. “Is she going to have apartments here and businesses, or just apartments?”

“It will be mixed use,” Sully replied as he jabbed the button to call the elevator. There were two others down a hallway, but they weren’t operational yet. “She plans on having shops and galleries on the first two floors, maybe a floor of businesses — like insurance and real estate offices, nothing industrial — and then everything else will be apartments on the other floors.”

“It’s a great building,” Rook mused. “It has all of the old architecture, which is rare to see these days. Most people just come in and knock down the old buildings.”

“Ofelia didn’t want to do that.” Sully led them into the elevator and pressed another button. “She loves old architecture. When she redid Krewe’s building, she kept the outside the same. Well, as much as possible. There were a few codes that required attention. For the most part, though, other than being freshened up, the outside of the building is the same.”

“It looks good.” Rook managed a smile, but it was more feral than friendly. Sully decided that was just how his face operated.

“You said she,” Dora interjected.

“Hmm?” Sully moved his eyes to her as the elevator doors slid shut.

“You said that she redid the second floor of the Krewe building and she kept the outside the same. You had a hand in it, though. Why don’t you say ‘we’?”

Sully was not expecting the question. “Oh, well …” He debated how to respond. “This is her baby,” he said finally. “She has been planning this project for years. It’s not my project. I have no intention of stealing the glory from her. Everything that happens with this building will be because of her.”