Death's Daughter by Kathleen Collins

indication of foreign bodies as there should have been if something was held over the face.” She tossed the report back on the table. “And given the time frames we’re talking about. He killed them and kept them somewhere before leaving them for us to find.”
    “Not necessarily,” Phipps said. “With that spell on them, they could have been up there for several days before they were found.”
    She shook her head. “Unlikely. As much as the overlook gets used by teenagers and wayward spouses, someone would have seen something.” She didn’t bring up the countless druggies who used the place to shoot up or otherwise get high. Phipps had an abominable record against drugs and doubtless wouldn’t like the reminder. See, she could be diplomatic if she tried.
    He narrowed his eyes at her, undoubtedly wanting to argue but knowing she was right. “And I don’t suppose you have any idea as to how precisely he accomplished the suffocation?”
    “Not a clue.”
    His smug look irritated her. He didn’t have any more idea than she did. Leo flicked his tongue out for the third time since they’d entered the room. It was the first time Phipps noticed though. He curled his lip and narrowed his eyes at her friend. The corner of Leo’s mouth curled in a little smile. He was antagonizing Phipps on purpose. Normally, she only saw his tongue a couple of times a day, more if he was in an interrogation or excited about something. There was no reason for him to be doing it as frequently as he was except to irritate Phipps.
    “There are a couple of things I’d like clarified if you don’t mind,” she said, drawing Phipps’s attention to her.
    “Like what, Norris?”
    “Like exactly how long you believe the Thief has been in operation, where and when you obtained this information and why you are suddenly so interested in gaining our assistance. Other than to cover your ass of course.”
    Leo coughed and used a hand to cover his grin. Okay, so maybe that wasn’t as tactful as she could have been, but she’d been getting jerked around by Phipps and his politics since this case started.
    Taft leaned forward as if to answer. Phipps put a hand on the detective’s shoulder and pressed him back in the chair. “I don’t answer to you, Norris. But in the spirit of cooperation I’m preparing copies of dossiers for you on thirteen additional children we believe are the work of the Thief.”
    Her heart sank. “Thirteen?” How had so many children gone missing from the New Hope area without them noticing the connection before the twins? “And they’re all from New Hope?”
    Phipps’s eyes narrowed. “I know what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to find some excuse to take this case away from me. It won’t happen. This is my jurisdiction. My case.”
    Leo coughed again and she glanced at him. He shook his head. Phipps was lying.
    She focused on Taft. “How did we find these children, Detective?”
    Phipps nodded at him to answer.
    “I fed a series of search parameters into the computer. Several matches turned up going back at least six months,” Taft explained, eyes darting between her and Phipps. She got the impression he was choosing his words carefully.
    She was missing something. “What did you tell the computer to look for?”
    “Any cases of missing children where there were no eyewitnesses when there should have been or where there was evidence of magic being used.”
    “And when did you do this?”
    He cleared his throat and glanced at Phipps again. “I fed the information I was looking for into the system a couple of weeks ago. Then I had to go through the hits and get them cleaned up and narrowed down.”
    “And in what areas did you conduct your computer search?”
    “Taft,” Phipps snapped, and shook his head once. A warning.
    Juliana leaned forward in her chair. If the Thief was operating outside the New Hope area, this was no longer Phipps’s case. If he’d known that and had proof, she was going