Gooseberry Bluff Community College of Magic: The Thirteenth Rib (Kindle Serial) Read Online Free Page B

I can’t get access to Carla Drake’s belongings. The president stopped by to embarrass me in front of my first class, but I haven’t been able to get in to see him since.”
    “I’m sure he’s very busy,” Martin said. “And he has to be careful about letting his staff know that he’s invited us in to investigate them.”
    “I know. Other than that, there are some…interesting people on campus, but it’s too soon to call any of them suspects.”
    “Don’t worry about that. That’s why you’re there; we’re starting from square one. When we went in right after Drake’s disappearance we got nothing. Whoever’s responsible is good at blending in. What about the demons?”
    “Nothing there yet, either. Have the blips picked up anything?”
    “Not since June 18 th ,” Martin said. Blips were diviners who specialized in tracking people or magical objects, in this case nameless demons. “Talk to me about” — he leaned over the desk to look at a file — “Ingrid Ingwiersen. Conjuration professor. Do we like her for the demon trafficking?”
    “I talked to her for about two minutes at the faculty reception last week, but that’s it so far.”
    “What’d she look like to you?”
    “Honestly, she looked pretty gray.”
    “Depressed?”
    “Not just that. When someone’s really gray, it’s a signal that they could be a danger to themselves and others.”
    “OK. I want you to look into her. Make friends. Anyone else give you a funky vibe?”
    Joy managed not to smile at the way Martin said “a funky vibe.” He sometimes talked like he was on a seventies cop show, if seventies cop shows had cast patient, encouraging Indian-American men in leadership roles. “I don’t know, Martin. Everyone has secrets, you know? One of the alchemy professors dropped coffee on me right before I left to meet you; she had some dark green in her aura. It could mean a lot of things.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’m frustrated.”
    “Joy. This is going to be a long process. I’m going to be patient with you, so be patient with yourself.”
    “It’s just…these people are trafficking demons , Martin. I heard about Seoul. If a shipment of them slips through on my watch, if there’s another Heartstopper because I let that happen, I don’t know if I’ll be able to forgive myself.”
    “First of all, they stopped the attack in Seoul. Secondly, we don’t know that these demons are connected to the Heartstoppers. And third, that’s not your case. Let the blips and GUMP worry about that. Just get to know these people. Teach the kids.”
    “What about President Fitzgerald? He’s our contact, and I can’t even get through to him.”
    “Let me work on that.” Martin stood and crossed to the bookshelves; he picked out a slim, stapled pamphlet and carried it back. “Ready for the casebook?”
    Joy nodded and stood. Martin set the pamphlet on his desk. It had a bright-blue cover that read: FBMA Case ***2012-00765: Wilkins, J., Inv.
    Joy set her hand on the book. At first it was just a little warm. Then it started to prickle her skin, and suddenly she felt like she was falling into the book. Her legs crumpled underneath her, and she folded at the waist; she sank toward the desk and curled up between the pages as if they were bedsheets.
    Then she was standing next to the desk, feeling like she’d just had a four-hour nap.
    Martin picked up the book. It was now a slim paperback, and Joy knew that everything she knew about the case had just been inscribed there in the book, exhaustively chronicled, indexed, and cross-indexed.
    “How big do you think this case will get?” she asked.
    “Only time will tell,” Martin said, and placed the book back on the shelf.
***
    The moment Ingrid Ingwiersen walked in the door her sister started in on her.
    “Where the hell have you been?”
    Ingrid set her briefcase down near the door. “Teaching. I told you, today is the first day of class.”
    “Your class was over