by J. L. Ray
“What?” he asked thickly, as if throwing off the spell of the memory of his past.
“Did you ask Bergfrid what happened? Isn’t true love supposed to break spells? If the witch wasn’t alive to Change you back, wouldn’t Bergfrid’s kiss do it?”
Baz glared at her. “I had no true love. I had a lying trollop, who couldn’t wait for my body to grow cold before throwing herself into the arms of the Prince of Lies, no doubt for the trinkets he could give her. She must have hated me to have plotted this with him. They must have planned for the old hag to Change me and then killed her so that she could not reverse the spell.” He leaned forward, earnest with the passion of the true believer. “Do not trust him. Do not give yourself to him. Do not love him.”
Tony sat for a moment, wondering how to get Baz out her door and let her think without all this drama. Her f-light saved her, the incongruously upbeat sound of Capital Cities rolling from the table where it sat.
“I have to get that,” she said and went to snag her f-light off the table.
“Hey Tony—” Cal started, but she interrupted.
“Oh, sure Cal. Come on by with the baby. Still out walking the little spawnsickle around?” She turned back to Baz. “Baz, we have to meet with Azeem in the morning. Let me see what Cal needs, okay? We can talk later.” She carefully placed a hand on his arm and looked in his eyes, hoping he had himself under control enough to leave.
Baz nodded, at that point dazed from his own confession and actually happy to go.
“Cal, let me call you right back,” Tony said, terminating the call. Then she turned back to Baz. “Look...” She paused, trying to find words, then continued. “Thank you for telling me. I don’t take that lightly and I’ll...” Her mind went totally blank. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
Baz grabbed her shoulders as he got to her front door. “Please, think about what I have said. Mephistopheles is not worthy of your trust. You deserve one who is.” He went through her door before she could think of a thing to say, which was just as well, as that might have taken a while. She had rarely felt so much at a loss for words.
Her f-light rang again.
“Cal!” she said. “What’s up?”
“We need to talk,” he told her grimly.
“Just what I need. Another bedtime story.”
“What?”
“Never mind. Are you near?”
“Yeah. I left the little nipper with his sweet Mama.”
“Little nipper. That’s cute.”
“Huh, you wouldn’t say that if your finger was missing its tip.”
Tony choked.
“I thought we had that little trick under control, but damned if he didn’t try it again with Berthell. Well, I don’t think he’ll do it again after that episode and Sweet B’s reaction, but I left him at home. I’ll be there soon.”
“Great.” She sighed, getting off the phone and ready to let in Cal, her third late night visitor.
“I may have to rethink the whole offer-to-babysit thing...” she muttered as she turned her hands in the air and contemplated the ten perfect fingertips on them.
Chapter Ten
When Cal arrived, he and Tony went into her little kitchen and she grabbed some peanuts for him to eat while he talked to her. Ogres tended to eat constantly, and she and Berthell had been scheming to get better snacks into his hands. Unfortunately, Cal did love a cupcake. Or a donut. Or a cookie. They had their work cut out for them. The nuts in the shell were pretty small in his big hands, but he seemed to find popping them open and eating them calming. One look at his face and she knew he needed some calm.
As she sat a beer in front of him, a local microbrew that she knew he liked, she poured herself some water and asked, “What is it? Is it Newman?”
He shook his head as he chewed. “Naw. He’s fine.”
She sat at the counter next to him. “What about the nipping?”
“Totally normal for ogre spawn. We all usually lose a few bits of toe or finger as babies from nipping ourselves.” He grimaced and held up one hand that lacked a chunk in the middle finger. “I did that to myself at three weeks old. Mom was not happy with me!” He sighed. Then he held up his other hand. His pinky was bandaged. “It’s really important to feed ogre spawn at regular intervals, or the end result could ruin a full set of hands. Or feet.”
Tony winced. “Yikes.”
“True dat!” He put down the handful of peanuts he’d been about to crack. “I’m not here about family business. I came because of this op that the Lieutenant put you on.”
“Okay. What about it?”
“The Sutherlands have resurfaced,” he told her grimly. “And when I say resurfaced, I mean from water. Some Being or Beings unknown strangled them and dumped them in the Potomac down near the Key Bridge.”
“Shit!”
“No doubt.” He shook his head. “I was still with Azeem when the call came in.” He looked at her and marveled, “I had no idea how much he likes babies until today. Also, I found out that Newman is a genius at ruining clothes. Hopefully, just clothes and not my career.” He sighed. “Then that call came in, and in seconds he went from holding Newman in his paws to pacing and growling. Kinda upset the little guy. He bonded with the Lieutenant pretty quickly.” He glanced over at her with a sidelong look. “Bonded with Phil, too.”
She shook her head as if to tell him no. “Talk about that later, okay? It’s not life and death. This is. If we don’t know who killed the Sutherlands, then we can’t proceed with the op.”
“I didn’t think so, either,” he agreed grimly. “I’m glad you agree with me because Baz has talked the Lieutenant into moving forward.”
“What?” Tony yelled. “He was just here and didn’t say a word about any of this!”
“He was here? Not Phil?”
Tony shook her head. “I don’t even know where to begin. Apparently, there’s a long hate-hate relationship between the two, and I seem to be caught in the middle. Phil wants me off the case so that I’m nowhere near Baz, and Baz wants me out of the dating pool, if that pool includes Phil.” She looked at Cal. “I left Phil at Oyamel when he insisted that I leave this case without telling me why he wanted me off it, other than having Baz as a sworn enemy.” Cal whistled. “When I got home, Baz showed up to tell me the full story that Phil wouldn’t.” She paused. “Or at least, his version of it.”
Cal whispered. As an ogre, he wasn’t great at it. Ogre whispers tended to rumble through a Mundane’s chest, like reverb at a rock ‘n roll concert. “Was it bad, kid?”
She nodded. “Seemed pretty bad. I want to get Phil’s side, but Phil showed up just after Baz arrived. It didn’t go well.”
“Blood and Bones!” Cal’s shift from whisper to shout rattled the dishes.
Tony rubbed her ear and frowned. “Geez, Cal. They can hear you in California, man. Take it down a notch.”
“Sorry, kid. But what a fuckin’ mess, am I right?”
“Oh, you are so right,” she continued darkly. “It gets worse. I don’t know what Phil was planning—” She glared when Calvin smirked, and he quickly wiped it off his face. “I don’t know, but he seemed very pissed to see Baz, who upped the ante by laying a big wet one on me.”
Cal frowned, quite serious. “You could get him fired for that.”
“Tell me about it!” She shook her head. “No. I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt, for now. He had my back at the warehouse, let me lead when the time came, and I didn’t think he had it in him. His responses to women are definitely operating out of the last millennium, so I was impressed. Notice I said ‘was.’ However, I think he’s aware that another kiss like that, and I’ll press charges.”
Cal winced. “Ouch.”
“I have to say, though, the Changeling thing could be a problem. He got...scary. When he was telling me his story, I mean. Intense.”
Cal frowned. “I don’t know about this whole situation, kid. It seems odd, am I right? The Lieutenant was act
ing kinda squirrely to me. I said something about your missing twin, and I could swear I saw guilt coming off of him in waves. I mean, what was that all about, huh?”
“Damn. I got some of that, too, when I went in this morning. I was hoping I’d misread him, but if you saw it as well...damn.” She paused and took a sip of water, then looked at Cal. “What do you think I should do? I’m not seeing many options here if Azeem wants to continue without finding out who murdered the Sutherlands, if we ever do find out.” She pointed out, “Since they’re Mundanes, there’s no Geas smackdown coming for their killers or accomplices or whatever, if those aren’t Supers. Plain Mundane murders go unsolved all the time. And if a Super was involved, nothing will happen to that Being for seven days.”
Cal nodded. “Yeah, but we gotta assume Azeem is aware of that.”
“So, one, I go ahead with the op and hope that the killers weren’t our contacts from the Fairie ring we encountered tonight. Two, I refuse to go along with the op and the ring continues, only now they have some Super special items that I brought over.”
“Three, you convince the Lieutenant to hold off until we investigate the Sutherlands’ murder, and we go talk to the Mundane police since the murders are in their jurisdiction.”
“Calvin, I think you have a winner.” She nodded. “Baz and I meet with the Lieutenant early tomorrow, 7 a.m., and” she looked at her f-light, “I’m going to get just a few hours of sleep now, so I’m kicking you out.”
Cal stood up and swept his peanut shells into a bowl, dumping them in her garbage. “I’m going to ‘drop in’ tomorrow with Mannie, check up on you, and give you some support, so act surprised.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she told him.
“Seriously?” He shook his big head. “Don’t be stupid, kid.” He lightly punched her shoulder and she staggered back to her feet. “B told me I should use Mannie as an excuse to drop in and check up. She’s worried about you, too. Plus, I think she enjoyed the extra nap time, so win-win.”
Tony sighed. “I wish I had ignored that message this morning. This is a mess.”
“Nobody told us working for the SCIB would be a box of cupcakes.” His face got a dreamy look.
Tony grinned. “Cal, The Cupcakery is closed this time of night. Go get some rest.” She quit grinning. “You may need it tomorrow.”
Tooley followed Crystal Winkowski into the back door of her shop. As they walked in, the goblin walked out, going to the van to fetch the boxes. He leered and winked at O’Toole as he passed him, an act that heightened his nervousness. Winkowski reached over to him as he paused to stare at the goblin, placing her hand on his arm and making him shiver with a sensual anticipation that he had rarely experienced. He didn’t want to experience it now, and he tried to keep his arm still.
“Don’t worry about Theo. He’ll do his job and lock up your vehicle whilst we...conduct our business.” The last words came out lower, heavy with suggestion. He wanted to ask her what, exactly, she meant, but couldn’t get the words out. He glanced at her, and only years of theatrical training kept his panic off his face. She looked at him with half-veiled eyes, her tongue flicked to her lips, and he found himself fighting the urge to stare at her ample curves. If he gave in to this, his mother would not be pleased. It was so clearly the result of magical influence that he couldn’t understand why he couldn’t sense the source of it. It must be a powerful spell from a master practitioner to pass un-noticed, and he wondered how she’d gotten it. It must have come from whomever she was working for, he supposed. She wasn’t a bad-looking woman. Her vivid red hair, pale skin, and red lips formed an attractive package. But her face contained something in it that repelled him so much that it almost cancelled out the lust spell she seemed to be invoking. He hoped he could resist. He didn’t want to wake up and know that he had done things with a woman he loathed even as he felt his body respond to the touch on his arm, which had gone from simple touch to sensual stroke.
“Our business?” he finally asked her breathlessly, unable to control his response. It suddenly occurred to him that there was no reason for her to do this that he knew of. He was here to deal with her—she didn’t need to convince him to sell her the packages. Her reputation had made him go so far as to lose money on the deal to make sure he didn’t come to her empty-handed. He feared her, despite her apparent lack of magic. The Mistress had quite a reputation in the Dark Market in Mundania. He was also certain that her reason for this...approach... couldn’t be simple lust. He wasn’t that attractive. His mother did say he got his father’s looks, but not his father’s charm, so he rarely managed dates with the Beings, male or female, whom he wanted to date.
Winkowski looked up at him from under her long black lashes. “I want your assistance in opening the boxes, and if you help...” she ran one hand down the front of her gown, “I’m sure we can work out some kind of payment above and beyond that already negotiated.”
There was no kind way to say no, but Tooley hoped he could figure it out before it got that far. No matter how she made his physical form feel, his magical senses responded to her as they would to rot, to pure evil. He might be spelled into physically responding to her overtures, but damned if he wanted to touch her more than necessary. His thoughts caused him to shiver, and he was grateful when she seemed to misinterpret that as a pleased response to her implied suggestion.
A sudden noise made him start, and he turned and saw Theo maneuvering a small forklift over to the mini-van. He turned to Winkowski, and then back to the sight of the goblin, who had shifted the boxes onto the forklift without any help needed from him, belying the entire reason she had given him for staying. When he looked at Winkowski again, she grinned. At that moment, he despaired of ever seeing or saving his family. She crooked one long, pale finger. “Come along. I promise you a very interesting evening.” And though he wanted to run out the door, though his own magic should have saved him, his feet moved him forward to what he feared might be his last and worst night of life.
The next morning, as Tony and Baz sat across from Azeem for an update, Azeem leaned forward on one large paw, telling them, “It is imperative that we apprehend the Beings in Mundania who are running this smuggling ring.”
“Sir, the Sutherlands—” Tony began to state her case for shifting to the murder investigation, but Azeem cut her off.
“The MPDC can handle this one. Two of their detectives will be stopping by to ask questions, but we are treating this as a Mundane murder to be handled by Mundane police.” His tone discouraged questions.
Tony looked over at Baz, whose rough-hewn features had gone stony and grim. Determined to get answers, she asked Baz, “You can’t believe that this makes sense, for us to continue to pose as Maybelle and Mickey when the Beings we contact are likely to be the very ones who killed them?”
Baz didn’t even look at her as the Lieutenant growled and brought her attention back to him.
“Do you believe that I would deliberately send my own officers into such a situation?” His voice rang with sincerity as he added, “I would go in myself before I would risk one of you in a no-win situation. And the importance of stopping this smuggling ring has become much higher than I thought. The Sutherlands are no longer our worry.”
Tony stared into Azeem’s eyes. He was her commanding officer, a Being she had trusted and respected from the moment she met him, and he was lying to her about something. She could tell. Tony kept her face clear of expression as she tried to decide what to do. At that moment, a commotion in the hall heralded the arrival of the cavalry, in the shape of Cal pushing a baby carriage filled with Newman.
“Hiya, Lieutenant. Sorry to drop in so early, but there was paperwork I needed to finish, and Mannie wanted to apologize for last night’s little...episode.” Cal left the huge carriage out in the hallway as, even though the lieutenant’s office was built for Supers, it already had two large Beings as well as a Tony in it.
Cal’s guileless face flinched when Azeem roar
ed, “I’m in a meeting Cal. This will have to wait.”
Apparently, little Newman wasn’t thrilled about the roaring, and he began to cry. Interestingly, instead of the howl he usually produced for his parents, these cries were pitiful and soft, at least for an ogre spawn, and heartbreaking. The lieutenant gulped.
Calvin shook his head. “Sorry, sir, Mannie and I’ll just talk to you later.” He started to leave, then turned back, a large sack from The Cupcakery in his hand. “We thought these might make up for the dry-cleaning bill. They’re breakfast cupcakes.” He leaned forward and set the bag filled with a twelve-pack of cakes on the desk. Then he turned back to the door. He was stopped again by a huge sigh.
“Come back in, Detective.” Azeem sounded chagrined. “You might as well be a part of this debate. Bring the carriage in, too.” Little Mannie was still sniffling, and even Baz looked twitchy, like he wanted to go over and pick up the baby. “Let’s get a plan together for this.”
In the minute of chaos, Tony had managed to decide what to do. “Sir,” she started, after everyone settled down and Cal conscientiously passed around the cupcakes, waiting until everyone else had one before taking one himself, “I need to know two things about this operation. Why is it so important that we stop this ring? And why are you so sure that continuing to pose as Maybelle and Mickey won’t give this away as a police sting?”
Azeem seemed calm as he took a moment to bite into his cupcake, but the hard flick of his tail suggested otherwise. The overlarge bite kept him from replying, an obvious stall. Unfortunately, it bought him very little time. He swallowed his bite of bacon-maple cupcake and set the rest of it on his desk. “Baz is aware of some of the answer to this. I got this information last night, from a confidential informant. I passed the news on to Detective de Groot then.”
Baz squirmed a bit when Tony glared at him, self-consciously swallowing his mouthful of sausage and brown sugar cupcake. He knew that she’d realized he had come by her apartment to tell her and had gotten sidetracked by her personal situation and his connection to it. Hoping she wouldn’t mention that visit, Baz got to the point quickly. “The Fairie ring is smuggling more than just artifacts.”
