Fire Born (City of Dragons Book 5)

by Val St. Crowe

  “Nice,” said Lachlan, grinning at Dirk.

  “Thanks,” I said, meaning it. Thing had been nearly fifty bucks too, so it wasn’t as if Dirk hadn’t spent a little dough. I was impressed.

  “Not a problem,” said Dirk.

  It was awkward and quiet for a minute.

  “Well, see ya.” Dirk sat down at her desk, a dismissal.

  “Uh, actually, we were coming to ask you for a favor,” I said.

  “A favor?” Dirk looked up from her chair at both of us. “What kind of favor?”

  “A new case has come up,” said Lachlan. “Something that’ll probably be taking up a bit of our time. So, the captain said that we should get you to take over the open stuff on my caseload.”

  “The captain ordered me to do that?” Dirk stood up, folding her arms over her chest.

  “No, he said that if you would agree to it, then—”

  “I don’t agree,” said Dirk.

  “You don’t?” I said, chewing on my bottom lip.

  She narrowed her eyes. “Come on, you’ve got some juicy case that you’re keeping to yourselves? You know how many times I get these crazy 911 calls about dragons burning everything in sight, and then, when I get there, nothing’s happened. No one will even admit to calling the station. It’s a series of pranks, let me tell you, and it’s starting to wear on me. I want a real case.”

  I cleared my throat. What Dirk was describing was actually real rogue attacks, I imagined. I supposed the conspiracy theorists were right. Someone was covering up the attacks. If only Dirk knew it, that was a real case. If this serial killer thing hadn’t dropped into our laps, maybe we could have looked closer into who was hiding the rogues. But that would have to wait now.

  “Well, you should have put in the time scouring old case files this morning, looking for patterns, then,” said Lachlan. “This case didn’t fall out of the clear blue sky, you know. I did some work for it. It’s mine.”

  “It’s ours,” I said, shooting him a glance.

  He wasn’t even looking at me. His face had that oddly pinched look it got when he talked to Dirk for too long. “No way am I giving it to you.”

  Dirk arched an eyebrow. “You manufactured this case?”

  “I discovered it,” said Lachlan.

  “Um, excuse me,” I said. “I’m fairly sure I discovered it.”

  Dirk turned to me. “You did?”

  “Yeah, you see, my cousin’s boyfriend committed suicide, or that’s how it looked, and so—”

  “Family,” said Dirk, looking triumphant. “You can’t be objective on this case. You’ll have to turn it over to me.”

  “Oh, please,” I said. “I never even met the guy.”

  Dirk looked smug. “Doesn’t matter.”

  “It does,” I said. I turned to Lachlan. “Does it matter?”

  “She’s a consultant,” said Lachlan. “I’m the detective.”

  “And you’re having a baby with her,” said Dirk, “so it’s practically your family too.”

  “We’re not giving you the serial killer case, so forget about it,” said Lachlan.

  Dirk’s eyes got big. “Serial killer? What?”

  Lachlan flinched, as if he wished he hadn’t given that away.

  “Look,” said Dirk, “tell you what. I won’t take it away from you, but you’re letting me help out with the investigation.”

  “Help out how?” said Lachlan.

  “You share every piece of information you get,” she said. “We interrogate suspects together. I, of course, will also share with you.”

  “No,” said Lachlan.

  “Then I’ll tell the captain your connection to one of the victims.”

  Lachlan sighed. “What about the open cases?”

  “We split those and get them out of the way,” she said.

  Lachlan glared at her. “It’s not as if I have a choice here, is it?”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Getting the cases out of the way meant that we were going to try to tie most of them up that very evening. Which meant that, right after sundown, Lachlan and I were standing in the freezing cold outside a house that was tucked behind a strip mall, two blocks from the bay.

  He knocked on the door. I shivered, tugging my coat as tight as it would go around my belly. I cursed myself for not investing in a proper maternity coat. At this point, it was probably too late for it to be cost effective, but I was seriously considering buying one anyway. If we were going to be traipsing about in the cold all the time—

  The door opened. A gargoyle woman poked her head out. “Hello?”

  “Uh, we’re here to see Keith Graniteson?” said Lachlan, reading the name off his phone.

  “He’s eleven,” said the woman. “I’m his mother, Cheryl. Can I help you?”

  “Okay,” said Lachlan. “Well, then maybe we could talk about Cookie? Is that another of your children?”

  “No, Cookie is Keith’s dog,” said Cheryl. “She’s been missing for about a week now.”

  “Right, that’s why we’re here, then,” said Lachlan, sighing. “The report didn’t specify it was a missing dog, but, uh, here we are.”

  “And you are?” said Cheryl.

  “Oh, I’m Detective Lachlan Flint, and this is my associate Penny Caspian.”

  I waved a little at Cheryl.

  She looked me over. “When are you due?”

  “Uh, a couple weeks,” I said.

  “And still at work?” she said.

  “Still at work,” I said with a sugary sweet smile. God, why did everyone feel the need to comment on my pregnancy?

  “Could we maybe talk to Keith?” said Lachlan.

  “Sure,” said Cheryl. “Come on in.” She opened the door wider, and we stepped inside.

  Inside, the house appeared to be cut up into apartments. There were two green doors on the left hand side of us, each numbered. I figured various apartments in this house used to be rented out to vacationers. Now, it had been appropriated for a gargoyle family. Since children of gargoyles stayed with their mother until her death, a gargoyle family could consist of one woman, all her grown children and all their children, meaning they could be quite the crowd. A house with a lot of different apartments was actually perfect.

  Cheryl led us through one of the numbered doorways, past a kitchen where two teenaged gargoyles were cleaning up a meal, and into a bedroom.

  There was a little gargoyle boy, sitting on his unmade bed and tugging on his socks.

  “He’s getting ready for school,” said his mother. “Will this take long?”

  Oh, right. I’d forgotten that they now ran public school classes for gargoyle kids at night. It had actually turned out to be useful for all kinds of kids whose parents worked late and for lots of teenagers who wanted to take daytime jobs, so it wasn’t entirely populated by gargoyles.

  “Hope not,” said Lachlan.

  Keith looked up at his mother. “Did you get my eagleclaws? I’m supposed to bring them today for math class.” Eagleclaws were a cinnamon hard candy. They were made by the Eaglelinx company, the same people that Dan had worked for.

  “Yes, sweetie,” said Cheryl. “They’re in the kitchen. No eating them and spoiling your lunch, though.”

  “Okay,” said Keith. He looked at us. “Hi there.” He smiled.

  “These people just want to ask you a few questions. They’re police officers.”

  “Cool,” said Keith.

  Lachlan knelt down next to the kid. “Hey there, we want to talk to you about Cookie.”

  “Did you find her?” said Keith.

  “No, but we want to,” said Lachlan. “Was, um, was Cookie the kind of dog that ran off a lot?”

  “Never,” said Keith. “She never ran away once. I think someone took her.”

  “Why do you think that?” said Lachlan.

  “Because this kid that I go to school with named Brian Morgan was always saying he was going to take her away from me. He said that gargoyles shouldn
’t have dogs because dogs need to play in the sunlight. I told him he was wrong, and he shoved me.”

  “Shoved you, huh?” I said. “That wasn’t nice.”

  “He’s a dick,” said Keith.

  Lachlan and I exchanged a glance. We shrugged.

  “Anyway,” said Keith, “the last time I saw Cookie, I was riding home on the bus and she was in the yard when I got off, barking hello to me. Brian said that he was going to sneak back after everyone in my house had turned to stone and take my dog. And when I woke up, Cookie was gone.”

  “Well,” said Lachlan. “That doesn’t sound good for Brian. Can you tell us where he lives?”

  * * *

  A loud barking noise was heard behind the door of Brian Morgan’s house before it was yanked open by a woman with short, dark hair. She looked back and forth between Lachlan and me. “Uh, we’re not really interested in the path to righteousness or whatever—”

  “We’re not here to evangelize,” said Lachlan. “I’m Detective Lachlan Flint and this is my associate, Penny Caspian.”

  “Detective?” She looked a little nervous. “You’re the police?”

  “Could we come in?” said Lachlan.

  “Do, um, do I have to let you in?” she said. “Like if I say no, are you going to arrest me?”

  “No,” said Lachlan, narrowing his eyes. “This will only take a moment, Ms. Morgan. It’s actually about a dog.”

  “Dog.” She licked her lips.

  “A missing dog,” said Lachlan. “I hear that you’ve got a dog barking in there.”

  A voice from within yelled, “Who is it, Mom? Who is it?”

  “My son is getting ready for school,” said the woman. “Maybe you could come back—”

  “We want to see the dog,” said Lachlan.

  The woman shifted from one foot to another.

  Lachlan sighed. “Ma’am, I don’t mean to make a bigger deal of this than it is, but if you don’t let me see that dog, I will come back here with a warrant, and then you will be obligated to let me inside. I have reason to believe that dog is stolen, and your behavior isn’t easing my mind at all.”

  “Brian found the dog wandering around,” said his mother defensively. “Isn’t that right, Brian?”

  A boy and a dog came bounding over to the door. “What?” said the boy, who was obviously Brian.

  “You found that dog wandering around, didn’t you? It’s a stray,” said his mother.

  “No,” said Brian. “I took this dog from stupid gargoyles.”

  His mother flinched.

  “What?” said Brian. “You’re the one who told me that we don’t have to be ashamed of the fact we want protection from those maggers. Gargoyles shouldn’t have dogs. They can’t take care of ‘em during the day.”

  I pressed my lips together, glaring at the woman. “You know,” I said to her, “it’s one thing to be prejudiced yourself, but it’s quite another to indoctrinate your own child in hatred.”

  She regarded me coolly. “Take the dog, then. You’ll break my little boy’s heart. He loves that animal.”

  “He stole that animal,” said Lachlan.

  “What?” said Brian. “They’re going to take my dog? But Mom, you said that it served those gargoyles right. You said I was a much better owner than that Keith boy was ever going to be. You said—”

  “Give him the dog, Brian,” said the mother. “And never forget how the police came and took your dog. Never forget that.”

  “I don’t want to give him my dog!” said Brian, his face crumpling.

  Lachlan knelt down. “Hey, kid, look. The way you’re feeling now, that’s how Keith felt when you took this dog away from him.”

  Brian’s brow contorted, as if he was mulling that idea over. “Really?”

  “Really,” said Lachlan, reaching over and taking the dog by the collar. “Now say goodbye. I bet, though, if you apologize, and you’re nicer to Keith, he might let you come over sometimes and play with the dog. Especially during the sunlight when he’s got nobody.”

  “You think?” Brian brightened.

  “Oh, no,” said Brian’s mother. “You’re not going to make friends with gargoyles. Bad enough you have to go to night school with all of them.”

  Brian lifted his chin defiantly. “I’ll do whatever I want.”

  The mother turned back to us, her features hard. “Get off my property.”

  * * *

  After we took the dog back to the gargoyles, we got in Lachlan’s car.

  “Dogs,” he said. “Stolen dogs. That’s what we’re reduced to.”

  “Well, it was a gargoyle’s dog,” I said.

  “Yeah, but that’s bullshit, and you know it. There’s no reason this warranted our time. And because it had something to do with gargoyles didn’t mean it had anything to do with magic.”

  “I know,” I said.

  “It’s all because of prejudice,” he said. “It’s sad to say, but most of the officers on the force are a lot like that woman who told her son to steal a dog. They think of the magical creatures as separate and other. So the minute one of those cases crosses their desks, they send it over to us, because they don’t want to have to deal with it. It’s disgusting.”

  I sighed. “You’re right. It is.”

  “God damn it,” he muttered. “Stolen damned dogs. I can’t believe that’s what I did today.”

  “At least it was pretty open and shut,” I said.

  He laughed. “I guess that’s true.”

  “So, what’s next?” I said. “There were more cases on there I saw. I know it.”

  “I thought you were helping Vivica move in this evening,” said Lachlan.

  “Well, she can manage,” I said. “I’ll come with you for the next case.”

  “It’s a recurring noise complaint,” said Lachlan. “I think I can handle it. You promised your cousin.”

  I sighed. “Okay, okay. I’ll go home.”

  * * *

  It wasn’t only fear of losing the baby that made me want to stay busy and active. It was also an acute desire to stay relevant. Already, I felt as if I had dissolved into this belly, and that no one saw me as a person anymore. I was a mother-to-be, and there was no other room for me to do or be anything else. It drove me batty. If I wanted to keep working all the way up until I went into labor, then I damned well could.

  I was excited to be a mother, but that didn’t mean I was only a mother. I was a person too, and I needed to be treated like one.

  Fuming over that, I resolved that I could carry suitcases and boxes for Vivica if she needed me. Maybe not physically, but I did have magic, and that would help out.

  Except that when I got back to the hotel, Vivica was already telling two big muscled guys where to take all her things.

  When she saw me, she waved me over. “Penny!”

  I kissed Lachlan goodbye, got out of the car, and went over to the sidewalk where she was standing next to a car with the back door and the trunk open. “Hey, I thought you might need some help.”

  “Actually, I think Scott and Todd have got it. I asked them to come over. They were Dan’s friends.”

  “Oh,” I said. “One of them looks a little familiar to me.”

  “Scott? Scott Howard? He used to work at Gran’s and Gramps’s,” she said. “He cleaned the pool, I think.”

  “The pool boy, right,” I said. “He was, uh, younger then.”

  She giggled. “Yeah, he filled out, right?”

  I giggled. “He’s like a linebacker. Those shoulders!”

  “Well, I thought he’d be good at bringing stuff in for me.”

  Scott and Todd both trooped back out of the hotel.

  “Hey,” said Todd, “what else you want us to take? Everything back there?”

  “Everything,” said Vivica.

  I peered into the trunk. “What all did you bring?”

  “My entire life,” she said. “Clothes, towels, books, keepsakes, pillows. You know, the essentials
. Is it okay? Because if you don’t want it all here—”

  “It’s fine,” I said. “I don’t care, I promise. But the suite is a little bit small.”

  “I’ll make it all fit,” she said, eyes sparkling.

  A gust of icy wind came in off the ocean, and I tried again—in vain—to cover my belly with my coat. “Hey, uh, you want to go inside?”

  “Sure,” said Vivica.

  We went into the lobby, where it was warm. Felicity was sitting up on one of the couches under the television set. She was my one employee for the day. My best friend Felicity was a drake, which meant that she was a dragon-human hybrid who’d died with dragon flesh in her system. Now, only magic kept her alive. She had rows of iridiscent green-blue scales that started around her ears. The scales ran all the way from the top of her head, down over her back and legs.

  She pointed. “That guy.”

  “With the shoulders?” I said, grinning. “Yeah, Vivica and I were ogling him too.”

  “I remember that guy,” she said. “He’s Scott, right? He used to work for your grandparents.”

  “Well, yeah,” I said.

  “I bet he doesn’t recognize me,” she said. “I mean, I don’t even remember if he still worked there after I became a drake or not, and…” She bit her lip. “Do you think I should say hi?”

  “Why not?” said Vivica. “He’s a nice guy. Even if he doesn’t remember you, he’ll—”

  The door opened and Scott and Todd trooped in, their arms full of boxes.

  We all got quiet until the two of them disappeared down the hallway. Then all three of us erupted in giggles like we were teenage girls.

  “You didn’t say anything,” said Vivica.

  “Well, not while he was carrying in boxes,” said Felicity. “You can’t stop and chat while you’ve got boxes in your arms.”

  “True,” I said. “Did you want to stop and chat?”

  Felicity stood up, fiddling with her hair. “I’m being friendly.”

  “Of course,” I said. “Because you have a boyfriend.”

  “I know that,” said Felicity, looking flustered.