by R. Cooper
“Detective, I came to check on her, take her home, if that’s all right.” Her tone said she was taking Nasreen home whether Ray liked it or not, but she said it politely.
Behind her, glitter flared again, like hope, or so much soft desire.
“It’s fine.” Penn’s tone was a mix of annoyance and impatience. But then, it was late—early—and unlike Ray, Penn didn’t enjoy being out all night. Or ignored, for that matter. Leads were best followed when they were fresh, though there wasn’t going to be much they could do this late anyway. “We’ll come by tomorrow.”
With a final nod, she stepped out, Ray moving after her. Nasreen plopped back onto the bed, suddenly no longer uncertain about what had happened and talking a mile a minute while staring with wide eyes into Miss Conti’s quietly amused face.
Miss Conti kept her distance, despite how Nasreen’s body language was screaming for someone to hold her. But Miss Conti’s hands, which were actually quite lovely, graceful, and shaped by hard work, were clutched tightly to her chest.
Ray nodded, almost to himself.
The human’s expression was fond, among other things, and Ray closed the door as he left, turning to find he’d scared a Brownie who somehow hadn’t seen Ray coming despite his size. He must have been part of the hospital’s night cleaning crew. Ray ignored him too, moving to the elevator with Penn at his side.
She didn’t bother to hide her yawn behind her hand, but her thoughts were sharp.
“There was no money in the till. Miss Conti, aka, Nasreen’s beloved Audrey…” Penn smiled, just a bit, to sweeten that, but went on, “…told us earlier that the register was always left empty at closing, with the drawer open, so that anyone looking in at night would see there was nothing worth taking, but that she hid a hundred-dollar bill under that old clunker as a charm to attract more money.”
Old world magic. Ray snorted.
“She also said that hundred was gone.”
“So.” He considered. “The alarm wasn’t on, because Nasreen was there. But the front entrance has a different lock than the back door, a different key. Unless the attacker used a teleportation spell, but honestly, the amount of work involved in that for a take of a hundred dollars….” It was damn unlikely. Even a skilled wizard knew the risks of that spell, namely parts of you ending up in separate places and you ending up very dead. And Ray had smelled booze in the shop. Not the brandies and liquor used in some of the candies, but wine, and not expensive wine despite the neighborhood. If the attacker had been drunk, there was no way he’d used a spell, especially a complex one.
“From her description, it was a man, a human man. And he didn’t smash the place until after he saw her,” Penn added as they reached the elevator.
Ray ran a hand down his tie as he thought about the vicious nature of the attack on a creature as lighthearted as a fairy.
Penn frowned, more for the case than at him. “And ‘You’re not supposed to be here!’?”
He knew what she was thinking. A comment like that could mean any sort of prejudice at work here. Or just simple surprise. Either way it was troubling.
At the thought, his stomach rumbled. He wasn’t in the mood to raid the vending machine anymore, but something sweet still lingered in his nose, on his tongue. Nasreen probably.
Penn yawned again, yanking him back to the moment.
“We need to find out who has keys to that front door and the last time the lock was changed. Ex-employees might not know that Nasreen sometimes works there at night, now.”
Ray hid a sigh at the thought of someone looking for a quick hundred suddenly confronted with a witness and overreacting. Just like that, burglary becomes attempted murder. Of course, that only explained hitting Nasreen once. Coming back to hit her again instead of fleeing…. Twice like that would have been murder for a human. Could have been murder for Nasreen too, if the elves who worked overnight in the shoe shop across the street hadn’t noticed all the broken glass and called 911.
“I don’t like it.”
“When do you ever? Especially when a fairy is involved, and we both know why that is, Ray.” Penn was more direct when tired and generally in a bad mood without a full night’s sleep. When the doors opened, they stepped inside the elevator, crowding a young doctor into a corner. He checked Penn out anyway, obviously, peering around Ray.
“You should hear her singing voice,” Ray informed the man helpfully, taking her direct comments and aiming them right back at her. Penn socked him in the arm. The doctor stared harder at Penn, into those eyes, and then tried to unobtrusively push himself further back into the corner. Usually she just flashed her gun to get rid of guys who didn’t interest her.
Ray sighed again. He and Penn weren’t threats, but of course, people always believed the worst parts of the stories about Beings and never looked at the truth right in front of them. It had been decades since the Beings had come out into the open. People should have been over this by now. His shoulders fell.
“You should get some sleep, Ray,” Penn offered when they were on the ground floor. “You don’t seem rested.” She paused. “You never do, anymore.”
Ray nearly growled at her. She knew why that was, but a tired Penn was a pushy Penn to the people she cared about.
“I’ll see you tomorrow. We’ll re-canvass and see if that jeweler on the other side of the street had security cameras.”
“Yes, Ray.” Penn made a face at him and then pulled him back with a sleepy grin. “But about Zucchero, don’t you think Cal would—”
“No. I don’t. Goodnight, Penelope.”
Though of course he did. Cal would love that shop, and they both knew it. Any fairy would, even a half-fairy would have been walking on clouds in a store like that. The thought had occurred to Ray the moment he’d gotten a good look around the place. Cal had probably already been there, but when Ray had lifted his head to inhale, the candy scents had only been from the store’s supply and those had been tainted with blood and a hint of red wine.
It had been two weeks since the last time he’d smelled—seen—Cal, two weeks since the last full moon, and it was taking its toll on him despite his best efforts.
As though that thought was on his face, Penn patted his arm and then steered him toward the parking lot, to the car, so they could both go home and try to snatch a few hours rest.
IT TURNED out the jeweler was a dragon. Ray had never met a dragon before, but he’d always been curious, as dragons were the only other creatures to ever be repeatedly compared to Weres. They were shifters in an entirely different way from Penn.
When dealing with humans, and also the police, it turned out, Huojin wore human skin, albeit scaly and tinged with vibrant reds and golds that made him look like burnished metal in the right light. He also smoked constantly, and Ray had barely made it out without rubbing his nose raw. But at least Huojin had voluntarily given them his security footage from the night before, offering Ray an opal to stay with him “a little longer.”
Evidently, dragons found werewolves just as fascinating. Ray had politely insisted he was on duty. Penn had snorted, and not quietly. Ray had then nicely refrained from commenting that, though many human laws had been changed over the years to make allowances for Beings, prostitution in all forms was still illegal in this state.
“If only you weren’t already taken.” Penn laughed again as they came up from the viewing room, after spending hours at the station watching the footage. Every time she thought about the dragon, she started cracking up. Ray just snarled at her, because he wasn’t taken, exactly, and she damn well knew it. His snarl died as he reached his desk and saw the glazed donut with sprinkles on a spread out napkin waiting for him next to a paper cup full of coffee from the cart outside the station.
He always got coffee from the cart because the mug he’d brought to use at work had gone missing months ago, and he’d never replaced it. He hadn’t a chance for any coffee this morning, however, and looked around the bullpen, couldn’t he
lp it, but there wasn’t a trace of sparkle. Penn met his stare.
“Don’t say it,” he warned her, coming around to stare at his gift. He knew who had brought it. They both did, though he nearly closed his eyes when he inhaled the sweet lingering scent around his desk, like snickerdoodles and hot chocolate on a cold day and want/want/want. His blood started to pound, flushing his skin with heat.
He felt like a high schooler with a crush. Any minute now he was going to need a notebook to hold in front of his crotch. He sighed.
“You idiot,” Penn said, but lightly, then headed over to the printer, where the stills of their possible killer should be coming up. “No wonder those two only wanted to talk to you last night. There must be a mark all over you that says you’re in the same boat, so to speak. Maybe a big sign over your head that only fairies and the lovelorn can see that says: This wolf is taken.” She sang the last word, her voice ringing, before he threw a wadded up ball of paper at her.
She stuck out her tongue and then pulled their shots from the printer to look over with him.
“I’m not taken.” He pulled at his tie. Penn didn’t even look up.
“With a capital ‘T’.”
Ray snatched the pictures out of her hands.
There were a few restaurants and two bars at the other end of the pretty, pricey boulevard where Zucchero was located, but most people had headed to the parking garage at the end of their night. One man, obviously intoxicated, had gone the other way, stumbling determinedly past Huojin’s jewelry store just before two a.m. Right toward Zucchero.
It was worth a shot. There had been no usable prints at the scene, but the techs had agreed that the intruder had used a key to get in. A dishtowel had been found next to the register, possibly used to wipe down the surfaces, but with all that broken glass, there had been blood everywhere, tentatively typed as both Nasreen’s and then someone human’s. That could be good, if the DNA test they’d ordered ever got through the backlog and their perp happened to be in the system.
Penn muttered something dark about that remote possibility. Ray agreed. They’d show the surveillance still to Miss Conti and maybe get a name to the face. He grabbed his gun from his desk so they could head out. Then he paused, his stomach rumbling, as it nearly always did. He snatched up the donut and ate it in one gulp, then took his coffee too. Plain black, and very hot.
Very hot meant recent, and he inhaled again.
“It might have been a casual robbery, but that ended once the guy saw Nasreen,” he commented once they were in the car and on their way to that part of town. Sipping the coffee put a smile on his face that didn’t belong there. He put it in the cup holder.
“Some psychological insight would be useful here, even if there wasn’t any magic involved. Perhaps we should ask the captain if a consultant is available.” Penn was not being nice, even if Ray secretly shared her belief that consultants could be helpful.
“He’s already on a case,” he answered without thinking, picking up his coffee again to feel the heat against his fingertips. Then he froze, glancing sideways. “Are you sure you aren’t part pixie?”
“Very sure. Mama got around, but not that much,” Penn tossed back, though wincing immediately afterward. They had a longstanding joke that every time she mentioned her mother, her mother somehow sensed it through a magic unknown to Beings and humans alike—a magic known only to mothers who enjoyed making their children feel guilty. Within hours of speaking her mother’s name, Penn’s mother would call her. It happened every time, like clockwork.
Ray gave Penn a bloodthirsty grin, pleased that all the crap he’d taken from Penn during the past twenty-four hours, and a great deal of their partnership, wouldn’t go unpunished. He was less smug a second later when she recovered and pushed the idea of consultants again.
“Think about it, Ray. What if there’s some fairy secret to helping Nasreen remember? Or just in getting her to trust us?”
“Just being trustworthy should do that. Turn here.”
“I remember the way, Ray. I was here with you last night.”
Ray made a noise, because she had been about to turn in the wrong direction, but didn’t comment. Anyway, it was clear from how Penn was talking that she had meant one particular consultant as much as Ray had, the consultant who was currently assisting Aguirre on his imp murder case, but whom Ray knew for a fact had already been in the station today. When he drank his coffee, he could detect traces of unimaginable happiness, and wide, wide smiles.
Fairies, he made himself think, were too excitable. It was just coffee.
“You should see your face right now.” Penn parked the car and got out before he could comment, leaving him to follow her as they approached Zucchero. The display window was boarded up, but the front door was open, and they could hear broken glass being moved around.
There was a hint of something in the air inside too, though it had to be Ray’s imagination toying with him. It wasn’t just the candy smells that belonged there. But after a moment, he decided it was probably that Nasreen and her fairy-longing were confusing his senses.
He didn’t get a chance to ask if they’d had a visitor in any case. Both women were talking and joking as they swept up shards of glass and candy that had to be thrown out and dumping them into large garbage bags. There was new candy too, delicately laid out on regular plates on one counter: maple fudge squares and pale pink cubes covered in powdered sugar. Ray’s stomach growled.
“Good afternoon, ladies.” Penn was bland. “Sorry to bother you, but we….” She hesitated, barely. “I need to have a moment with Miss Conti.” They’d agreed in the car not to traumatize Nasreen anymore with the picture until they were sure. Penn had argued that she’d hardly be traumatized, but Ray had been insistent. Even with that, Penn had only agreed because they didn’t want to bias Nasreen for any possible future lineups.
“Audrey, will you be okay?” Nasreen continued to surprise him. Ray focused on her as Miss Conti shrugged and waved to indicate it was fine. Then Penn led her into the back for a few more questions and then to show her the picture. The door swung closed behind them, but Ray could still hear every word if he tried.
“You okay?” Ray slid his gaze back to that candy on the counter. It smelled unexpectedly delicious, like he’d smelled it somewhere before. But he’d been up for hours and missed a few meals, and the donut hadn’t filled him up at all. Anything would have smelled good to him at this point.
“You’re not human!” Nasreen seemed to realize out loud, popping a hand over her mouth. “I thought that before, but you really aren’t. You… change. There’s something… something large. But then… and you’re a cop? Wow.”
“Yes, I am.” Ray leveled a serious look at her. She was already nodding, moving on. Maybe that explained her resilience. She was Fairy, never in one place too long.
“I’ve been told I ought to trust you, you know. And not just let myself need to find this guy and introduce him to real truth.” Her phrasing was odd. It put Ray in mind of the old stories. Those old stories were mostly disproven now, like the legends about Weres, but some of them occasionally turned out to be true. The way she was talking made Ray think of those tales in which fairies were cruel creatures who lived long lives with plenty of time to exact revenges and snatch up unsuspecting humans and hold them captive for decades.
Those legends also said Ray was cursed to kill indiscriminately, and that he’d have a mark on his hand. And that he’d been bitten. The very idea of bites spreading lycanthropy made him laugh now, though watching those movies as a child had been a painful, horrifying experience. One that his mother had insisted on to prepare him for dealing with humans, and though the sting had never really faded, he saw her point. Continually dealing with the fallout and misconceptions from those movies could be as much of a job as working in Robbery/Homicide. So considering Ray’s experience of fairies was mostly citing them for public nudity or arresting them for public intoxication, he was prepared to call b
ullshit on the legends.
Fairies sought happiness and lived honest, free lives. He doubted they’d seek revenge.
But this was a full fairy, and he paused, just for a moment. This was a fairy, and an old one, for all that she acted young. They always acted young. Daring but reckless, making promises they couldn’t possibly understand.
He frowned. “I hunt down criminals. The law is the law.” Her eyebrows went up and Ray bared his teeth at the memory. “And I make sure everyone, Being or human, follows it.”
Far from afraid, Nasreen giggled and put down the broom to float over to him.
“I heard that about you,” she breathed, popping a piece of candy into her mouth as she got closer, and Ray straightened in instant alarm. Not at her flirting. That was harmless and impersonal. Someone else might have even flirted back to find out what she was talking about, but Ray wasn’t much for deception, either. And never at a crime scene.
“Did you?” The smell again. It was on her breath. Orange zest, and so much sweetness. He controlled himself but didn’t ask anymore about it. He changed the subject. “How much of your attacker did you see? We didn’t get a description last night.”
“Glimpses.” She stopped, uncomfortable. “He was older, and he had slick hair and… he didn’t shine.”
Ray sighed. The perp didn’t shine. Meaningful to some, but not to someone trying to get an arrest warrant.
“If we showed you a picture in a lineup—” But Audrey’s gasp from the other room made him turn, and then Nasreen copied him, atwitter to see his reaction, even if she didn’t know why.
“My ex husband…. That son of a bitch!” That part must have been loud enough that Nasreen heard it too. She moved as Audrey and Penn came out of the kitchen. Penn was trying to tell Ray something with her eyes while Nasreen flew to Audrey’s side, just like she had that morning, only this time putting her body between Audrey and Penelope.
