Fire Song (City of Dragons) (10 page)

“Shut up.” Otis leaned across the table, baring his teeth.

“That didn’t happen,” I said in horror. “Dragons don’t hurt people, especially not little girls.”

Otis turned to me, sneering. “Oh, you don’t think so, girly? Let me tell you, those dragons can’t control themselves in their reptile form, but they’re rich, all right, and they’re happy to cover up whatever mess they make. There are literally hundreds of dragon killings every year, and ain’t no one doing a thing about it. It’s a conspiracy, that’s what it is.”

I licked my lips. Oh. He was crazy, then. A conspiracy.

“If dragons didn’t kill my little sisters, then what did? They
was
burned.” Otis folded his arms over his chest.

“Maybe a young dragon. Right after puberty, when shifting is new, maybe a very young dragon could have lost control—” I shook my head. “But young dragons don’t breathe fire. Only mated dragons can breathe fire.” Of course, very occasionally young dragons were already mated. “I’m sorry about your sisters,” I murmured.

“Oh, everybody is,” said Otis. “But that don’t change nothing, does it?”

“Well, that’s why you change things. You and the Brotherhood, that is. You’re out there ridding the world of dragons and magic half-breeds,” said Flint.

“No, I ain’t,” said Otis. “I ain’t in that Brotherhood group. They’re hateful human supremists, and I ain’t got nothing to do with them.”

“Those dragon girls that washed up on shore,” said Flint. “You probably thought that was a good thing. A few less dragons in the world—”

“I didn’t do nothing to hurt those dragon girls,” said Otis. “I ain’t in the Brotherhood. You just stop it with your accusations.”

“Now, did I say you had anything to do with it?” said Flint.

“Not out loud, no, but that’s what you meant. You would have been coming around to it in a few minutes.” Otis wagged his finger at Flint. “I remember you. You got a mouth on you. You sit there and talk and talk some more. You talk real good. Before too long, listening to you, I get all mixed up. I ain’t doing that again. You leave me alone, you here? I ain’t had nothing to do with it.”

*

Flint held the door for me as we left the bar. “Well, what do you think?”

Otis had clammed up pretty quick after that, refusing to say a word. Eventually, he got up, took his bow and arrows, and left us at the table. That was when we left too.

“About Otis?” I said. “Or about a dragon attacking little girls and killing them? I’ve never heard anything so horrible in my entire life.”

“You said that was impossible,” said Flint. He looked around the parking lot. “Did you drive?”

I pointed. “My car’s over there.”

“I’ll walk you to your car.” He started off in that direction.

I matched his pace. “I don’t know. I think it is impossible. I can control myself as a dragon. I don’t have any urges to hurt things. I just…” I shook my head. “But what else could it have been? He said they were burned.”

“He’s lying,” said Flint. “Or he’s confused. Or he’s convinced himself of it so that he feels justified in killing dragons and selling their bodies for profit.”

“Maybe,” I said. I had almost forgotten what the man was. I’d been feeling sorry for him, and he might well have been the very person who killed my parents. I felt myself harden toward him. “You think he did it, then?”

“It’s too early in the investigation to know,” said Flint. “And Otis isn’t going to be cooperative.”

We reached my car. I opened the door and got inside.

Flint grabbed the door and leaned in. “Hey, you got anything going right now?”

“Why?”

“I’m about to head up to talk to a girl says she’s Sophia’s best friend. I’m hoping she might know more about why Sophia was with Alastair. You want to come?”

“Sure,” I said. “Should I follow you?”

“Yeah, okay,” he said. “I’d tell you to just leave your car here, but this place is a little sketchy. Probably better not to leave it parked in this lot too long.”

*

“I don’t know anything about Alastair Cooper,” said Deena Walsh. “I mean, I’ve seen him around at some parties and functions, but…”

“So, he wasn’t spending time with you and Sophia that night?” Flint asked.

“No, not that I can recollect.” She considered, and then shook her head. “I mean, that bar was packed that night. It was a Mardi Gras thing. Everyone was wearing masks. I kept losing track of Sophia. When she didn’t come back home with me, I just figured she’d found another ride. But then she never showed up. Finding out that she was dead all that time…” Deena swallowed, her eyes looking bright. “I just feel awful. I should have looked harder for her.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” I said.

“Of course it wasn’t,” said Flint. “But anything you can remember would be helpful.”

“Well, I don’t know. I know that Amber saw her with Mr. Cooper, but I didn’t. And I can’t imagine she would be hanging out with him anyway. She had a boyfriend.”

“I thought she was unmated.” Flint looked confused.

Deena rolled her eyes. “That mating stuff is so bogus. I don’t even know if I believe in it, right? I think that maybe it’s just your parents giving you a big wad of cash for your wedding present that makes you take yourself off the market.”

“It’s real,” I said in a clipped voice.

“But you left,” said Deena. “You left Mr. Cooper. So how real could it really be?”

Flint raised his hand. “Let’s leave this argument aside for the moment. She had a boyfriend, but he wasn’t her mate.”

“Yeah, some of us think it’s stupid that we have to be set up in these arranged marriages,” said Deena. “We want to pick for ourselves. No one will allow us to do that, but we don’t care.”

“Because,” I said, “when you meet your mate, you’ll leave the person you chose behind.”

“You sound like my parents.” Deena rolled her eyes.

“But who was her boyfriend?” said Flint.

“I don’t know,” said Deena. “She was real secretive about it.”

“Why was that? Because having boyfriends is forbidden?” said Flint.

“It’s not forbidden,” I said. “Unmated dragons are always flitting about from partner to partner. That’s normal.”

“But they were serious,” said Deena. “Really serious. And no one likes that.”

I shrugged. She was overstating it, really. Unmated dragons didn’t get it. Once they found their mate, they understood. If Sophia’s elders didn’t approve of her having a serious relationship with a person who wasn’t her mate, it was only because they wanted to spare her the difficulty it would cause once she did find her mate. They were only thinking of her well-being, not trying to unfairly dictate her life.

“So, she kept him a secret,” said Flint. “And you don’t know anything about him?”

“He was older,” said Deena. “Over a hundred, I think. He was really well-off, even by our standards. He owned several big companies, and they were always buying up more. She was always saying that she couldn’t visit him because of another merger, which took up all his time. And he never came to Sea City. He spent all his time in New York.”

Flint nodded slowly. “Nothing else?”

She thought about it. “She was always talking about his penis?”

Flint held up a hand. “That’s all right. You don’t have to go into that.”

Deena blushed. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re right to be thorough,” said Flint, smiling. “But I doubt that will help us identify him.”

*

“You think this mysterious boyfriend could be our killer?” I said. We were standing outside my car in front of Deena’s family’s home.

“Unlikely if he really never came to Sea City,” said Flint.

“True,” I said.

“If what she said is true, though, and he’s a rich, over-one-hundred-year-old dragon who owns a conglomerate, then that’s a pretty small list, isn’t it?”

I thought about it. “You’re right. And I don’t know of anyone who matches that description who isn’t already mated.”

“Maybe that’s why she was keeping it a secret. Maybe her boyfriend was cheating on his wife.”

“Maybe,” I said.

“Of course, maybe she made up all those details. If she was really trying to keep him a secret, maybe she didn’t share anything accurate about him at all.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.”

Flint dug his phone out of his pocket, holding up a finger. He put it to his ear. “Flint here…. Yeah, I saw the other calls. I’ve been busy, though…. Oh. No, you were right, that is something I would want to know about. Thanks.” He hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket. “Another dragon girl has been reported missing.”

“What?” I said. “Who?”

“Dahlia Brooks,” he said. “You know her?”

“No, the name doesn’t ring a bell. I know the Brooks family, though.”

“Well,” he said, “maybe it’s unrelated. Maybe she’ll turn up at home and it will have all been a prank or something.”

“Or maybe she’s the next victim.”

He looked at his feet. “That’s always a possibility.”

A search party was gathering at the boardwalk in the twilight of the evening. It was cold, and I was wrapped up in a big hooded sweatshirt. Flint was standing next to me, and he didn’t seem cold at all. He was too intent on watching everyone who was gathering there.

“There’s a certain kind of person who’d be perpetrating crimes like this,” he said. “And most likely, it’s not someone who even knows these girls, at least not intimately. It may be that he did know his first victim quite well. Often times, that first killing is the result of a fantasy that has played out so many times the killer can’t stop himself. But after that first one, he’ll be smarter, he’ll look for victims who are similar, who allow him to replay that same killing again, but they won’t be people connected to him.”

“So, if that’s the case, it could still be Alastair,” I said.

“Yes, it could be. He’s definitely still a suspect. But we can’t allow ourselves to have tunnel vision about him,” said Flint. “It’s possible that the killer didn’t know any of these victims. That he was smart from the beginning, and that he chose people who weren’t connected to him at all. At this point, he’s probably on a crazy high, especially if he’s also taken this other victim. And he is delighted by the fact that he has pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes, that no one knows who he is. But… the feeling fades. The delight doesn’t last for ever, and to get it back, he has to take bigger risks, thumb his nose at the authorities and still get away with it. If he can pull that off, the emotional reward will be even greater. So, he’ll start getting closer to the investigation.”

“That’s like what you were saying when you thought I was the killer. That I was inserting myself into the investigation.”

“Yes, exactly,” he said.

“You think the killer is here tonight?”

“It’s quite possible.”

I pointed. “Alastair is here tonight.”

“Yes, I did notice that.” He glanced at me. “Don’t worry. If Alastair is guilty, we’ll find out and we will bring him to justice.”

“No, I know that. I’m sorry I keep bringing him up.”

“It’s because you’re too close to him as a possible suspect,” said Flint. “You need to take a step back, look at the wider picture.”

“Okay,” I said. “So, what are we looking for? If the killer didn’t know the suspects, then it could be anybody.” There were lots of people who’d showed up for this search party who didn’t know Dahlia or the family. They had just come to be good Samaritans. Or maybe because of the news coverage. Maybe it was like touching celebrity.

“Well, we should hone in on white men,” said Flint. “Mid-twenties to early thirties. He may be single or married with a family, but he will have shown up for the search party alone. The distraction of trying to keep up appearances for a wife would ruin the excitement for him. And beyond that… I’m just going to watch. There’s something about the way he’ll move, the way he’ll interact with everything. He’ll be trying to blend in, but he’ll be separate.”

“What?” I said.

“He’ll be play-acting, and it will be subtle, but possible to see. You know the way that people sound different when they’re actually being interviewed versus when they’re pretending to be interviewed? When you watch one of those horror films that’s pretending to be a documentary, even if no one tells you it’s not a documentary, you can hear the difference in the way they speak. It will be like that.”

“What?” I said again.

Flint shrugged. “I’ll know it when I see it. Trust me. I’m good at this.”

So, we stood in the dark, on the edge and watched as the people came through and were organized into different groups.

Flint was quiet. Sometimes, he made notes on his phone, but he didn’t say anything aloud.

When I asked him questions, he was dismissive.

“Him? You think him?”

“No, not
him
,” Flint would say, as if it were the most ridiculous idea to ever have crossed my lips.

By the end of the evening, however, he went to the organizers and checked their list of names. He wrote down six or seven names in his phone and said he’d check them out.