Red (29 page)
I nodded like he was standing there with me. “Okay. Talk to you soon.”
“You bet,” he replied, his voice losing some of its heaviness. “I’ll see you this evening.”
“We’re still on?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
When I called Trish she answered on the second ring. “Red!” she said somewhat breathlessly. “This specimen you gave me is remarkable!”
I frowned at her enthusiasm, wondering if her idea of remarkable was the same as mine. “So, you find anything?”
“Did I ever!” she said quickly. “There’s definitely magical residue. But the signature—my gosh, it’s amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it.
Very
powerful stuff.”
Very
powerful stuff.”
“Fabulous,” I murmured. “Did you find any matches to it in the Registry?”
“Not one,” Trish replied. “It has to be someone who came in under the radar. The folks at the Relocation Bureau must have completely missed that this Tale had abilities.”
Great. So Sebille was able to cloak her powers. This just got better and better.
“What about the werewolf DNA on the rat?” I asked. “Did you find anything there?”
“Yep. It’s unusual, too.”
My frown deepened. “How so?”
“The magical signature is completely foreign to me,” she explained. “It’s very intricate. Definitely a curse behind it, but it’s not your run-of-the-mill job. Whoever cursed this werewolf was crazy good with spells.”
I swallowed hard, preparing myself to ask the burning question. “Can you tell if the person controlling the familiars has also cast a spell on the werewolf?” I asked, not sure what answer I was hoping to hear. As much as I wanted to prove Seth was completely innocent of the crimes, I was willing to settle for being able to prove he was under the control of an evil sorceress and couldn’t be held accountable for his actions if it would keep him off the executioner’s to-do list.
Trish hesitated. “I can’t say definitively,” she hedged. “There were traces of that magic in the wolf DNA, but that could have been cross-contamination from biting the rat. I’d need to run some more tests to completely rule out this particular werewolf as a suspect.”
“Do whatever you need to do,” I told her.
“You do realize it’s Saturday, right?” she said, her tone weary.
“I’ll owe you big time,” I promised. “You know I’m good for it.”
I heard Trish let out a long, slow breath. “All right. But I’m going to hold you to that favor someday.”
“Trish, you get me the answers I’m looking for, and I’ll be your best friend for life.”
Chapter 35
“There,” Elizabeth said proudly, turning me to face the full-length mirror in her dressing room. “You are an absolute vision.”
I admit I had to blink a couple times before I realized I was the woman staring back at me. Her figure was shapely and sleek and filled out the elegant black Vera Wang cocktail dress much better than expected. A surprising amount of cleavage peeked out of the deep dipping V-line bodice, and when I turned my body around and looked over my shoulder, the woman’s bare back was in stark contrast to the darkness of the material. Her hair, which was as black as the dress she wore, was piled high on her head in a loose chignon that accentuated the gentle sloping curves of a delicate bone structure and revealed in full brilliance the remarkable blueness of her eyes.
“Whoa,” I whispered. “I look . . .”
“Breathtaking,” Elizabeth supplied, her smiling face joining mine in the mirror. “The only thing you lack is the proper jewelry, but I believe I have just the thing.”
Eliza went to a cabinet sitting atop her dressing table and opened the glass doors. After looking through the contents for a moment, she emerged with a simple blue teardrop diamond pendant hanging from a white gold chain and matching earrings.
“I can’t borrow those,” I protested. “Anything that sparkles that much makes me nervous. What if I lose them?”
Elizabeth laughed and fastened the pendant around my neck. “Then we shall consider it a sacrifice for a worthy cause. You simply could not wear anything else with this dress. Simple elegance suits you.”
“I think you’re projecting,” I mumbled, nevertheless putting on the earrings with great care.
Her cheeks dimpled with an affectionate smile. “I think you do not take enough credit for your loveliness, my friend. But I hazard a guess you shall not be able to escape it this evening.”
I wobbled a little on the black sling-backs as I turned and walked toward the chair where I’d discarded my clothes and other belongings. I tried to ignore the nervous fluttering in my stomach while I gathered them together and looked about absently for what to do with them next.
“Do not concern yourself with those,” Eliza said. “I shall have our man deliver your things to you.”
I dropped the clothes back onto the chair, then picked up my gun, FMA badge, and cell phone. “Where am I going to put these?” I wondered out loud, glancing briefly at my cleavage. “There’s no hiding anything in this dress, that’s for damned sure.”
“You could carry a reticule,” Eliza suggested.
I gave her a sour look. “Like hell.”
Eliza laughed again. “Very well, then I suppose you must leave those as well. I can have them sent along with your clothes.”
I cast a glance at the items in my hands, then, after a brief moment of misgiving, set them down with my clothes. “Nate will be carrying, I guess, so it should be okay.”
A staccato rap on the dressing room door sounded, making me jump. One of Eliza’s maids opened the door and dropped a polite curtsy. “Detective Grimm has arrived, madam.”
“Thank you, Ann,” Eliza said, then turned to me. “Shall we?”
I hung on to Elizabeth’s arm as we made our way down the stairs, as much for balance as support, and kept my eyes firmly on the steps to ensure I didn’t miss one and go tumbling down in a gloriously graceless spectacle. So when we reached the bottom of the stairs and I looked up, I wasn’t quite prepared for the expression of unabashed admiration I saw on Nate’s face. I felt my cheeks going warmer and warmer the longer he stared without comment.
“You look quite lovely this evening, Ms. Little,” Darcy said with a slight bow to me.
I gave Darcy a grateful smile and nervously smoothed the front of the dress. “Thanks, but it’s all Elizabeth’s doing.”
“Does she not look beautiful, Detective?” Elizabeth prompted Nate, rescuing me from my self-conscious embarrassment. “Have you ever seen her look lovelier?”
Nate’s lips curved into a slow smile. “Only once,” he said with a meaningful wink.
As I flushed to the roots of my hair, I averted my eyes, affording me the chance to take in the sight of Nate in what had to be a vintage 1940s doubled-breasted black tuxedo. He had left his fedora at home, so his waves of dark hair hung about his head and neck in a carelessly debonair way that would have given any one of the silver screen stars a run for his money when it came to flat-out sexiness.
Eat your heart out, Cary Grant. . . .
“Well,” I said, forcing my gaze back to his, “don’t you look
dashing
.”
dashing
.”
With a burst of laughter at the inside joke, he held his elbow out to me. “Shall we?”
After wishing Elizabeth and Darcy a good evening, he ushered me outside to where a burgundy 1940 Lincoln Zephyr Continental awaited us.
I blinked in dismay when he opened the door. “Where did you get this car?” I demanded, concerned he might have pinched another one especially for the occasion.
“It’s mine,” he replied. “You didn’t think I was going to take you to the Charmings’ party in that clunker the FMA gave me, did you?”
I actually hadn’t even considered how we’d get there—I was far more concerned with how I was going to stay upright in these shoes—but I wasn’t going to admit that to Nate. “I figured you’d come up with something.”
As we drove to the party, I filled Nate in on what Trish had told me earlier. I still hadn’t heard back on the rest of the tests I’d asked her to run, which was starting to make me a little nervous. “Even if we can prove Caliban and Sebille are behind the murders, we still can’t prove Seth wasn’t their murder weapon.”
“She could have chosen any werewolf to use,” Nate pointed out as we pulled up to the gated estate where two stoic men stood sentinel, checking invitations before allowing cars in. “Why would she choose Seth?”
“Got me,” I replied, squinting a little to see if I could make out who was in the Rolls Royce in front of us. “I’ll be sure to ask her that when we go visit her in prison. Did the guys have any trouble picking her up at the hospital?”
Nate squirmed a little. “About that . . .”
I sat up straighter in the seat, my heart pounding. “What happened?”
“She wasn’t there,” Nate said. “The hospital staff said she hasn’t been there at all since Caliban was brought in.”
My stomach sank into my borrowed shoes. “Damn it! We should have stayed on her when we had the chance.”
“We’ll get her, Red,” Nate assured me. “You know we will.”
“Before or after she has anyone else killed?” I muttered.
Nate’s brow furrowed as he produced our invitation and rolled down the window to show it to the guard. My question was rhetorical, but his expression was a response nonetheless. He was worried about it, too.
The guard shone a flashlight upon the invitation, then on each of us in turn, then back on the invitation as if questioning the authenticity. Finally, he handed it back to Nate and waved us in with a shrug.
As Nate pulled through the gates I glanced into the rearview mirror and saw the guard lift his radio to his lips and speak rapidly.
“Great,” I said. “He’s outing us before we even get in there. Good luck getting any uninhibited conversation now.”
When we pulled up to the front of the Charmings’ manor, a young man in pale blue livery came hurrying toward us and had opened the car door for me before Nate had even put the car into park.
“Enforcer Little,” the boy said with a slight bow as he extended a hand to help me out of the car. I was just perfecting my wobbly stance on Eliza’s shoes when I heard a loud snort of laughter.
“Well, would you look who has graced us with her presence!”
I turned around to see the speaker and had to do a double-take. The woman’s pale violet hair was piled atop her head in what must have been a fashionable style at one point but had come loose and was now leaning precariously to one side. The pearls that wound through the tangled mess made her look like she’d had a fight with a fishing net and the net had won. Her evening gown was askew, one strap hanging loosely off her shoulder. Lovely wide eyes the same shade as her hair were glassy and distant and her cheeks were a bit rosier than they should have been.
“Hello, Lavender,” I said warily to Cindy’s fairy godmother. “I’d ask how you’re doing, but that’s pretty clear.”
Lavender tittered drunkenly as she wobbled toward me. “You know me,” she said, her speech slurring, “always the life of the party.” She swung a slender arm in a wide arc and let it land around my shoulders. “Who’s the stud you brought with you, Red?”
I gave Nate a pleading look, then said, “Nate, this is Lavender, Cindy’s fairy godmother and the reason all of us are here.”
Lavender gave me an offended pout. “Red, I’m so hurt! You know that stupid genie is the one to blame, the worthless jackass.” Lavender swayed a little, making me stumble. She wrapped her other arm around my neck and pressed her forehead to mine. “He should have known better than to challenge a fairy. That never ends well.”
“Lovely to meet you,” Nate said, gently extricating me from Lavender’s hold. “Would you like some help into the house?”
Lavender blew a raspberry and waved away his offer. “I’m
fine,
” she assured him loudly, drifting a few steps as she spoke. “Oh, look! There’s the band. ’Bout damn time. Better go tell them where to go.” She stumbled away, hitching up the hem of her dress as she went.
fine,
” she assured him loudly, drifting a few steps as she spoke. “Oh, look! There’s the band. ’Bout damn time. Better go tell them where to go.” She stumbled away, hitching up the hem of her dress as she went.
“Good lord,” Nate mumbled, pulling my hand through the crook of his arm. “Is she always like that?”
I nodded. “Pretty much. Let’s just say she’s more firmly bound to the bottle than Al’s genie ever was.”
Nate shook his head. “Sad.”
I nodded. “If it weren’t for Cindy’s own guilt-trip over the whole thing, I don’t know what would have happened to Lavender. She’d probably be living on the streets, just another homeless drunkard.”
I’d never been inside the Charmings’ home before that night. I’d heard about it, even seen pictures of it. But nothing could have prepared me for the splendor and opulence of the real thing. Hand-carved marble floors and crystal chandeliers in the foyer were just the beginning. As a doorman led us into the grand ballroom, I couldn’t help but stare in awe at my surroundings.
I’d never seen so many original works of art in any one place outside a museum. Picassos, Dalís, Rembrandts, Chagalls . . . I think I even saw a Renoir or two. I would have gladly skipped the party and gone on a tour instead if I hadn’t had a reason for being there.
“I’ll be damned!”
I whirled around at the familiar voice. “Nicky?” I grinned. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Nicky came forward and shook Nate’s hand in greeting before kissing my cheek. “I could ask you two the same thing. Thought you were working tonight.”
“We are,” Nate confirmed. “I hear you have something interesting to share that could help in that regard.”
Nicky took hold of my arm and drew us out of the main flow of partygoers milling around in the hallway. “Don’t broadcast that,” he whispered to us. “I don’t want all these schmucks thinking they can come to me for favors. You think any of these assholes would be associated with me if my wife wasn’t a Willie?”
“Where is Jules?” I asked, but the minute I uttered the question, an exquisitely beautiful woman slid up to Nicky’s side and slipped her arm through his.
“Hello, Red,” she said, her voice as delicate and lovely as the rest of her. “I’m surprised to see you and Nate here tonight.”
I offered her a smile. “It was kind of last minute.”
I liked Juliet. She was sweet, smart, pretty, kind . . . everything good and decent that a person should be. She’d come a long way since leaving her story behind. Gone was the wide-eyed innocence and naïveté of Shakespeare’s tragic teen. This Juliet was perceptive and wise, and although she knew the extent of my past with Nicky, she tolerated our friendship with grace and quiet resignation.
“I do hope you enjoy yourself,” she said. Then she turned her eyes to her husband and placed a hand possessively on his chest, silently but pointedly reminding me what I had given up. “No business tonight, Nicky,” she told him softly. “You promised. Red will obtain what she requires of you tomorrow as agreed.”
Nicky shrugged at Nate and me. “I guess it’ll keep, right? Not like Hamelin’s going anywhere.”
I glanced at Nate as the four of us headed into the ballroom, joining the throngs of guests already inside. He returned my glance, obviously sensing my discomfort. I felt the stares of those around me as we made our way to an area of the room a little less crowded than the rest, but random whispers still made their way to my hearing.
“Is that Tess Little? In a
dress
?”
dress
?”
“Dear God, I didn’t know she had a figure. She always wears that dreadful
trench coat.
”
trench coat.
”
“Doesn’t Red look pretty? Who knew there was a woman under all that leather?”
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