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‘Not me,’ I said grimly. ‘But the dryads are. Jingo is a doppelganger.’
‘Fuck,’ Krieg said.
‘Exactly.’
Krieg put his foot down harder and the car leapt forward towards the grove. The smug look that had been in Reed’s eyes when he’d sworn no harm to the dryads from him made me think that we were already too late – but we had to try.
We stopped the vehicle and ran into the park towards the grove. The sound of wailing carried on the wind, and I knew we were already out of time.
We entered the grove and immediately saw the five dead elders. More sobbing dryads were huddled around them. Sitting on a chair made of vines was Ash Aspen, a bloody dagger in his hands. He smiled at me. ‘Hello, Inspector. Nice of you to drop by again so soon, but this doesn’t concern you and you’re not invited in. This is an in-house matter.’
I gritted my teeth because technically he was correct. And that summed up everything that was wrong with the Connection. Because it was dryads killing dryads, I was supposed to walk away. ‘We both know that’s bullshit, Jingo.’
He laughed and clapped his hands slowly. ‘Ah, bravo, Inspector! And you put the pieces together all by yourself.’ His mocking voice made me want to lash out with my magic and destroy him where he sat, but that wasn’t law and order. Killing Jingo would make a mockery of everything I had been raised to believe in – but God, how I wanted to kill him.
‘You’ve got what you wanted,’ I snarled. ‘Now leave these people in peace to grieve and rebuild. You don’t belong here.’
Jingo held a hand to his heart. ‘You wound me. True belonging is when you don’t need to change yourself for others.’ His expression turned wicked. ‘I don’t just change myself for others, I change myself into others.’ He laughed. ‘I belong just fine, Stacy.’
‘Don’t speak her name,’ Krieg growled. ‘She’s Inspector Wise to you.’
‘Your Excellence,’ Jingo drawled. ‘How lovely to see you again.’
‘You’ll be seeing more of me. I’m moving my operations up here. Consider this your courtesy call.’
Jingo’s expression hardened. ‘How delightful,’ he murmured. He pushed up from his throne of vines. ‘Then no doubt we’ll be seeing more of each other.’
‘No doubt.’
Jingo looked at the gathered dryads. ‘Do remember what happens when you say no to Jude Jingo. I’ll be back to discuss our importing business another time.’
I gritted my teeth as he sauntered past me. I was dying to attack him with my magic, but my hands were tied by the law. Technically he was a dryad right now and as such this was an in-house matter. But he was on my radar and I’d be damned if I didn’t get the prick for something else. Whether he knew it or not, his days were numbered.
And next time, I’d make sure there wasn’t another host for him to jump into.
Chapter Twelve
Krieg drove me home in silence. I couldn’t face going back to the office; I’d type up the ‘incident’ from home instead. I knew Thackeray would be just as outraged as I was; it was this sort of bullshit that had made him work his way up the ranks. I had no doubt he had his eye on the position of Chief Constable, and it would be a real coup to have an Other realmer in that position.
‘Thanks for the lift,’ I said to Krieg. ‘Your Excellence,’ I tagged on abruptly. I still had no idea why he’d helped me today, but I wasn’t one to look a gift unicorn in the mouth.
‘It was my pleasure,’ he replied. He drew the last word out, making my skin prickle. Was he flirting with me?
Absolutely not, I decided. He was being polite and I was just as politely going to get the fuck away from him. I climbed out of the car and walked away without looking back though I knew he was still watching me. My neck prickled with his gaze.
I fumbled the key in the lock and gave a sigh of relief when I successfully got inside. ‘I’m home,’ I called out as if I had someone waiting for me. For all I knew, whatever haunted me was waiting.
I went into the kitchen-diner and switched on the lights – then swore when I saw that I truly wasn’t alone. The caladrius was sitting on the back of my dining-room chair. He bobbed his tail at me in a wave. ‘Bird! You scared the life out of me.’
‘Window open,’ he said defensively.
The dining-room window was open a couple of inches for fresh air, but I’d be shutting it from here on out. I had paid a witch handsomely for protective runes around my house, but apparently they didn’t extend to chatty birds. ‘I suppose it was,’ I said drily. ‘What are you doing here?’
Bird shuffled his feet. ‘Dark,’ he said finally. ‘Men after me. Stay here?’
My mouth fell open for a moment. I’m not really the pet type, but I had seen the two hunters going for him. I sighed. ‘Sure, why not? For tonight, anyway.’
Bird gave a happy trill. ‘Thank you, Pigdog!’
