AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
CHAPTER 9
Menolly stretched, shaking her braids to a loud clatter. "So what's on the agenda tonight?" She shimmied into skintight jeans and a cami top, giving me a toothy grin. Her fangs glistened in the dim light, and once again, I found myself a little queasy. She looked at me. "What happened with Trillian? Is he back in your life?"
I leaned back on her bed. "Yeah, I'm weak. So sue me."
"Couldn't you just find one of our cousins to hook up with? Or even a vampire? I know several lesser vamps that aren't too objectionable." Her eyes twinkled, and I knew she was teasing me.
"Yeah, I need an undead lover just about as bad as I need another hole in my… head. Speaking of vamps, you got a call from Wade. I think somebody's smitten," I said, teasing her.
"You're kidding. He called here?" She did her best to look pissed, but I could tell she was interested. An excited light flickered in her eyes, and she was trying to hide a smile.
"I see that grin, so don't try to bluff me, because you can't. You gave him your number, so you were obviously interested. Now, come on, there's a lot to fill you in on. Chase and I took out the harpy today, but not before she killed both Louise Jenkins and an exiled Faerie."
Menolly followed me upstairs, glancing at Chase as she took a seat opposite him. I introduced her to Maggie, and she seemed surprisingly delighted, holding the little gargoyle in her arms with a tender smile flickering at the corners of her lips. While she snuggled Maggie, Chase and I launched into what had happened with Rina and the harpy.
"We enlisted a Corpse Talker, and I asked Rina how to find Tom."
"What did she tell you?" Menolly asked.
"A riddle. 'He's mad as a hatter, mad as a hare. Go to the woodland, but be you aware. Look for the ancients who shelter from storm, but first you must pass through the lair of the wyrm.' If you can figure out what it means, be my guest."
"Wyrm?" Delilah frowned. "Dragon?"
"No dragons around the Pacific Northwest as far as I know," I said. "Of course, OIA also told us that the demons would never break through onto Earth."
Menolly snorted. "The OIA has been sloppy on a number of things lately. I agree with Delilah. Best guess is that a dragon of some sort's hanging out there. Possibly he's protecting this Tom?"
I groaned. A dragon was so not what we needed. Generally selfish and greedy, they made wonderful mercenaries and were nearly impossible to kill. If Tom had hired one to protect him—or somebody hired the wyrm for him—then we were going to have a fight on our hands. And considering the state of our little ragtag band, I knew that none of us had what it took to take on a dragon.
"Okay, so let's call that roadblock number one," I said. "I wonder if Bad Ass Luke and the Psycho Babbler know about this. The question is, how do we find Tom? He's supposed to be living near Mount Rainier, either on the edge of the national park's borders, or hiding within."
"It's too late to drive out there tonight, and the roads are going to be difficult—parts of the park are already closed for the winter. Tomorrow we'll make the trip," Chase said. "Delilah, can you help me do some sleuthing on him before then? We can go through everything at my office. Then tomorrow, we'll meet here before heading out. I'll drive. Say we get started around eight tomorrow morning?"
"Sounds good," Delilah said. "Now, do you want to hear everything that happened at Louise Jenkins's apartment? As I said, the harpy was a step ahead of us there, too. Actually several steps. Louise was a mess. She'd been dead long enough for rigor mortis to set in, so the harpy may have gotten to her before she stopped at Rina's. I searched the apartment but found nothing. I took a long look at Louise, or at what remained of her, that is." She winced and shook her head. "Bloody, terribly bloody. Anyway, I noticed there was a ring on her finger. Gold and diamond."
"Wedding finger?" I asked.
"You got it. I wonder if Jocko married her and conveniently forgot to tell the OIA. They would have kicked him out for that."
"Or maybe they were engaged," Menolly said slowly. "I remember several times he mentioned that he was getting used to life Earthside, and how it wasn't so bad. He was respected because of his size here. Back in OW, he was ridiculed for being so short."
I turned to Delilah. "Did you notice anything else? Pictures? Anything to give us a clue of what kind of a connection Louise and Jocko had?"
Delilah squinted, thinking. After a moment, she said, "Her apartment was trashed, so I couldn't make out much about what she was like. No pictures that I could see, but I didn't want to disturb the scene any more than necessary."
Menolly snapped her fingers. "Wait a second. Jocko had a diary. I saw him writing in a journal a few weeks ago. It was small, with a drawing of… it looked like an antique map on the cover. Did you find anything like that in his room when you searched it after he was murdered?" She turned to Chase, who looked surprised.
"No. Not at all. In fact, it barely looked like he lived there. I was surprised that giants could be so clean. Could the diary be at the bar? An undercover OIA team member searched his office, but I don't remember anything like that in the evidence they brought back. By the way, has Camille told you about your promotion?"
Blinking, Menolly shook her head. "Promotion? What are you talking about?" Then understanding flooded her face, and her pale skin glowed even brighter. "Oh crap and hell. They've put me in charge of the bar, haven't they?"
"You got it," Chase said. "So I guess you have to go back to work tonight. While you're there, take a look around and find out if the diary is hidden behind the bar. Take Camille with you, and both of you be careful—if there's an inside man, we haven't found him yet. And if he knows you're an agent, you could be in a lot of danger."
"Chase is right," I broke in. "Only Jocko knew that we're sisters, so I can just be a local bookstore owner, out for a drink. Then, tomorrow, we'll drive out to Mount Rainier. Okay, Chase and Delilah, get busy with your research. Two heads are better than one. Just ask any dubba-troll."
Delilah glanced at Maggie. "What about her?"
