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Good. I liked it when people followed instructions.
“Ma’am,” one of them said, then unlocked and opened the door.
The suite was full of vampires and heavy magic. Seri saw me first, rushed over. She wore jeans and a striped top, her feet in red ballet flats and her hair in a messy knot that somehow managed to look fashionable.
As she pressed kisses to each cheek, I could feel the frizzle of her nervous magic. “You are all right, Lis?”
I nodded. “I’m fine. How are things here?”
“They are... concerned,” she said quietly, sliding her gaze back to Marion and the others. They sat on couches near the large windows, talking quietly as they looked over the dark city.
“Yesterday didn’t turn out the way any of us had planned.”
“No, it did not.”
Marion glanced back and rose, walking toward us with the other vampires in her wake.
“Developments?” she asked.
“I haven’t yet spoken to my father this evening. I wanted to speak with you first. We’re anticipating the Ombudsman’s office is going to be difficult to deal with,” I said, and explained what we’d heard last night from Dearborn, and how prickly we expected him to be.
“Riley wouldn’t have killed Tomas,” I said, giving the words as much confidence as I could, and meeting their gazes as I said it.
Marion tilted her head. “He was found with the murder weapon.”
I had a feeling I was going to be having this same conversation a lot in the near future.
“He was,” I agreed. “And he’d had a public altercation with Tomas at the party, which was after Tomas insulted shifters at the talks. But Riley wouldn’t have cared about any of that, and even if he’d been irritated, he wouldn’t have killed over it. Yes, his past is checkered. But I know him, and I’ve known him for a very long time. This isn’t his way.”
“If you believe Riley is innocent, who do you think did it?”
“I don’t know. Not yet.”
I wasn’t sure how much to tell them, but decided my loyalties to Maison Dumas were at least as strong as those to Riley, if not stronger. So I told them about the missing video footage, the killer’s escape route, and the possibility magic had been used to skew Riley’s memory.
“You think he was influenced?” Marion asked, gaze clear.
“I think there was magic in the area of Tomas’s death,” I said carefully. “I think someone killed Tomas, and Riley made the perfect fall guy.”
“Why kill Tomas?” she asked.
“I don’t know that, either. But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that there are no talks today, that the session was canceled.”
“You believe someone wanted to disrupt the entire peace process,” Marion said.
“That’s the only link we know of at the moment.”
“The fae interrupted the session yesterday,” Marion said. “Were they were involved in the murder?”
“There’s no evidence of that so far,” I said. “There were fairies at the party, but they didn’t cause any trouble that I know of.”
“I had the same thought,” Marion said, nodding as Odette handed her a cup of tea. “Thank you,ma chère.” Marion took a heartening sip, then set the cup down in its matching saucer. “And how can we assist in helping your friend?”
The question nearly brought tears to my eyes, and reminded me once again why I’d felt such a connection to Dumas.
“You could give me time,” I said. “I realize I’m here on behalf of Maison Dumas, but I’d like your permission to look into this, to try to find out what happened. Not just for Riley, but because the killer is still out there—and willing to kill—in order to get what they want. That makes them dangerous to all of us, including your house.”
Marion sipped again, considered. “You have my permission to make inquiries,” she said, then grinned. “And how, pray tell, do you plan to get around Cadogan’s arrangement with the city?”
