Fire Brand (City of Dragons Book 6)

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Fire Brand (City of Dragons Book 6) Page 3

by Val St. Crowe


  “Right,” said Lachlan. “So, she’s there for nearly an hour, and then she goes. Before she does, Beckett’s son shows up.”

  “Dashiell Reid,” I said.

  “Now, I don’t get this,” said Lachlan. “I didn’t think that gargoyle men really had father-child relationships.”

  “They don’t, typically,” I said. In a typical gargoyle family structure, gargoyles lived with their mothers until her death. Female gargoyles might go out and mate and have offspring, but the offspring stayed with her and their grandmother. The father of the offspring would live with his own mother, not his children. In fact, there was no real expectation of monogamy amongst gargoyles, so most gargoyles didn’t even really know who their fathers were. Fatherhood wasn’t important amongst them. Motherhood was.

  “But this guy is Beckett’s son,” said Lachlan.

  “Apparently,” I said. “But maybe he’s only half-gargoyle? If Beckett has one ex-girlfriend that’s human, maybe he has more? Maybe Dashiell is half-human.”

  “Might explain it,” said Lachlan. He started to say something, and then stopped.

  Probably because we’d both thought about our own little Wyatt, who was half-dragon, half-vampire, and we didn’t know what that meant for him. Most half-dragon, half-humans never shifted into a dragon, but Wyatt was clearly special. We had been a bit worried initially, because when I was pregnant, I’d craved blood. I was worried that Wyatt would want to drink blood, would be a tiny baby with fangs who bit people or something.

  But he never seemed to need any blood. We’d never offered it to him. Until he was about five months old, he’d only had milk, and then we’d started introducing solids. He ate regular human food, no blood.

  Still, we were never sure when things might change for Wyatt. He was only a tiny little boy, but he had big powers, and we wanted to keep him safe.

  “Uh, okay,” said Lachlan. “Then Dashiell stays inside and Paloma leaves, so Dashiell’s alone with Beckett.”

  “Right,” I said.

  “And then he leaves. Then we have the ex-girlfriend, Rowan. Just those three people went in. Must have been one of them.”

  “It’s four people,” I said.

  “What?” He looked at me as if I was crazy.

  “The nurse went in too,” I said.

  “You think it’s the nurse?” He raised his eyebrows. “What would her motive be?”

  “Maybe she was paid off by someone,” I said. “Remember in our last case, the serial killer turned out to be a contract killer.”

  “That’s a good point,” said Lachlan. “All right, so the nurse could have done it.”

  We were both quiet for a minute. I figured it was because I’d brought up our last case. We’d recently found out that the man we’d put away for the murders, Jeremy Williams, had been killed in prison in a brawl. Williams had worked for Eaglelinx. The company had sworn that he’d worked alone, but we had known that he’d been working for the company and we’d hoped to convince him to come clean on the stand—finger Eaglelinx as the dirty company they were.

  But Willams was dead, and we knew just who to blame. Now, mentioning that case made us both a little depressed. Even though we’d solved it, Eaglelinx had won.

  I decided to change the subject. “We should talk to the niece first? Go in order of who went into the room?”

  “Might as well,” he said. “But we’ll have to wait for nightfall to go and see her.”

  “Right,” I said. “Well, that’s cool. We’ll have Connor watch Wyatt, then. Go after dinner.”

  “Sounds good,” said Lachlan. “I guess I’ll catch up on some paperwork. You can head home if you want.”

  * * *

  “I think Jackson is jealous because of how much more mobile Wyatt is,” said Vivica, who was chasing her crawling seven-month-old across the living room in my apartment.

  “He’s going to catch up,” I said. Wyatt was moving along the side of the couch, coming for me on his tip toes. I smiled down at him. “Hey, there, sweetie,” I cooed.

  He abruptly started crying.

  “What’s wrong?” I said, lifting him into my lap.

  “Probably wants to nurse,” said Vivica.

  “Aha,” I said, grabbing my nursing pillow from the top of the couch and getting Wyatt situated. Last year, I would never have thought that I’d be so casual about whipping out my boob, but nowadays, I just didn’t care. Once he was latched on, you couldn’t really see anything anyway, and if people didn’t want to see, they could look away.

  However, Vivica and Felicity were both used to it by now. They didn’t even blink.

  Wyatt wasn’t exclusively breastfed. He took an occasional bottle now and then, like when someone else was watching him besides me. I had hoped that those bottles would be filled with pumped breast milk, but I could never make the stupid pump work properly, and the formula was so much more convenient than pumping. I felt bad about it for a while, but eventually, I just accepted it. He was getting a good amount of breast milk, and that was better than nothing.

  Jackson started crying too.

  “See?” said Vivica. “Jealous.” She sat down and started to nurse Jackson.

  Felicity folded her arms over her chest. Felicity had blue green scales that started just above her ears and traveled all the way down her body to her feet. “I’m telling you, he’s hiding something.”

  “This is Scott?” said Vivica.

  “The guy who you jumped into a relationship with two seconds after ending your previous relationship,” I said.

  Felicity sighed. “Oh my God, are you ever going to let that go, Penny? You didn’t even like Jensen.”

  “I liked him,” I said. Okay, I didn’t really. He was a vampire, and I was afraid he was after her blood. Vampires could get magic from drake blood, same as from dragons. Sure, Lachlan drank my blood, but that wasn’t the same thing. Not really. Truth was, I was protective of Felicity, and I didn’t want anything to happen to her.

  “You hated him,” said Felicity. “And our relationship had run its course. I would not have been so attracted to Scott if it hadn’t been for the fact that I was falling out of love with Jensen.”

  “Maybe so,” I said. “But you were in the process of falling out of love with him. You hadn’t actually broken up with him. Not until you were already hot and heavy with Scott.”

  “I know, I know.” Felicity dragged her hands over her face. “It’s not my proudest moment, okay? But… I mean, Scott was just coming on so strong, and he was so into me, and I was into him, and it all happened so fast, and… do we really have to talk about this again?”

  I sighed. “Sorry. You know that I only want you to be happy. Everything worked out in the end, and that’s the important thing.”

  “Well, I don’t know, though,” said Felicity. “Because something is seriously going on with him.”

  “What do you mean by that?” said Vivica.

  “He’s always hiding and talking on his phone with people,” said Felicity.

  “Hiding? How is he hiding?” I said. “Is he like crouched behind the sofa or something?”

  “Of course not,” said Felicity. “He’ll be in the living room while I’m in the kitchen helping Asia with her homework.” Asia was Scott’s daughter. “And I’ll go in there, and he’ll tell the person he’s talking to that he has to go, and he’ll hang up real fast.”

  “He’s probably having an affair,” I said.

  Felicity glared at me.

  “It would be karma,” I said to her.

  “You’re never going to let this go,” said Felicity.

  “Come on, Penny,” said Vivica. “It’s not like Felicity and Jensen were married or something.”

  “Well, they lived together,” I said. “Lachlan and I aren’t married.”

  “None of this is the point,” said Felicity. “I know he’s not having an affair.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I just know,” said Felicit
y. “It’s not that. It’s something else. It’s something worse.”

  “Is there something worse than that?” said Vivica.

  “Why don’t you just ask him about it?” I said.

  “I have,” said Felicity. “He gets all bent out of shape about how I don’t trust him and how I shouldn’t worry so much. But he’s worrying. I swear something is going on, and it’s a very bad thing. I don’t know what to do.”

  “I think you have to get him to talk,” said Vivica. “Get him to tell you what’s going on.”

  “Or you could bug his phone,” I said.

  “How do I do that?” said Felicity.

  “I was joking,” I said.

  She wrinkled up her nose. “Oh. Right.” She checked her phone. “Damn it, I’m late again.”

  “Late for what?” I asked.

  “I’m supposed to pick up Asia after school again,” said Felicity. “Scott’s working late. They already look at me weird when I show up there to pick her up. You can tell they think all drakes are strung out on dice.” She shook her head.

  “How’s Asia?” I said. “Does she think her father’s hiding something?”

  “Like I’m going to talk about that with a seven-year-old,” said Felicity. “I know I’m not really mother material, but I’m not an idiot about kids.”

  “No, I just wondered if she’d brought anything up,” I said.

  Felicity shook her head. “No, I guess not.” She sighed, heading for the door. “Maybe I am being paranoid. But I have to go now. See you later?”

  “Definitely,” I said, waving.

  * * *

  Later that evening, Lachlan and I paid a visit to see Paloma Stanley, Beckett’s niece. When we got to her place, she said she’d rather talk someplace else, so we all walked around the corner to a coffee shop.

  Now, Paloma sat on the other side of a booth from us, nursing a hot chocolate.

  Neither Lachlan nor I had ordered anything.

  “So, tell us about your uncle,” said Lachlan. “I understand you were close.”

  Paloma smiled wanly. “Very close. He was like a father to me. I mean, what I imagine a father would be, anyway, from watching sitcom reruns on Nick at Nite.” She laughed a little. “He was involved in the lives of all my brothers and sisters and cousins, but…” She shrugged. “I don’t know. We always had a special bond. He was always my favorite uncle. And when I got older, I realized he needed help with his, um… I guess I’d call it his celebrity, for lack of a better word. So, I became a kind of manager for him. I fielded press calls. I set up appearances. I handled finances. Things like that.”

  “So, you worked for your uncle?” said Lachlan. “He paid you?”

  “Not at first, but when it got to be more than I could do in my spare time, I talked to him about it, and he did start to give me a small stipend. But I still live at home with my mom and sisters and everything, so I don’t have a lot of expenses.” She took a drink of her hot chocolate. “Is this stuff really important? I mean, I thought you would be trying to solve his murder.”

  “Oh, we are,” said Lachlan. “We have a lot of questions to ask you.”

  “Are any of them about Samuel Jacobs, because that’s who did it,” she said.

  Huh. Where had I heard that name before?

  “Who’s Samuel Jacobs?” said Lachlan.

  “You’ve never heard of him?” said Paloma. “Well, that’s typical for a human.”

  “He’s not human,” I said. “He’s a vampire. And I’m a dragon shifter. So, let’s just calm down a bit. Samuel Jacobs? Wasn’t he against gargoyle emancipation?”

  “Just because you two are magical creatures doesn’t mean that you understand the plight of the gargoyle,” said Paloma.

  “Maybe not,” said Lachlan quietly. “Why don’t you tell us about Samuel Jacobs?”

  Inwardly, I winced. Had I messed up, being defensive like that? Was Paloma going to clam up now?

  “Because you don’t know who he is, right?” Paloma raised her chin, a challenge.

  Lachlan waited.

  Don’t say anything, I told myself. But then I couldn’t help it. “I know who he is. He was one of the members of the Brotherhood who spoke out against freeing gargoyles. He said that magic creatures should keep together, and what did the human community care about whether they were owning each other or not. He said it was none of the humans’ business.”

  Paloma turned to me. “So, you want an award or something?”

  Wow, she was pretty hostile toward me now. Whatever. “Why do you think it was him?” I said. “Whatever beef he had with your uncle, it was fifty years ago.”

  “He hated my uncle,” said Paloma. “It was personal. Samuel Jacobs made public threats toward my uncle.”

  “Recently?” said Lachlan.

  “Well, no,” said Paloma.

  “When?” said Lachlan.

  “Back in the sixties,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean he changed his mind. He was biding his time until he could murder my uncle, like he always wanted.”

  Lachlan and I were both quiet.

  “You don’t believe me?” said Paloma.

  “I guess I’m curious as to why you think it was him,” said Lachlan. “Did he have any recent contact with your uncle?”

  “Not that I know of,” said Paloma.

  It was quiet again.

  She sighed. “Look, I think this because my uncle always used to say that if he keeled over, Samuel Jacobs was to blame. He knew that man had it out for him.”

  “Well,” said Lachlan. “If Samuel Jacobs is responsible, he didn’t do it personally, because we’ve looked at security tapes, and he’s not one of the people who entered your uncle’s room.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Paloma.

  “There was a camera outside of your uncle’s room,” I said. “The night in question, we’ve looked to see who entered the room.”

  “And so you think those people are the suspects?” she said.

  “Well, logically—” I began.

  “That is such narrow thinking,” she said. “I shouldn’t have expected differently from you people.”

  Lachlan reached across the table. He didn’t touch her, but he made a calming gesture. “Listen, Paloma, I realize you’re upset. You’ve just had a very tragic loss. We’re going to look into Samuel Jacobs, I promise you.”

  “You are?” she said.

  “Yes,” said Lachlan. “But do you think you could answer some questions about some of the other people who visited your uncle?”

  “No need to do that,” she said. “Samuel Jacobs is guilty.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The sound of Wyatt’s wails penetrated my sleep. I heard the door open, and I knew Connor was bringing the baby to me. I sat up in bed.

  “Sorry,” said Connor. “I thought he was going to take the bottle, but he wasn’t interested.”

  I held out my hands. “It’s okay.”

  Connor lay the baby in my arms.

  I lay down on the bed and got him situated. He latched on right away and was blissfully quiet. I smiled up at Connor. “You’re awesome to do this, you know.”

  “Well, I like to spend a little time with him,” said Connor.

  “I’ll keep him in bed with me for the rest of the night,” I yawned. “You can go if you want.”

  Connor saluted me. “Have a good night.” He eased his way out of the room.

  Connor wasn’t our night nanny every night. He usually ended up pitching in about three nights a week, though, and it was really helpful. He usually got Wyatt back to sleep the first time he woke up, but if Wyatt woke up again, he was going to have his mommy or bust.

  I curled my body around the tiny boy. He was lying in the middle of the bed, between Lachlan and me.

  Lachlan stirred and rolled over to face both of us. “Hey,” he whispered, reaching out to stroke Wyatt’s head gently.

  “Hey,” I whispered.

  He smiled at me.


  I smiled back.

  “You ever feel like maybe we’re the luckiest people on earth?” he said.

  “All the time,” I said.

  I could hear that Wyatt’s breath was changing, that just being close to me had calmed him, and now he was drifting off to sleep.

  I let my eyes flutter closed.

  “You think that Paloma woman is guilty?” said Lachlan.

  I opened my eyes. “Hmm?”

  “I’m just wondering what your gut is on her. She was awfully defensive.”

  “Yeah, sorry about that. I think it was my fault for telling her to calm down. I shouldn’t have done that. After all, I don’t know what it’s like to be a gargoyle. Being a dragon has its pitfalls, but I grew up in the lap of luxury.”

  “Yeah, with people killing your parents to chop them up and sell them,” said Lachlan. “So, you had it super easy.”

  Okay, that was true enough.

  “Everyone’s got pain,” said Lachlan. “It’s not up to one person to say that their pain is worse than someone else’s.”

  “Her people were created to be slaves,” I said. “That’s… I don’t know if it’s worse than being hunted and killed, but it’s awful.”

  “Yeah, well, no question about that,” said Lachlan softly. “So, you think that chip on her shoulder’s justified?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I think she probably grew up in a charged atmosphere, having an activist as an uncle and all that. He didn’t quit after gargoyles were granted citizenship, you know. He kept fighting for equal rights and equal pay and all kinds of things. It’s probably down to Beckett Stanley and others like him that they started the public night school for gargoyle kids.”

  Lachlan sighed. “Maybe I’m the one who doesn’t understand. I grew up human. White and male and human. In Texas.”

  “Lachlan,” I laughed. “You’re the opposite of a bigot.”

  “I hope I am,” he said. “I guess we all have tendencies within us that we have to overcome, though, right? Being open-minded isn’t about never doing something prejudiced, it’s just about being vigilant and weeding out the behavior and thought patterns when you see them.”

  “Is it?” I said. “Huh. Never thought of it that way.”

 

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