by Tegan Maher
“I’ll be right back,” I said as Colin briefed him on what had happened. In another second, I was standing a few feet away from Stephanie and Mariah.
I paused, trying to find the best way to tell them their friend was dead.
“Just spit it out,” Stephanie snapped. “We’re both eons old. Whatever you have to say can’t be any worse than some of the news we’ve heard before.”
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, then ripped off the Band-Aid. “Colin and I just found Liz on a path in the forest. She’s ... I’m sorry.”
It took a couple of seconds for the impatience on the girls’ faces to fade to confusion, then shock, grief, and finally, rage. Valkyries were beautiful but lethal; I’d always known that, but I’d never really seen the latter trait.
“Who did it?” Stephanie said, her words clipped.
“I don’t know yet. We just found her, and I came to get Blake. She was stabbed.”
“Take us to her,” Mariah commanded, and all signs of the soft, fun girl I’d hung out with that afternoon were gone. In her place, a fierce warrior stood, a blush of rage high on her angled cheekbones.
I paused, then held out my hands. When they took them, I blinked us back to the body. Blake was bent over her, hiding most of the body from view. Stephanie strode to him, Mariah close on her heels. After a few seconds, Stephanie looked at Mariah. Tears shone in her eyes but were the only sign of sorrow. Her expression was hard. “We’ll take it from here.”
I stepped forward. “Stephanie, you have to let us handle this.”
She spun toward me, fire in her eyes. “The hell we do. She’s one of us. We take care of our own business. Whoever did this will pay according to Valkyrie justice. Your cutesy little resort doesn’t get an opinion.”
I pulled in a breath, willing myself to look beyond the harsh words to their source. Stephanie and I were friends, and, more importantly, we respected each other. “Have you ever known me to let something go? Do I ever slack before I get to the bottom of things?”
She’d seen me through two murders on the resort and had to remember that I’d worked tirelessly both times to find the killers and bring them to justice. And once I’d solved it, the murderers had been handed over to the proper authorities.
“I’m not trying to steal your power. I’m trying to help you,” I said when her expression didn’t soften. “People around here aren’t going to talk to you like they will to me. What are you going to do—beat answers out of them? You know I’m right. Once we find out who did it, you’ll get your justice. We won’t intervene.”
The one downside to running a resort that played host to a vast array of magical beings was that we had to have a hard line on many different political circles. Valkyries didn’t really do politics, but they did do justice. Their entire reason for existing was to choose who lives and dies in battle. By necessity, their laws were brutal. Still, resort policy said that for high crimes, justice fell to the victim’s people, and this case wouldn’t be any different.
I’m sure when the founders had written the rule, they’d just thought they were covering the bases. Even so, I was glad they’d thought of it. Without a hard and fast policy, things would get ugly in situations like this. The most important thing to me, though, was getting it right. We had to be a hundred percent sure we had the right killer because once we handed them over, the Valkyries wouldn’t waste any time carrying out the death sentence.
Both women stared me down but when Mariah started to protest, Steph shook her head and clenched her jaw, staring into the dark nothingness for a few moments. She creased her lips and let out a piercing whistle. Within a heartbeat, Buttercup, along with Mariah’s enormous palomino, settled beside them, nostrils flaring. He gave a long, vibrating snort, and his red-lined nostrils flared when he smelled the blood. Prancing sideways, he bobbed his massive black head up and down, his long forelock streaming, then bent a front knee so Steph could mount.
“You have forty-eight hours. We’ll give you your space, but we’ll be watching.” She hopped astride Buttercup, and Mariah mounted hers, glaring at me as she whipped her head back around and wrapped her hands in her mount’s flowing mane. The winged horses took flight, and I shielded my eyes against the sand and debris stirred up by the downdraft.
“Well,” Blake said, “That could have gone better.”
“No,” I replied, giving a wry shake of my head. “It really couldn’t have. That was way more latitude than I expected her to give us. Now I just have to do everything in my power not to let her down.”
“Yeah, because we don’t need the hellfire a bunch of Valkyries will rain down on the resort,” Blake muttered.
I closed the few feet between me and Liz’s body and pulled in a big breath. “I suppose, but that’s not the reason. She’s my friend, and this girl deserves justice.”
Chapter 7
I LEFT BLAKE AND HIS security team to deal with the crime scene. Since Colin was the resort’s legal counsel, he and Blake took a few minutes to review the next steps, though Blake knew Enchanted Coast policy inside out.
“Where to?” Colin asked after he and Blake were finished.
“I wanna go back to the beach and see if that fork came from the luau,” I replied. I was sure they had—it was only logical—but I didn’t want to assume anything. For all I knew, Angus had gotten on somebody’s bad side and they’d decided to set him up. Not probable, but it bore following up on considering what was at stake.
Colin held his hand out to me. I took it, then summoned another light orb and set it bobbing in front of us. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to walk rather than teleport. I know time’s critical, but I need time to sift through this.”
“Probably not a bad idea,” he said, leading us back toward the beach. “Do you know anything about her at all?”
I shook my head as I stepped over a root. “Just what we learned today. I’ve never met her before or even heard Stephanie talk about her.”
The image of Liz and Charles arguing flashed through my head. “Wait,” I said. “I saw her earlier, up at the tiki, talking to Charles. They looked like they were disagreeing about something. She looked sorta defensive, and he looked pissed.”
“I assume Mila still hasn’t gotten back to you?”
“No,” I replied, shaking my head. I looked up at him, but could barely see him through the inky darkness. I turned up the juice a little on the orb, and the pink glow increased. “I think maybe we need to go to Abaddon’s Gate tomorrow if we don’t hear from her by then. I’m worried, plus we need to get as much information as we can on him. Right now, he’s our only lead.”
“Are you going to tell Blake about him?” he asked, and I nodded. “I’ve found that he’s much more willing to give me room if I’m honest with him. Plus, he doesn’t technically have to share anything he learns with us, but he’ll be more inclined to if we’re sharing, too.”
“I think we should probably talk to Charles before we do anything. See if he’ll just tell us what they were talking about. It could be just a big misunderstanding. He didn’t exactly strike me as a killer.”
I raised a brow. “If I’ve learned anything, it’s that the bad guy—or girl—doesn’t always look bad. But I didn’t get that sort of vibe from him, either. It might be good to have Blake with us for that. He can use his internal lie detector.”
“I thought you had one, too,” he said, picking his way around a downed tree.
“I do,” I replied, following him. “But mine’s not nearly as accurate or refined as his is. I could tell you if he was telling a whopper, maybe, but I’m not much good at picking up nuances.”
“I think we should talk to the people at the party, then. Maybe see if they noted anything out of the ordinary or saw her talking to anyone.”
“I agree,” I said. “We need to see her room, too. I hope Steph comes back soon. We need to talk to her and learn more about what Liz had going on. I didn’t even ask her what she did for a liv
ing. All I know is that she’s not an active Valkyrie.” Something else floated through my brain at the mention of her bloodline. “And I want to ask Steph what her story is. When they mentioned her mom, there was an obvious tension. It could be related to why Liz was killed.”
He stepped out of the forest and onto the soft sugar sand of the beach, and I followed. The light from the bonfire was still bright and people were still partying, oblivious to what was going on just a short distance from them. It was better that way.
“Hey, you two,” Angus said with a suggestive twinkle in his eye. “Did you have a good time, sneaking off into the woods?” He glanced at me. “You took him to see the fairy pools, didn’t you?”
“I wish,” I replied, measuring my words. I was glad he was alone. That would make it easier to question him. In the three years I’d known him, I’d never heard him gossip. Well, not about anything serious, anyway. “We were headed that way when we came across something ... unpleasant.”
“Unpleasant?” he parroted, drawing his brows down in confusion. “What do you mean by that?”
Colin spoke before I could. “Are you, by chance, missing a barbecue fork?”
Without pause, Angus replied, “Actually, I am. What of it, and how did you even know that? I haven’t mentioned it to anyone.”
“When did you notice it was missing?” Colin asked, not responding to the questions.
“About an hour ago,” he replied. “And there were at least fifty people here who could have taken it. I accidentally left it on the serving table in the pan of brisket, and when I went back for it, ‘twas gone. Now, answer my questions, if you would.”
His brogue had gotten more pronounced as he spoke.
I glanced at Colin, trying to decide how much to tell Angus. I opted for an abbreviated version of the truth. “We stumbled across a body. And the person was killed with what we assume was that missing fork.”
For a minute, I thought he wasn’t going to react at all, but then the blood drained from his face and he collapsed backward onto a stump he’d been using as a seat.
“Who?” he asked.
“A Valkyrie,” I replied. “Well, actually she was half Valkyrie. Her dad was Fae. She didn’t say what kind.”
He nodded. “I know who you’re talking about. I spoke with her when she filled her plate. She complimented me. Thanked me for cooking.”
“Was she with anybody?” Colin asked, and Angus shook his head.
“No, but I did see her hanging with the other three Valkyries. I assumed she was here with them.”
Colin cast me a quizzical glance. “Three? We only know about two. Stephanie and Mariah.”
Angus gave a humorless laugh and shook his head. “There were definitely three—Stephanie and the other who wears the band, the little redhead, and a fourth, a brunette. Trust me. I notice Valkyries because back when I was a young lad, I gave one me heart.” He gave a self-deprecating smile. “Though she never knew it.”
That was some visual. A goddess of war and a gnome. I loved Angus, but man, those could have been some terrifying babies. I bit back my smile and yanked my mind back to the task at hand. “Did you happen to catch a name?”
He shook his head. “No, but I’m sure your friend can tell you. They were here together.” I started to say something but he held up his finger. “Wait a minute. I did see her talking to some gentleman. He looked human, so maybe a shifter or wizard? Definitely not Fae. Not good lookin’ enough.”
Charles. “Was he tall, sandy hair? Maybe wearing green swimming trunks?” Colin asked, eyes narrowed.
“He was, indeed,” Angus replied. “I don’t know what they were talking about, but it was serious, at least at first. They talked for several minutes, but about halfway through, things loosened up and they looked to be enjoyin’ each other’s company.”
“I know exactly who you’re talking about,” I said. “I met him this afternoon. Thanks, Angus. If you hear anything else, please let me know.”
“Des,” he said as we turned to walk away. “I’m not in any trouble, am I?”
I gave him a reassuring smile. “Of course not, Angus. It’s not your fault somebody lifted your fork and used it to skewer something other than a brisket. But don’t worry. I’ll find out who did it.”
“I hope so,” he said, his cheeks red. “This is supposed to be a happy place. Don’t let that nonsense stand.”
Many magicals lived long lives. Murder wasn’t the same to them as it was to those of us who hadn’t known anything other than modern acceptable behavior, so when he called it nonsense, it wasn’t that he was callous. It was just that he’d likely seen a lot of killing in his centuries on the planet. I was both envious of his ability to compartmentalize and sad at the same time.
“We won’t. I promise you that.”
Chapter 8
WE TALKED TO SEVERAL other people who were still chilling out and enjoying the party, but we kept it discreet. The last thing we wanted was to cause a panic, but I did put a ward on the forest that prevented guests from wandering in. We didn’t know yet whether she ran afoul of something she shouldn’t have or if she was intentionally followed and killed, so I didn’t want to take any chances. The worst thing about magicals was that they had a certain sense of immortality. Even though some of them actually were immortal, that didn’t mean somebody couldn’t kill them.
“Ready to go check out her room?” Colin asked.
I glanced at my watch. Even though it felt like it was the middle of the night, it was barely nine.
“Sure thing. Hopefully, we’ll find something in there that’ll give us some sort of direction. Or at least a clue as to who she was.”
I was getting tired, and the last thing I felt like doing was slogging through the sand all the way up to the main resort, so I took his hand. When he nodded that he was ready, I snapped my fingers and took us there. I didn’t even need to focus to get us there because I’d done it so often.
Nobody was allowed to port into the main resort except for Blake, and weirdly enough, Tempest. Blake had given her the ability back when we weren’t speaking so that she could reach him in case of an emergency. Unlike me, who would have rather caught myself on fire than called him, Tempest had remained logical during that time. The ability had come in useful on several occasions, and I was kind of glad I didn’t have the ability. That way, if anything ever went wrong, they couldn’t blame it on me.
When we landed at the top of the steps on the sweeping flagstone area in front of the resort, Colin took a deep steadying breath. He was a little green, but compared to way back at the beginning of our relationship, he looked downright healthy. I wasn’t even a little worried he was gonna heave, which would have been a guaranteed thing several months ago.
“Hello, Destiny. Colin. How are you two doing this fine evening?”
The cultured voice came from way above us, and I tilted my head backward.
“Hey, Margo! How are you?” Margo was the sphinx who guarded the front of the resort. She was an unexpected security measure, and we’d become friends back when I’d first started working at the Enchanted Coast. She had the best sunset view on the entire grounds, and we’d spent many hours watching them and talking about everything under the sun.
She tilted her massive head down and some sand trickled down on us. “Sorry about that,” she said, smiling. “I’ve been doing well. Lots of people coming and going, and I’ve gotten acquainted with a few other employees. For the first time in my life, I feel like I have friends.”
“That’s great, Margo,” I replied, trying to infuse enthusiasm into my words even though I felt a strange tinge of jealousy that made me instantly ashamed of myself. I truly was happy she had people to talk to. It was just that I missed her.
Her stone lips turned up into a knowing smile. “I miss you, though. Nobody has that same snarky sense of humor that we share. Why, just the other day, I had to stop myself from comparing a stuffy old siren to a turkey vulture when I was tal
king to this really nice young lady from housekeeping.”
I grinned as she continued.
“But you should have seen her, Destiny. For the entire week she was here, she’d spit out her gum onto the sidewalk or else stick it in the crevice between my paw and my pedestal.” She curled up her nose. “Nasty woman, and the way she talked to the staff ... why, I wanted to chomp her just for the fun of it. And she always wore this old black feather hat that I swear to you made her look just like a vulture, with her flabby turkey neck and beady eyes. But of course, I couldn’t say such a thing to anybody but you.”
The mirth on her face was contagious and the visual was hilarious. “Now I’m jealous I didn’t get to see her. We could have gotten an evening’s entertainment out of that.”
“We could have, indeed.” The smile left her face. “But I’m picking up an entirely different emotion from you two right now. What’s happened?”
The brief moment of levity fled as reality came crashing back. “There was a girl murdered over in the forest tonight. A Valkyrie.”
“Oh, no,” she said. “Which one? Not your friend, I hope.”
I shook my head. “No, not Stephanie, but a friend of hers. A girl with short red hair.”
“Ah,” she said, nodding. “The halfling. That’s a shame. She seemed quite sweet. I imagine the nice young man she’s here with is crushed. I hope they made up before all this happened.”
Colin and I exchanged glances. “Nice young man?” he asked.
“Why, yes,” Margo said. “I didn’t catch his name, but he’s a handsome man. Broad shoulders and a nice smile. Just got here this morning, but they seemed close.”
I described Charles to her, and she nodded. “That sounds like him.”
“And you say they were friendly?” Colin asked.
“Nooo,” she said, drawing the word out. “I said they seemed to be close. Friends or maybe even siblings, though I didn’t get that vibe. Definitely intimate acquaintances, though. I can’t quite explain it. They were angry with each other, but I sensed that they cared for each other underneath that.”