by Kate Serine
I shrugged. “You know. Girl stuff.”
“No, really,” he said, punching the button for the elevator.
Luckily, the elevator doors slid open at that moment, letting out a handful of men in black suits gruffly leading a powerfully built man wearing sunglasses and an impeccably tailored suit, his red gold curls pulled back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck.
“Gideon?” I gasped as the agents shouldered between Nicky and me. I’d only met him once, when Lavender’s mom had demanded Red’s and my presence at her country club for tea so she could inspect her daughter’s bridesmaids. Although the entire experience had been so unbelievably uncomfortable I wanted nothing more than to wipe it from my memory, Gideon was impossible to forget.
Gideon shrugged easily out of the grasp of the man holding him, letting them all know he’d only been coming along for show anyway, and turned toward me, giving me a sharp nod. “Ms. Muffet. Pleasure to see you again.”
“Nicky Blue,” I introduced, “this is Gideon Montrose—he’s a dear friend of Lavender Seelie and bodyguard to the fairy king and queen.”
Nicky instinctively reached out a hand in greeting, but the handshake was awkward with Gideon’s massive wrists in magic-dampening manacles.
“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Blue,” Gideon said with a nod. “I’ve heard a great deal about you.”
Nicky grunted but offered the man a grin. “Can’t say I’ve heard of you—but I imagine that’s by design.”
“What’s going on?” I asked Gideon. “Why are you being brought in?”
“It’s not your concern,” a pinch-faced agent interjected, grabbing Gideon’s arm.
Gideon jerked away and shoved the guy. Before the man could react, I stepped between them and put a hand against the guy’s chest, holding him off.
“Who the hell are you, Tale?” I demanded. “I haven’t seen you before.” Because I would’ve recognized your rat face and beady little eyes.
“Norman Fredericks,” he replied, looking down his long nose at me. “I’ve been working on special assignment with the Agency as the Tale liaison.”
I heard Nicky snort. “Freddy the Ferret.”
Ferret? Well, I wasn’t far off. . . .
“Haven’t seen you in a good twenty years,” Nicky said, his tone cordial, but a coldness coming into his eyes. “Not since you got pinched by the feds for money laundering for the Ordinaries.”
Freddy’s beady eyes narrowed on Nicky. “My talents were underappreciated by the Tales back then. I get the respect I deserve now.”
“I’m sure you do,” Nicky drawled.
“What does the Agency have to do with Gideon?” I cut in, bringing us back to the point before they could get into a full-blown pissing match.
“We caught him trafficking fairy dust to Ordinaries,” one of the other agents explained. I didn’t like the look of him much better than I did Freddy the Ferret.
When I glanced at Gideon, his face was impassive, completely unreadable. But I could smell a rat both literally and figuratively. The Seelies were the only authorized fairy dust distributors among the Tales; and having the corner on the market raked in millions of dollars every year. I seriously doubted Papa Seelie would jeopardize his empire by selling to Ordinaries. And even if he was expanding their market, Gideon didn’t strike me as the kind of guy to get caught doing it.
“I’m sure there’s been some kind of mistake,” I said, forcing a smile. “Turn Gideon over to me and I’ll get to the bottom of things.”
“I don’t take orders from little girls,” Freddy scoffed.
Nicky was up in his grill in a heartbeat, his expression deadly. “You’d better watch your mouth, Ferret.”
Freddy laughed. “Right. And what are you going to do about it?” He shook his head. “Word is you’ve gone soft, Nicky. Your wife buys it and you go running off to hide?”
I grabbed Nicky’s arm and pulled him back a few feet, pressing my hand against his chest. “It’s all right, Nicky. I’ll handle this.”
“Yeah, Nicky,” Freddy taunted. “Listen to your little girlfriend. She’ll handle it. You sure as shit can’t, you pussy.”
Nicky moved so fast I didn’t even see it coming. In one swift motion he grabbed Freddy’s hand and twisted his arm at such an unnatural angle, the guy dropped to the floor with a howl of pain. “Who’s the pussy now, Freddy?” Nicky spat. “Huh? Who’s the pussy now, you rat-faced little fuck?”
Next thing I knew, all hell was breaking loose. The other agents went for Nicky, but Gideon busted the manacles apart with a quick jerk of his wrists and stepped in. His fist connected with the nose of one man, dropping him, and then had the other one on the ground so fast I didn’t even see how.
“What the hell is going on?”
Nicky immediately let go of Freddy at the sound of Red’s voice and took a step back.
“I asked a question,” Red snapped. “Somebody better give me a goddamn answer!”
Freddy got to his feet and straightened his suit. “Assistant Director Little, we were bringing in this suspect when we were assaulted by your associates. You’d better believe I’ll be filing a complaint with Director Addin.”
Red grunted. “Get in line, Rat-boy. Next time you want to bring someone in, you Agency sellouts might want to call first. Now get outta my building.”
“Assistant Director—”
Red batted her eyes at Freddy, daring him to go there. “I’m hungry, you little shit, and you’re in my way. Are you seriously gonna push me on this?”
Freddy cast a furious glare at Nicky, knocking into him as he passed, then motioned for his cronies to follow him. As soon as the elevator doors had closed on them, Red jerked her chin at Gideon. “So are you guilty?”
Gideon’s lips curled up on one side in an amused smirk. “Of many things. But not of the things of which they were accusing me.”
“And what would those things be?” Red demanded.
He quickly repeated what he’d already told us. “The king is decidedly unhappy with someone selling D on the black market to Ordinaries and trying to make it look as if it’s his people doing it. He sent me out tonight to gather intelligence.”
“And?” I asked. “What did you find?”
He shrugged a powerful shoulder. “Nothing conclusive.”
“What do you say you share the inconclusive, then?” I suggested. “Let us take it from here.”
Gideon’s expression grew somber once more. “No offense to the FMA,” he said, “but the king prefers to handle this matter himself.”
“Bullshit,” Red snapped. “We have enough vigilantes running around right now.”
I cast a nervous glance at Nicky, but he seemed unperturbed.
“You can tell his Royal Pain in the Ass that I’m not going to let him start a war with the Agency and blow our cover among the Ordinaries. The FMA will handle it.”
Gideon’s already hard face seemed to grow even harder. “I don’t think he’ll take very kindly to that directive.”
“Not my problem,” Red shot back.
“We Tales number in the thousands in the Here and Now,” Gideon pointed out. “Perhaps you don’t understand that there are those who believe we now have sufficient numbers to declare our presence.”
Red took a menacing step forward, hands on her hips, ready to rip into the man towering over her, but Nate deftly swept in between her and Gideon with a placating smile. “Of course, the king is not among those who believe this, right?” Nate said.
Gideon inclined his head. “Of course not. My words were merely a statement of fact—not a warning.”
“If your king knows something, he needs to tell us,” I insisted. “We need to find out who’s behind these factions.”
Gideon shook his head. “My king would never discuss such matters with the FMA. He does not care to have his business matters scrutinized too closely.”
“Then he can talk to me,” Nicky interjected. “We have associates in common.”<
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Gideon inclined his head. “I will put forward your request for a meeting.”
“Fine,” Red said with a huff as Nate unlocked the remnants of the manacles around Gideon’s wrists. “I’m gonna grant some leeway on this one, but Trish goes with Nicky. Now, get outta here, Gideon, before I change my mind. Oh, and be sure to tell Lavender’s mom I said hi.”
Gideon actually chuckled at this. “I’m sure she’ll be delighted.” In the next moment the fairy was gone, having slipped through the fabric of time and space.
“What the hell was that all about?” Nate asked no one in particular as the four of us got into the elevator together.
“This is total bullshit, Red,” I said. “The Agency’s up to something.”
She nodded. “Damned straight. I don’t like this. First Spalding was butting in and demanding the bodies of those vampires, and now Freddy and his stooges are hauling in suspects like they run the place?”
“Why is the Agency getting so involved in our business all of a sudden?” I asked. “They’ve been content with our arrangement up until now.”
Red didn’t respond, but she was frowning, mulling it over. And she was still frowning when we parted from her and Nate and started for Nicky’s Escalade.
“So, you and Freddy go back a ways?” I asked after we pulled out of the underground parking lot and into traffic.
“He came over from folklore in the nineteen-fifties and took up with the Sandman,” Nicky told me, his voice dripping with disdain. “He liked being a button man for Halloran. Enjoyed doing all the dirty work his boss didn’t want on his own hands.”
“And now he’s working for the Agency,” I muttered. “Fantastic. This just keeps getting better and better.”
Beatrice . . .
I straightened with a start at the sound of my name and glanced into the backseat, fully expecting to see someone sitting behind me.
Beatrice, come to me. . . .
“What’s doin’?” Nicky asked, glancing over at me with a frown. “You okay?”
I twisted in my seat, craning to look into the back of the Escalade. “Did you . . .” I didn’t bother finishing my question. Of course Nicky hadn’t heard anything. That was clear from the puzzled look on his face. I did one last check of the backseat, reassuring myself that no one was there. “Yeah. I’m fine,” I lied, wrapping my arms around myself to hold in the shudder of apprehension threatening to break. “Let’s just get this visit over with.”
Chapter Eight
We waited a full forty-five minutes in the foyer of Halloran’s mansion with his doormen glaring daggers at us before a stocky man with a barrel chest and biceps so large he couldn’t lower his arms strode toward us, his face as hard as his abs. In spite of the fact that he wasn’t particularly tall, his presence was menacing. There was no doubt in my mind that he was a force to be reckoned with.
“What the hell are you doing here, Blue?” the man demanded. “You got a lotta nerve showing your face around this place.”
“I’m not here to start anything with you, Aloysius,” Nicky shot back. “In fact, I’m not here on business at all. I’m just escorting Ms. Muffet. She needs to talk to Sophia.”
Aloysius narrowed his eyes at us, his glare for Nicky particularly hostile. Finally, he nodded. “Follow me. She can see you in the study.”
Calling the room where Nicky and I were taken a study was a gross understatement. Tim Halloran, crooked businessman and smarmy crime lord, had never struck me as being particularly erudite, but the room was filled with books on such topics as economics, finance, logistics, and accounting. Apparently, someone had been doing his homework. Or, the cynical side of me countered, he more likely wanted people to think he’d been doing his homework.
Unlike our wait in the foyer, our sojourn in the study was relatively short. We’d barely been alone for two minutes when the door opened again and a white Bengal tiger slunk in, prowling toward us warily.
Nicky reached for my hand and pulled me behind him, putting himself between me and the tigress. “Hello, Sophia,” he said cautiously. “It’s good to see you again. This is Trish Muffet from the FMA.”
She slowly circled, sizing us up. Nicky shuffled with her, keeping me behind him, facing her at all times. Finally, there was a shimmer in the air and where the tiger had been now stood a beautiful—and completely naked—woman with long white hair and striking emerald eyes. I glanced at Nicky to gauge his reaction, but he seemed completely unmoved by the vision of loveliness before us.
“Hello yourself, Nicky Blue,” Sophia purred, her voice a little husky, bringing to mind Eartha Kitt’s portrayal of Catwoman in the old Batman TV series. She prowled toward him, a seductive smile curving her lips, then pressed into him, nuzzling up under his chin with a provocative noise that was something between a mew and a moan. “It’s been a long, long time. And it was so good of you to bring a little kitten for me to play with. . . . I promise to be gentle with her.”
I choked a little at what she was implying. “I’m sorry—what?”
Nicky cleared his throat and drew back a little, casting a slightly uncomfortable glance my way. “I’m afraid this isn’t a social call, Sophia.”
“Too bad,” she purred, letting her long nails skim down his throat and along his chest. “There’s nothing a cat enjoys more than batting around a couple of balls.” She twisted away with a sigh, rubbing her backside against his crotch before sauntering a few steps and stretching out on the sofa, not bothering to hide any of her breathtakingly gorgeous body. “So, if you and your lovely friend didn’t come to play with me, why are you here?”
Nicky led me to the closest chair, then took the one next to it and leaned forward, placing his forearms on his knees and clasping his hands together. “I’m really sorry, honey, but we have some bad news. Halloran’s dead.”
Sophia blinked her eyes languidly, her expression not altering in the slightest. Finally, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly before saying, “Good.”
Now it was my turn to blink in astonishment. “You aren’t distraught?” I blurted before I could stop myself.
She lifted a slender shoulder and let it drop again. “Perhaps once I would’ve been. But he has been very . . . occupied lately. I do not mind sharing, but he would not let me come along and did not bring his lovers here.”
“Do you know anything about who they were?” I asked, trying to swallow my disgust at her lack of emotion over her dead lover. “What were their names? How did he meet them?”
Sophia turned her slightly feral gaze upon me. “You ask a lot of questions, Ms. Muffet.”
“It’s my job to ask a lot of questions,” I reminded her. “Now, is there anything you can tell us that would help us determine who these women were? It’s possible that his new lovers are the same two women who murdered him. One was a blonde, the other brunette.”
She ran her hand along the edge of her body and over her hip in a seductive motion, and I saw Nicky perk up a little out of the corner of my eye. “No idea,” she demurred. “All I know is that he was introduced to these women by an associate—as a celebration of their new partnership. This associate’s name was not told to me. I know only that the deal was not quite finalized.”
“Do you know if there was anything . . . peculiar about his new lovers?” I prompted.
Sophia batted her eyes at me. “Peculiar? I am a tigress, my dear. There is little I find peculiar.”
“Were they vampires?” Nicky interjected, getting to the point.
Sophia shrugged again, lifting her chin haughtily. “I do not know. I do not care.”
Beatrice. . . . Come to me. . . .
I jumped at the sound of the voice from the car and instinctively glanced around to look for the speaker, but once more I saw no one there. “Um,” I stammered, feeling Nicky’s curious gaze upon me and trying to recover. “Is there . . . uh . . . that is, would anyone else know who these women were?”
Sophia shrugged. “Perhaps Alo
ysius,” she suggested. “The Sandman had grown very paranoid lately and would not let anyone else around him but Ally. However, they recently had a falling out because Ally was planning to leave and go into business with his lover at the whorehouse.” Sophia’s lips curled into a lascivious smile as she brought her leg forward and ran her hand down her thigh. “Now, if you’re finished pumping me for information, there are other activities the three of us would no doubt find much more enjoyable. . . .”
Time to go.
I jumped to my feet, ready to be away from the hot little feline tramp before she started flashing her little kitty at us. I grabbed Nicky’s hand and pulled him to his feet. “Let’s go talk to Aloysius.”
I dragged Nicky from the room with me and halfway down the hall before he pulled me to a halt. “Hey, hey—slow down. Where’s the fire?”
“In her vagina, apparently,” I muttered.
Nicky chuckled. “Sophia’s always like that. You get used to it.”
I grunted, doubting that very much.
Not having any clue where to start looking for Aloysius in the enormous mansion, we checked with the doormen to request an audience, only to find that the bodyguard had taken off as soon as Sophia was on her way to the study.
“Why would he leave so suddenly?” I asked Nicky once we were back in his Escalade and driving down the lane toward the main road. The afternoon sky was already growing dark, heavy clouds in the sky threatening to dump another round of snow on us. “We weren’t even planning to question him.”
Nicky shrugged. “Got me. But if I was going to lay odds—” He suddenly broke off, frowning as he squinted through the trees.
I followed the direction of his gaze and saw headlights in the distance, coming up quickly. Nicky switched off his own lights and pulled off the road, parking the Escalade in the shadows. A moment later, two black Lincolns drove past, and at the end of the caravan was a black box truck. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered. “What the hell is the Agency doing here?”
Nicky flipped on the lights. “How about we go find out?”