by Gina LaManna
Still staring out the window, the chief spoke to his hands. “DeMarco, do you wholeheartedly believe that Marcus deserves a promotion to lieutenant?”
I hesitated. Marcus hadn’t fared as well as the rest of us at Cynthia’s hand. When her magic hit him in the cage, it had broken several bones in his body and caused internal bleeding—none of which was helped by the fact I’d sent him flying across the room in an effort to save his life.
Fortunately, Nurse Anita had worked her magic at the hospital, and after a complicated surgery, Marcus was doing much better. He’d be riding the desk for a few more weeks until fully recovered, but at least he was alive.
Meanwhile, I had filed my report during Marcus’s surgery. I’d given him credit for the capture of Cynthia, along with Lisa and Linsey, for the sake of Matthew’s career. What mattered was that we’d saved the women we could, and we’d taken Cynthia out of the game for good. Nothing else mattered.
“I believe he deserves the promotion,” I said when the chief twirled back in his chair and faced me. “Wholeheartedly.”
I held his gaze without blinking, knowing the chief would sense if I was lying. Oddly enough, I wasn’t entirely stretching the truth. In a strange twist of events, Marcus had inched himself toward redemption at the end of our time in the cage.
A knock sounded at the door. The chief’s eyes flicked up, though he didn’t appear surprised. “Come in,” he said, while gesturing with his hand for the door to open.
It opened silently with the chief’s magic, and as I turned, I was surprised to find Marcus hobbling through the door. He was still on crutches because of one particularly nasty break in his leg.
Overall, Marcus didn’t look great. His face was drawn and pale, and his shoulders sagged with exhaustion. That smarmy smile usually swiped across his face was gone. He could barely manage a twitch of his lips, a mere shadow of the smug expression he so famously preferred.
“Detective,” Marcus said with a pained nod toward me. “It’s good to have you back.”
I gave him a succinct nod back. While I might have warmed to him somewhat thanks to his actions when facing Cynthia, it hadn’t erased the blackmail photos he held on me and Matthew.
“Can we help you with something, Prey?” the chief broke the ensuing silence. “We were just discussing your recovery and impending promotion.”
Prey cleared his throat. “Oh?”
“DeMarco was just telling me what a fine job you did in the capture of Cynthia,” Chief Newton said, his eyes fixed on Marcus. “Good work, Detective. Or rather, Lieutenant. How does it feel?”
“That’s actually what I’m here to discuss,” Marcus said, his eyes downcast. “I’d like to withdraw my application for promotion.”
“Why would you do that?”
“I forced Dani to falsify her report and—”
“He did not,” I interrupted, fixing the chief with an unwavering gaze. “With all due respect, Marcus was unconscious with his legs both up in slings in a hospital bed at the time my report was written. He couldn’t have forced me to falsify it. I haven’t spoken to him since Cynthia’s takedown.”
“Marcus?” the chief asked.
“Sir, I blackmailed Detective DeMarco into giving me credit for the capture of Cynthia before we ever stepped foot in that basement.” Marcus tilted his chin higher in a misguided attempt to look noble. “I also interfered with the investigation when I shouldn’t have, and I risked the detective’s life along with Captain King’s. If you want the truth, you should know that I was already unconscious by the time Detective DeMarco reversed Cynthia’s magic. I didn’t even see the end.”
Chief Newton stared me down. “DeMarco, is there any truth to what Prey’s saying?”
“Sir,” I said finally, “if you want my honest opinion, I think we all made mistakes on this case. I believe my report should be dropped and we should move on from the matter.”
“Prey?” The chief nodded toward him.
Marcus glanced down at his feet, fixating on the leg still enclosed in a hard cast. “I think the detective has been far too generous with her assessment. I disagree and withdraw from the next round of promotions, and I would like to state on the record that it’s because of Detective DeMarco’s honest work that the kidnapped victims have been returned to their families.”
“Very well,” Chief Newton said. “Detective DeMarco, I expect an amended, honest report on my desk by tomorrow morning. Marcus?”
Shame bloomed on the lieutenant’s face. “Yes, sir?”
“Three-month suspension.”
Marcus nodded. “Of course.”
“When you come back, probation for another six months. During your time off, I’d suggest you rest, recover, and figure out how to play nice with your colleagues. If anything like this happens again, you won’t get another chance.”
“Understood, sir.”
“And Prey?”
“Yes?”
The chief smiled dryly, gave a shake of his head. “Next time you try to blackmail someone, make sure it’s not Detective DeMarco.”
“Sir?” Marcus crooked one eyebrow upward, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. “Excuse me?”
“She’s the smartest damn cop in the precinct, Prey—and the most stubborn,” he said. “Next time, pick on someone your own size, and you might not get your ass handed to you.”
Marcus let out a sheepish quirk of his lips. “Yes, sir.”
“Get out of here, Prey. DeMarco—you stay put. I’m not finished with you.”
Marcus turned to take his leave. He hobbled out, struggling to close the door behind him while also maneuvering on his crutches.
I moved to help, but the chief waved me off. “Let him struggle a little bit,” Newton said. “He’s earned it. Penance.”
As Marcus finally shut the door, I turned back to the chief, digesting a strange feeling in my gut. A part of me almost wanted to tell Chief Newton to go easy on Marcus. God only knew why.
“Believe it or not,” the chief said, “this little ditty with you and Marcus isn’t the first interesting development of my morning.”
“Sir?” I offered. “You’re the chief of police in the paranormal Sixth Borough of New York. I am fairly certain that you don’t know a normal morning.”
The chief grinned. “It really is great to have you back, DeMarco. I don’t think I’ve told you that enough. I appreciate the work you did on the kidnapping case.”
“Just doing my job.”
“As for Marcus, I don’t want to know anything else about the situation,” the chief said. “I’m going to let bygones be bygones, and I’m going to trust that the two of you are capable adults who can work things out. I’d hate to fire a good cop when a second chance might do the trick.”
“I agree, sir.”
“However,” the chief continued, “if he gives you any more serious trouble, let me know before you’re falsifying reports.”
“Understood.”
“Ironically, the other strange event of my morning involves you as well.”
“Oh?”
“As a matter of fact, my best captain just resigned.”
“Matthew?” I gasped. “He gave you a letter of resignation?”
“Not in so many words,” the chief said, with an odd shadow of a smile. “I wouldn’t call it formal or eloquent, but I’d expect nothing less of King.”
“Why would he do that?” I asked. “He loves his career. He is his career.”
“I was hoping you might have some answers. He didn’t exactly give me a reason, and he wasn’t in a very chatty mood.”
“How strange,” I said, though in all honesty, I didn’t think it was very strange at all. In fact, I reached into my own pocket and felt the letter of resignation I’d prepared there. I hadn’t decided if I was actually going to give it to the chief, but I’d wanted to be armed just in case.
“If you’re thinking of trying to quit,” the chief said, nodding towards my
fidgeting hands, “think again.”
“Sir, about Matthew,” I said with a slight hesitation. “I suspect you’re right. If I had to guess, I would assume Matthew’s resignation had something to do with me.”
“I figured as much,” Chief Newton said. “I didn’t get to be the chief of police because I’m an idiot.”
“Touché, sir.”
“Let me guess.” The chief steepled his fingers as he surveyed me. “You and King have discovered that you don’t work all that well together.”
I felt my face blush and warm under his piercing gaze.
“Let me rephrase,” the chief said, waving off my response. “You and King work too well together, especially with you directly under him.”
I tilted my chin higher. “Suffice to say, I think it’s wise if I don’t report to Captain King anymore.”
“Very well,” Chief Newton said, impressively agreeable. “You’ll report to me, effective immediately. On one condition.”
“Anything, sir.”
The chief reached into his top desk drawer and removed something I recognized as a badge. Matthew’s badge. “Go over to King’s place and return his damn badge. Then, drag his ass back here Monday morning, and we’ll never speak of this again. Can I count on you, Detective?”
I cleared my throat and shifted my weight from one foot to the next. “Um, yes, sir.”
“Now get out of here,” the chief said with a flick of his long, mottled fingers. “It’s Friday afternoon, and I don’t want to see your face until Monday morning.”
“Absolutely, sir.”
Then the chief snapped his fingers, and my letter of resignation burned up from between my fingers. I hadn’t realized I’d pulled it distractedly out of my pocket while we’d been speaking, and I watched as a cloud of ash fell to the floor. The chief brushed the dusty pile away with a flick of his wrist.
“Now get out of here,” he said, “And keep your personal problems off my desk, Detective.”
I nodded and remained silent. I’d said, “Yes, sir,” one too many times in the last several minutes, and I was running out of variations on the theme. Instead, I pulled myself, slightly dazed, out of the chief’s office and let my feet drag me downstairs to my own office.
I grabbed the report on Cynthia that needed amending and glanced it over, grateful to see that not much needed updating. While I’d given Marcus a little too much credit for the destruction of Cynthia, the rest of it had been true.
I skimmed through the report and was hit with a mixture of satisfaction for a job well done, though it was tinged with a hint of sorrow for the lives we hadn’t saved. I wished the fate of Maybelline and Lillie had been different, and I wished Linsey hadn’t been drained to within an inch of her life. I found myself wishing she hadn’t been given away in marriage in the first place to an elfin prince, and I wondered if Harry had heard the news that his bride-to-be was alive and well.
I continued reading, and when I reached the part about Lisa, I found myself smiling. It was because of the strength of Lisa and her daughter, the brave little Tink, that we had escaped at all from the dungeon. Equally important, and despite the awful circumstances, we had managed to keep their deepest secret. I would take the discovery of elfin clairvoyance to my grave, and I knew Lisa and Tink believed in my promise.
In fact, when I had returned to the pizzeria and given Tink her necklace back, she hadn’t even bothered to ask how her mother was doing. She’d barely looked up from her coloring when I’d explained that she’d be reunited shortly with her mother.
“I know,” she’d said, and then, “Willa told me I could have another slice of pizza.”
“You weren’t worried at all?” I asked her.
“No, silly,” Tink had said with another telltale giggle. “I gave you my necklace. I knew you’d save her.” Then she had begun chomping on her promised slice of pizza and humming, and that had been the end of the discussion.
I reached the very end of my report, but that didn’t need much in the way of changes. Cynthia hadn’t survived, of course, but that wasn’t exactly a surprise ending. Not after I’d felt the weight of her power course through me while protected by the necklace. Without elfin protection, she hadn’t stood a chance.
Cynthia’s mother, however, had been safe and untouched. She was being moved into a proper care facility to help with her memory loss. They’d offer around-the-clock nursing care, along with company in the way of other residents.
I polished off the rest of my report, and then handed it over to the chief’s administrative assistant. With that task completed, I took his advice for once and pocketed Matthew’s badge as I left the precinct. A sense of elation settled over me as I jogged down the steps, thinking that no work for a whole weekend, plus time with friends and family at the pizzeria, was just what I needed.
“Where are you off to so fast?” Nash asked, stopping me as we crossed paths in the front door of the precinct building. “You headed to the pizzeria? I was thinking about stopping by after work for a bite.”
“I’ll meet you there,” I said. “Speaking of DeMarco’s have you been around the pizzeria lately?”
Nash shrugged. “Not any more than usual.”
“What do you think about Willa and Jack?” I asked. “They’ve been... hot and cold. I’m trying to decide if I should interfere.”
“I wouldn’t.” Nash’s eyebrows shot up. “If last night was anything to go by, they’re hot at the moment. They were looking cozy enough in the kitchen, so far as I could tell.”
“Huh,” I said, and made a mental note to check with Willa to make sure my brother was behaving. “Well, see you. I have my own problems to deal with.”
“Matthew?” Nash asked. “Or Grey?”
I shot darts at him with my gaze. “Why are my only two options in this scenario men?”
“Well?” Nash shrugged one shoulder. “Am I right?”
“You’re wrong.” I frowned. “The answer is both.”
Nash gave a wink that wasn’t at all apologetic. “Good luck on that, Detective.”
I jogged down the front steps of the building, ashamed that I’d completely forgotten about Grey in my haste to visit Matthew and pick up where we’d left off. I’d somehow forgotten the fact that Grey had been there in the dungeon the night Cynthia had been destroyed. He’d been the one who had first come to me with the issue at the casino—the scandal that had ended up breaking the entire case wide open.
“I thought I might catch you here,” a familiar voice said. “Playing hooky on a Friday afternoon?”
I turned to find Grey’s long, lean body perched against a tree, his face masked in shadow.
“How come I can never get ahold of you?” I asked, sauntering toward him. “While you always know when I want to talk to you...”
“Let’s call it a gift and leave it at that,” Grey said, with his traditional infusion of mystery. “What can I help you with?”
“I was just thinking of you, wondering if we’ve solved your friend’s little gambling problem.”
Grey’s face sobered. “Of course.”
“Did you get your gems back?” I asked. “It was... a lot of money.”
Grey shrugged. “I’ve plenty more where it came from.”
I looked down at my fingernails. I would never be able to relate to any such sentiment.
“I truly appreciate the favor, Detective,” Grey said. “I had no clue how far things would go. I wouldn’t have asked for an off the record favor if it wasn’t important.”
“I know,” I said. I wanted to ask more, but I knew pushing the wolf wouldn’t get me anything. If Grey wanted to open up to me, he would. “You know, if you ever have anything you want to talk about, I’m pretty understanding. I’ve been through a lot.”
“I know,” Grey said, and we stood there in quiet understanding. “Anyway, I should let you go. You look like you’re headed somewhere in a hurry.”
“I’m sorry I don’t have longer to talk,
but I do have somewhere to be.”
“Or rather, someone to see?” Grey suggested innocently.
“You could say that,” I said stiffly, without realizing I was toying with Matthew’s badge in my palm.
Grey’s eyes were drawn to my fidgeting hands. “I see. Can I assume the captain had a change of plans in career choice?”
“No,” I said shortly.
“Ah.”
“Listen, Grey...” I started.
“You don’t have to explain anything. I understand. Really, I do.”
“Matthew and I...” I hesitated. “It’s not like it’s a choice. It’s not really a choice at all. It’s just the way things have to be.”
Grey gave me a somewhat forlorn, almost tender smile. “I know, Detective,” he said, raising a thumb and dragging it gently across my cheek. “Trust me. I know that, too.”
Chapter 28
I knocked on the door to Matthew’s house, my chest tight with adrenaline. In theory, I shouldn’t have been nervous at all, seeing as Matthew had quit the precinct and was no longer my boss. The only thing that remained between us was personal. But that’s what scared me most.
“Good afternoon, Detective,” Matthew said with the slightest wrinkle of his nose as he swung the door open. He obviously could tell I’d just seen Grey, but he kept his face passive and didn’t comment. “Congratulations on wrapping the Luca kidnapping case.”
I gave a one-shouldered shrug. “I didn’t do it alone.”
“If you expect me to believe Marcus had anything to do with taking down Cynthia in that prison...” Matthew spluttered and gave a shake of his head.
“I didn’t mean him,” I said. “I meant you. And Lisa, and Tink, and Linsey, and everyone else. Yes, including Grey.”
Matthew closed his eyes for a long moment, likely holding an internal debate about the appropriate response. Eventually he settled on nothing and opened his eyes. “Of course.”
“Look, Grey’s a part of my life now,” I said. “He’s just a friend. We understand each other, and our work lives seem to intertwine quite often.”