Sergeant Angel Bermuda motioned me over by waving and I moved through the small knots of people that were waiting and milling about. As I moved closer to the table I could see that Lucinda had been crying. The Sheriff had a grim look about him and one of his flunkies, Deputy Crosswich was looking pleased with himself. Deputy Crosswich and I had met previously and agreed to detest each other for our entire lives and that happy state of affairs, I am pleased to say, continues unabated to this day. When he showed up to investigate the death of Alicia Morning’s Gate, he spent as much effort as he would trying to discover who had stolen his morning paper. He had treated the staff poorly and they wouldn’t tell him if he was on fire.
Luncinda looked at me and turned to leave. Crosswich gave her look over somewhat short of a sneer. “Keep yourself available. We may have more questions for you.”
“Underwood. Have a seat.” It wasn’t quite an order, but it certainly wasn’t an invitation either. I glanced at Sergeant Bermuda. He couldn’t like Crosswich. The guy was a bigot. He believed only purebloods had rights. I would have bet a week’s pay that Sergeant Bermuda really got under his thin skin.
“Lord Sheriff, this is Jake Underwood. One of the regulars here at the Silvertree. He’s…” Crosswich was just about to start in on his spiel about what a disreputable character I was when his boss raised his gloved hand.
“I know who he is deputy. We have quite a thick folder on him.” He looked at me in the same way that cat looks at a trapped mouse, hungry and playful. ‘Please, Mr. Underwood, sit.” He waved at the chair opposite him.
“Since you ask so nicely, it will be a pleasure.” A made a show of sitting, mainly just to piss off Crosswich. This is a really a bad idea when dealing with cops. Tweaking their nose is something that clever boys do when they want to spend some time having their internal anatomy rearranged by some backroom type with a club. But Crosswich always managed to torque me up.
“Now, You are the son of Lord Stavros Mellinscant? Holder of Lord Kareen’s Blight?” The Sheriff consulted a notebook that he had pulled from his pocket. Crosswich was smiling. That couldn’t be good.
“Yes, I am his son.”
“Would you care to call for a Noble’s Privilege? It is your right.” The sheriff looked at me levelly. A Noble’s Privilege was basically the right to be questioned in the presence of your liege lord. If you didn’t have one, then your family could act in stead of your lord. Failing that, your superior at court could do so. Everyone at court reports to someone else, sometimes several someone else’s. It could get quite complicated depending on who you actually were at any given moment.
“I think you know that my father and I do not speak and that my rank at court is the barest minimum allowed by custom. We can dispense with the liturgy of custom and cut right to the rat killing. What the hell’s going on?”
“Very Well. Let us proceed with the conversation.” The Sheriff, Lord Dunsany, favored me with a brief smile. “Do you know a Goblin who goes by the name of Kevin?”
“Yes, he tends bar here at the Silver Tree.”
“Just so. Tell me, when was the last time that you saw him?”
“Yesterday, here at the bar.”
“How would describe your relationship with Kevin?” His eyes darted to Crosswich. Usually it’s a little trickier to try and figure out what the cops know, but Crosswich telegraphed it with his eager smirk and his nod.
“Oh I like to drink here from time to time. Kevin also employs me upon occasion.”
“So you admit that you work for him.”
“I admit nothing. I declare it. Sometimes Kevin has some work for me in the mortal world where it’s easier for me to move about. Occasionally, he’ll use me to help deal with internal matters involving the staff.”
“I take it that the last time you saw him that he was well and in good spirits?”
That tore it. I knew something bad had happened here when I came in. I had hoped that it was something else, almost anything but this. Kevin was dead or missing. It was the only thing that made any sense. The only problem was that I wouldn’t have thought that Kevin would have warranted such a big presence. The fact that Crosswich was so gleeful meant that they or at least he thought I had something to do with it.
“The last time I saw him he was tending bar. He asked me to try some expensive bourbon. I did. It was damn good. How he ended up dead or missing I have no idea.”
“I never said anything about that. Where did you hear this?” He moved closer, a hard mercenary glint in his eyes.
“Really, Sheriff! Is there any other reason you and your sidekick would be in here annoying the staff and asking me questions about my relationship with Kevin? Something bad has happened.“ I glanced at Crosswich and saw that his left eye was twitching. That was dead giveway that he was a very unhappy Fey. Joy. “If you must know, Crosswich told me.”
“You lying son of a whore! I never told you a damn thing!” he came around the table and I quickly stood up. Sergeant Bermuda moved between us and restrained Crosswich.
“Deputy Crosswich. That will be enough of that, I think.” Sheriff turned to me and smiled. “Mr. Underwood, would you care to explain that statement?”
“The only time I have ever seen this much pomp and circumstance was when there was a lot of heat coming down from the Court. Besides, Crosswich is only happy when somebody he doesn’t like is dead or in deep shit. I played the odds and figured with your questions, Crosswich’s shit eating grin and Lucinda’s stricken look that something terrible had happened to Kevin.”
The sheriff seemed to mull that one over for a few moments. Crosswich looked like he wanted to maul me over for a few minutes. I hoped Sergeant Bermuda would get out of the way and let him try.
“Yes. I had heard that you were pretty sharp. Sharp enough to gut yourself if you don’t take care.” The sheriff seemed to reach some sort of decision. He pulled a chair back and settled himself into it. He glanced at up at Crosswich. “Deputy Crosswich, please make the rounds and insure that we haven’t missed anyone hiding in all the small spaces. Get one of the Black Watch to accompany you. Can’t be too careful in these small pocket realms.”
Crosswich looked like he wanted to say something else but the little warning signals that kept him at his post must have been flashing and so he fumed off, a little more angry with me than when I arrived. If it wasn’t for the reason he was here this might have turned out to be a good day.
“Mr. Underwood-“
“You can call me Jake, unless you are going to arrest me.”
“Fair Enough. Jake, I want you to tell me exactly what you and Kevin talked about yesterday. Let me say that I have already heard from the staff that as soon as you left yesterday, Kevin followed. Unusual for a bartender to take off just before the busiest part of his day, don’t you think?”
I considered how much to tell him, taking into account what he might already know and reviewed exactly how damaging anything I said might be. I couldn’t see any reason not tell him what Kevin and I had talked about. So I told him about the Naming Day Ceremony and about Kevin’s promise to snoop around and let me know what, if anything was up and about the details of the ceremony.
“That’s it?” he was obviously disappointed. My guess is that he had hoped for a lead or something that might tie me to whatever had happened.
“That’s it. Look, maybe if I knew more I could help. Kevin and I have been tight for a long time.”
“Tight?” The sheriff looked confused until Sergeant Bermuda leaned over and whispered in his ear. “Ah. Yes. Tight.” It was his turn to consider how much to lay out for me. Cops tend to keep things close, but I had a hunch he might dish a little. ”Kevin Unglunblasch, the bartender here was found slain, rather most of him was found, in an abandoned building in Pasadena. Someplace called Gilley’s, a burned out nightclub to be precise.”
“Unglunblasch? That was Kevin’s goblin name huh? Poor bastard. Any idea why he was there? That’s a little off the b
eaten path for him.” Pasadena is a satellite city to Houston, best known for its chemical plants and the ungodly stink of its air. I have heard it called ‘Stinkadena’ on occasion.”
“That was what I was hoping you were going to help me with. None of the staff here at the Silver Tree could or will tell us much of anything. They don’t seem to think much of my deputies.”
“Of course they don’t, they all remember Deputy Crosswich’s investigation of the death of Alicia Morning’s Gate. They won’t say anything to Crosswich. I’ll bet it was Crosswich that got Lucinda crying. He’s a prick and they won’t talk to pricks.”
“Now, Mr. Underwood, I feel obliged to remind you that he is a law officer and his father is highly placed at the court. He might take umbrage at your tone and your words.” The Sheriff was playing it straight. I couldn’t tell if he really didn’t like what I said or whether he was covering himself in front of the Sergeant.
“Back to Mr. Underwood is it? That’s fine with me, but let me just add this. Even if he hadn’t come in here and botched Alica Morning’s Gate’s murder and stomped all over the “mongrel help” as he so euphemistically likes to call them, the staff couldn’t have told him anything, anyway. They probably don’t know anything. Kevin trusted damned few people with what would be common knowledge to you and me. Hell, he never told me his Goblin name! If he had a secret, you can be sure that he kept it to himself. I’ll bet I knew him better than just about anybody and I know precious little about his life and nothing about his death for that matter. “
“But it remains that shortly after his talk with you he left the Silver Tree and met his end. It certainly seems suspicious.”
“Maybe so. But I don’t have the least idea what happened to Kevin after I left. Maybe they are connected and maybe not, but I will tell you this, whoever did this better watch their back. They better hope that you get to them first. Because if someone besides the cops find him, I guarantee that they’ll beg for the quick death of the axe that you would give them.”
“Mr. Underwood! This is a court matter now! I won’t have court members taking private justice. I can promise you that anyone doing so will face the full power of the court and the Black Watch.” The Sheriff turned a cold eye toward me. It’s good to know that he at least had some kind of passion working within him.
“Oh it won’t be me, I’m full supporter of the law and the way it works. But Kevin had friends, some without as much respect for procedure and due process as I do. Some of them believe in the old ways. It won’t be my fault if, some night I have a little too much to drink and a name slips out and they found out who did this. After all, exiles tend to hang together out here in the realm of Adam. It’s hard to keep a secret like that.”
The sheriff sighed, “I can see that this is getting us no where. Can you tell me anything that could help me with my investigations?”
“That’s a much better question. I suppose I could give you list of people that Kevin had me find or talk to for him. That might give you something to check on, although I doubt that any of them did it. If the twins lean on someone, they stay bent.”
“Very Well. I have an appointment with my superior at the court and will have to leave the actual data collection to Sergeant Bermuda. He will be the lead investigator on this case. Anything you can think of to help, it would be considered a boon. At the same time, I don’t want you interfering in our investigation. Let us do our jobs and keep yourself clear. Just one thing more, stay available. I want to be able to put my hands on you when I feel like it.”
“Why Sheriff, usually I expect dinner or least dancing before I let people put their hands on me.” He scowled and as he walked away Sergeant Bermuda took his chair and I could hear him muttering something under his breath about bring back the old ways of putting someone to the question. I certainly hoped that he wasn’t talking about me.
Chapter Five
It took me a half hour to give the Sergeant the list of people that I had helped Kevin with over the years. It was lot longer than I had recalled and the recitation of it brought back a lot of memories. It made me realize exactly how much I would miss him.
I assured Sergeant Bermuda that I could be reached through my office and He gave me a gilded card with his sigil and his cell phone number and told me to be in touch if I remembered anything that he should know. I told him I would and I asked him to keep me informed on how the case was going. He said he would. We both knew we were lying.
I looked around the Silver Tree and I could see that something would have to be done. The staff was just standing around, aimlessly shuffling their feet and in some cases, weeping.
I called Lucinda over to me. She was a pureblood elf who had done something she shouldn’t have back in the Bright Kingdom and earned herself a few centuries of banishment. Exactly what that was she never said and I never asked. The Fey came to the Mortal World to make memories or to forget them. She pulled her full, blond hair back and looked at me.
One of the things about elves is that they almost always look good, even when they’ve been crying. Other than disguise, I could never figure out why the purebloods bothered with glamours. Someone like Bermuda, sure. He had to deal with a bunch of aristocrats with a master race complex. But with purebloods like Lucinda, it was gilding the lily.
“Mr. Underwood, what’s going to happen now?”
“Lucinda, I don’t know for certain. Kevin never mentioned any kin, but I suppose if there are any this place will go to them. As soon as the Sheriff’s crew is through with everybody, have them meet me in the Rakkash’s Salon and we’ll talk about it.”
It took about another hour for the bulk of the staff to gather. The cops wanted to know what was going on, but I assured them that it was bar business and had nothing to do with the case. They didn’t believe me of course but when I pointed out that we could just as easily go elsewhere and take everybody off the premises they relented as long as we didn’t take too long.
There were still a few missing from the late night shift, but I would have bet that Sergeant Bermuda would be fetching them along soon for questioning. Rakkash’s Salon is named for it’s patron who used to hold a friendly card game here. It was a real shame it ended up with a wickedly curved dagger pushing through his lungs. Kevin named the salon after him in a rare moment of sentiment.
The staff was standing around, muttering to themselves. There was a strong undercurrent of anxiety running through the salon with a heavy cloud of sorrow laying about the place like a thick fog. I sent Lucinda and another waitress out to grab everyone something to drink. It was just like cops to question people for hours and not offer them anything to drink. As soon as she came back and served everyone, I motioned for everyone to take a chair, except for Jerryk and Tarryk, whose massive frames would have crushed any of the spindly furniture in this room. As if they had rehearsed this move a thousand times, each of them took positions on either side of the door and Jerryk nodded a massive head at me.
“All right. I assume that everyone here has heard the news? In case you haven’t, the Sheriff tells me that Kevin Unglunblasch, that’s his goblin name by the way, was found dead. Now, I don’t like to trust cops, but I think it would be best to operate under the assumption that like a broken clock, even cops are right a couple of times a day.” I could tell that everyone here had indeed heard the news.
“What about the Silver Tree? Is it going to close?”
“I can’t afford to be out of work! I’ve got-“
“I knew it was too good to last. I-
“What I want to know is, whose going to speak and do right for Kevin! He-“
I held up my arms and waved them to quiet the group of distraught, frightened and angry workers. “Calm down! We’ll deal with as much as we can today and try and sort the rest out later. Let’s take the most important thing first, keeping the doors open. Who’s senior on the wait staff?” Lucinda raised her hand slowly, “Lucinda? I thought so. Head Chef?” A goblin raised his hand.
“My name’s Critter, sir.”
“Critter huh?” I smiled. “Bet there’s a story in that name. Unfortunately it will have to wait.” He looked like he wanted to explain but set back down as I continued. “And by the way, don’t call me sir. I’m a working man, not some inner circle noble, no matter what you may have heard. You can call me Jake or Mr. Underwood or even Mister if you must, in some cases “bastard” will also do. Where is Bolan?” I scanned the room until I saw the concierge. Bolan was unusual for a Fey establishment. He was human.
“Okay, until we learn different, I think we’ll try and keep the place open. I think Kevin would have wanted that, so that’s what we’ll do. Now I know you have a lot of questions, but to keep this down to a manageable level I want Lucinda, Critter, Bolan, Jerryk and Tarryk to stay behind. Besides, I promised the Sheriff and his band of merry questioners I wouldn’t tie you up too long. He has yet more questions to ask and we wouldn’t want him getting nervous. When were done chatting they’ll fill you in. You take your lead from them. You all know what has to be done to get the place ready. I suspect that with all that has happened, The Silver Tree is going to be jumping tonight with regulars who want to know what’s going on and the morbidly curious who always show up to stare or gloat. Do your jobs and let the leads deal with any problems that arise. Oh yeah, don’t interfere with the cops. They won’t like it and it will make it hard to get things organized. They can be a real pain in the ass if you aggravate them.” They stared at me for a minute as waiting for a signal so I gave them one. “Hop to it people!” I said as I clapped my hands and motioned for the twins to open the door. They all slowly filed out, mumbling to themselves.
Naming Day (Jake Underwood Book 1) Page 5