by Lyra Evans
Aspen blinked. Cobalt turned to him, drawn out of his trance-like gaze by Niko’s implied theory. “You think the killer was—kissing Indigo?” The tone of disbelief rankled Niko, and he shook off the frustration.
“I’m just asking about the possibilities,” he said sharply.
“I don’t think it would work as you think it would,” Aspen said, staring out beyond Niko and Cobalt as she thought it through. “Sound doesn’t travel like water or air, even. It wouldn’t emit in a kind of jet. It’s waves, more than anything. Even if you screamed directly into the skin, while most of the damage would be concentrated, probably, you would still see reverberation in the rest of the body. That would cause damage to the other organs, possibly to the point of liquefying them. Shattering bones.” She shook her head. “I don’t think that would be effective either, but I’ve frankly never seen anything like this, so quite honestly I suppose that, too, is possible.”
Stymied, Niko leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. He mulled over the information, tasting the options in his mouth and biting down on them. Nothing made much sense, yet. Their leads were a mythical creature that probably didn’t exist, a woman with hair like light, and the mysterious leaders of an erstwhile unknown sex-trafficking operation known only as the Woods. Was it possible all three of those options described the same person? It was impossible to say at this stage. There were still far too many unknowns. Where were the other Selkies now? Were they even alive? If not, why was Indigo the only one left out in public on the beach?
“Oh, there was one other thing I noticed with the body,” Dr. Aspen said, flipping through the pages of the report. “There was a high level of magical residue lingering in the tissue.”
Niko’s moment of hope was immediately dashed. He bit the inside of his cheek. “That could be down to the magical attack. The sheer magical power of what we’re talking about is bound to leave residue. We found it at the scene too.”
Aspen shook her head. “No, this is different,” she said. “There was residue in the wound track and the surrounding tissue, yes, but there was a different kind of magical residue focused around the victim’s head. Particularly in his temporal lobes, with a high concentration around the auditory cortex.”
Cobalt stilled a moment, his expression pensive. “What does that mean, precisely?”
Aspen made a face to indicate her lack of answer. “Not sure, really. All I can say is there was a lot of magic affecting him, particularly at his ears and related brain functions.”
Unsure what to do with this information, however unexpected it was, Niko made a decision. “We’re looking at this wrong,” he said, surprising both the doctor and Cobalt.
“In what way?” Cobalt asked.
Niko picked at the nails on his hands without actually seeing them. “We’re trying to find a murderer based on the murder weapon, but we’ve no idea what the murder weapon is. Investigating possibilities and rumours, basically. We’ve got to go by what we know.” He nodded to no one and got to his feet. “Thank you, for your help, Doctor. We’ll let you know if we have any more questions.”
Aspen deflated slightly, as though she had been interested in the rest of Niko’s thought processes, but Niko barely noticed. He made for the door immediately, Cobalt following behind with raised eyebrows. He waited until they reached the car outside again before pointedly asking Niko to elaborate.
“Are you going to let me in on your new strategy?” he asked.
Niko opened the door and got in, waiting for Cobalt to do the same before he spoke. Turning on the car’s air conditioning system right away blew only warm air into their faces, but Niko’s mind was elsewhere.
“What do we know about this case?” he asked, and Cobalt, rightly, took it to be a rhetorical question. “We know Indigo was murdered. We know he was here with nine of his friends without documentation. We know his friends got wrapped up in something bad and that Indigo was investigating it on his own. We know that he likely got involved with the Woods, somehow. We also know that soon after that, he seemed to both find his friends and hash a plan to save them. Then he was killed.” Cobalt nodded along, his eyes on Niko though Niko’s gaze darted back and forth before him as though reading his files on the air. “We also know that Selkies have an unfortunate and powerful effect on people they meet for the first time. A sexual influence that people in a sex trafficking ring might find very lucrative. So instead of investigating Indigo’s murder, we should be investigating his investigation.” He settled back into his seat, pulling the belt to buckle himself in. It clicked into place just as his mind identified the best lead they had.
“So you intend to visit the sites Indy noted on his map?” Cobalt asked, pulling his own seatbelt. “Or do you mean to trawl the pleasure clubs, hoping to find someone connected to the Woods?”
Niko shook his head, pulling the car out of the parking spot. “The sites didn’t yield anything useable yet. No obvious connections between them. Until the forensics team can identify the actual owners of the manor house, we can’t interview them either to find answers. And waiting around in clubs without knowing who or what we’re looking for is a waste of resources.” Niko set his jaw, the familiar bitter salt flavour at the back of his throat. “As far as I know, there’s only one person who has any real information on the Woods to give us.”
Cobalt thought this through, silent for a moment. “Starla? Your prostitute friend?”
Niko winced internally at the title. “Not sure friend is the right word,” he said, though he didn’t intend to admit it was more on her behalf than his. “And no. I don’t think it’s fair to put her more at risk than she is unless we absolutely have to.”
“Then who?”
Niko turned onto the street and began making his way to the North end of Maeve’s Court, out to the edge of the jungle-forest and the ancient caves that lay there.
“His name is Sade Hemlock,” Niko said. “And he’s in prison.”
Chapter 17
A simple call to Captain Baobab was all it took to smooth out the road for Niko’s plan. The Captain had been less than enthusiastic about the idea, knowing Niko’s history, but there was little alternative at this point.
“You’re certain this is the best way forward?” he asked, his tone indicating his reticence. Niko rubbed his eyebrows as a means of soothing the tension in his head.
“Believe me, if I could avoid this, I would,” Niko answered. He was more than eager to leave Sade to rot in prison for the rest of eternity, but that didn’t seem to be an option. He was the best lead, damn him. If only Niko had known at the time…
“I’ll make the call. Chief Banyan won’t be terribly happy about this, but she’s never terribly happy about anything,” he said with a sigh. “You know him better than anyone; any idea what he’ll want?”
The question of what Sade Hemlock wanted was something Niko tried his best not to think about. But the circumstances demanded otherwise, and though he was loath to admit it, Niko was well acquainted with what that might entail.
He glared out the windshield of his car, waiting while Cobalt immersed himself in the ocean water again, hoping the octopus messenger he’d sent off in the early hours of the night might have returned. His body glowed with sheens of blue and purple beneath the low-hanging sun and the slowly darkening sky. Niko allowed himself to take Cobalt in in all his glory, gorgeous and fit and very much not aware of Niko’s looking. As he watched Cobalt disappear beneath the waves, Niko found he knew exactly what it was Sade would want. But rather than say it aloud, confirming the worst for the Captain, he lied.
“I wouldn’t put anything past him,” Niko said. “We should be prepared for all the usual perks and luxuries. He’s not getting a reduced sentence, and he knows that. But power and comfort in the prison might be worth negotiating.” Bile rose at the back of Niko’s throat as he said it, knowing full-well what kind of power Sade really wanted.
“I’ll have the Chief bring it to the Court Prosecu
tor,” the Captain grumbled. “It’ll be ready by the time you get out there, I’m sure, given the shit we’re dealing with. Everyone wants this case solved yesterday. Reporters have started camping out in front of the Courtiers’ offices, looking for statements on the ‘Selkie presence’ and what it means for the Three Courts Treaty. Most of the Courtiers don’t know shit about what’s going on, though, so they’re all refusing to comment, which makes the reporters that much more rabid.”
Niko shook his head, rolling his eyes at the news. Suddenly, a sound like a plea to his soul reverberated in his bones. He felt it more than heard it and knew Cobalt was making his call. The music of it settled in his core and flayed his heart, leaving him raw. He tried to ignore it, to fight the effect, but it only stopped when Cobalt emerged from the water, and by then Niko was wound emotionally tight enough to snap. The Captain made a noise on the other end of the line, trying to see if Niko was still on, and Niko was forced to draw himself back from the edge of feeling, like trying to catch your balance at the brink of a cliff a moment after you’ve stepped off.
“I’m here,” Niko said, his voice ragged even to his own ears. “Someone’s going to need to give them something, or they’re going to get bolder. And if they get in the way of the investigation, who knows what it’ll unravel.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” Baobab said. “Maeve has promised an exclusive to Rory Birch, I think. Her family’s old friends with the royals, and she’s got that connection to Connor, Alpha of the Werewolf Court, so it makes sense. But the others are rabid with jealousy, trying to scoop her. We’ll see about releasing some kind of statement to keep them at bay. You just worry about the case and dealing with Hemlock. He’s enough.”
“Copy that,” Niko said before they hung up. He slipped his phone back into his pocket and leaned his head back against the rough headrest to breathe when Cobalt opened the door. Niko jumped slightly.
“Nodding off?” Cobalt asked, and Niko glared. “Of course not. My apologies.” He sat down and buckled his seatbelt, holding a scroll of tightly bound paper. “Got the lists,” he said. “All the Selkies to have done their Landwalks in the last five years and where they went. It also lists whether or not they’ve returned, I believe.” He struck at the fine woven cord tying the scroll with one finger, and the binding snapped. Everything smelled faintly of the ocean now, with the slightly sour scent of seaweed and salt. For a moment it overpowered Cobalt’s scent, and Niko thought he’d have a reprieve, his raw nerves able to relax and recover. But almost immediately, Cobalt’s scent of freedom and excitement and the deep kind of warmth that soaks into the skin returned, and Niko felt himself flushing. “You all right?”
“Fine,” Niko said, scrubbing at his face with his hands. “Hand me some of the lists.”
Cobalt cut the pile in half and handed them over for Niko to peruse. He scanned through the pages, faintly like plastic in texture, as though it were regular paper covered in a fine film. The ink was black or dark blue with an iridescence that makeup companies would have paid for in blood. Mostly Niko didn’t recognize the names, but he didn’t expect to. All that mattered was where the Selkies went and whether they returned.
The first page revealed nothing useful, the Selkies listed having visited Connor’s Court (or Logan’s Court, as it was known at the time) and Nimueh’s Court. They generally were gone for approximately three to six months then returned. The second page had more relevant information. A handful of Selkies seemed to have done their Landwalks in Maeve’s Court. Two of them were marked as having stayed in Maeve’s Court. The last two of the year.
The next page was more enlightening. More Selkies had come to Maeve’s Court that year than before, and not one of them seemed to have returned to Azure’s Court. Niko looked up at Cobalt, who was staring straight ahead of himself, unseeing. When he felt Niko’s gaze, he turned his head to meet it. His eyes were wide, the pupils pinpricks against his silver irises.
“Yours too?” Niko asked, showing him the last page. Cobalt didn’t have to glance down at the page to know what he meant.
“All of them,” he said. “Every Selkie to travel to Maeve’s Court in the last two years has not returned. One or two, I could understand as being normal. Five or six might have been somewhat suspicious…but all of them? How did we not notice?”
The vexation in his tone was clear, the horror of what had apparently been happening for four years almost. Niko wanted to hold him accountable. He wanted to say they should have noticed sooner, but who was he to talk? He hadn’t known about the Woods until this case, despite his close relationship with sex trafficking and—he should have known. As he stared at the lists, marked for different regions or Reefs, it seemed, Niko realized why it was no one noticed.
“There’s no centralized database, is there?” Niko asked. Cobalt looked at him quizzically. Niko took that to mean no. “Each Reef takes down this information but does nothing with it. They don’t send the data to the Royal Court to look at, they don’t analyze what these things might mean. Whether they’re losing citizens to other Courts and why. It’s not your fault, Sincloud. It’s—” He was about to say it was his government’s fault, but that wasn’t entirely fair either, was it? He knew so little about the culture and society of Azure’s Court, who was he to run to judgment on how they did things? Particularly when Maeve’s Court was far from perfect. “You just—learn. You learn from terrible things and do better. That’s what you have to take back with you.” And the thought of Cobalt leaving suddenly struck Niko hard. He pushed it aside. “You have a relationship with the King. Surely you can get him to enact change so this can be avoided in the future.”
Cobalt’s eyes held clouds in them, a turbulent storm of emotion Niko couldn’t begin to pull apart. He held Niko’s gaze for a long time, sitting silently though Niko felt as though much was being said. He just couldn’t hear it. Finally, Cobalt looked away, out the window toward the water.
“Perhaps,” he said. “But that might be a job better suited to someone else.” Before Niko could ask why that was, Cobalt turned back to him and said, “I’m not sure I have a place in Azure’s Court after this. At least not the place I thought I had.”
Unsure how to answer that, Niko defaulted to a sarcastic drawl. “Has the classism of Maeve’s Court really charmed you so?” He turned the key in the ignition and pulled back out into the street to make their way to the prison. Niko didn’t really expect an answer, but Cobalt offered him one after a moment of silence.
“It’s not for the Court that I’d stay,” he said, and it was so quiet Niko wasn’t sure he was meant to hear it. But there was no music on in the car, and the low hum of the wheels on the asphalt, the engine purring, and the wind whipping the windows weren’t enough to blot it out. Hands tightening on the wheel, Niko pretended he hadn’t heard. But inside his chest a cataclysm occurred. He fought to breathe for a moment, focusing intently on the road ahead of him. There was no reasonable way for him to interpret the comment. None at all.
For a while, Niko was given space to breathe. Cobalt said nothing, allowing the silence between them to extend as the highway did once they crossed the edge of central Maeve’s Court. There was little civilization in this direction, leaving the majority of the populated areas behind. Maeve’s Court was made up of one major central city, built up around the palace and court of the royal family, and a smattering of smaller towns and settlements throughout the rest of their lands. There was a little picturesque town on the edge of the border to Nimueh’s Court. Tourists often stopped there en route to the central part of the kingdom, but the other towns saw very limited visitors. The smallest of the settlements was erected near the prison to house the Fae charged with guarding and monitoring the prison complex.
As a result of this, the town was widely known as Gaoltown, though it was officially given another name. They had called it Sluagh Township, after Sluagh Penitentiary, but the people who lived there seemed to take more to Gaoltown and so it came to be
known. The township was heavily warded, both at the perimeter of the residential area, and in concentric circles toward the perimeter of the prison itself, which stood in the very centre of the town. The warding around the prison was of the most advanced kind, given that Sluagh Penitentiary housed the absolute worst offenders in all of Maeve’s Court. Possibly the Three Courts as a whole. The guards and other staff who worked there had to submit to the most extensive and thorough background checks to prove their lawfulness, their loyalty to the kingdom, and their resistance to temptation. Because if Fae were good at anything, it was convincing people to do things against their better nature.
As Niko drove, his mind wandered back to Sade and what he was about to do. Sade Hemlock was hardly the most dangerous inmate at Sluagh, but he might be the most dangerous to Niko. Bile rose to the back of Niko’s throat, amplifying the bitter taste that lingered there no matter how he washed his mouth out. He knew it was psychological. He knew there was no possible way he was still tasting that. But nothing seemed to erase the sensation of it for very long.
“Perhaps you should get me up to speed on Sade Hemlock,” Cobalt said, snapping Niko back to the present. A waft of Cobalt’s ocean-breeze scent filled Niko’s nose, and for the first time, Niko took comfort in it. It pushed the taste away briefly.
“What’s there to catch up on? He’s in prison,” Niko said, signalling to merge into the express lane. There were few cars on the road at this hour, at least leaving central Maeve’s Court. Most vehicles were tourists coming into the Court and aiming for hotels and residences or delivery trucks shipping goods back and forth over the border.
“You’ve a history with him,” Cobalt said. There was no question there, and Niko grew uselessly focused on where he might have slipped up and given himself away. “He’s the one you put away after your undercover mission, isn’t he?”