by Erin Johnson
Daisy bared her teeth and snarled. He’s lying.
I couldn’t hold back any longer. Maybe it was my earlier confrontation with Eve and the emotions still coursing through me, or maybe it was the insolent and condescending way Emerson was treating Peter, but I slammed my hand on the table. “Oh shove it, Emerson! We all know you’ve been getting your son out of scrapes for years—he’s a menace!”
He blinked at me, his bushy white brows raised, and choked out, “Jolene Hartgrave?”
Eep. Guess he did remember me. I immediately regretted my outburst.
Peter, his expression grave, looked between us. “What’s going on?”
A smug smile spread over Emerson’s face as he leaned back in his chair, eyes fixed on me. “Given our personal relationship, I find this questioning highly unprofessional.”
“I’m not sure what’s happening here.” Peter turned to face me and searched my face. “Jolene, do you two know each other?”
I closed one eye, wanting badly to disappear into the hardwood floor. “A bit.”
Emerson scoffed. “She didn’t disclose that? This is a breach of police procedure, and your job is on the line, Officer Flint.” He tapped a stubby finger to the table. “I’ll be speaking with Chief Taylor about you.”
My stomach twisted. Had I just cost Peter his job?
“Please, Mr. Watts.” Peter paled. “Please don’t—” He ran a hand through his hair. “This isn’t actually official police business. This was just a… preliminary questioning.”
I gaped at Peter. “What?” What did he mean, this wasn’t official police business?
Emerson’s blotchy face split into a devilish grin. “Oh son, you are in a heap of trouble.” His expression darkened and he shot his arm out, pointing behind us. “Out of my offices! Now!”
Peter, Daisy, and I booked a hasty retreat out of the firm, with security hard on our heels. We hustled a few buildings down the street in tense silence before Peter clapped a hand on my shoulder and pulled me down a narrow alleyway, away from the human tourists and magic business owners.
Pain filled his exasperated eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me you knew this guy?”
I crossed my arms and shot him a sassy look. “And what exactly is a preliminary questioning?” I raised my brows.
A deep blush spread over Peter’s cheeks. “I—I disobeyed orders, technically.”
I scoffed and turned to Daisy. “And you’re fine with this?”
She wagged her bushy tail and stared up at me.
I shook my head at Peter. “You lied to me.”
He huffed. “Not technically. I just… withheld information.”
I arched a brow. Not like I was one to talk, but this was new from Peter.
He splayed his hands. “It’s just—you’ve shown me how important it is to follow my gut, and my gut’s telling me something is up here.”
I flashed my eyes. “Oh—so this is my fault?”
Peter huffed. “The coroner ruled Davies’s death an accident.”
I gaped. “Snakes, Peter!”
“Listen—he died by drowning, but apparently there isn’t any evidence to determine whether he was just drunk and fell or if he was pushed. The coroner says that barring more evidence, he had to rule Davies’s death an accident, but that’s not sitting right with me.”
I scoffed. “Come again? They ruled it an accident and you’re still investigating?” I gaped up at him. “And Emerson? Really? Come on, Peter, you had to have known a shark of a lawyer like that dude would get you in trouble!” I threw my arm toward the street.
He shot me a hard look I hadn’t seen him direct my way before. “You still haven’t told me how you know him.”
I crossed my arms and looked away.
He huffed. “And again, you clam up. You know, you’ve been acting so weird lately, and I—I didn’t want to pry or make you feel uncomfortable, but you’ve got to help me out here a little, Jolene.”
I raised my eyes to his desperate face. He looked on the verge of tears, and my heart lurched for him. “Bon—or goddess forbid, Chief Taylor—they’re going to ask me about your involvement in this. What am I going to tell them?”
I shook my head, overwhelmed. “I’m sorry. I can’t explain right now—” I backed away from him toward the street. Of course he was right and deserved answers but how could I tell him I used to work there when this was the state I was in now?
I didn’t think I could handle any more rejection or humiliation today. I edged into the street. “I’m sorry—I need some space.” I turned and ran.
27
FAVORS
I sat across the metal exam table from Will and looked at him over the rim of my bowl. I waited until he’d slurped up the last of his broth and rolled back on his stool, big hands clasped over his stomach and a satisfied look on his face.
“Ramen from the shop on Main Street, Jolene?” He raised a bushy brown brow. It was his favorite spot, which I was counting on to help me for this next part. “What did I do to deserve this?”
I slurped up the last of my noodles and said around the mouthful, “Hm… more like what do I want?”
His brows flattened. “No.”
I lifted my chopsticks. “Hey! You don’t even know what it is yet.”
He grabbed his empty bowl and crumpled napkins and walked over to the biohazard trash can in the corner and dumped them in. “I don’t need to.” He shot me a tight-lipped smile. “It’s a no.”
It’d been a few days since Peter and I parted on less than ideal terms outside my old firm. I’d asked for space and he’d given it to me—I hadn’t heard from him, though I’d hardly stopped thinking about him. I’d messed up, and so had he, but I cared about Peter and wanted to help him.
Plus, I wanted to stick it to Emerson, who’d clearly been lying. It was personal now that my old boss was involved. I’d always disliked the guy. I bit my lip—which begged the question of why I wanted to make partner with him so badly? Guess my priorities had changed.
Anyway, if I wanted to help Peter and see justice done, I had to help solve Davies’s case. I’d been mulling it over for the last few days and still felt there was a loose thread to follow at the gambling hall.
I dropped my chopsticks into my empty ramen bowl and lifted a palm. “Will—just hear me out.”
He shot me a challenging look and leaned against the back counter with his ankles crossed, waiting. “Well?”
I licked my lips. “I need to borrow five thousand merkles.”
He choked. “You’re out of your mind.”
“Please, Will. I promise you’ll get it back.” Probably.
He turned his back to me. “I don’t even have that much.”
“Yes, you do!” Heidi called from the front room.
I turned toward the swinging door that led to the front room where she was stationed at the desk and grinned. Good old Heidi. She kept the books—she’d know.
Will whirled around and scowled in her general direction. “Who asked you?!” He crossed his beefy, hairy arms and glared at me. “It’s my life’s savings, as pathetic as that sounds—I used to spend as much on a cravat!” He rolled a wrist.
I scoffed, unable to hold back a chuckle. “Really?”
“Shut up!” My enormous friend paced around the tight space. “So you want me to hand over my life’s savings to you for…?” The whites showed all around his eyes as he waited for my answer.
I scratched my ear. “Uh…” I looked down and away. “I need it for a buy-in to a backroom game at the Golden Tide.”
Will slammed his hands down on the metal table, which made me jump and set my bowl rattling. “Fat chance, sister!”
I clasped my hands together and fluttered my lashes up at him. “Why not?”
“Maybe because you’re going to lose my life’s savings!” He looked at me like I’d lost my mind. Maybe I had. But I had to keep trying, for Peter.
He sneered at me. “I refuse to enable your newfound
gambling addiction.”
I rolled my eyes. “You know I barely know the difference between a club and a spade.”
He scoffed. “Oh. You are filling me with confidence here.”
I huffed and leaned forward across the cold metal table. “Look, I just need the money to get into the game.” I raised my brows. “I told you, I saw a cop go into the back room and Amarina, the singer, told us she suspected someone at the Golden Tide wanted Davies dead.” I flashed my eyes at him. “I’ll get into that game to get the information I need out of Bora Kang”—who Heidi had informed me ran the Golden Tide—“and get out of there.” I folded my arms and shot him a tight smile.
Will paused his pacing and glowered down at me. “Easy peasy? No harm done?” He snapped his giant fingers. “Just like that?”
I softened a little toward him. Under his gruff demeanor, my friend cared about me. “I’ll be fine, Will, okay? I know how to take care of myself.”
He scoffed. “The harm I’m concerned about is to my money.”
“Oh.” I nodded. Yeah, that made more sense. I winked at him. “If anything, I’ll probably earn you some more.”
He shrugged and opened his mouth, as if having a silent conversation with himself. “It’s gambling.”
“No risk, no reward.”
Finally he crossed his arms. “You’re insane. The answer’s no.”
I licked my lips. I had to get into that game, and the only way was with a buy-in. Peter certainly didn’t have access to those kinds of funds from the station, and our relationship, both professional and personal, was on such choppy waves that I knew I had to sort this out on my own. I had to get Will to come around.
“What if I could guarantee you that I wouldn’t lose it?” I raised my brows and tried for my best “how could you refuse an offer like this” tone.
His brown eyes glittered with an intense mix of amusement and anger. “And how would you do that, Jolene? You going to enchant the game right under Ms. Kang, the notorious hardass’s, nose?” He moved to a cupboard and half opened it, as if offering the contents inside. “Want to bring the body bag with you or…?”
I let out a heavy sigh, tired of the antics. “Look, I’m calling in a favor, okay? That’s how I’ll win.”
Will slammed the cupboard door shut and dropped back onto the rolling stool across from me. “What favor? From who?”
I looked down and away, scratching my ear. “A favor from someone very close to Bora Kang, alright? Can we leave it at that?”
“Who?” Will demanded.
Apparently not. I cleared my throat, unable to meet his eyes. “Her name’s… Fifi.”
From the front room, Heidi called through the door, “Her dog? I rehomed the other one, by the way!”
Oh, Heidi. Maybe I didn’t always love her interjections.
“Her…” Will choked. “Her dog?!" He shoved away from the table and was on his feet again, pacing. His face had turned a shade of red so dark, I was concerned he might be about to keel over… or spontaneously shift into a bear, right there in the exam room.
I jumped to my feet. Easy, boy. “I’ve got a plan, it’s foolproof, your money will be safe, but I just need to get in the game. Something shady’s going down at the police station, and if I don’t help Peter solve this case—”
Will sputtered, cutting me off. “Which actually isn’t even officially a case, correct?”
I gulped, my throat dry. “Right.” I held up a finger. “But it totally should be.”
Will muttered something incoherent to himself as he practically wore a groove in the linoleum behind the table.
“If I don’t help him prove his suspicions were right, he’ll face disciplinary action and may get kicked off the force. And there goes my one chance to get my life back on track… plus I’ll have ruined his.”
“And this is my problem how?” My friend scowled at me, his tone more uncertain. “And how have you ruined his life?”
I plastered on a broad smile. “If I fall back on hard times, I can’t treat you to ramen as often.” I gestured at his bowl. “And guess whose couch I’m going to be crashing on?”
He curled his lip.
I gulped, not overjoyed to share this next part. “I had to go back to the firm a couple days ago.”
“Ouch,” Heidi murmured from the front room.
I frowned and called through the swinging doors to her. “You just want to come in here?”
“Nah!” she called back, her voice slightly muffled. “I’m working.”
Will snorted. “And eavesdropping, apparently.” He heaved a sigh and sat back down on his stool. He lifted his chopsticks and twirled a lone noodle around the bottom of the bowl. “How’d it go?”
I scooted a little closer to the table, heart heavy. I’d been doing my best to not process this. “I had a run-in with Eve, real heart-to-heart, and then Emerson recognized me and called Peter out for not following protocol—because I didn’t disclose my past.”
“Jolene!” Will shook his head at me. “How many times have I told you? You can’t keep all of this compartmentalized. Your worlds—Ludolf, your past, Peter—they’re going to collide! They are colliding, in fact.”
“I know, okay?” I heaved a great sigh and dropped my head into my hands, elbows on the table. “I know. But I’m in the thick of it now, and I have to make it right… for Peter at least. Please.” I looked up at him through my fingers. “Will… I’m begging you.”
My mouth went dry. In all my years of trials and losses and hardships… I’d never once begged anyone for anything, until now. I guessed it was because I felt like I was doing this for Peter. For myself, I’d muddle through somehow, who cared. But for him… I suddenly realized I’d do just about anything.
Will bit the inside of his cheek and stared down at the nearly empty ramen bowl, slowly twirling the noodle around and around with his chopsticks. His nostrils flared, and his throat bobbed. I could tell he was thinking about it, seriously considering it at least. He didn’t look up. “Jolene?”
“Yeah?”
“If you lose my life’s savings, I will never speak to you again.”
I grinned. Again with the gruff exterior—but my friend was such a teddy bear of a guy. “Thanks, buddy.”
He jerked his head up and pointed the chopsticks at me, a menacing glint in his eyes. “I’m serious this time! That took me seven years to save—seven!”
I beamed at him. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m your only friend, Jolene.” He leveled me a hard stare, though there was a hint of vulnerability in the slant of his brows. “Remember that… please.”
I jumped to my feet and threw my arms around his wide shoulders, gently bonking my head against his. “Thanks for the reminder.”
“Heidi, get her the money,” Will called up to her in the front room.
I gave him one more squeeze, then skipped to the swinging doors. I shot one last look back at my friend, who sat with his shoulders hunched, expression grave. “I’ll be back soon.” I lifted a finger. “With your money.”
As I pushed through to the waiting room, my stomach turned on itself, and my confident smile faltered. This had better work… or I’d have lost Peter and Will. I’d lost a lot of things over the last few years—my career, my fiancé, my money, my ability to shift, and my magic. No biggie. I’d survived it all.
Dread tightened my chest. I wasn’t sure I’d survive losing Will and Peter, though. This had to work. And it all hinged on me calling in a favor from a dog I’d met in an alley. No risk there.
28
A GAMBLE
Heidi’s friend, the bouncer, recognized me and let me back into the Golden Tide. First step, easy. I hugged Will’s leather pouch of gold merkles to my side, a death grip around the little bundle, until I’d made my way across the smoky, garishly dilapidated casino floor to the curtain.
The bouncer there narrowed his eyes at me. “Don’t even think about
it.”
Guess he remembered me, too.
I took out the pouch and shook it so he could hear the coins jingling inside. “I’ve got a buy-in this time.” I flashed him a bright smile, though my heart pounded in my chest. “Five thousand big ones.”
He reached for the pouch, but I tucked it back into the inside breast pocket of my jacket. “I’ll hold on to it.”
His nostrils flared, but he pulled the gold curtain aside and stepped into the back room first.
“New player.”
The middle-aged woman, Bora Kang, who ran the place looked up. A flush of relief ran over me as her fluffy white dog, Fifi, jerked her head up and blinked her round black eyes at me. So far, everything was going according to plan. My stomach twisted. Which almost made me more nervous.
Four other men set at the round table, their sides to me. The woman gestured to the seat directly across from her. “Please, sit.”
I nodded my thanks and passed the bouncer as he returned to his station outside the curtain. I glanced around the room as I took shaky strides toward my chair at the bottom of the table. Four—no, five—beefy dudes in black, wands drawn, stood silently in the shadows around the edges of the room. Not intimidating at all.
I pulled the wooden chair out from the table and dropped down into it. The only light in the entire room was a single hanging fixture over the center of the table. It cast everyone’s features in deep shadow.
The guy to my left wore sunglasses, no doubt to hide his expressions, and was dressed in head-to-toe black. He shot me a side-eyed glance, then hunched over his cards.
Between him and Bora Kang sat an older gentleman with wispy white hair and a glittering eye, the other one missing, replaced with a vacant, concave spot. He chuckled at me and nodded in greeting. I returned the nod.
To my right, a large man with a long, blond ponytail muttered and grumbled over his cards, and beside him sat a guy with a thick salt-and-pepper mustache and a buzzcut. I narrowed my eyes. I didn’t recognize him from the police ball, but the haircut and the way he took up as much space as possible, elbows wide and feet too, made me think he was a cop. Or at least, used to be.