Fatal Fairies (Renaissance Faire Mystery Book 8) (6 page)

Detective Almond started walking toward the Good Luck Fountain again.

Grigg was already heading toward the Dungeon.

What had I done? In my eagerness to involve Chase in this, I had implicated him in the murder.

Chapter Six

“Chase didn’t kill the fairy.” I stalked after Detective Almond with determination in my squelching boots and dirty dress. “I just meant he might have some insight into what happened.”

“Look. You don’t have to worry about it. I won’t tell him where this came from. He’ll never know you gave us his name.”

“No. No. No.” I put my hand on his arm to stop him. “You’ve got it all wrong.”

“Are you saying you were part of it too? Is that how you know Manhattan was in on it?”

“Of course not. Chase would never kill a fairy or anyone else. I wouldn’t help him either. I only meant that he knows his way around the Village and could be useful to you.”

He grunted. “What does he do here?”

“He’s a highly respected jouster on the Field of Honor and Queen Olivia’s favorite. Everyone loves him.”

“A jouster, huh?” He glanced back at me as we reached the crime scene tape. “Funny that. The ME found traces of metal on the fairy’s shoes. She was wearing those real pointy ones. He says she could’ve done some damage with those pointy toes. I wonder if she made some dents in Manhattan’s armor.”

I was horrified by this turn of events. I tried to think of something else to say that would take Chase out of the equation, but nothing came to mind. Maybe that was a good thing since it seemed I’d done such a bad job.

Grigg and Canyon approached with Chase between them a few minutes later. I panicked again when Chase looked squarely at me as though he knew what a mess I’d made of everything.

“You’re Chase Manhattan?” Detective Almond leaned his head back to look up at him. “They make them big were you come from, huh? Where is that, by the way?”

“Arizona. But I haven’t live there for years. I live here at the Village, at the castle.”

Detective Almond’s eyebrows went up and down rapidly. “So you’re living the high life up there on the hill with the royals. What’s that like?”

“It’s all right.” Chase glanced at me again. “Why am I here? Are you accusing me of something?”

“No. Just thinking we might have a conversation about someone named Apple Blossom.”

“The dead fairy?”

“That’s right. Your little girlfriend was right about you. You catch on fast.”

What happened to keeping me out of it? So much for getting close to Chase by being his squire. He’d probably never forgive me if he thought I’d fingered him for Apple Blossom’s killer.

Chase wasn’t angry when he looked at me again—his dark eyes were betrayed and hurt.

“I didn’t even know her,” he told Detective Almond. “I can’t tell you anything about her or her death. You’ll have to ask someone else.”

“Okay. But I think I’ll ask you a few more questions down at the station if that’s okay.” Detective Almond nodded to Grigg. “Another funny coincidence, Mr. Manhattan. The ME thinks whoever killed the fairy was a big, strong man like yourself. I’d say we have plenty to talk about.”

Chase didn’t offer any resistance to accompanying the police officers to their car. Grigg didn’t put handcuffs on him. Detective Almond instructed Canyon to go through Chase’s personal possessions and his jousting armor to search for anything that went along with the fairy’s death.

“Yeah,” Canyon complained when the police were gone with Chase. “Almond doesn’t even have a search warrant. Guess who that will land on if Chase decides to press charges.”

“I’m sure Detective Almond will get a search warrant for you.”

What was I going to do to help Chase?

“Why were you up here while all this was going down, Jessie?” Canyon asked.

 “I was on my way to work.” I held up my small bag of clean clothes and didn’t tell him that I was planning to work for Chase. I hoped he’d still have me when he got back. There was no doubt in my mind that the police wouldn’t find anything to hold him.

“Good idea. I heard Paul was looking for you. The Main Gate will be open soon. In the meantime, I get stuck going through someone else’s drawers.”

Canyon asked me again about lunch. I turned him down again, though I planned to sneak back to the Dungeon and take a shower while he was busy. Getting naked with him there didn’t sound like a good way to prepare him for our coming breakup.

Residents of the Village kept stopping me on the way to the Dungeon. They weren’t interested in my love life anymore—they wanted to know if Chase had been arrested and what my part in it had been. I pushed away questions from everyone, including Merlin, who was also secretly the CEO of Adventure Land. He just liked living here.

I considered there might be some way to use that information to my advantage. Only a handful of people knew Merlin’s true identity. Could I blackmail him into helping Chase?

A hundred thoughts fluttered through my mind like butterflies. Fairies and fire jugglers smiled at me as I walked by them. Mary, Mary Quite Contrary was selling vegetables from a cart along the way. Wandering minstrels were playing flutes and mandolins in the grass.

Finally at the Dungeon, I sneaked inside and ran up the stairs to the apartment. I locked both doors and got in the shower.

I thought about Chase and how we’d met, how we’d fallen in love. There had to be something in that knowledge that I could use.

It finally came to me. Detective Almond had taken me in for questioning in that other life. Chase and I had been friends but not yet lovers. He’d come to the police station to get me out of trouble.

Of course, he was a lawyer, if only a patent attorney. But no one had questioned that at the time. They’d believed he was my lawyer, and I’d left the station with him.

Could I pull that off?

It wasn’t like Chase had ID that said he was a lawyer, right? He’d just had the panache to get in there when I needed him. I’d known him for a long time. But I hadn’t known until then that he was a lawyer.

After my quick, hot shower, I rummaged through the drawers until I found my things. I had one good black suit and black heels that I’d always worn back to the university in Columbia when the summer was over. I found a pair of dark-rimmed glasses with only plain glass in them. I didn’t recognize them so they might belong to Canyon. I took them anyway.

When I was dressed, I made sure my usual fly-away brown hair was under control, slicked back and professional-looking. I used a lot more makeup than I usually did and put the dark glasses on my face.

Wow. I didn’t even look like myself. Could I convince Detective Almond that I was Chase’s lawyer? I wouldn’t know until I tried.

Dressed to kill, I walked down the cobblestones uncomfortably in my heels, stumbling every other step, focused on bringing Chase back to the Village.

I made it out of the Main Gate, going through the small employee’s door on the side as visitors began to pour into the Village. In the parking lot I faced my greatest dilemma—this was the version of me that didn’t have a car.

My heart sank like a stone in the sea of all my hopes.

Where was that pesky fairy godmother when I needed her?

I saw Chase’s silver BMW, and my hopes rose again. Though I couldn’t go to the castle and look for his keys, I knew where he kept a spare.

Bending carefully so I wouldn’t mess up my skirt, I felt under the trunk, and there was his magnetic key holder. Flushed with success, I unlocked the car and got inside. I didn’t think it would impress anyone at the police station that I was driving an expensive car that could belong to a lawyer, but it might impress Chase that I’d brought it to him.

Besides, I didn’t want to ride the bus.

I’d driven the car a few times since we were married. It was simple to start and drive out of the parking lot. At every red light between the Village and the police station, I looked in the mirror and assured myself that I looked like a lawyer.

I would have Chase out of there in no time. It could be something wonderful as it had been when he’d rescued me and taken me in his arms.

The police station was in the same place. I parked at the curb, exactly where Chase had parked when he’d come to save me. I took a deep breath and adjusted my glasses. Chase’s briefcase was in the backseat, like always. I picked it up, got out, and locked the door.

I was going to get my man and bring him home.

Like many good resolutions, it was easier said than done.

The desk sergeant wanted to see my ID. I made a show of searching in the briefcase and then pretended to realize I’d left my pocketbook at home. It wasn’t that hard. I was used to being different personalities at the Village. Pretending to be a lawyer wasn’t a big deal. I talked with the woman at the front desk. She was very understanding.

Besides, if I wasn’t Chase’s lawyer, how would I know he was there?

In the end, despite a mini interrogation by Detective Almond—who didn’t recognize me—they weren’t going to arrest Chase anyway. When they were finished questioning him, I walked in with the briefcase looking serious and ready to stand my ground.

It had been different when Chase had come for me. He had ID and dramatically broke into my interview with Detective Almond. They weren’t holding me that day either, but I’d been scared and alone. It had been wonderful to see his friendly face.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t wearing his friendly face when I walked into the interrogation room. He was gathering his ID and getting ready to leave. I smiled when he looked up.

He glanced away with a frown. “What do you want, Jessie? Haven’t you done enough damage for today?”

No pulling me into his arms as his hero or rushing to commend me on how clever I was to find a way to help him.

“I came to get you out.”

“They never planned on arresting me. Thanks anyway.” He stared hard at the briefcase. “Is that mine?”

“Yes. I thought it would add to the effect. I’m supposed to be a lawyer—your lawyer. I knew you needed someone. I was the best person for the job.”

“Maybe next time it would be better not to incriminate me to the investigating officer in the first place,” he suggested, picking up his briefcase.

“That’s not what I meant when I talked to him, Chase.”

“That’s the way he took it, Jessie.”

He walked out of the room, past the curious stares of the police officers. He was still wearing his tight leather Ren Faire clothes and boots.

I followed quickly behind him, trying to maintain my persona as his legal defense. The desk sergeant smiled and waved as I walked out the front door. At least I’d made one friend.

Chase stopped abruptly when he saw his BMW parked outside the station.

“Did you drive this here?”

“Yes. I know where you keep your spare key. I’ve driven your car before.”

He wasn’t impressed. If anything, he was angrier. “How did you know about my key? And what do you mean you’ve driven my car? Are you stalking me? Is that why you want to be my squire?”

“No. This is getting completely messed up.” I bit my lip, trying to think what I could say to bring him over to my side. Maybe I shouldn’t have told him about driving the car. I just thought he might feel like he could trust me.

“Did you kill that fairy, and you’re trying to blame it on me? Is this whole thing a setup?” He ran his hand through his long brown hair. “You started this right after the fairy died. Everyone knows how you feel about fairies. It’s no secret.”

Really? Even in this place everyone knew I hated fairies? I didn’t think I’d started hating them until after Chase and I were together. They were always flitting around him and flirting. I thought that was the beginning. Apparently I was wrong.

To make matters worse, Princess Isabelle drove up in one of those red mini-cars. Her long black hair was perfectly sleek against her head, and her pale mauve dress was exactly what someone would wear to save their lover who was in jail.

“Chase!” She left her car in the street and ran up to join us, but she was staring at me as she wound her arms, and her lithe body, around him

“It’s okay, Isabelle. I’m fine.”

“Who is she?” Her eyes narrowed on my face like daggers.

“This is my public defender,” Chase answered to my complete surprise. “She got me out of jail.”

I smiled, cool and professional, the way I’d practiced in the car mirror on the way to the police station. I held out my hand to her in a totally objective way. “Jessica.”

“Thank you.” She barely touched her cool white hand to mine before turning back to Chase.

But that was all that mattered. She’d bought it.

What I couldn’t figure out was why Chase had helped me sell it to her. It had to be that he didn’t want her to be jealous. I didn’t even sneak a glance at him in case it all fell apart.

“Isn’t this your car?” Isabelle asked him.

“Yeah. They let me drive myself here. They aren’t charging me with anything. They just had a few questions.”

“Well. Good, I guess.” She shrugged. “I wish I’d known. There was no reason for me to come running over here. I guess I’ll see you at home.”

Chase and I watched her leave. When her cute little car was gone, I realized I was about to get hit with an avalanche of anger from my companion. It was so unfair since he loved me and not Isabelle.

“Let’s go,” he said. “I’ll drive, if you don’t mind.”

I handed him the keys. “I’m sorry. I was just trying to make everything right.”

He walked toward the car. “Don’t worry about it. I know you, Jessie. You wouldn’t have done this on purpose. I’m sorry I said that to you before. I’ve just had a bad day.”

 “Thanks. I’ll make it up to you.”

“Yes, you will. As my squire, you and I are going to figure out who killed the fairy.”

Chapter Seven

The Village was open when we got back. The parking lot was full to overflowing, hundreds more visitors still putting on their costumes as they took them from their cars.

Our conversation hadn’t been much coming from the police department. Chase spent the whole time explaining to me why we were going to have to find Apple Blossom’s killer. Despite the way he looked (hot) and his job as Bailiff (exciting) he can be more boring than any college professor.