Some Kind of Magic (4 page)

“Good afternoon, ladies.” Penn was bland. “Sorry to

bother you, but we….” She hesitated, barely. “
I
need to have

a moment with Miss Conti.” They"d agreed in the car not to

traumatize Nasreen anymore with the picture until they were

sure. Penn had argued that she"d hardly be traumatized, but

Ray had been insistent. Even with that, Penn had only

agreed because they didn"t want to bias Nasreen for any

possible future lineups.

“Audrey, will you be okay?” Nasreen continued to

surprise him. Ray focused on her as Miss Conti shrugged

and waved to indicate it was fine. Then Penn led her into the

back for a few more questions and then to show her the

picture. The door swung closed behind them, but Ray could

still hear every word if he tried.

“You okay?” Ray slid his gaze back to that candy on the

counter. It smelled unexpectedly delicious, like he"d smelled

it somewhere before. But he"d been up for hours and missed

a few meals, and the donut hadn"t filled him up at all.

Anything would have smelled good to him at this point.

“You"re not human!” Nasreen seemed to realize out loud,

popping a hand over her mouth. “I thought that before, but

you really aren"t. You… change. There"s something…

something
large
. But then… and you"re a cop? Wow.”

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23

“Yes, I am.” Ray leveled a serious look at her. She was

already nodding, moving on. Maybe that explained her

resilience. She was Fairy, never in one place too long.

“I"ve been told I ought to trust you, you know. And not

just let myself need to find this guy and introduce him to

real truth.” Her phrasing was odd. It put Ray in mind of the

old stories. Those old stories were mostly disproven now, like

the legends about Weres, but some of them occasionally

turned out to be true. The way she was talking made Ray

think of those tales in which fairies were cruel creatures who

lived long lives with plenty of time to exact revenges and

snatch up unsuspecting humans and hold them captive for

decades.

Those legends also said Ray was cursed to kill

indiscriminately, and that he"d have a mark on his hand.

And that he"d been bitten. The very idea of
bites
spreading

lycanthropy made him laugh now, though watching those

movies as a child had been a painful, horrifying experience.

One that his mother had insisted on to prepare him for

dealing with humans, and though the sting had never really

faded, he saw her point. Continually dealing with the fallout

and misconceptions from those movies could be as much of

a job as working in Robbery/Homicide. So considering Ray"s

experience of fairies was mostly citing them for public nudity

or arresting them for public intoxication, he was prepared to

call bullshit on the legends.

Fairies sought happiness and lived honest, free lives. He

doubted they"d seek revenge.

But this was a full fairy, and he paused, just for a

moment. This was a fairy, and an old one, for all that she

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24

acted young. They always acted young. Daring but reckless,

making promises they couldn"t possibly understand.

He frowned. “I hunt down criminals. The law is the law.”

Her eyebrows went up and Ray bared his teeth at the

memory. “And I make sure everyone, Being or human,

follows it.”

Far from afraid, Nasreen giggled and put down the

broom to float over to him.

“I heard that about you,” she breathed, popping a piece

of candy into her mouth as she got closer, and Ray

straightened in instant alarm. Not at her flirting. That was

harmless and impersonal. Someone else might have even

flirted back to find out what she was talking about, but Ray

wasn"t much for deception, either. And never at a crime

scene.

“Did you?” The smell again. It was on her breath.

Orange zest, and so much sweetness. He controlled himself

but didn"t ask anymore about it. He changed the subject.

“How much of your attacker did you see? We didn"t get a

description last night.”

“Glimpses.” She stopped, uncomfortable. “He was older,

and he had slick hair and… he didn"t shine.”

Ray sighed. The perp didn"t
shine
. Meaningful to some,

but not to someone trying to get an arrest warrant.

“If we showed you a picture in a lineup—” But Audrey"s

gasp from the other room made him turn, and then Nasreen

copied him, atwitter to see his reaction, even if she didn"t

know why.

“My ex husband…. That son of a bitch!” That part must

have been loud enough that Nasreen heard it too. She moved

as Audrey and Penn came out of the kitchen. Penn was

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25

trying to tell Ray something with her eyes while Nasreen flew

to Audrey"s side, just like she had that morning, only this

time putting her body between Audrey and Penelope.

Ray had never seen that sort of behavior from her kind

before. His days on the beat had involved breaking up fights

between people jealous over fairies and stalking them when

the fairy had moved on to someone else. Admittedly, he

never saw anyone at their finest moments when he was

arresting them or taking their statements, but this protective

devotion was still new.

“I haven"t seen him in years, but yes, he has a key.”

Miss Conti was absently clutching at Nasreen"s shoulder.

“Oh, oh, Nasreen, he could have killed you! Oh, I"m so sorry.

I can"t—” She broke there, barely holding back a sob and

seemingly unaware that her hand was in Nasreen"s hair,

petting it down and tangling it at the same time.

“If you"d di—” She couldn"t finish that thought, either,

but looked up with round, wet eyes, and Penn busied herself

folding up the picture so Nasreen wouldn"t see it and

tactfully giving the women their space.

But it seemed to be enough to make Miss Conti recall

herself again, and she stared hard at the floor, composing

herself before pulling her hand from Nasreen"s hair. Penn

looked back up at them. Nasreen stared at Audrey, glancing

once to Ray as though he had done something he should

apologize for. He blinked.

“Does your ex know about Nasreen… working here at

night?” Penn clearly knew the answer. Miss Conti gave Penn

a long look, trying to judge that pause, but shook her head.

“Does he frighten you, Audrey?” Nasreen"s wings

snapped, the sound startling in the silence that had fallen.

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26

Miss Conti turned to stare at her, too, her face turning red

before she whispered, “No.”

“But he… he drinks…. It"s why we…. That was all years

ago. I don"t understand.”

“We think he initially came in to grab that hundred you

kept under the register, nothing more.” And that was all Ray

was going to say at this time.

“When was the last time you saw him, and do you have

his address?” Penn stayed just as firm, and Ray watched

Miss Conti shake her head, try to say that she didn"t know.

She"d changed her name after the divorce, hadn"t seen him

since.

“Tell me, and I will handle it,” Nasreen offered, and Ray

bit back a growl. Enough slipped out to make Miss Conti

stare at him.

“Miss Conti, trust me. Trust us.”

She blinked then looked at Nasreen. “Cal did say we

should.”

“Cal.” Ray let out a strangled sound and focused on

Penn"s soothing, calming voice. She wasn"t looking at him. It

was almost worse than being mocked, seeing that same

display of tact again but aimed at him.

“We"ll have to come back here when you reopen. I"m

really curious now. Your shop seems lovely. And before I

forget,”—as though Penn would ever—“what"s the last

address you have on your ex-husband?”

“I… I don"t. I didn"t even know he was in town, but yes,

come by. What"s your favorite candy? We can make it for

you.” Miss Conti seemed ready to faint. Nasreen was only too

happy to hold her up. There was another moment, a

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27

charmed, enchanted moment, though no magic was at work,

and Ray flicked a glance to Penn.

But Penn persisted, ignoring a not-very-fierce fairy glare

and getting more information, the ex-husband"s full name,

Warren Perretti, and the names of some friends of his. Ray

watched Audrey lean on Nasreen, until she finally recalled

herself and pulled away with a blush. Nasreen"s confusion

stung the air like spilled vodka.

Ray scratched his nose. There was so much
want

around them that he was warm all over. He was amazed that

even Penn couldn"t smell it. That Miss Conti couldn"t, when

it was directed so strongly at her.

Perhaps she did, but she wouldn"t look directly at

Nasreen, for all that she was leaning on her, and her cheeks

were rose tinted.

“Well, thank you, and we"ll be back with more

information. And be careful, just in case he comes back.”

Penn put away her notebook with the new leads in it and

offered them both smiles. Ray nodded, too, staring hard at

Audrey—Miss Conti—before turning to leave.

Resisting a fairy"s attention was no easy thing. He

almost said it as they got in the car, but Penn beat him to it.

“Wow, I bet that was like looking in a mirror, huh, Ray,”

she suggested, making him scowl at her.

“Shut up,” he answered bluntly, and rolled down the

window. He hated the heat of the day, but it was easy to

imagine someone else basking in the light. Then he took

another sip of coffee just to inhale the lingering warm scent.

He slammed the cup back down when Penn snickered.

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28

AFTER running down leads, last known addresses, and

friends all day, they"d learned that Warren Perretti was in

town again and staying with people while he “got his life

back together.” Casually attempting to steal a hundred

dollars from his ex-wife and then nearly killing someone

didn"t count toward that in Ray"s book, but he"d thanked

them for the information anyway, before he and Penn had

taken a break to go home and get some sleep.

He"d needed and had finally gotten some real rest, but

today he still felt like he was wiping sparkles off his face,

though he knew that it wasn"t possible. It couldn"t be

possible.

That belief had lasted until he"d been scrubbing his jaw

in a quiet moment, and Penn had walked up, spit in her

hand, and wiped at his face with the rough tenderness of a

mama wolf licking a cub clean. He"d swatted her away and

ignored her smirk for the next hour. And he could
still
smell

her spit on him.

That morning they"d found Perretti"s current, temporary

address: a friend"s guest room in an apartment downtown,

though the man himself hadn"t been there. Sniffing around

discreetly, with permission, had confirmed the drinking

problem and led them to a pile of half-used matchbooks, all

from the same bar. Everything else in the tiny space had

smelled like hair product and regret.

There weren"t any bloodied clothes. Ray figured they"d

been tossed. Penn had ordered all the shoes to be taken for

comparison to the shoe prints they had anyway.

Then they"d headed out to the bar to ask the bartender

to call them if he showed up again. The stench of a lie had

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29

been all over the man when he"d agreed and taken Ray"s

card.

“So… stake it out?” Penn had whispered the second they

were out of the bar, and now they were in the car, roasting in

the evening sun and watching the bar"s entrance. Ray hated

the sun. He always felt too big in his clothes, but the sun

made him feel too hot as well. He preferred the night, or the

woods, which were always dark even in midday.

Despite the ease with which she tanned, Penn wasn"t

much of a fan of sunlight, either. She had been running

through her supply of bottled water with alarming speed.

The first hour of their stakeout had been spent debating

when to show a photo lineup to Nasreen, just to be sure,