Page 60 of Fish in a Barrel
“Isn’t that a little highbrow for someone who grew up on Johnnie Walker Red?” she asked as the bartender went to get the premium liquor.
“You found us costumes and showed up ready to tango with snakes,” Ellery said. “That deserves Macallan.”
She let out a soft breath. “And you’re not drinking.”
He shrugged, thinking about Jackson at home fending off his demons. “I’m exhausted,” he admitted quietly. “A glass of wine would put me right out. We’d have to get an Uber.”
She laughed like she was supposed to, but then she went into mother hen mode. “You should be catching up onyoursleep too!”
He grunted and tried not to let his shoulders twitch. “We only just got here,” he said softly. “I have the feeling we have many more conversations to go.”
At that moment, he spotted Arizona and saluted her from across the room. She was dressed as a tree sprite, in flowing white with a framework of wings like mist trailing behind her. Ellery found himself smiling fondly, particularly when she hauled Siren Herrera along.
Siren was a stunning woman, and her costume took advantage of her dark skin and striking bold features to wear the uniform of the royal guard of Wakanda as Okoye. She normally wore her tightly curly hair cropped close to her head, as well as large gold hoop earrings, so the rest of the costume was just dressing. Her warrior’s spirit was never far from the surface.
And Jade was extremely jealous. “I could have worn that,” she muttered.
“Of course you could have,” Ellery said soothingly. “You were only trying not to humiliate me, which I appreciate. The only person I could have been from that movie was Martin Freeman’s character, and that’s sort of, you know, embarrassing.”
“True,” Jade allowed with a disdainful sniff that hid nothing. Siren Herrera was tall, shapely, and didn’t look the slightest bit amiss in the sarong with the spear, and Jade would not have had quite the same effect.
“Besides,” Ellery said, lowering his head so only she could hear the comment, “we all know you’d be Suri, because she’s the genius behind the operation, right?”
She grinned at him. “God, I’m glad Jackson’s keeping you.”
“Me too.” And with that thought, he felt fortified enough to wade into the political fray with only seltzer water to sustain him.
Arizona and Siren reached them as they walked from the wet bar to the dessert table.
“Do you want anything?” Jade asked, continuing their trajectory. “You can stay and chat.”
“Coward,” he said, barely loud enough for her to hear as she peeled off and aimed for the table.
“Ellery,” Arizona cried, drawing near. “So good to see you.” She eyed him up and down, then cast a look at Jade at the dessert table as she piled a plate high with cookies. “Nice costumes.”
A year ago, he might have taken exception, but he couldn’t now. Besides being a fair competitor as well as helping them in the past, she’d been as devastated as he’d been that day—and as infuriated at seeing the perversion of the law that allowed Ezekiel Halliday to suffer bodily injury and indignity with not a shred of recompense or even remorse. He’d seen the humanity in Arizona Brooks, and he knew now that the snark was between friends.
“Well, Jackson needed his rest, so we couldn’t come as the Hardy Boys,” he said with a smile.
“Which Hardy Boy are you?” Siren asked, drawing near Arizona. “Frank or Joe?”
Ellery laughed. “I think Frank was supposed to be the methodical, thoughtful one and Joe the impulsive, intuitive one. I’ll let you guess.”
They all laughed because that was a no-brainer.
“How is he?” Arizona asked soberly when the laughter had died down.
Ellery shrugged with a nonchalance he didn’t feel. “Pissed-off, feverish, and in pain,” he said honestly. “We know that getting Zeke free and clear was the endgame, but we sure did want to see justice done.”
Arizona nodded and then lowered her voice. “Any chance the DOJ will investigate?”
Ellery’s eyes sharpened as he remembered their one bright spot. “Count on it,” he said. “And I’ve been looking for a contact in the press.”
Arizona sucked air in through her teeth. “Do you really want to do that?”
Ellery swallowed. Drumming up outrage in the press was a double-edged sword. Ezekiel Halliday and Sunshine Prayers Care Homes did not need the backlash that an investigation against the police might incur. Police unions were known to get ugly when officers were implicated and charged. Having a credential inspector pressured to turn up at the care home and find a reason to shut the place down had been an implicit threat in everything Trey Cartman had said that afternoon.
“God no,” he admitted, hoping he was right to confide in a friend. “But if we have to, we have our spin and we have our press release drafted. Arizona, this can’t happen again—and just as important, what the hell is he doing with the homeless population? This entire thing started when the police tried to vilify the homeless so they could illegally relocate them. I don’t think I have to mention Ezekiel Halliday to make that headline pop.”