Page 9

Chapter Nine

C larinda was ecstatic to see me. At least she was happy about the credit card.

“I want to look like an irresistible goddess. I’m tired of being complimented for my character.”

She raised her brows. “Do people do that?”

“All the time.”

“Should I be offended that no one ever compliments mine? All anyone says to me that’s positive has to do with my sausage rolls.”

“They’re basically life-changing. Make me as irresistible as one of your sausage rolls.”

Her eyes narrowed. Today one was blue and one was red, to match the stripes in her hair. I’m not sure if she was going for patriotic or just creepy. “Do you want me to use magic?”

“Could you?” That was a surprise. As far as I knew, her magic was as minimal as mine.

She shrugged and chewed on her nail. “Who do you want to find you attractive?”

“A goblin, I guess.”

“A goblin? You’re turning into one and you’re dating one? Are you going to move into the goblin city and open a booth at the goblin market?”

I sniffed. “Maybe. Anyway, what can you do to me?”

“I can do anything, but should I? Yes, I should. Goblins are entranced by scents and textures, particularly silk and leather. Your energy is way off today. Reckless. You feel reckless. Are you sure you should come here with that card when you’re feeling like that?”

I smiled at her. “It’s for a good cause. Your shop is a good cause. Me not looking respectable is a great cause.”

“What’s the event?”

“The Governor’s ball.”

She whistled. “Of course it is. All right. Let’s find your assets and do something with them.”

By the time the large black car pulled up to the front doors to pick me up, I was ready. That is, I’d taken one look at myself in the mirror and burst out laughing.

“You’re laughing at my hard work? Let’s see if I give you any more sausage rolls.”

I gave her a look as the laughter drained out of me. “You were supposed to make me irresistible, like your rolls, but instead you turned me into a nun. A purple nun.”

She shrugged. “Skin isn’t alluring to goblins. Lack of skin is far, far more interesting. It gives you mystique. What could all those clothes be hiding?”

My dress was basically three dresses, one under layer that was skin-tight silk tunic and leggings, one long loose dress in more flowing silk that went over the first layer, and then another shorter layer in leather that cinched up the waist and bodice. It was all purple of various shades and hues. I didn’t feel like it gave me mystique as much as signaling that I had nothing worth seeing.

She bumped me. “Don’t look like that. To be alluring, you have to feel alluring.”

I sighed. This was a pointless waste of time and money. I was a police officer in pursuit of justice. So what if no one was ever going to want me? I had things to do. Right. This dress with its sweeping skirt would be perfectly suitable for a gala. That’s all I needed.

I handed her the card, but she hesitated. “Pay me later. After you become convinced of my genius.”

I gave her a skeptical look. “Turning down cash? That’s not like you. Take the card. The dress is great. The makeup is great.” Minimal. The only thing I had on my skin was a faint line of kohl around my eyes.

She sniffed. “Goblins don’t like layers of cakey makeup. Trust me.”

I squinted at her. “Did you read an article about goblins fifteen years ago and embedded it into your psyche until now?”

She pushed me towards the door and the big black car waiting outside. It had an unearthly sheen over it, like it had been waxed for fifteen years. “Probably, but this will help me grow my goblin know-how. If you don’t trust the process, at least trust the experiment.”

“Mmhm.” I left her, still holding the card between my fingers, feeling like the world’s weirdest frump. Then again, it would be a great outfit for frolicking in the woods. I should have gotten a nice traditional witch hat while I was at it.

I opened the car’s back door and slid inside before I changed my mind. I came up against a very polished Goblin Authority who studied me with concerned eyes.

“So, did you get tickets, or are we breaking and entering? Your tuxedo says dancing, but those eyes are all about the breaking and entering.”

“What are you wearing?”

I tugged on my leather mini overdress thing, feeling self-conscious. It was like a long corset with a side slit and leather ties. “Purple. Great color, right? It’s my favorite. I was going to go for stunning, but then I decided purple was better than stunning. In fact, the purpleness is so incredibly potent, it could stun people as well as purple them.”

“You’re two minutes from hyperventilation. Deep breaths. Yes?”

I took one even breath, realized how lightheaded I was and took another. “I’m good.”

“Purple as a verb? I don’t think good is an adequate description.”

I elbowed him. “Pretend I’m good, okay? Don’t smell my hysteria and call me out on my rambling. Just pretend I’m good. That’s what people on dates do. They pretend not to see the flaws.”

“Not flaws, I’m just…” He took a deep breath and then leaned into my space, sniffing my hair like I wanted to do to him. “What did you do to your hair?” His voice was low, rough, laced with a growl that made a shiver run down my spine.

I pulled away from him, leaving him blinking at me. “I washed it. Also used Clary’s special detangler. It’s also down. I don’t usually leave it down, but part of the back of my neck might be exposed if I had it up, and you know how shocking that would be.”

His eyes narrowed. “I see.”

“No, you don’t, because it’s covered by my hair. Did you get tickets?”

“I got tickets. Your friend, Clary, does she spend a lot of time with Goblins?”

I frowned at him. “I have no idea. Why?”

He leaned back and crossed his arms, turned towards his window instead of me. “I believe that the leather part on top is made out of goblin skin.”

I looked down at the dark purple leather bits. “As in, I’m wearing goblins?”

“Yes.”

I winced. Yes, Clarinda, make me alluring to goblins. That means I want goblins all over me. Literally. Dead skinned goblins. I was going to kill her. “How delightful.”

“And the long dress, it’s made of the saramac flower.”

I smoothed down the long, flowing silk dress. “Is it?”

“Yes. Edible to goblins. Actually, one of the most delicious things a goblin could…”

I looked at him, feeling like I’d gotten dumped off a Ferris wheel. “Wait. My dress is edible?”

“Very tempting.”

“Huh.” I raised my sleeve and cautiously brought it closer to my lips. He grabbed my hand and pulled it down.

“Don’t start eating your dress in front of another goblin.”

“Why?”

He gave me a sharp smile. “He’ll want to share. Before you know it, you will have no dress.”

I gurgled a laugh. Clarinda was completely insane. “It’s okay. I have another layer underneath everything. It’s like long underwear.”

“Is it?” He shook his head slightly, crossed his arms, angled his body away from me, and studied the view outside the window.

“Isn’t it?” Now I wasn’t sure.

“It is a scent enhancing layer. It is melting into your skin, and will be completely dissolved before the night is over.”

“How do you know?”

“I smell it.”

“Yes, but why would you know the smell of scent-enhancing long underwear?”

He shot me a look. “It is common for goblins to wear such things when they’re looking for a mate.”

My stomach fell into my shoes, going right past the dissolving scent-enhancing layer. I gurgled a laugh and felt more than slightly light-headed. “Wow. Just wow. So, how is the wearing goblin leather alluring?”

He gave me a sideways look, focusing on the leather top part. “It’s not. Except that it infers that you’re the kind of person who wears goblin leather. Dangerous. Confident. Willing to cross lines most would stop at.”

I gave the leather mini dress another look. “At least it’s not edible or dissolving. If everything else is gone by the end of the night, I have goblin skin to fall back on. It must have been a lot of effort to dye it from green to purple.”

“It must have been a lot of effort to skin it off a goblin.”

I winced. “I’m sorry. I apologize for wearing the skin of your people. That’s not cool. Why don’t we go to my apartment, and I can change.”

He shook his head, still looking out the window. “I like it. I like the idea of you wearing goblin skins instead of being enslaved by the Magga.”

“Or you.”

“Or me.” Still facing away from me, he reached out with his hand, palm up, like he was waiting for me to give him something.

“Oh, right,” I said, and handed over the card. “Actually, I never paid Clarinda.”

He dropped the card. His green skin was so startling against all the purple of my dress. “The card is yours to keep. May I hold your hand?”

“I can’t keep your card.” I frowned down at his hand, waiting for me without the slightest twitch. His hand was steady. I slowly put my hand on his, and then his fingers curled, swallowing my skin under his.

“You can. I know that you’re Lady Justice, but try to take as much advantage of your position as possible.”

“I am. That’s why we’re in a big glossy car going to a gala, so I can interview the rich and powerful about the two deaths no one wants to call murder.”

“But you could also buy things.”

“I don’t like shopping.”

“You could use a new car.”

“I like my old one.”

“A new taser.” He looked at me long enough to raise a brow before he returned his attention to the window.

“I’ll let you buy one for my birthday. Why do you keep looking out the window? Do you not like looking at me?” I was starting to feel self-conscious about it.

He sighed heavily and then tucked my hand in both of his. “I am concentrating.”

“On what?”

“On not eating your dress.”

I snickered. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“But holding my hand doesn’t make you want to eat my dress?”

“No. It distracts me from the dress.”

I frowned at our hands, his completely covering mine. He wanted my dress, but happily, touching me reminded him that he could resist. Delightful. It was time to stop thinking about dating in all its futility and get my mind back on work.

Someone had broken into two locked offices without doing any damage to the doors or the locks, and shot two people without anyone hearing anything. One had a suicide note, the other had nothing. Who would gain from outing the late senator as corrupt? And getting him out of the way before the next election came up? What part did the judge play in all of that?

How were the judge and the representative connected? I hadn’t found any crossover in their personal lives. They worked in completely different branches of the government. They’d known each other, seen each other at events like the governor’s ball, but how could their deaths be linked?

“We’re here. Are we going to dance?”

I shot Sashimi an alarmed look. “Dance?”

“Yes. It’s a ball. People dance at balls, in between interrogating the guests.”

I frowned at him and chewed on my bottom lip. “My dancing is dangerous.”

“Perfect. We’ll have at least three. One at the beginning, one in the middle, and one right before we leave.” He slid out of the car and helped me out, still holding onto my hand. I let him tuck it into his arm and lead me up the broad steps.

“Seriously, you don’t want to dance with me,” I hissed while trying to look pleasant and normal, and not like a purple nun. People kept giving us double-takes. Most of those were aimed at the goblin beside me.

“Seriously, it is necessary to dance at a ball. It’s either that or eat your dress.” He gave me a demure smile, closed-mouth so I didn’t see his sharp teeth.

“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“I would never. And don’t say that I didn’t warn you, although it was already too late.”

“It’s fine. I wouldn’t have listened, anyway. It was too exciting to correspond with the Goblin Authority.”

“As exciting as going to the governor’s ball?”

“Absolutely not. That’s just my job, not my passion.”

“Corresponding with goblins is your passion? You probably need some new hobbies.”

“True. I need to go to the skatepark with Gabby one of these days. I’m getting out of practice.”

We walked past the pillars and inside the open double doors, into a golden scene straight from a storybook. Everyone was beautiful, graceful, enchanting. The chandeliers had rainbow nimbus around each flame, lending an unearthly glow to all the guests.

“Tickets,” a large ogre said, showing his tusks.

Sashimi put his hand inside his jacket and the ogre tensed up, like he might get a bomb in his face. Sashimi pulled out two tickets, no bombs, and gave the ogre a soft smile. “If I was going to do damage, I wouldn’t use the front doors.”

The ogre grunted, and we walked past him. The ogre sniffed me, looking at my hair, making me feel self-conscious. What had been in Clary’s detangler?

“You don’t want to know, but you should definitely wash it out as soon as you get the chance,” Sashimi murmured, leading me towards the dancing.

I wanted to hold back, but I’d said I’d dance. He put a hand on my waist, and held my other hand at shoulder height, then started walking with me, half as fast as everyone else.

“Who are you going to interrogate first?” he asked, eyes shining from the rainbow lights.

I glanced around, then returned my gaze to his. “The other judges on Stevens’s circuit would be good, but I’m really here to talk to anyone who would have rubbed elbows with the representative. I need to find out more about his corruption. Who here was most likely to try and bribe him?”

“Other than myself?”

I sighed, noticing the way he stepped into me, turning me around without any effort at all. “You’re a good dancer. Aren’t you concerned about not wearing a mask?”

“Thank you, and no. If I’m publicly dating, a mask wouldn’t help because your face is bare.”

“I could also wear a mask. That’s actually an incredible idea. That way, no one will know that it’s me when I humiliate myself during this dance.”

“Why would you care what anyone here thought of you?”

“It’s not me so much as the department.”

“Ah. Lady Justice must represent. In that case, I will make a point of being an overbearing lead that you can’t resist.”

And he was. If I fumbled, it was in the right direction and turned into something intentional by him. If I went in the wrong direction, my hips suddenly went the right direction and it became some artistic body roll. His reflexes were unparalleled, and his sense of music wasn’t bad either. By the end of the song, I was starting to relax.

As we walked off the floor, I said, “I take it back. You aren’t a good dancer. You’re far better than that.”

He smiled slightly, fingers sliding over the sleeve of my dress, lingering on the silk. The edible flower fabric that he found much more irresistible than me. “You flatter me.”

I snorted, pulling my sleeve out of his hand. “You know me better than that. Ah, the silver-tongued senator.” I smiled at the tall elven man and then at his wife. Then I started because I’d seen her before. She’d come to identify a body. The nice reporter who brought everyone cookies.

The senator gave me a warm smile and held out his hand. Sashimi took it instead, shaking it firmly while the senator eyed him, startled and then concerned as he looked from Sashimi to me.

“The Goblin Authority, and without your mask? To what do we owe the honor?”

“I wanted to come,” I said, yanking Sashimi’s hand out of the senator’s. There was some weird power play going on there that we didn’t need. “And Sashi…That is, the Goblin Authority. Corcarn was sweet enough to humor me. We’re dating. Publicly. So, how well did you know Representative Phil? Strange thing to have such a shocking suicide at the court house. Did you ever speak with him? Particularly recently?”

The short, sweet woman next to him laughed and gave me a very sincere smile. “You’re here to investigate his death? That sounds like a perfect date for a police officer. You work at the downtown station, right?”

I gave her a slight smile. “That’s right. And you’re the society reporter. I really enjoyed your article about the zoo…” It would be rude to call it a debacle. I refocused on the senator. “So, in regard to Representative Phil?”

He glanced from me to his wife, then nodded. “Yes, I spoke to him last week about a bill that he wanted to pass, but it seemed problematic to me. Most politicians do take bribes in the guise of campaign donations, but I never suspected anything overt in his case. I heard that Phil left a note, something about struggling with feelings of guilt?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. He shouldn’t know that. “I’m not at liberty to say.”

He leaned closer to me, eyes focusing, becoming serious, showing the steel behind the smile. “He had elven blood. He’s never felt guilty in his life.” He moved back, took his wife’s arm and smiled at her. “Would you like to dance?”

“Instead of following around the purple cop and watching her interrogate all the guests?” She sighed heavily and then grinned and dragged him onto the dance floor, so short and cute compared to his height and build.

“Interesting,” Sashimi said, taking my arm and leading me towards another politician.

“I know. I had no idea he had elven blood.”

“Interesting that he spoke to you honestly. He revealed that you have a leak in your police station’s security as well as letting you know that the letter was indeed fake. He doesn’t usually share his resources, but they are very good.”

I frowned at him and then smiled at the woman coming up, Senator Fisk, who was very concerned about the environment. My interview with her went on for a half hour of her ranting about the Representative ruining every one of her initiatives.

“Of course, it’s tragic that he died, but I’m glad he saw the error of his ways at the end,” she said with bright eyes and a firm nod of her head.

“Did he?”

She blinked at me. “Didn’t he?”

Another man came up beside her to smile at me. Another elf, only this one looked like it, so obviously shiny and flawless, with ageless everything and an aura of power and control that made him automatically incredibly suspicious.

“Good evening. Senator, Lucinda is asking about you. I know the two of you share a love of all things conservational.”

Was that a word? I glanced at Sashimi. He wasn’t looking at me, no, but giving the newcomer a cold, calculating glare that made me shift uncomfortably. You didn’t look at someone like that when you wanted them to open up.

“Hello. I don’t believe we’ve met,” I said, holding out my hand to the man.

He looked at my hand, then up at my face. “I prefer not to have physical contact with one of your kind.”

I dropped my hand while his words shot darts through my delicate self-esteem. “Well, at least I’m usually kind. Can’t say that much for you. Mr…”

“Clay. What business do you have here?”

“We’re dancing,” I said, squeezing Sashimi’s hand.

“No, you’re asking about Representative Phil’s death. You’re asking leading questions of Fisk when she’s not guarded enough to realize she’s being led.”

“I’m not asking leading…”

Sashimi took my hand and walked past Mr. Clay, towards the dancing, face impassive, like he didn’t see anyone else.

“Um…” I said once we were out of the man’s hearing. “What are we doing?”

“Dancing. We’re halfway through this event.” He pulled me around to face him and that dance was much slower, much closer, and made me very aware that I was wearing an edible dress.

“I wanted to talk to that man. He seems suspicious.”

“Oh, he is. He’s also the owner of every major media company in the country. If you don’t want your double life to be splashed across every paper and every tv station, you’ll avoid him. It might not work anyway.”

My heart started beating faster and I stepped closer to him, resting against his chest as he moved us slowly around the dance floor. “You think that he’ll go to the effort to dig up my life story and expose me?”

“I think that you’re here with me, and it’s noteworthy enough to send most reporters digging. Not Delphi. She already knows your double life and will protect you because she’s extremely odd.”

“You know her?”

“She’s Cross’s wife. Of course I know her.”

“Senator Silver is cross?”

He gave me a slight smile and pulled me closer. “Not when he sees an admirable fighter for justice. Like you.”

“Oh.” I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder while my stomach churned and all the realities clashed and banged around in my head. I had a familiar somewhere, possibly digging through trash bins, possibly lounging in Sashimi’s office, thinking about rotting liver and beetles.

“Are you all right?”

“Dizzy. I think coming out after binding a familiar was a stretch.”

He slid his hand up my back to rest between my shoulder blades. “Do you want to go home?” he murmured in my ear, sending another wave of goosebumps down my spine.

I looked up at him, filled with nausea and dizziness as well as the fear that my whole life would implode. My whole life had gone to pieces the second I’d written to the Goblin Authority. “Are you kidding me? When else will I get the chance to shake down all the politicians and the stupidly wealthy? If they want to expose me, well, then neither one of us will be wearing a mask.”

I cupped his cheek and gave him a peck, only a brush over his lips, but enough to be noticeable to the crowd who were looking at us and thinking we didn’t belong. Nope. We didn’t, but we had work to do.

I gave him a wry smile and then pulled him off the dance floor towards the nearest politician.