Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson #3)(22)
Author: Patricia Briggs

See that’s the thing about secrets. All you have to do is tell one person – and suddenly everyone knows. Still, if I disappeared, I’d like to know that the werewolves would come looking for me. Hopefully the fae (in the person of Uncle Mike) understood that, and I wasn’t likely to just disappear: if the Gray Lords would arrange a suicide for Zee, one of their own who was of some value, they certainly wouldn’t hesitate to arrange something to happen to me as well. The pack would make that a little more difficult.

A cup of liquid doesn’t take long to heat. I poured it into a mug; took the first sip, bittersweet and biting; then rejoined the men. My deliberations in the kitchen led me to the couch, where I sat with a whole cushion between me and Samuel so I wouldn’t be assumed (by Samuel) to be taking a side in the antagonism that was stirring in my living room like the inky surface of Loch Ness just before the monster erupts. I didn’t want any eruptions in my living room, thank you. Eruptions meant repair bills and blood. Growing up with werewolves had left me hyperaware of power struggles and things unspoken.

With another werewolf, a show of support might put the likelihood of violence down a few notches, because he would feel more confident. Samuel didn’t need more confidence. He needed to know that I felt that Uncle Mike had done the right thing by calling me in, no matter what Samuel’s opinion on the matter was.

"I found a good lawyer for Zee," I told Uncle Mike.

"She is a member of the John Lauren Society." Uncle Mike seemed much more himself than he’d sounded on the phone. That meant that his "cheerful innkeeper" guise was in full swing. I couldn’t tell if he was unhappy with my choice of lawyers or not.

"Kyle – " I stopped myself and backed up. "I have a friend who is among the best divorce attorneys in the state. When I called him, he suggested this Jean Ryan from Spokane. He told me she was a barracuda in the courtroom, and says that her membership in a fae hate group will actually help. People will think that she must be absolutely convinced of Zee’s innocence to take this case."

"Is that true? She believes him innocent?"

I shrugged. "I don’t know, but both Kyle and she say it won’t matter. I did my best to convince her." I took a sip of cocoa and told them everything Ms. Ryan had told me, including her warning that I keep my nose out of police business.

Samuel’s lips quirked at that. "So how long did you wait before going to O’Donnell’s after she told you not to?"

I gave him an indignant look. "I wouldn’t have done it before dark. Too many people would have been calling Animal Control if they saw a coyote that far into town, collar or not. I can’t do much investigating from the animal shelter, and they’ve already picked me up once this summer."

I looked at Uncle Mike and wondered how to get him to tell me all the things I needed to know. "Did you know that O’Donnell was involved with Citizens for a Bright Future?"

He sat up straighter. "I’d have thought he would be smarter than that. If the BFA had known, he’d have lost his job."

He didn’t say that he’d been unaware of it, I noticed.

"He didn’t seem too worried about anyone finding out," I told him. "There were Bright Future posters all over the walls of one of his rooms."

"The BFA doesn’t exactly make a habit of searching their employees’ houses. Their funding just got cut again and the moneys diverted to that mess in the Middle East." He didn’t sound too upset about the BFA’s troubles.

I rubbed my tired face. "The search wasn’t as much help as I’d hoped. I didn’t find a scent, except for O’Donnell himself, of anyone who was in the reservation murder scenes. I don’t think that there was anyone with him when he killed the fae." Except maybe Cologne Man, I thought. I had no way of telling what he really smelled like, though I had not the slightest idea why he’d have worn cologne to kill O’Donnell and not for killing the fae. Surely he wouldn’t expect a werewolf or someone like me to be tracking down O’Donnell’s killer.

"So your visit was uneventful." That was Samuel, his voice just a little more intense than the soft, harplike notes he was calling from the guitar. If he kept playing like that, I was going to be asleep before I finished. "Why then do you smell like blood and magic?"

"I didn’t say it was uneventful. The blood is because the living room of O’Donnell’s house was covered in it."

Uncle Mike gave a faint grimace, which I didn’t believe at all. My experience with immortals might be with werewolves, but the fae aren’t a kind and gentle people either. He might have been thrown off his game when Zee was taken into custody, but blood and gore never really bother the old ones.

"The magic…" I shrugged. "It could have been a number of things. I saw the murder take place."

"Magic?" Uncle Mike frowned. "I didn’t know you were a farseer. I thought that magic didn’t work around you."

"That would be terrific," I said. "But no, magic works around me for the most part. I just have some kind of partial immunity to it. Usually the way it works is that the less harmful the magic is, the better the chance it won’t work. The really bad stuff usually does just fine."

"She sees ghosts," said Samuel, impatient with my whining.

"I see dead people," I deadpanned back. Oddly, it was Uncle Mike who laughed. I hadn’t thought he’d be a moviegoer.

"So did these ghosts tell you anything?"

I shook my head. "No. I just got the playback of the murder with O’Donnell as the only player. I think the killer was after something, though. Did O’Donnell steal from the fae?"

Uncle Mike’s face went blank and I knew two things. The answer to my question was yes, and Uncle Mike had no intention of telling me what O’Donnell had taken.

"Just for kicks," I said instead of waiting in vain for his answer, "how many fae are there who can take on the shape of a raven?"

"Here?" Uncle Mike shrugged. "Five or six."

"There was a raven in O’Donnell’s house and it reeked of fae magic."

Uncle Mike gave an abrupt, harsh laugh. "If you’re asking if I sent someone to O’Donnell’s house, the answer is no. If you’re wondering if one of them killed O’Donnell, the answer is still no. None of those with a raven shape have the physical strength to tear off someone’s head."

"Could Zee?" I asked. Sometimes if you ask unexpected questions, you get answers.

His eyebrows rose and his brogue grew thicker. "Sure and why would you ask that? Haven’t I told you he had naught to do with it?"

I shook my head. "I know Zee didn’t kill him. The police have an expert who told them that he could. I have reasons to doubt her ability – and it might help Zee if I know exactly how far off she is."