I moved my thumb. The blood was still welling. “It is not just a scratch. This is going to scar.”
“Oh, yes,” she said. “I would hope so. How else would certain people understand that crossing you, means crossing me? Did you expect a tacky tattoo? You already have one of those.”
I opened my mouth. Closed it. “What? Why? You know what? If you want people to know something, you could just tell them. Verbally. By using your words.”
“No, this is much more efficient. I can’t follow you around all day waiting for you to fall prey to the next nefarious person. I’m a very busy woman, Delaney. Which you’d know if you volunteered more for the community events that are vital to our town’s financial and social standing.”
“I— What social standing?”
“Boring has stepped up their outreach.”
I shook my head, having no idea what another town over a hundred miles away had to do with anything.
“They have acquired a…person of my acquaintance. A Valkyrie.”
“What does that have to do with our social standing?”
“Robyn has always tried to one-up me. If I pulled ten warriors off the battlefield, she pulled twenty. If I drank from the skulls of my enemies, she devoured their brains. If I padded my nest with a hundred virile lovers…”
“I get it.” I reached across the desk and pulled tissues, packing them on my cut and holding it tight. “Your arch nemesis is in Boring, Oregon, for no reason I can imagine.”
“No kidding,” Jean said. “Who wants to live in a town with that kind of name?”
“Right?” I agreed. “At least it isn’t Drain.”
We all nodded, having been to that town too.
“She thinks she can out-event me,” Bertie announced.
Chills ran down my spine, just thinking about how many community events Boring was about to be subjected to.
“That’s terrible,” Jean breathed. “I’m so sorry for them.”
Bertie raised her eyebrows and turned the little knife in her hand. “Oh? And why are you sorry for that town, Jean?”
Jean swallowed and looked at me. I just widened my eyes, not knowing how to unspring the trap she’d just stuck her big mouth right in the middle of.
“Because there is no chance they’re going to win,” Jean said. “Everyone knows you are the best at this, Bertie. And you’ve been doing it so spectacularly for so many years. You’re practically famous for it.”
“No need to lay it on that thick,” Bertie said. “But I agree. She is a rank amateur. If she thinks she’s going to make her Boring little town anything more than my amazing Ordinary, then she has another think coming.” She punctuated by stabbing the air with the little knife.
For a moment, Bertie was a lot more than just a woman in her eighties with impeccable suits. She was taller, even though she was still sitting. She was sharper, all the angles of her, gem cut. And she was so, so much more frightening.
Valkyrie. All the way down.
“Murder’s against the law, Bertie.” I slipped into my role as Chief of Police. “If she shows up dead, you’re my first suspect.”
“Pish-posh, Delaney,” Bertie gathered the folder from Jean. Jean leaned back to stay out of her reach. “If I killed Robyn, you’d never find the body.” She glanced at the pages, tapped the edge of the folder on the desk to even them out, then hid it in the drawer.
“Is there anything else?” Bertie asked.
“You’re sure about the charges?” Jean asked.
“I am. Now if you’ll please leave, I have a photo shoot scheduled.”
And just like that, we escaped the Valkyrie’s nest with only one small wound between us. I called that a victory.
Chapter Nineteen
