“Several, yes,” I said. “They’re useful for scouting.”
“They’reexpensive,” Binx said. “How can you afford multiple of them?”
“Yeah, we’re in the wrong profession,” Brody said.
I shook my head. “Slayer jobs don’t pay that great. It’s more that we’ve figured out a solid method for finding good investments.”
Brody opened his mouth to ask another question, but Orrin interrupted him. “What else do you fight with your siblings over?”
I capped the blue dry erase marker. “Making unnecessary risks in battle, we argued a lot in our various history classes…my brothers fought whenever we got new equipment in since they’re all similar sizes.”
“And?” Orrin again prompted.
I glanced at the whiteboard, and it dawned on me, but Considine beat me to the punch. “Weapons,” he said. “Out of allof us here, Jade must be the only one who would have fought her siblings for a weapon. Not an artifact or a spell. Right?”
“Yes,” I said. “We don’t use spells or artifacts that often. We care way more about our weapons, and we do frequently fight about them.”
“Does that mean Gisila is after an elf weapon that Tutu owns?” Brody asked.
“We can’t say it’s Tutu’s for certain,” Tetiana said. “He might have just asked Jade about her siblings because that kind of relationship frequently experiences bickering.”
“Yeah, except I get the feeling Blood would fight a lot of people for the sake of a good weapon,” Brody said.
“I would,” I agreed as I studied Orrin.
The fae leaned back into his chair and finally looked away from the whiteboard.
“And I’m pretty sure Orrin looking away from the whiteboard means we got it.”
Binx stood up. “I’ll go tell Sarge and Captain Reese—they’ll want to update the day shift.”
Grove gave her a thumbs up. “Good thinking!”
Binx was to the door before I thought to call out—belatedly. “Thank you.”
The cat shifter waved as she ducked down the hallway.
Considine took my hand in his and extracted the marker from my grasp. “That was a very productive session.” He pressed my hand to his lips, which felt warm to my fingertips.
“Y-yes.” I looked away from Considine’s hypnotizing red eyes, distracting myself with the fae. “Thank you, Orrin. That was brilliant.”
Orrin shrugged, but watched with visible satisfaction as Considine drew a line throughartifactandspellon the smartboard, then starredweapon. “Can we continue with the lesson?”
“Bro, you seriously want to learn more about updating reports? After that major breakthrough?” Brody asked.
Orrin blinked slowly, like a cat. “I need to add to my skill base if I want to make myself worth the department’s efforts so they’ll keep me on.”
Considine pointed at Orrin with the dry erase marker. “Spoken like a true fae!”
“Don’t worry, Orrin.” I smiled at the whiteboard, encouraged by this new piece of information, which would hopefully open new leads for our investigation. “The department is more than happy to have you.”
December came,and Captain Reese granted Orrin the use of two stun guns for proving himself trustworthy on patrols. (Although the hint about the elf weapon did even more to improve his reputation.)
I personally thought the self-defense weapon was an excellent choice. It was nonlethal, could only be used on one person at a time, and was a close-range weapon. While I didn’t think Orrin was going to betray us, it was a great weapon to give him as this was a concern for the Department.
Orrin seemed cheered by this new vote of confidence, and as we walked north up Goldstein—having finished our nightly swing past Tutu’s—he had one of the black, rectangular stun guns out and was admiring it, occasionally pressing the button that made the end light up with electricity. It hissed so loudly it echoed on the empty street.
“Be careful not to drain it,” I said. “It’s rechargeable, but you don’t want to use all your charge before we get back to the Cloisters.”
