After closing up my office for the day, we went back through the closet portal. Sitting on my bed, I watched as Nick buttoned up a fresh shirt and pulled on a pair of jeans that made him look like he was auditioning for a show on TLC where he’d flip your house and reorganize your life, all while teaching you some life lesson. He hesitated at the gun holster next to his badge and wallet. His actual gun was in a safe in his car, but I saw him questioning whether he would need it on a case with me.
“You don’t have to come,” I said. “I was mostly joking around.”
I hadn’t been, but the idea of Nick with me meant that a lot of my extralegal techniques wouldn’t be on the table. On the other hand, Nick being a cop meant he might use some ofhisresources to help me out.
“I’m coming,” Nick said. “I’m curious about what you do.”
“You know what I do,” I said. “You’ve seen me work cases before.”
“Yeah,” Nick said, “but by the time I get involved, they’re pretty messy. This one doesn’t seem like it’s going to be messy.”
“You never know,” I said. “There’s always a chance that it’s the fae.”
“Do you really think it is?” Nick asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No,” I admitted. “If the fae cared about the grandfather’s body, they wouldn’t have left it this long. My money is on the mover.”
“Mine too,” Nick said. He left his holster but grabbed his alchemy pad and pen.
I drove because, although Nick’s car had working air conditioning and wasn’t likely to leave us stranded on the side of the 101, his top-of-the-line Mustang would get a lot more notice than my beater. My car looked like it was on its last legs, only a cough and a sputter away from a vehicular grave. Still, at this point it had survived a lot, and I was beginning to wonder if maybe therewassome magic in it.
Damon’s neighborhood was made up of low, single-story houses with chain-link-fenced yards and a dog every few houses that looked like it would happily rip our faces off. There were bars on some windows, although not all of them. Even in pack territory, San Amaro was a relatively safe city if you kept your head down and didn’t get involved.
“I don’t like this neighborhood,” Nick said.
“Well, neither of us is moving here.” I turned my head toward him, hands still on the steering wheel.
“I should call in so the station knows we’re here, in case something goes south,” Nick said.
“You know, Tate says you’re on vacation. In fact, weren’t his words that if he saw you before your vacation was up you were going to be buried in paperwork?”
“Yeah, but he wasn’t serious,” Nick said.
“I don’t know. He seemed pretty serious to me,” I said. “Maybe desk duty would be good for you. The station’s files will be organized. You’ll probably create a new filing system, and everyone will hate you in no time. ‘That Nicholas King, we have to get him into the field. He makes us do all our reports on time. Real stick in the mud.’”
“‘That Officer King, aren’t we more efficient with him in charge of filing?’” Nick joked.
“Nick,” I said, holding his gaze. “I need you to tell me the absolute truth. Do you already have a filing system in mind?”
“Well, our department doesn’t use the system recommended by?—”
“You are absolutely ridiculous,” I said.
“It would be a lot more efficient if we switched to the standard way of doing things,” Nick said.
I shook my head and pointed at Damon’s house. “Does that look like the house of someone who goes around stealing dead fae bodies?”
The house, like its neighbors, was a single-story. Its roof was missing a few tiles, and the paint was a minty green that had faded to off-white. A collection of garden gnomes and other lawn ornaments ranging from pink flamingos to what looked like a Christmas reindeer littered the front yard. The grass was knee-high, although ‘grass’ was a little bit of a misnomer since it was mostly weeds.
An empty birdbath sat in the center, tilting like it was about to fall over. Damon had his own private Leaning Tower of Birdbath.
“I don’t know,” Nick said. “You’re the expert.”
“A dead fae body is a valuable thing,” I said. “Think hundreds of thousands of dollars. If they can prove it’s legitimate, he’d be rolling in it.”
This time, Nick glanced at the house doubtfully. His eyes tracked to the barred windows and the empty doghouse out front.
“No,” Nick said. “This doesn’t look like a place someone who stole a dead fae body would live.”
