Chapter Nine
‘What clued you in?’ I asked as we stood on Kate’s street.
‘A few things, but the way he greeted me gave me instant concern. We’ve met on a number of occasions.
There’s no way he would have forgotten that, not if he was the real Troy.
And the cat thing. Cats love merpeople. The mer eat a lot of fish and they have a residual fishy smell, just a hint, but normally cats roll all over merpeople.
They love them as much as catnip. I’ve never seen one hiss at a mer like that. What tipped you off?’
‘Harry was a red flag for sure, and then Troy forgot fish was his favourite food. Not to mention he kept calling me Inspector, like Jingo does. And remember when I asked about a friend?’
‘Jack Hansen?’
‘Yeah. Jack was made up. Total BS on my part.’
‘And he agreed right away.’
‘Right.’ I rubbed my head. ‘I would have done a deep dive on Troy using my sub powers to confirm his identity, but my head was hurting so much that I couldn’t risk fucking it up.
Still, I’m all but sure we had a lovely dinner with Jude Jingo.
This is a fucking mess and a dangerous one at that.
’ I thought of Kate and I struggled to push down my panic for her.
We had to tread lightly. We couldn’t afford to tip Jingo off, but at the same time, Kate’s safety was paramount.
‘Agreed,’ Robbie said. ‘Do we tell Kate?’
I chewed on that, agonised over it. Finally, I shook my head.
‘I don’t think so. Not yet. She’ll change the way she acts around him – she can’t help but do so – and then he’ll know.
Right now, he thinks he’s flying under the radar, and we have to keep it that way.
It’s the only advantage we have.’ I tapped my lip in thought.
‘Have you ever heard of a doppelganger being ousted from a body without the current host dying?’
Robbie shook his head.
I sighed. ‘Me neither, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible.’
‘If anyone knows about an option, it’s Amber DeLea.’
It was too late to call her. ‘You’re right. I’ll give her a call in the morning, and then I’ll get Ji-ho to dig into Troy Fairglass as well.’
‘Fairglass – or Jingo – seemed genuinely surprised about the vampyr attack.’
‘He did,’ I agreed, ‘but he’s a doppelganger. He’s used to acting. It might not mean anything.’
‘It might mean something,’ Robbie disagreed.
‘This is a mess.’ I rubbed my forehead. ‘I should have looked at Troy harder. But I … I ignored my instincts because there was no physical evidence. I let that reassure me because I didn’t want Jingo to be in him for Kate’s sake.
As you said, there’s no record of a doppelganger being ousted and the host surviving.
Kate will be crushed. I don’t want that for her.
’ I rubbed a hand over my face. ‘I let my feelings get in the way of the job.’
‘Don’t beat yourself up, Stacy. We all want to think the best sometimes.’
‘It’s not my job to think the best. It’s my job to think the truth.’ I climbed into the car. ‘Let’s go. I need sleep. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll wake up clear-headed and without this bloody headache.’
Robbie drove me home and babied me, giving me more medicine and insisting I drink more water. I let him coddle me; it was surprisingly nice to be taken care of.
When I tumbled into sleep, he was beside me, but he couldn’t guard me there.
My arms were pulled taut behind my back, making the sockets hurt. The magic-cancelling cuffs I was bound with were tight; cold metal biting into my wrists.
My fear was high. I was panting with it. I told myself Dad would find me soon. He had to know I was missing. Had to be frantically searching.
Maybe someone had seen me get snatched off the streets. Maybe they had the car’s licence plate.
Maybe they didn’t.
Tears swam in my eyes and I whimpered. I was so fucking scared.
The door opened, and the man who walked in smiled at me. ‘Your daddy doesn’t know how to take a bribe, little girl. We’re going to teach him, aren’t we?’ He pulled some garden shears from his belt, and I started to plead.
‘Stacy! Wake up! Wake up, kaerasta.’ Robbie’s voice, sharp and urgent, filtered into my consciousness. His arms were around me, rocking me back and forth. ‘It’s all right. You’re safe,’ he told me. ‘Just a bad dream. Just a dream, love.’
It was more than a bad dream; it was a memory. But I nodded against his shoulder. My face was wet with tears, and my throat was sore. I must have been screaming.
‘Sorry,’ I choked out.
‘Don’t you fucking apologise, Stacy. Not ever. Not for that.’
I started to pull away to wipe my cheeks.
‘Just let me hold you,’ he entreated, voice rough. ‘Let me hold you a damned minute more, kaerleiki. Please.’
I stopped shoving him away and sank into his arms. He wrapped himself around me, warm and solid. His hands stroked up and down my back as if he couldn’t stop.
‘I couldn’t wake you,’ he said. ‘You screamed and screamed and I couldn’t wake you.’
Loki’s mind touched mine, full of distress. It was worse than Rude Jingo, he said subdued. I’m sorry, Pigdog.
It’s over now.
Yes, he agreed, but his upset still swirled through me, hating that I had suffered that.
He had seen the echoes in my nightmares.
I hated that I had suffered that too. It was one of the reasons I wore the uniform: to stop others from suffering the way I had.
The pain I had suffered as a teen defined me in more ways than one. Even now, I wouldn’t let it break me.
Somehow, I fell back to sleep after the nightmare. Rarely did the dreams come for me now, and I wondered if it was because of the pain of the scry that my mind had pulled up echoes of other pain too.
Robbie stayed the whole night, as he had been doing with increasing frequency, but despite my surprising return to sleep, I awoke with gritty eyes and a hollow chest, the remembered fear still choking me.
It’s over, I told myself. Put it away.
I had other things I needed to focus on. Important things. Life and death things.
Jude Jingo was in Troy Fairglass. I was all but sure of it.
In the bathroom, the shower turned on, and a towel was placed on the heated towel rail for me. Robbie was in the kitchen, so I supposed this was Bob’s way of telling me it was time to shower.
It was odd having the ghost in my bedroom, knowing Bob was a guy. I had always assumed the ghost was female, that ‘she’ was taking care of me, making me eat breakfast, turning the kettle on for a brew, and now making me shower. I’d always thought the ghost’s energy was maternal.
‘I’ll shower,’ I told my friendly shade. ‘But you go and hang out with Robbie, won’t you? Give me some privacy.’
Bob pointedly shut the bedroom door behind him as he went.
Alone, I stepped into the hot spray, grateful for the heat that helped wash away old memories.
Without a shift to get ready for, I indulged in a lengthier shower, luxuriating in the warmth and firmly lodging myself in the here and now, focusing on my breath, on the feel of the cloth on my skin. I was fine. I had survived.
Put it away.
While Robbie banged around in the kitchen, hopefully making us something delicious for breakfast – the ghost wasn’t the only one with the need to take care of me – I dried and dressed and sat on the edge of the bed, trying to order my thoughts.
I had a vampyr attacker to identify and a doppelganger to roust out of Troy’s body. Both of those things required a conversation with the Crone.
I checked that it was a civil hour – 7.45am, so just barely – and then called Amber.
‘How are you feeling?’ she asked as she answered the phone, her voice lilting with surprising concern.
‘Much better, thank you.’ I went straight into it. ‘Have you heard of Jude Jingo?’
She snorted. ‘Obviously.’
Her knowledge of him wasn’t surprising. A cornerstone of Jingo’s business was making sure everyone knew who he was and that he wasn’t someone to be messed with. His name was synonymous with intimidation.
Until I’d come up against him as Ash Aspen, I hadn’t known what he looked like. Presumably that was because he changed bodies like I got pedicures.
‘Right,’ I continued. ‘Well, what’s not common knowledge is that he’s a doppelganger.’
There was a pregnant pause. ‘That’s not ideal.’
‘No,’ I agreed drily. ‘It gets worse. The body he was subsuming until recently has been found dead.’
‘And now he’s loose and you have no idea where he is?’
‘No, I know where he is,’ I said with satisfaction.
‘I’m pretty sure, anyway. Cocky prick acted like he found his own body.
But the thing is, the new body he’s in …
well, he’s ostensibly dating a friend of mine.
I went around to see her at her house last night and we did the double-dating thing.
All my alarm bells went off. I’m all but certain Jingo is in Troy Fairglass. ’
She whistled. ‘Mer royalty.’
‘Exactly so. Another reason to get Jingo out and leave Troy alive. The last thing we need is Mathias Fairglass coming after us for failing to save his son. I need to work out a way to get Jingo out of Fairglass in a scenario where Fairglass gets to live. Have you ever heard of such a thing?’
‘No,’ Amber admitted. ‘From what limited lore I’ve read, a doppelganger’s host always dies.’
‘Right, but here’s the thing. My medical examiner, Kate Potter, is a witch, a sensitive, and she got a reading from Aspen’s body – relief.
I think that means the dryad was alive the whole time, stuck in his body while Jingo controlled it.
If that’s right, surely there has to be a way to get Jingo out and leave Fairglass alive? ’
‘Hmm. Maybe,’ she said noncommittally. ‘Let me look into it. I’ve got resources, people I can speak to. Let me see what I can dig up.’
Relief flooded me. She could use resources I couldn’t, especially since I needed to fly under the radar on this one. ‘Thanks, Amber. I appreciate your help. Any luck on the vampyr’s image?’