Chapter 2
Two
Damon Griffith owned a legitimate moving company. The only address I could find for him was in east San Amaro, in a neighborhood riddled with packs and gangs.
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 of his resources 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 there was some 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.”
“Maybe he just hasn’t sold it yet,” I said.
But that didn’t track. A guy who was confident enough to see a dead body, realize what it was, and then have the balls to steal it wouldn’t be in this place for more than a hot minute.
“So, what’s the plan?” Nick said.
“I say we go shake some trees,” I said.
With a shove to get my door open, I got out of the car. Nick was on the sidewalk, and his hand hovered near his waist as though he was about to check for his gun and badge. He dropped it when I raised an eyebrow.
“You missing something, officer?” I asked.
“Lead the way, detective,” Nick said.
Crossing the street, I unhooked the gate and stepped into the yard. My eyes searched for the dog that was implied by the doghouse, but it looked like we were on our own. The lawn ornaments were even more creepy up close.
Keeping to the driveway and then a cracked concrete path, I made my way to the front door. There was a metal security gate in place, and when I pressed the doorbell, I didn’t hear anything inside.
With a sharp rap on the metal door, I said, “Damon Griffith, you here?”
There was no response, although I thought I might’ve seen a shade move in a nearby window. For about ten minutes, we waited. Normally, I would reach out to some spirits nearby to see if any of them had any information for me. With Nick present, I felt awkward and like I was on display.
Not the good sort of display either. This wasn’t me, naked on a bed, with Nick stretched over me. He was about to see all my methods up close. I couldn’t help but feel like I’d lose some of the allure if he knew that most of my job was hurry up and wait.
When I was sure no one was going to answer the door, I jerked my head and Nick followed me back to the car. Once inside, I rolled down the windows and reclined my seat a bit.
“And now?” Nick said, although given his expression he knew exactly what was coming.
“And now we’re on a stakeout,” I said. I reached into the backseat and pulled out a bag of Cheetos. Gesturing with my hand, I pointed to the glove box. Nick reached in and pulled out a handful of fast-food napkins that I kept for just this purpose.
“Cheetos already?” Nick said. “Aren’t you blowing your good snack foods too early?”
“Oh, grasshopper,” I said. “You have so much to learn.”
Reaching into the back again, I pulled out a reusable bag and handed it to Nick. Both of his eyebrows went up as he pawed through the food inside.
“At least now I know why your grocery bill is always ridiculous,” Nick said. “I’m taking these.”
He pulled out a bag of healthy veggie crisps, and I grinned.
“I got those especially for you,” I said. “I knew you’d like them.”
“You knew I’d go on a stakeout with you?” Nick asked. He looked surprised, a soft, sweet smile on his face.
“I had hopes,” I said. “Dreams that one day you would give up on your lucrative job for the SAPD and join me down here in the gutter where we at least have good snack foods on our stakeouts.”
“I don’t know,” Nick said. He opened the snack bag and put one of the puffy crisps in his mouth. “You have the good snacks, but the SAPD has air conditioning.”
“I could get air conditioning,” I offered. I wasn’t sure what made me say it because it sounded like I was more serious than I actually was about Nick joining me at my job.
There was no chance that Nick, who had invested more of his personal self-worth in being a cop then I had invested in anything in my entire life, would want to leave the job he’d worked so hard for to work with me.
Even knowing that, even with all the realities clattering around in my head, I still had a vision of the two of us as partners.
When I got up the courage to look at him, Nick’s expression was fond. He opened his mouth, but there was sudden movement across the street.
The door to Griffith’s house flew open as though someone had kicked it. A woman was framed in the doorway, the house behind her dark. She pointed at us and said something I couldn’t hear from across the street.
Frowning, I opened my door. She raised her voice to a near scream. The rest of the houses on the block stayed silent.
No one was going to get involved with whatever this was.
Already out of the car, Nick had his hand raised, patting the air in front of him like he was trying to soothe the woman from a distance.
“Ma’am, ma’am,” Nick said. “I’m going to need you to calm down.”
She screamed again, but what I’d taken for rage was more complicated than that. The spell flowed out of her like a spider spinning a delicate web. It was invisible to the eye, but I felt the threads of magic like spider silk brushing my skin.
“Nick,” I said, my voice low. “She’s casting.”
“Do you know what spell?” Nick asked.
Shaking my head, I looked around us, waiting to see what her witchcraft would do.
“You come to my house? Threaten me?” the woman said, pointing at us again. She pulled a wand from a pocket in her mumu.
Then, with the grace of a conductor, she brought every ornament on her lawn to life.
“Is that—?” Nick broke off as a pink flamingo launched itself at him, scratching across my hood with its bound plastic feet. Its beak pierced the metal like a can opener.