Chapter 6
SIX
The game amused me, and it would for possibly years to come.
The Pearl Ward
Dragon Heights, Wyoming
Armed with the requirement list for my new piece, I bounced into the gun shop, ready to indulge and take home a new friend with me. As I liked my Flamerunner and Blazewing, I headed over to the cabinet with firearms by the same manufacturer, hoping they had something that checked off every box.
Neither of my beauties checked off every box, and I would take advantage of the situation and ride two horses in style.
Alastair stared at me, and after a moment, he laughed. “You’re in a good mood. What do you need, Kinsley?”
I waved the requirement sheet in the air. “What do you have by these folks that meet requirements for the local police? They’re letting me take Erik on a date to their range, but I have to bring my own gun, and I have to use the same fare the cops have.”
“They do make one, but it’s even more expensive than the Blazewing.
It’s the Phoenix line. They have both a semi-auto and auto variant, and one is going to run you twenty grand.
They’re excellent firearms and get top marks for reliability and accuracy.
The kick on the auto will take your teeth out if you’re not careful.
The semi-auto is kinder. It has a reputation of being a lady’s gun. ”
I raised a brow. “What is a lady’s gun? Because if I pick up a machine gun and open fire, that is now a lady’s gun because I’m a lady.”
Alastair snickered. “Ladies are dangerous, pretty, and expensive as hell, so a lady’s gun is dangerous, pretty, and expensive as hell and especially dangerous if in the hands of a lady.”
“Show me the semi-auto version. Apparently, we’re not allowed to have autos unless cleared, and there’s a handwritten note that I am not cleared.
I might take over.” Captain Andretti had jotted that in, much to Erik’s amusement, upon informing us we were to leave and get done the rest of the work on our list for the day, including two hours at the range.
“I wasn’t so sure about this private investigation gig, but now I like it.
Captain Andretti thinks I might get Erik’s firearm skills up to Diamond Ward standards.
Honestly, I’m going to be more worried about getting myself up to Diamond Ward standards first.”
Erik eyed me. “You don’t really think you’re going to have a problem with that, do you?”
“I’m going to find out if I have a problem with it after we’re done here and do our time at the range.
Captain Andretti has made it clear if I’m going to be playing with the nice officers of the law, I have to do my time at the range.
If I don’t do the range time, I am not a respectable private investigator.
I tried to remind him I’m working for them as an accountant, but he ignored me.
” I waved the sheet of paper again. “He’s ruthless, because in reality, he’s using me to give you better firearms training. You’re not good enough yet, sir.”
My fiancé scowled.
After a few moments, I smiled. “Your move, sir.”
With a low chuckle, Alastair went to the same cabinet that had housed my Flamerunner and Blazewing, pulling down a mahogany box from the top shelf, which was carved in a phoenix motif.
“I don’t have two of these to sell you, and I had to enter a lottery to get this one.
The price tag drives away most customers, but this is the best on the market that meets law enforcement requirements for Dragon Heights.
If you wish to launch an attack on those nasty dragons, the Ramons have a tab with us, you have been authorized to bill firearms and ammunition to them, and your limit is higher than that piece. ”
My parents loved me and wanted me to know it, although I worried that everyone in the city thought they were nasty.
What they did with each other behind closed doors counted, but nobody in Dragon Heights believed they liked each other enough to reproduce.
“Absolutely do bill them, and tell them it’s a surcharge for their poor behavior while in Dragon Heights. ”
The iron dragon snickered. “I’ll do that. Do you want to try her before you buy her?”
“Nope. I’ll try her at the range. Also, I need a bullet case and some lethal rounds for my purse for the derringer. Erik’s boss has demanded I carry some ammunition that might do some real damage. I’m to use the pepper spray rounds first.”
Alastair nodded. “Smart man. Andretti, right?”
“That’s right.”
“I have what you need, and I can have you out of here in thirty minutes so you can head over to the range and meet your new lady. I’ll sell you a cleaning kit just for her, as she’s a princess and deserves to be coddled.”
I snickered at the thought of the iron dragon coddling a firearm. “Sure. I’ll make Erik keep the kit in his locker at his work so I can take care of my little princess while I’m waiting for him.”
“I’m sure I can fit your cleaning kit in my locker.”
Unbeknownst to him, I’d already been assigned a locker, but it was tucked in the general supply closet and meant for overflow.
The station’s equipment manager, who was among the few outside of the upper management to know the truth of the situation, had shuffled everything and disguised my locker in such a way anyone seeing me use it would assume I had been told to play fetch.
The game amused me, and it would for possibly years to come.
Dragons liked their secrets, and there was no better position for me to be in than undercover, working as a private investigator in the open while making use of law enforcement resources to help the community I served from the shadows.
Eventually, I expected my work to take me into the darker parts of society, but for the moment, I would work towards closure in the mercury dragon case.
If there were trafficked people out there, I would do my best to find them, no matter where the journey took me.
And if a trafficking group formed in Dragon Heights, I would eradicate it.
Enough people had suffered at Madam Merorie’s hands.
Even if it took me the rest of my life, I would erase anything she might have left as a legacy and leave her memory shrouded in shame.
* * *
Tuesday, May 19, 2167
The Diamond Ward
Dragon Heights, Wyoming
With eternal patience, one of the spirits from the Valley of Thorns sat across from me in the conference room and waited. Garnet stared at the apparition, her fur standing on end.
Tourmaline left, clicking and whistling.
As the hummingbird showed more common sense than most people, I assumed he went to retrieve someone to document the ghost and hopefully prevent a haunting. In life, the woman would have turned heads with her beauty, which I assumed had led to her demise at Madam Merorie’s hands.
Fortunately for me, the police station had a copy of Scrabble, and I had possessed the foresight to borrow it. I’d even taken the game out of its box and set it up on the end of the table.
After witnessing the limited ability of ghosts to interact with the world around them, I could only assume something about Death Mile had amplified their abilities enough to manipulate the board.
I got up, went to the tiles, and began sorting them.
I spelled ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and placed those tiles on opposite ends of the board so there would be no chance of misunderstanding such a question.
Then I laid out all letters of the alphabet in two rows so she could point at the correct letter she needed to spell out anything of importance, including her name.
“I’m Kinsley.” I finished setting up the board and gestured to the tiles. “Do you have information for me?”
She got up, came to the Scrabble board, and pointed to yes.
Garnet squeaked, transformed into her wisp shape, and fled from the room.
After I finished my unscheduled interview with the dead, I would seek out my carbunclo and do my best to comfort her. As Tourmaline had flown away shortly after her arrival, I assumed I wasn’t the only one able to see her.
Excellent. I wouldn’t get as much out of her as other witnesses due to the nature of our conversation, but something was better than nothing and might point me in the correct direction.
I sat near the board and gestured her to join me at the seat I’d already pulled out, anticipating the difficulties spirits had interacting with the world around them.
With a relieved expression, she joined me.
“Do you have any concerns for any living who may be endangered?”
She shook her head, and she confirmed her answer by pointing at ‘no’ on the board.
My disappointment warred with my relief.
I wanted to find anything on the living people in need of rescue, but if I could even get a single scrap of information from the spirit, it would be time well spent.
“Were you kidnapped and killed by this woman?” I reached across the table, snagged several pictures of Madam Merorie, and laid them out beside the Scrabble board for the woman to examine.
She heaved a sigh and nodded, and she pointed at one of the older pictures, taken before the mercury dragon had taken to wearing horns filled with the toxic substance.
Ignoring my work tablet, I grabbed a fresh notebook and a pen, clicked it, and requested, “Please spell your name for me. When you are finished with a part of your name, wave your hand before you resume spelling.”
Before Garnet’s arrival in my life, I had understood helpless despair and lacking any hope of things changing. Her expression changed, a mix of wonder and relief splashed with determination. She did as directed, informing me that her name was Loraine Mirabelle Smith.
Making use of the laptop Captain Andretti had brought me, I typed her name into the missing persons database. Sure enough, I found a reference for a woman matching her description. “Were you born in North Carolina in 2082?”
She pointed to yes.