Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
I enjoyed toying with him to see how many of his buttons I could push.
The Diamond Ward
Dragon Heights, Wyoming
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the opulence of the Diamond Regal Hotel located a mile away from the police station.
I appreciated that the hotel and staff worked to aid us however they could on our search for knowledge.
They provided coffee in vast quantity, numerous tables for us, extension cords so we could power our stuff, and otherwise gave us all the space we needed to sort the hundreds upon hundreds of boxes loaded with financial evidence.
An older man approached me, and I groaned as I recognized the bastard as one of the nastiest pieces of work ever to employed by a law enforcement agency. Unfortunately for me, Pascal Dolores, a Mexican-Italian with a love of all things British, adored tormenting me.
In secret, I enjoyed toying with him to see how many of his buttons I could push.
Upon learning Dolores meant sorrow or pain and was typically a given name rather than a family one, I’d taken to reminding him he was a pain in my ass at every opportunity.
“Did they dredge you out of retirement so you could resume being a thorn in my side? Or have you upgraded to becoming a pain in my ass?”
He laughed. “After hearing about that nonsense over in Miami, I didn’t think I’d get to see you again, Ramons. How did those dragons convince you to grace them with your infinite wisdom?”
“Apparently, I’m sleeping with the commissioner’s son, which didn’t really have anything to do with it, much to my surprise.
It turns out Erik is a yellow, and after hearing about my prowess with the financials, they wanted me batting for them.
They wrangled a PI license for me, and they’re paying me to help them out with the numbers.
” I eyed the massive piles of boxes. “Frankly, nobody is paid enough to deal with this mess, but I’m not one to back down from a challenge.
How did you get sent over here? You’re an east coaster, and you do not like when the FBI sends you elsewhere. ”
“I heard you were batting for Dragon Heights during the request for volunteers and thought it’d be a good change of pace. I hear you’re growing into your purple roots nicely, little hatchling.”
I chuckled and shrugged. “It beats dealing with false accusations of necromancy. Now, this case is about necromancy from top to bottom in addition to trafficking, so we’re going to be busy.” I heaved my most dramatic sigh. “And challenged.”
“Poor little hatchling, being thrown into work you excel at. I pity you so much.” Pascal snickered, joined me at the table I’d claimed as mine, and thumped his briefcase onto the cloth.
“For the record, I am a black dragon, and I have mastered the art of tricking most everyone into believing I’m a regular human.
That makes me rather competent at handling issues in places like Miami, where prejudices are alive and well.
I had figured out there was something unusual about you, but I had assumed you were a navy dragon-kin bucking the navy mold.
Now that I know what I know about your parents, I pity you extra. ”
“Let me guess. You pity me for having to deal with my parents all the time.” I shook my head, marveling over how my mother and father had managed to terrorize an entire species.
“I appreciate that your sense of sarcasm seems to have survived without me. The world might have ended had your sarcasm deceased due to my departure from Florida.”
“I saw Erik at the station, and I have a question.”
“Uh oh. That can’t be good. As it seems you have confessed your status as a black dragon, was he fibbing about something?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. Why wasn’t he being honest about you being his fiancée?”
“I took him to a courthouse to calm his anxious ass down, and I’ll pluck all your scales should you inform anyone of that.
We went to Casper. So do me a favor, making use of the little benevolence allocated to your dark heart, and inform the nosy black dragons to ignore the moderate amounts of fibbing going on.
We’ve even settled the matter of who is changing their name, and as I am a proud Ramons hatchling, it isn’t me.
” I grabbed one of the stacks of banking documents destined to drive me crazy, which consisted of deposits to Madam Merorie in a narrow window of values ranging between five-fifty and six-seventy.
“Do traffickers really pay as little as five to six hundred for victims?”
“It would be multiple transactions for a single victim. The first payment would happen upon turning over the victim to the traffickers. The second would come a week or two later and be masked as a payment for something similar if for an item or service. The better groups offer fifteen hundred to three thousand per victim. The cheaper outfits do offer as low as five hundred, though.” Pascal leaned towards me and eyed the sheets.
“Yeah, I’ve seen that method before. Several large-scale trafficking groups do it that way. ”
I considered getting onto the floor and hiding under the table, using its long cloth to mask my presence. “What are the odds of us being able to track down the victims?”
“With this much financial information on a supplier, surprisingly good if we can isolate the accounts and punch through their net. Considering the age of these files and how the local news is fixated on the mass murders, the traffickers likely aren’t doing a good job of covering their tracks.
They’ve been in operation for decades using this method, so they’re comfortable that it’s working.
Call it a coin flip for if we can track them down and make some recoveries. ”
That helped some. “Should I apologize now for the volume of files we need to go through?”
“Kinsley, considering the fact you got this far without formal education in trafficking investigations, you’re doing a wonderful job.
This is one of the few times I’ve come onto the scene with the information I need readily available.
Usually, I’d be losing a few days making the requests for everything.
You’re fine. I know you’re probably rusty, but that’s what I’m here for.
Talk me through the case, and let’s see what we can come up with. ”
In the past, talking everything out had helped, I foresaw our conversation at least pointing us in the right direction.
“First, I would like to quietly disclose that I have had my purple hatchling hands all over this case, but I’ve been holding back some information because I’m still thinking about what I’ve seen with my magic. ”
“That’s fine. As long as you tell me when you’re not comfortable with discussing something, I can work around that.
” Pascal reached over and patted my shoulder.
“And working openly is new territory for you. You’re not crazy.
Yes, you’re seeing the past. And depending on your lineage, how you see the past can be colored by your other magic.
And considering you’re the daughter of a Scaretti dragon and a Ramons dragon, you’re probably a bit of a disaster on the magic front. ”
“You’re never going to get over that, are you?”
“When your parents got married, we were convinced it would end in a murder. Instead, they wandered off, had a little hatchling, and hid her from our entire species.”
“Apparently, both sides of my family know I exist, but I haven’t met them yet.
I think my parents have been trying to ease everyone into the meeting.
I’m not sure if that’s because they’re overbearing, if they’re worried about frightening our carbunclo, or if they’re afraid I’ll be overwhelmed by how many relatives I have.
Honestly, they should be more worried I might take after my mother and father.
I’ve survived going to the Millson house for dinner twice so far, although the second time required detox. ”
The black dragon snickered. “I heard about that. Gossip spreads faster than any fire around here, and there’s little as cute as two hatchlings getting completely sloshed and causing trouble.
And that all you two did was flirt with each other while playing a brawl drinking game?
It’s good entertainment. And yes, the purple dragons spread the news around, suggesting that if you two are spotted with alcohol, a responsible dragon should be called onto the scene to prevent mayhem. ”
Well, there were worse things people could be gossiping about, my family included.
“Honestly, if we had created any mayhem, his family would have caught us long before we’d downed that many bottles.
And after the first bottle, I’m pretty sure I was drunk enough no magic was going to dredge up half those memories.
And after dealing with this case, I’m refusing to feel any remorse over my behavior. ”
“I’ve had days like that.” Pascal dug out a tablet and a stylus from his briefcase along with a small keyboard, which he set up on the table. “Walk me through the case in chronological order—or as close to chronological order as you can.”
The girl and her sickle would be a problem, but as I would need the FBI’s help tracking down the London auction, if at all possible, I would need to include them, although I would exclude some choice tidbits.
“You’re aware that as a purple dragon, I can get imprints, usually from bodies, but it need not always be a body? ”
“You won’t be the first purple to suffer in such ways, nor will you be the last. Picking up memories from objects is harder, though. I take it you have done this at least once?”
“I’ve done it at least once,” I confirmed. “Unfortunately, I’m not sure how reliable this is, so there’s a great deal of guesswork going on here. It’s hard enough getting any information at all, and the older the incident, the harder it is.”