Chapter 19 #5
Lucas watched her for a moment, then turned back to the other Arcana. “You gave her this task to delay her from understanding the truth. Do you suspect? Or do you know?”
The Ferryman smiled. “Does it matter?”
15
Alistair watched the faces of his guests as the main course, brought out on a specially made wooden serving platter, was placed on the table.
He’d invited the men who had been with him on the yacht and had filled the other chairs at the table with some of King’s Hill’s politicians, a couple of actors who had recently starred in a successful play, and some society women who might have been fucking some of the men at the table.
He’d refused to allow his chef to cook the fish with its head and tail still on the body, so those parts had been reconstructed using aspic.
He’d wanted the rest of the fish to be presented in one piece, but it hadn’t been physically possible to cook the fucking thing without cutting it up.
Now he had to admit that his chef had been clever about dividing the fish into the number of pieces needed to feed his guests, but it was all arranged on the board to look like the fish was still the monstrous adversary he’d fought.
His servants plated the pieces of fish and offered the various dishes of vegetables before retreating to one side of the dining room.
The men who had been with him had already shown everyone else the videos they’d taken of his battle—and the fish’s attack on Martin Chandler and himself before he subdued it.
He was no longer the younger brother who never quite measured up. Now he had the wealth and the power backed by the Hampton name. Now…
The mayor of King’s Hill put down his utensils and reached for his wine. “What kind of fish did you say this was? It tastes…odd.”
“It might be the way the chef prepared it,” Alistair replied. He stabbed at his piece and ate a mouthful. “Tastes fine to me.”
His guests ate small amounts of the fish, but it was obvious none of them liked it. Damn that chef. He should have brought in someone who specialized in preparing seafood instead of letting a nobody cook create such an important meal.
“What is that?” One of the actors shoved her chair back from the table and stared at her plate.
Her companion poked at her piece of fish with his fork. “It’s…God! It’s the broken skull of a small fish. Look at those teeth.”
The woman clapped a hand over her mouth and stumbled away from the table. A servant waved her to the door and hurried her out of the room.
“Pretty funny her getting squeamish like that,” one of Alistair’s friends said. “I heard she’d swallow anything—or anyone.”
Some of the men laughed. The rest looked insulted or angry.
Alistair stabbed at his piece of fish and hit something hard. Not caring how it looked, he used his fork and fingers to dig through the flesh until he found what had been hidden. He held up a silver coin. “What the fuck?”
Exclamations. Sounds of disgust—and fear—as everyone shoved away from the table.
He looked around the table. Looked at the meat on his plate. It was cooked, but it no longer looked like fish.
In another part of the mansion, someone started screaming.
16
Charles Forrester sat across from Grace Russell, Markus Seibert, and Laci Tower. He’d come to Russell’s precinct in King’s Hill because she was the one scrambling to investigate a bizarre dinner party where Alistair Hampton had served his brother, Reginald Hampton III, as the main course.
“Videos taken by Alistair’s friends show him catching a game fish that doesn’t look like anything the local fish and game people recognize,” Russell said.
“But he hooked it and fought it until it bit through the line, leaped into the boat, and attacked Martin Chandler and Alistair. I don’t think those videos were faked. ”
“The videos weren’t faked,” Charles said.
“Alistair Hampton caught an unknown species of game fish. I considered the possibility that, as a twisted joke, Alistair had arranged for the fish to transform into a shape resembling his brother while his guests were eating, and then letting them think they’d eaten human flesh.
However, the Arcana said they have never made a bargain with Alistair Hampton. ”
“But they might have made one with Reginald Hampton?” Seibert asked.
“ ‘He made a bargain with us, and he broke it.’ That’s what I was told.
I was also told that if Reginald had eluded fishermen for one more day, what he owed the Arcana would have been paid in full, and he would have transformed back into a man.
That’s why we were alerted the other evening that there might be a man in the water and the patrol boats should be on the lookout. ”
“So it’s just bad luck?” Russell said. “Alistair Hampton goes out fishing with friends; hooks the game fish everyone has been trying to catch; kills it in what looks like self-defense, since the fish did attack Hampton’s head of security; and then serves the damn thing for dinner on the anniversary of his brother’s disappearance. ”
“Some might call it fate,” Charles replied. “What goes around comes around.”
“We found a young woman in Hampton’s penthouse apartment,” Seibert said.
“She’d been beaten and locked in a bedroom.
En suite bathroom provided water, but she had no food and no medical attention.
Turns out that was typical of Alistair’s treatment of her.
Chandler was bringing her food, but he’s been out of it on painkillers while his arm heals, and no one else had been instructed to go in and look after her. ”
“Between finding her and that dinner party, I doubt Alistair will recover from the scandal,” Russell said.
“Especially with the rumors going around that he somehow realized the fish was Reginald and he beat its head in to stop his brother from returning and retaking control of the family’s wealth. Do you think that’s possible?”
Charles looked into her tired eyes. “Unless he admits it, we’ll never know.”
“Well, according to the butler at the Hampton mansion, Alistair is currently under a doctor’s care for a nervous breakdown and is recovering at an unknown location.
Since Albert Palmer’s shooting four boys while they were wild dogs may be a precedent, depending on how the courts work things out, Alistair may be facing criminal charges for his brother’s death.
He’ll certainly be facing charges for the woman’s assault and imprisonment. ”
Their meeting concluded, Charles said nothing while Russell escorted him out of her precinct. As he opened the outer door, she said, “Do you think the Arcana knew what was going to happen?”
He considered what to say. “They make bargains with us, Grace. They don’t care about our morality, only their own. They didn’t make a bargain with Alistair Hampton, but they were aware of him because they had helped a woman escape from his abuse.”
“Rachel Nightingale. His fiancée. She went missing almost a year ago.”
Charles hesitated.
Russell nodded. “Between you and me.”
“Yaron Kali knew the penalty he would pay if he returned to Wyrd, but he was given a choice—not for his sake but for Detective Kali’s. Perhaps the Arcana’s decision to do nothing to stop what happened with Alistair and Reginald Hampton was their way of protecting someone else.”
17
Lucas Frost placed a sheet of paper with six addresses on his desk, then laid a key ring with six keys on top of it.
He wasn’t sure whose idea it was to put plastic caps on the keys to color-coordinate them with stickers next to the addresses—or where or when the caps and stickers were purchased.
It was simple and practical, but he had the feeling that it was also meant to annoy because it was simple and practical.
“There are six residences currently available in the Teeth. I want you to look them over and choose the one you think will be the best fit for the newest resident.”
Beth Fahey eyed the keys and the addresses, then looked him in the eyes. “Is there a reason you want me out of the park today?”
“No.” It was interesting that that was her first assumption. “You have lived across the river. You would know what a human woman would need to settle in comfortably.”
“Shouldn’t she choose her own home?”
He’d had a few months to observe how Beth balanced loyalties.
She might be a bit reckless with her own life while performing her duties, but never with someone else’s.
“She’ll be going through her return transformation next week.
Some people make the transition easily and only need a couple of days to readjust to the human form.
Others need longer to recover. In this case, having a home where she can put away her belongings while making the mental and emotional adjustments would be helpful. ”
“What can you tell me about her?” Beth asked. “Is there anything specific she would need?”
“She is a writer, so she will need a place to work within her home. She also has a publisher and agent who will be allowed to visit Wyrd and stay at the hotel or in one of the guest cabins.”
“No outsiders visit the Teeth. I remember.” Beth stared at the paper and the keys. “I read a variety of books. Would I have heard of her?”
“Not yet. Her name is Rahele Larke.”
She looked at him, then at the paper. “Ah.”
“You should pack an overnight bag, in case you miss the last shuttle coming back to the park.”
“Not necessary.”
No, it wouldn’t be. He could see she understood. Her body might be mostly human, but her heart—and her understanding of the uncanny—were Arcana.
He held out an envelope. “While you’re there, you could deliver this.”
Beth looked at the name, looked at the address, and then looked at the list. She took the envelope—and smiled.
18