Who Needs Enemies

Page 45

“Your grandmother obviously never had to sit in a car with you.”
“It ain’t that bad. Not yet, anyway. So you’ve got the she-dragon’s address?”
“Well, I’ve got the address of where they dumped the furniture. Whether that’s her address or not is anyone’s guess at this stage.”
“I don’t think the problem is going to be finding her,” Guy commented. “I think it’ll be convincing her to help us. I don’t like our chances, you know.”
Neither did I. But if the drug test didn’t reveal anything, then Rebecca might be Keale’s only real chance. We had to at least try.
Her house was a large, double fronted brick veneer with a double garage and a manicured garden. It wasn’t as big as some of the neighboring houses, but it certainly couldn’t be termed small by any means. My house would fit into it twice over, and there’d still be room for a dance floor.
“How are we going to play this?” Guy asked, his expression dubious as he studied the house.
“We don’t know if this is her place, or if she’s even home.” After all, there were no lights on.
“But if she is there?” He glanced at me. “If she jumps us, we’re dead.”
“Females are a lot smaller than males. She can’t take the two of us out at the same time. As long as we keep some distance between us, we should be fine.”
And if something did happen, then at least our follower would witness it.
“Keeping our head down won’t help if she decides to make us toast,” he grumbled.
“Think positive. Maybe she doesn’t like toast.”
Guy didn’t seem comforted by the thought. To be honest, neither was I. I climbed out of the car, then hesitated, and left not only my keys in the car, but also my cell phone. Guy didn’t generally carry a cell phone around, and if something went wrong—if Rebecca did attack me—then at least he had some way of marshaling help.
We headed up the driveway. The street light at the front of the property washed the lawn with brightness, yet the porch itself was crowded with shadows. Guy hung back while I walked up to the front door and pressed the bell. Inside, music played, the bass hard and heavy. Techno—an unusual choice for a dragon, as their hearing tended to be sensitive. Most seemed to prefer easy listening. Grandma stuff, as Guy called it.
I pressed the doorbell again. The music suddenly cut out and footsteps approached. As the door opened, the porch light came on, making me blink against the sudden brightness.
“Yes?” a woman asked, her voice low and somewhat sultry. It was the sort of voice that could have made her a fortune on the phone sex lines. “How may I help you?”
She was tall, at least three or four inches above my own five six, with sharp features and hair the color of icebergs—white, with a shimmery blue heart. Her eyes were an incandescent blue. Beautiful, and yet also alien.
And oddly, I was suddenly reminded of Numar’s description of the woman he’d met—a stunning blonde with beautiful blue eyes.
“How can I help you?”
I flashed my badge, then said, “I’m looking for Rebecca Price.”
“I’m she. What can I do for you?”
“We need to talk to you about Keale Finch.”
“We?”
She stepped forward enough to spot Guy and something flared in her eyes. Something that stirred fear deep inside.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly, “But I do not know who you are talking about.”
I resisted the urge to back away, and said, “Rebecca, we know that’s a lie. You talk to us, or you talk to the police. Your choice.”
Her gaze swept from me to Guy, but her cool expression didn’t change. “By all means, then, come in.”
I glanced at Guy. He didn’t look any more pleased about stepping into a dragon’s den than I felt, but there was little other choice. We needed answers, and this was our only way of getting them.
She led us into her living room. The furniture was expensive looking, antiques and leather filling the space. She sat down on one of the voluminous chairs, then motioned us toward the sofa. I sat. Guy remained standing behind me.
A cool smile touched her lips. “What do you wish to know?”
I studied her for a moment, then decided I might as well jump in feet first, even if we had absolutely nothing more than unsubstantiated suspicions. “We know you were the one who gave Keale Prevoron. We want to know who your accomplice was.”
She raised a pale eyebrow. “You’re making a pretty dangerous statement considering where you currently sit.”
Trepidation shivered through me. Though neither her expression nor position had changed, she suddenly seemed more on edge, more ready to attack. Guy felt it too, if the tension suddenly radiating off him was anything to go by.
“If you don’t help us,” I said, meeting her gaze and seeing that flare get deeper. “Then it’s a statement the police will be hearing.”
“And it is also one you cannot prove.”
Meaning she had been involved in drugging Keale? “Blood tests have been done, and we both know they will reveal the presence of Prevoron. They will also pinpoint the administration date.”
“Which will prove nothing, as Keale himself will confirm that our date had been called off that night. Besides, I would not be so sure that the drug test will reveal anything more than alcohol.”
“Alcohol you drip fed into his system after the administration of the drug.” It was another guess, but I suspected it was a correct one.
She raised her eyebrows, denying nothing, admitting nothing. I continued on, keeping my voice flat, unemotional. I had a bad feeling that if I didn’t, she’d explode—quite literally—into dragon form. “We also have a witness who will testify an elf was with you the night the drug was administered. That same elf was seen purchasing Prevoron. It’s enough, I believe, for the police to begin investigations.”
“They cannot investigate if they do not have the information. And they cannot get the information if you are dead.”
I smiled, but there was very little humor in it. “We are not foolish enough to have come here without ensuring someone not only knows where we are, but why we are here.”
And I was suddenly very glad Kaij had insisted on me having a tail.
“Why should I divulge any information? You can suspect my part in this alleged drugging event all you wish, but there is no proof. If there was, the police would be here rather than yourselves.”
She had that right. I studied her for a moment, and, for the second time that night, wished I could call on my siren magic.
“Rebecca, the man we suspect to be your partner in this has already killed several people. We believe he’s tying up ends and you may well be the next on his list.”
“Oh, he’s welcome to try, but I shall eat him before he does.”
It was a non-too-subtle reminder of what she was. Not that we needed reminding. I changed tact yet again. “I want the person behind this whole plot, not the administrator of the drug. But as I said before, I’m more than happy to go to the police if the latter does not give me the former.”
She smiled. There was nothing remotely pleasant or human about it. “I would not do that if I were you.”
The phone rang shrilly into the silence that followed her comment. She rose, the movement unhurried and graceful. “Please excuse me while I answer that.”
She walked from the room, and I released the breath I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding.
“Man,” Guy said, wiping a hand across his forehead. “That’s one cold reptile. I think a quick retreat is called for here. She isn’t going to tell us anything.”
“Probably not, but we have to at least try to convince her it’s in her best interest to help us.”
“And how do you propose to do that? I can tell you now, the Phillecky charm is not doing the job.”
“Well, it won’t because she’s female. But if we leave, Keale’s prison bait. We need more than just the fact he’s been drugged to get him off the hook.”
“And if we don’t leave, we’re dragon bait,” Guy muttered. “I’m telling you, she’s got that look in her eye.”
“I know. But I’m not leaving just yet.”
“Fucking hell,” he muttered. “Are you trying to send me gray?”
“Considering you’re bald, that would be quite a feat.”
“I’ve got hair were it counts, Harri my friend, but I’m telling you, gray is not a good look down there.”
I restrained my grin and looked around as Rebecca walked back into the room. There was something about the way she moved, something about the sharpness of her gaze, that had the hairs along the back of my neck rising.
“Now,” she said softly, as she sat down. “Where were we?”
I met her gaze calmly enough, but the need to move, to get the hell away from her, was becoming so intense my feet itched and my pulse raced. “What would it take to convince you to help us?”
Slowly, deliberately, she looked us both up and down. Sizing up her next meal, I thought, with an internal shiver. “Certainly more than you two have.”
“Well, that’s it then,” Guy said, his voice a little too loud and jovial. “We’d best get going.”
I rose, then paused. “Keale never did you any harm, Rebecca. He deserves better than this.”
And better than you, I wanted to add, but I wasn’t about to poke this particular reptile any more than I already had.
“You were foolish to come here in the first place,” she said, that gleam in her eye growing. “You must have known it would be of little use.”
I shrugged. “Keale’s our friend.”
“And friends look after each other,” she said, nodding. “A noble, if somewhat archaic, sentiment.”
I suddenly wondered just how old she was. A dragon’s life span far outstretched even that of elves, and I knew Keale, for all that he looked barely older than me, was just over a hundred years old. Given the way she used her words, Rebecca probably had at least that again behind her.