Centaur of the Crime: Book One of 'Fantasy and Forensics' (Fantasy & Forensics 1) (25 page)

“All of a sudden, I felt sleepy! Like I’d run all night without pause and then went to bask in the sun.”

I nodded, understanding. A dart from a tranquilizer gun. Another item from my world that Liam probably wouldn’t have dreamed of.

“I heard someone coming and tried to run, but I got all tangle-footed and fell down. Everything went black. And when I woke up–”

“Yes?” With a squeeze, I cut the plastic fastener in half and threaded it through the pea-sized hole in Liam’s ear.

“When I woke up, I was lying prone on my side, all stretched out. That thing was in my ear,” he said, nudging the tag in my hand. “And there was this man kneeling over me.”

Liam’s voice wavered between outrage and embarrassment. Had Fayleene been able to blush, I’d have bet that Liam’s face would’ve gone as red as the sun setting behind us.

“He…he was taking my temperature. Back there!” he squeaked, and his little triangular, puff-ball of a tail flicked twice in emphasis. “And it was…it was
cold!
”

“You poor thing,” I said, stroking him again.

“How ever did you get away?” Galen asked.

“Well,” Liam said, snuffling again, “I forgot that Dayna told us not to talk to anyone. I raised my head, looked at the man, and said:
‘Do you really have to do that?’
And…well, he
fainted!
”

“Truly, a brave escape,” Galen said, completely straightfaced. And of course, that came too damned close to making me bust up. I didn’t dare. The California Department of Fish and Game had already badly manhandled a member of Fayleene royalty—albeit unknowingly—and I wasn’t about to rub that in.

“Come on inside, Liam,” I coaxed. “Let’s get some dinner for you. I’m sorry they tagged you, but you’ll be all right in a little bit. The…protectors of our forests, they shot you with a dart that makes you go to sleep.”

“I wish they hadn’t done that.” Liam got up and walked, slowly, to the house with us. He grumbled under his breath. “Wish they hadn’t pierced my ear, either.”

Shaw lay sprawled on the kitchen floor, gnawing contentedly on a ham bone. He looked up as we came in and cocked his head in appraisal.

“Thou wishes they wouldn’t have what?”

“Shaw,” I said, “let him be for now. We’ll fill you in later.”

The griffin shrugged and went back to his gnawing. The gristly noise of beak on bone sounded like someone shaving ice with a squeaky metal ratchet.

Galen filled a bowl of water and set it in front of Liam. With a sigh, the Fayleene plunged his muzzle into the cool liquid. Next, the wizard pulled out the last head of lettuce I had in the crisper, set it on my cutting board, and began to chop it into bite-sized chunks with a handy knife. He didn’t look up as he spoke.

“Dayna, now that we’ve all come home to roost, I believe that it is time for you to tell us all what you’ve learned about Benedict’s killer. I have been more than patient in waiting for you to tell me what conclusions you have drawn.”

Liam stopped his soft slurping at the water bowl. Shaw paused his gnawing in mid-chew. Galen put the chopped lettuce down on the floor for Liam and looked at me expectantly.

“I’d like to know why you cut open the body at the morgue,” he said. “And what were those things you pulled out of it?”

I started to reply, but no words came out. My throat felt dry, parched. Damn it, I knew the truth, but I didn’t want to say it. Like somehow, the act of speaking would make it more real.

“That body,” I said, “the one you called the ‘foreign ambassador’?”

“Yes, the one from the coastal regions.”

“That was no ambassador. It’s Duke Kajari.”

Liam and Shaw stayed silent. Galen recoiled as if I’d slapped him.

“What are you saying?”

“The Kajari you’ve been serving for the past fortnight or more? He’s an actor. A fake. The real Duke is lying on the slab in the M.E.’s office.”

“But…how?”

“Albess Thea knows,” I said grimly. “Somehow, she knows. And she’s aware that no one’s going to take her seriously without proof. But in your world, she’s this kind of cross between Mother Theresa and the Speaker of the House.”

Galen struggled to figure out what I meant. “You mean that she can’t simply investigate on her own. Because she’s too visible.”

“Got it in one. That’s why she came up with the idea of bringing in someone from another world as an investigator. It’s why Duke Kajari—the one sitting on the Andeluvian throne, right now—fought against the idea. That’s why she told me that the Kajari I was dealing with was a fraud.”

“I still don’t understand, Dayna,” Galen said, “How did the Albess tell you?”

“She couldn’t do it outright,” I said, as I leaned against the countertop. “She didn’t feel safe enough for that. Too many ears about. So she told me in a roundabout way.”

“How very much like an owl.”

“She mentioned that she and ‘some of the nobles at court’ had kidney issues. Andeluvia treats kidney problems the way we used to, up to the last century. Today, we use drugs. Back then, we used what you do: herbal lore. Specifically, juniper berries.”

Galen nodded. “I do recall the Duke having fresh ones brought down from the mountains, once a week. How did this information convince you that the real Kajari is the one back in your morgue?”

I tapped my nose. “Because I know the scent of gin. It’s dry, acidic, and reminds me of old juniper. It’s the scent of a gin-drinker, and that’s what I smelled on that body in the morgue. Once Shelly mentioned the high calcium content of the blood, I knew I had to check once and for all.”

“Check for what?”

“Kidney stones. That’s what I pulled out of that body. It’s the only reason anyone would ingest quantities of juniper berries—to de-calcify urine.”

“Thy logic is sound, as it goes,” Shaw interjected. “The false Kajari, then. Who might he be?”

“I don’t know. But either he’s a powerful wizard, or he’s got one on his side. Someone in Galen’s weight class.”

Galen bristled a little at that. “And as I told you before, I’d know if anyone capable of that level of power were to open a door to another world! The court wizards of Andeluvia have watched and recorded these events for centuries. No one’s ever done more than remotely scry on your world.”

“Then someone’s figured out a way to block or confound you,” I retorted. “Galen, twenty years ago, someone opened a portal to my world from yours. My father and I…we encountered one of the Fayleene.”

Liam gave me a strange look. “You’ve met my kind before? Why did you not say so?”

“It’s…Liam, it’s difficult.” I said, abruptly embarrassed. “I want to tell you. But now’s not the right time. I promise, I’ll tell you later.”

“I recall hearing that phrase come from your lips earlier today, Dayna,” Galen said sternly. “When would you be scheduling this ‘later’?”

“Galen, you don’t know what’s going on!” I came back at him.

“Do I not? If you’re right, I’ve been serving a traitor to the throne.” His face bore a pained expression as he added, “One who murdered my King.”

“Enough, ‘ere I grow sick,” Shaw declared, with a stamp that made the house shudder. “Quench thy sorrow, wizard. Dip it in the blood of your enemy. Return us hither to Andeluvia and we will end this!”

“Yes!” Liam agreed. “I say we go back.”

“I don’t like it!” I interjected. “He’ll be prepared, waiting for us. We need to catch him here, where we can take the advantage!”

“Then we reveal the villain to the Andeluvian court,” Galen insisted.

“That’s too damned risky! He knows he’s in a highly exposed spot there. He’ll have something ready. If he has allies, like Master Seer Zenos, they’ll be there, ready to strike.”

“Dayna,” Galen said, “truly, I like your idea of catching our opponent on the off-hoof. But we must finish this in Andeluvia, for if our foe will not come to your world–”

The wizard’s voice faded as the kitchen was bathed in blue light. Shaw looked down in surprise at his medallion, which sparkled like a neon sapphire.

Liam’s ears perked up. The fur on the back of his neck stood at attention. As if the Fayleene prince had touched his nose to an electric generator.

“He’s here,” Liam whispered. “He’s crossed over.”

“You mean–”

“Yes. He’s in
this
world now.”

Chapter Thirty

Right then, standing in my kitchen, I felt fear lay its cold fingers on my shoulders as if I’d walked into the chiller room at the morgue. I knew that Duke Kajari—whoever he really was—would come to my world. I’d counted on it, as a matter of fact.

But Liam’s hushed announcement made it real. Threatening. Cold.

“He’s here,” the Fayleene princeling repeated. Fur bristled all over Liam’s body. His ears lay down flat against his skull. Classic signs of alarm.

“Right,” I said. “Can you tell where he is?”

Liam looked up. “I’m sorry, Dayna.”

“Shaw,” I said hurriedly, “maybe if you get airborne…”

But Galen shook his head. The bright blue glow of Shaw’s medallion dimmed like a flashlight running on dying batteries. The griffin reached up with a forepaw and batted the medallion once or twice in irritation, but the light died out.

“I could only give it a single, brief charge,” Galen said, apologetically.

“Dammit!” I cursed. Frustrated, I stalked out to the living room. I flicked the lights on in irritation as the dim evening light finally failed. Think. There had to be something I could do.

There just had to be something.

Behind me, Galen cleared his throat. Liam and Shaw stood in his shadow.

“Dayna, we each feel the disappointment in our bones,” Galen said. “But maybe we’ll have to draw Kajari out. Be the bait.”

“I don’t want to put any of you at risk,” I said crossly. “Our one chance at surprise, and we blew it! We need to find this Kajari, shut him down now!”

Galen shook his head in acknowledgement. And right then, in the middle of the silence that followed, Liam spoke up.

“Perhaps…I mean…is it really necessary? To find Kajari’s impostor? What if we set our sights towards something else?”

I wasn’t sure where Liam was going with this. But now wasn’t the time to be critical. Oh, heck no.

“That burst of magic just then…it was enough to give me the sense of it. The ‘spoor of the spell’, we Fayleene call it.”

“Enough to track with?”

“Not the person who cast it, no.” Liam said, with a flick of his punctured ear. “I’d have to be a lot closer to the source of the spell. Magic doesn’t linger on people, on any kind of living thing. But magic leaves traces on other things. Objects.”

I considered it. If I understood this right, this was just like fingerprinting. It was hard to leave a print on someone’s skin. But on a drinking glass or a countertop, that was easy.

“There’s a number of things here in your house that have Galen’s trace on it. But now that I’ve scented this new magic…there’s one trace which I thought was Galen’s but is not. It must be Kajari’s.”

Liam stepped up to me and nudged my jacket with his nose. I dug my hand into my pocket. Pulled out the bullets that I’d analyzed back in the lab.

“I can’t use this to find Kajari, but I think I can locate the rifle.”

“We can use that,” I said, heart pounding. “We find that weapon, we find Kajari.”

Liam paused for a second. “But Dayna, this vast city of yours, it confuses me, confounds me like a labyrinth. I don’t think I can direct you, don’t think I can convey what I see in my mind. Unless…”

“Speak thy mind, Fayleene prince,” urged Shaw.

“Unless you join your minds to my own.”

“Liam, this will be very taxing on you,” Galen warned. “The poison from the dart was quite potent. You are still fighting it.”

“My unluckiness is my own curse, my own problem to deal with,” Liam said, with a stamp of one hoof. “Dayna’s right. We must take this chance.”

Galen began to object. He thought better of it, and simply nodded.

“Gather round me,” Liam said. “Galen, Dayna…when I tell you to, each of you place a hand on my antlers. Then lay your other hand on Shaw.”