Maggie Get Your Gun (11 page)

Chapter 17

The cops had come and gone, zipping up ol’ Isaac Smith in a
body bag and wheeling him off to the morgue.  I was completely useless as they
interviewed me.  I had nothing on Mr. Smith.  No address, no contact
information, nada.  It sounded kind of lame to say, “I barely knew the guy.”

Except I barely knew the guy.  He showed up out of nowhere
and paid in cash.  I hated him, but I also kinda wished he wasn't dead.  I gave
the police the phone number I had and hoped maybe they could do some sort of a reverse
trace and track down the guy’s next of kin. 

Killian was a sport and hung out with me through the whole
ordeal.  The claw marks in the floor and walls made it pretty clear I was more
of a “target” than a “suspect”, but it’s just never fun times giving a
statement, especially when you’ve got to “conveniently” leave out that you were
brawling with some vampires the night before and had smuggled in an illegal
artifact that was sitting in your pocket.

The moment I mentioned that in his final moments Mr. Smith
pointed the finger at Vaclav, I saw the nod of “case closed” pass between the
investigators.  Things wrapped up pretty quick after that.  You piss off the
wrong people on The Other Side and everyone sort of figures you get what’s
coming to you, you know?

After the law had left, Killian and I were stuck waiting
for the cleanup fairy to arrive.  It’s best to be present.  If you don’t watch,
they’ll replace the cobwebs with rainbows and leave glitter all over your shit.

I spun slowly in my chair, staring up at the ceiling fans,
“Do you think they got what they needed from Mr. Smith or do you think we get
to look forward to taking our relationship with Vaclav to a whole new level?”

Killian rubbed his cheek thoughtfully, “It seems those
combs are of great interest to a number of parties.”

I stopped spinning, "Do you get the feeling we're
missing something?"

He nodded.

I got up and walked over to a great big chalkboard my dad
and I sometimes used to map things out.  I picked up the chalk and drew a
couple stick figures.  I was a tracker, not an art major.  But the stick
figures would do the job.

“We’ve got three missing combs.”

“Indeed.”

“We’ve got one missing necklace.”

“Indeed.”

I drew a little guy with glasses, “So Mr. Smith, over here,
had some sort of grand master plan to gather up all these things and destroy
them, hopefully to weaken the vampires.”

I drew a bunch of vampires and gave them little fangs.

“Yes.”

“And Vaclav just killed Mr. Smith, probably with the same
werewolves who attacked Xiaoming and my dad,” I said as I crossed out Mr. Smith
and gave one of the vampires a little trophy.

“We assume.”

"Wonder how that all came to pass..."

Vampires and werewolves?  They do not like one another.  It
is like… worse than pirates against ninjas.

"There have been stranger bedfellows," Killian
pointed out.

I looked at all the little vampires on the board, “The
Empress had the combs and necklace made because she wanted to build an army.  Vaclav
would want these artifacts, most likely, because he’d like to build himself a
little army, too.  But it’s got to make him pissed, that one comb is destroyed,
the necklace disappeared, and I’ve got the other comb.”

“It would make me angry.”

I bounced the chalk in my hand a couple times, trying to
see what I was missing, “But why send the note?  Why threaten Mr. Smith’s life
in exchange for the comb, and then kill Mr. Smith before I had a chance to hand
it over?”

“As a message to you?”

“Anyone as old as Vaclav knows you can’t kill your hostages
if you expect to bargain.”

“It does not make sense, but that is not unheard of when
dealing with vampires.”

“Okay, so taking a step back,” I drew some more little
vampires around Vaclav, “let’s assume he is building an army.  But why now? 
What’s his motive?  You know, besides being evil to the core and viewing the
world as an untapped resource of food and entertainment?”

I snapped my fingers.

“That’s it.  What the vampire in the mine said!”

“You had enough time to chat with a vampire down in the
mine prior to killing him?” asked Killian. “Was this before or after you served
tea and braided each other’s locks?”

I gave him a look, “It happened WHILE I was killing him,
thank you very much.  I'm fully capable of multitasking.”

“I am pleased to hear you have not accidentally grown a
heart.”

“Ha ha,” I replied.  “As he was trying to bite through my
neckguard, the vampire asked me which side I was on.  He asked me if I was in
league with Vaclav.”

“…which would mean…?”

“Which would mean there is someone out there who is AGAINST
Vaclav.”

“Are not we all?”

“I mean another vampire.   This vampire that I staked must
be part of a swarm of vampires hiding out in the desert that is against
Vaclav.  And they had the quartz comb.”

Killian nodded his head and smiled, “I find the thought of
two warring factions of vampires a pleasant one.”

“Right?  I love it when they decide to kill each other
off!  It makes my life SO much easier,” I said, adding a whole army of little
vampires on the other side of my board.

“Except that it means the strongest are the ones who
survive…”

“Strongest yet weakened,” I pointed out, “because all their
slightly less strong buddies have been wiped out.  If Vaclav is desperate
enough to start attacking folks in broad daylight…”

“It means he is desperate,” said Killian, completing my
thought.

I went in for a high five and Killian left me hanging.

"We're rockin' and rollin'," I said.  "Up
top!"

He looked at my hand and pointed, "I have no idea what
that means."

"You don't know how to high five?"

"I am an elf."

I took his hand and slapped it against mine, "Moving
on... Dad is hidden out in Ghost Town…”

“We should perhaps inform him that Mr. Smith will not be
providing future employment opportunities.”

I pulled out my phone, “I’ll text him now and let him know we
have the second comb.  Hopefully someday he'll get it.”

Killian gave me a thumbs up.

"Oh?  You can't high-five but you know thumbs
up?" I said.

"There was a Roman emperor who executed or spared his
gladiators based solely upon the direction of his thumb," he explained, "and
also there was a singing competition on television."

I shook my head as I grabbed the eraser, “All that is left
is to find the missing necklace and kick back, secure in the knowledge that we
have screwed up Vaclav’s day.”

“I am particularly drawn to the notion of ‘kicking back’,
Maggie.”

“You’ll kick back soon enough, Killian.”

There was something else that was bugging me though. 
Sometimes my mom’s gift of foresight rears its head to let me know I missed
something important.  Like that one time when it tried to tell me to steer
clear of Mr. Smith.

I looked at the board, “I wonder who could have gotten
inside of the secure apartment of a witch to steal the necklace, and then would
be so bold as to frame a genie?  Genies will mess you up if they catch you
doing something like that.”

“Someone who wanted the necklace very badly?”

“It's gotta be the other crew.  It couldn't be Vaclav,” I
mused.

“Why so?”

“Because he’s desperate.  If he’s desperate, that means he
doesn’t have the necklace.”

Killian shrugged, “That would imply it was the other
vampire group who stole it from the safe.”

“Yah,” I said, mulling it over.  “I think that’s it.”

Something still wasn’t right, but I couldn’t figure out
where the hole in the logic was. 

“Any idea how we can go about gathering information on this
other vampire group?” Killian asked.

There was only one place to go when you needed official
information on a vampire turf war.  I rubbed my forehead and sighed, “Yah, I
do.  It’s not going to be pleasant, though.”

Killian raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not going to be pleasant at all…”

Chapter 18

“Killing your clients?  That can’t be good for business,”
smirked Frank. 

I would’ve loved to wipe that shit eating grin off of his
big fat ogre face, but I needed him.

Frank is the clerk at The Other Side's Bureau of Records. 
If there is a case, it’s in his cabinets.  The man has never heard of paperless
filing.  I always hoped that someday I would discover a way to butter him up
and get him to play nice, but I usually had to fall back on just stealing his folders. 
Frank was the bane of my existence, but a necessary evil.

“Frank, I’m having a lousy day…”

“Sure you are, Maggie.  I hear when the people you should
be protecting aren’t dying in your office, you’re really busy running around
the forest with a little fairy friend.  Sounds like business at MacKay &
MacKay Tracking is rocketing to the top.”

I gritted my teeth and tried to just smile, “Listen, Frank,
we’re both adults here.  I’m a human.  You’re an ogre.  Can we just act like
grownups for just a second?”

“No,” said Frank, disappearing behind his stack of paper.

“All I’m trying to find out is if there have been any
reports of anything happening in Ghost Town.  Then I’ll get out of your hair.”

I actually didn’t give a flying flip about Ghost Town, but
while I kept Frank talking about the place, the plan was that Killian was going
to sneak into the back room on his silent elf feet and grab what we needed.

“Ghost Town?  GHOST TOWN?” laughed Frank.  “Oh, you’re a
scream.  Yah.  There’s always something going on in Ghost Town.  People getting
scared to death.  Kids looting the place.  I have a whole file drawer full of
cases, but you aren’t going to get to see one sheet of paper until you finish
up the other jobs I gave you.”

“Well, I think that some info about Ghost Town might just
help out with some of those cases, Frank.”

He came back over and leaned against the counter that
separated reception from his messy office, “Maggie, you might think you’re
going to trick me into giving you information on Ghost Town, but I got your
number.  I bet you have a case you’re independently investigating and just
thinking you can use old Frank’s time and energy to line your pockets.”

“Frank, these files are a matter of public record.”

“These files are in my office and that makes them mine!” he
said.

I saw my partner’s blonde mop sneak by behind the ogre. 
Killian’s hand popped up just long enough to give me a little “okay” sign and
then he disappeared out into the hallway.

I shook my head dramatically, “Frank, I can’t believe you
would accuse me of such terrible things.  After all we’ve been through.”

“The only thing we’ve been through is pain.  Specifically
the pain in my ass that I get whenever I see you.”

I cocked my head, “That doesn’t quite sound like the put
down I think you’re trying to say…”

“GET OUT!”

He pointed at the exit.  I gave him an injured look that
could have won an Emmy and slammed the door as I left for dramatic effect.

I sat down in the car with Killian, “Did you get it?”

He proudly held up a stack of manila folders, “Frank truly
has a gift for filing.  The ease of finding whatever information you are
searching for is almost magical.”

“Right?  It must be an ogre thing.”

I started flipping through the pile of reports.  There were
a ton of them.  I knew I was going to be up all night with this reading.  You
know, if it didn’t put me to sleep halfway through the first page.

I smiled, “It’s funny.  He accused me of double dipping.”

“Are you?”

“Killian, I am appalled you would think such a thing,” I
let it hang there for a minute, “Just because the police assigned me to find
the same brimstone necklace that Mr. Smith and Xioaming asked me to find...” 

“What a fortunate coincidence.  So rarely do our own
desires align so directly with the desires of those who hope to benefit us
monetarily.”

“Killian, that sentence just gave me a headache.”

“How lucky you are that you get to save the world and get
paid.”

“I suppose ‘lucky’ is a word for it.”

“The majority of the time, you do it for free.”

“Don’t go spreading it around.  I don’t want anyone to
start low-balling my day rate.”

“Your secret is safe with me,” Killian smiled, “So, what
does the file say?”