No Quest for the Wicked (17 page)

Rod, Thor, and Earl were in place now, with Rod guarding the main doorway and the other two lined up at the sides, where they could keep an eye on the room. I caught Rod’s eye and shook my head. He nodded acknowledgment.

We looked conspicuous by not doing anything when everyone else was rushing around busily, so Owen and I joined in pulling tablecloths off tables. One of the women working with us kept up a nonstop stream of grumbles. “Seriously, can anyone tell the difference between ivory and cream linens? I bet we’ll get the new ones on, and she’ll scream that we didn’t change them. Maybe we should leave one table the same and see if she notices the difference.” The others laughed at that, and I joined in. We’d once done a similar thing when I worked for Mimi, and she hadn’t noticed. She just liked making people jump through hoops. We’d learned that all we had to do was pretend to make the changes she ordered and let her think she’d forced us to obey an order.

A sharp voice cut through the general hubbub, saying, “You would not believe the difficulties I’m having here. Absolutely
everyone
showed up with the wrong things. It’s a disaster—the wrong color linens, wilted old flowers, an
obese
ice sculpture. How hard is it to get an order right?”

Speak of the devil
, I thought. Mimi was entering the courtyard, talking on a cell phone. I caught Rod’s eye and gestured toward her with my head. He nodded and signaled the others.

As soon as she got fully into the event space, Mimi took one look at the preparations and snapped, “Why aren’t the tables set up? You can’t have a black-tie, celebrity-filled gala with bare tables! There should be tablecloths and chair covers! Those have to be on before we can do the centerpieces and name cards! What is wrong with you people?”

I expected the man in charge of the table linens to remind her that the tables were bare because she wanted different tablecloths, but he didn’t stand up to her at all. Instead, he fell on his knees. “I have failed you,” he said, bowing his head in shame, his hands clasped in front of him in supplication.

Surprised, Mimi took a step away from him, her face screwing up in distaste. As much as she’d always wanted that kind of response, she must not have expected it. “Well, yes,” she said. “But when will you get the right tablecloths and get them on the tables?”

“Soon! Now!” He gestured to the staff, indicating for them to hurry up stripping the tables, and then he got on the phone and yelled at whomever was bringing the new linens.

Mimi moved on to her next victim, the florist, who jumped to attention. “We’re almost done, we got new flowers, see, the centerpieces are done, and we’ll get them on the tables as soon as the tablecloths are on,” she babbled. “I hope the arrangements are to your satisfaction.” She bobbed an awkward little curtsy. Mimi was so stunned that she didn’t even complain about the new arrangements and make the florists put them back the way they’d been.

“She must have the brooch on her, but I don’t see it,” I whispered to Owen as we kept pulling cloths off tables. “But why aren’t they scrambling to get at it? Shouldn’t there be a big fight like there was at the restaurant?”

“She seems to be using it,” he replied. “Unfocused, it creates the chaos we saw at the restaurant, but when someone is actually wielding it and using its power, then the user can control people and keep them in line. People with a thirst for power will still be drawn to it, but most will just be put under its thrall.”

“This is disturbing on so many different levels,” I muttered, then I glanced over at Granny and saw a frightening gleam in her eye. “Uh oh,” I said, elbowing Owen.

He turned to look, then winced at what he saw. He bent and took Granny by the shoulders. “I need you to focus, Granny,” he said.

“That doodad y’all are looking for must be nearby,” she said, her speech a little slurred. “My, but that’s powerful.”

“Can you resist it?” he asked. “If you can’t, I need you to get away from us.”

She pulled herself together and gave a disdainful snort. “I’ve never had a weakness for jewelry. But I do want to take it away from that biddy. I don’t like her.”

I looked around the room to see how everyone else was reacting. Most of the event staff were treating Mimi like she was the empress of the universe. They practically bowed as she passed, trailed by a pair of clipboard-bearing assistants. Rod had flattened his back against the wall, and even from across the room I could see that he was breathing heavily.

I pointed that out to Owen. “We’ll have to keep an eye on him,” I said.

Earl seemed less affected. He looked bored. I didn’t see the gnome. His head didn’t come far above the tables, so he’d be easy to lose. “Do you see Thor?” I asked Owen and Granny.

Owen shook his head. Instead of a response from Granny, there was a “thwap” sound and then a thud. A glance at the floor showed Thor lying on his back, his axe in his hands. Granny stood over him, holding her cane out like a weapon. “He was trying to sneak up on her,” she said.

Owen leaned over him. “Are you carrying out the mission to retrieve the brooch, or are you under its influence?” he asked.

“I think a little of both,” Thor admitted groggily, rubbing his head. “It is our property. But, boy, is it ever enticing. I could really use a piece of that.”

“The ownership is currently disputed,” Owen said. “Sylvester owes you for the work, but the brooch doesn’t actually belong to your people.”

“Still, I’m on assignment. Can’t blame me for trying.”

“As long as you don’t blame me for making sure you don’t try again.” Owen used one of the discarded napkins to tie Thor’s hands behind his back and then rolled him under the nearest table. “He’ll probably be able to work his way out eventually, but that should keep him out of our hair for a little while.” Then he frowned and said, “Hey, what’s this?”

He bent to pick up a brooch of ornate Celtic knotwork in gold, with a spherical sapphire set in the middle of it.

“The Eye! It must have fallen out of his pocket,” I guessed excitedly. “But how’d he get it? He must have been on his way back from grabbing it, and we didn’t notice.”

Owen shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He raised it to the light and turned it from side to side, then wrapped his hand around it. “I don’t think it’s real,” he said. “They must have made a duplicate and he was going to try to pull off a swap. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d planned all along to give Sylvester the fake.” He held it in front of Granny. “Does this do anything to you?” he asked.

“Not a bit,” she said with a shake of her head. “I don’t have the slightest desire for it.”

“It’s definitely a fake,” Owen concluded.

“You’re good at sleight of hand,” I said as an idea took shape in my head. “How are you at pickpocketing?”

“I’ve never tried.”

“Well, maybe we can use this—see if we can get a chance to swap this out. It might buy us time if Mimi doesn’t realize the real one is gone.”

“But we’d have to find the real one first,” he said.

We both turned to watch Mimi as she continued yelling at everyone who displeased her. Although she’d seemed surprised by the subservient responses at first, she now looked like she was enjoying the power and had gone into full-on czarina mode. Then I noticed that she kept putting her right hand in the pocket of her suit jacket. Every time she did so, a look came over her face, as though touching whatever was in there gave her strength. I pointed it out to Owen. “Does it look to you like she’s got a ‘my precioussss’ thing going on with something in that pocket?” I asked him.

He watched her for a while longer, then said, “Yeah, I think that’s where it is. Let’s see if we can move in on her. You and Granny create a diversion, and I’ll make the switch.”

I looked up to signal our colleagues, but I couldn’t find Earl. He was too tall to disappear easily. Then I saw him crouching and darting from sculpture to sculpture, on his way to the exit that led into the Arms and Armor section. A glance at the other entrance explained why: Sylvester, Lyle, and a few other elf flunkies had entered.

“Oh, fun, the gang’s all here,” I said.

“We need to get it before they do,” Owen said.

Rod gave Owen a “What should I do?” signal, and Owen waved for him to stay back. Owen and I headed closer to Mimi. As we moved, I thought of ways to distract her. I wondered if I could signal Rod to drop my illusion disguise. Seeing me pop up here would certainly distract Mimi, but I preferred not to resort to that.

I picked up one of the flower arrangements that looked like it was meant to be a centerpiece and carried it toward Mimi. My plan was to “accidentally” drop it right in front of her so she could be distracted by the need to berate me. I figured I might even be able to shock her by not falling on my knees or begging her for mercy. If she was enjoying her newfound power over people, she might find open defiance disconcerting.

Oh, yeah, this was the best mission ever.

I was already anticipating sweet revenge when something stopped me in my tracks.

I smelled something familiar—a scent like a spice factory explosion in a pine forest. That was the cologne I’d used as a weapon in Macy’s. It came from the assistant to Mimi’s right—the same side as the pocket she kept touching. The smell was so strong that either the guy had marinated in it or he’d recently been hit in the face with a heavy blast of it. I suspected it was the latter.

The puritans had infiltrated Mimi’s inner circle. We didn’t stand a chance of getting close enough to her to make the swap.

Chapter Eleven

I tried to warn Owen to abort the mission, but he was so focused on finding an opportunity to pickpocket Mimi that I couldn’t get his attention without also drawing the attention of both Mimi and her puritan protector. All I could do was not create the diversion Owen was waiting for. I returned the centerpiece to the table and hoped Owen figured out that there had been a change of plans.

I watched helplessly as he edged closer and closer to Mimi. Once he was in position, he glanced around, looking for the expected diversion. When he finally saw me and gave me a “Well?” look, I shook my head. He frowned, shrugged, and then wandered casually back to me.

“What happened?” he asked when he was close enough that we could speak without being overheard.

“The assistant standing by Mimi’s critical pocket is a puritan.”

“How can you tell? Do you recognize him?”

“I smelled him.”

“Smelled him?”

“This guy reeks of that cologne I sprayed all over the guy chasing us in Macy’s. I mean, way more than ‘I don’t have time for a shower, so I’ll just put on some extra cologne’ levels. You know they’d have someone close to the brooch to be ready for making their grand saving-the-world show, so it all adds up. I doubt you’d have stood a chance.”

He glanced at Mimi and her minions, his brow knitted as he chewed his lower lip. Then he turned back to me and sighed softly. “You’re probably right. Good catch. But now what do we do?”

“I’m not sure we should do anything at the moment,” I said, nodding toward Sylvester and the elves, who were heading for Mimi.

He turned to follow my gaze, then he winced. “We should probably do something,” he said. “We can’t let them get to it first.”

I caught him by the elbow as he started to move. “No, wait. Those puritan guys aren’t going to let the elves take it, either. Maybe we could let them fight it out.”

He gave a grin that was so close to evil that if the people who were convinced he would follow in his birth parents’ footsteps had seen it, they’d probably have insisted on having him arrested immediately. “Nice thinking. Be ready to act once they’re distracted.”

But the elves walked right past Mimi. They acted like they were sniffing the air but hadn’t yet homed in on the scent—and I didn’t think they were tracking the minion’s cologne. “They don’t know who has it!” I whispered to Owen, clutching his sleeve where I still held his elbow. “They didn’t see her at the restaurant, and she’s not wearing the brooch. They must have sensed the brooch was here, but how accurate are they at close range?”

“I guess we’ll find out.” We went back to work messing with tablecloths but paying far more attention to what was going on with Mimi.

It turned out to be Mimi who approached the elves. “The band seems to be here,” she told one of her minions. “Check that off.” Then to Sylvester, she said, “Good, you’re here. They’ve got the stage set up over there.” She quirked an eyebrow as she took in an eyeful of Sylvester and Lyle’s vintage eighties attire and added, “I believe I mentioned on the phone that black tie would be required, so I hope you’re planning to change into your tuxes after you’ve carried in your gear.” When the elves didn’t move, she glared at them and said in a dismissive tone, “You can go set up now.” Without waiting for a response, she and her minions headed off to deal with the next item on her list.

Lyle turned and started to move away, obeying the order, but Sylvester caught the back of his shirt collar and kept him from going anywhere. Meanwhile, the Elf Lord’s eyes narrowed as he watched Mimi’s rapidly retreating back. One of his slanted eyebrows slowly rose, and he smiled slightly to himself.

“He’s figured it out,” Owen whispered to me as he pulled a cover off a chair and added it to a growing pile of rejected linens.

We both turned when someone new ran into the room. It was Earl. He skidded to a stop when he reached his supposed boss. “My lord!” he panted. “I got your message.”

Sylvester didn’t bother telling him to shut up. He merely raised his hand without turning to look at Earl. Earl made a face at the back of Sylvester’s head, then turned to us and gave a helpless shrug. “He is really on our side, right?” I whispered to Owen.

“He’s probably trying to keep his cover. At least, I hope so.”

A funny gleam in his eyes, Sylvester slowly followed Mimi, moving like a sleepwalker. He hadn’t released Lyle’s collar, so his sidekick was forced to go with him. The other elves glanced at each other, then followed their boss. Earl trailed behind all of them. Sylvester raised his hands in front of him to shoulder height—at least, he raised his left hand. His right was still holding on to Lyle. He realized this when his right hand didn’t fall into position, and he quickly released Lyle and resumed whatever he was about to do. Earl called out, “Uh, your lordship?”