A Stroke Of Midnight

Rhys gri

Frost and I both said “Rhys” at the same time.

Dogmaela said, “What an odd custom.”

She was a literalist with almost no sense of humor. Rhys was going to hurt himself with this one. I explained the truth to her as we all walked over to the parking lot. She gave him a dirty look. He smiled at her like a lascivious angel.

“Behave yourself,” I told him under my breath.

“I have behaved myself,” he said softly. “When you’ve talked to the head fed, you’ll think I was a saint.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s not bleeding.”

I looked at him and tried to decide if he was teasing me, too. His face said no. How bad could one FBI agent be? As the old saying goes, we were about to find out.

CHAPTER 14

THE POLICE, ALL FLAVORS, STOOD IN THE DECEMBER COLD. Maybe some of them had been in their vehicles trying to stay warm and only got out when they saw us coming, but somehow they had the feel of people who’d been standing around in the cold for a while. If it wasn’t for us, then why weren’t they in their cars, in vans with the heaters on? Because their chiefs were standing out in the cold. You didn’t sit in a nice warm car while your officers stood ankle deep in snow. We’d had the parking area cleared off, but apparently snow had blown back across the surface.

I recognized Major Walters by the broad-shouldered square of him and his height. The man he was standing almost toe to toe with was shorter by at least five inches, and no one I knew. But I’d have bet good money he was FBI. And the way he was yelling at Walters, probably the head fed.

When I’d told Special Agent Raymond Gillett not to come, I hadn’t specified that he not send the feds. I would remember to be more specific if I ever spoke to him again.

Rhys tried to get their attention, but it was Frost’s voice that cut across the squabbling. “Princess Meredith NicEssus,” he a

They stopped in midargument, and turned to us in surprise, almost as if they’d forgotten I was coming. Then they both started trying to talk to me at the same time.

I held up my hands, letting them slip out of the cloak. “Gentlemen, gentlemen, please, one at a time.”

They both tried to be the one at a time. I settled it for them. “Major Walters, why are you still here at the parking lot? Why haven’t you come to the door?” I smiled as I said it, even with my eyes.

He jerked a thumb at the smaller man. “He won’t let us step a foot off the parking lot. Says it’s federal land, and that makes this case his.”

I turned still smiling to the fed in question. “And you are?”

“Special Agent John Marquez.” And he actually bowed. “It’s an honor to meet you, Princess Meredith.”

I tried not to laugh. The bow was overdoing it. “I wish I could say the same, Special Agent Marquez.”

He looked up, puzzlement on his darkly handsome face. “Have we done something to offend you, Your Majesty?”

I shook my head. “Majesty is only for the ruler, and I’m not it, yet. I called Major Walters and asked him to bring down his people, but I did not call the FBI, so I’m a little puzzled why you are here.”

“Faerie land is federal land, Princess. That makes these crimes our jurisdiction, as I’ve pointed out to the major here.”

“Ah, but technically it’s faerie land, and neither of you has any jurisdiction here.”

Marquez smiled condescendingly. “But you called for police help, and since the mounds are on federal land, that means us.”

I shook my head. “Only if we ask for your help; until that moment it’s our business.”

He shook his head. “You did ask us, Princess. Special Agent Gillett got your call, and he referred it to our local office.”

I’d figured as much, but it was still disappointing to know it for certain. “I made the call to Gillett out of courtesy and for old times’ sake. I realize now I was wrong to have called him at all.”

“But we are here now, and we have forensic facilities that the local St. Louis police can’t match.”

A woman broke away from the knot of locals. She had blond hair that was a little too perfectly yellow to be real and human. Dark glasses cut a pretty face so that it took you a moment to notice her eyes were large and long-lashed. “I’m Dr. Caroline Polaski, head medical examiner for St. Louis County, and I take exception to that.”

“You can’t compare your lab with ours,” Marquez said.

“I did my internship with you, so yes, actually, I can.”

“Internship, then you weren’t good enough to make the grade.”

She gave him a very unfriendly look. “Check your own records. I left because my husband got a better job here, and I got offered the run of the place. At your shop I’d have been someone’s flunkie.”

“Because you weren’t good enough to be head of our shop,” Marquez said.

This was getting us nowhere. “Stop it,” I said.

They looked at me. “You want to know who is in charge here, that’s what all the arguing is about, correct?”

Polaski and Marquez nodded. Walters just looked at me.

I smiled. “That’s an easy question, ladies and gentlemen. I am.”

Marquez gave me a look that, even in the dim light, said plainly that I was a little girl and shouldn’t try to play with the big boys. “Now, Princess, your call for help indicates that you don’t think you and your people are capable of handling a double homicide.”

“I am in charge of this investigation, Agent Marquez. I am glad for your offer of assistance, and I will gladly accept, but let there be no confusion among any of us.” I let my gaze take in Walters and the medical examiner. “I am in charge, and anyone who has a problem with that doesn’t step one foot onto our land.”

Marquez argued, as I’d expected him to. “You are not an officer of any kind, Princess. No offense, but this investigation needs more than just a private detective in charge of it.”

“My private detective license isn’t valid outside of California, Agent Marquez.”

“Then you have no legal standing to take control.”

I stepped into him so fast and unexpectedly, that he actually took a step back before he caught himself. I looked up at him, inches taller, and let him look into the delicate oval of my face framed by all that soft fur. “No legal standing, Marquez? I am Princess Meredith NicEssus. The only person who outranks me here on this land is the Queen of Air and Darkness herself. You and your people are here on my sufferance, and I think I’ve suffered enough.”

“You can’t mean that you’re going to send us all away because I hurt your feelings.” Goddess, he had an attitude.

“Not at all. I’m going to take Major Walters and his people with us, and let them do their jobs.”

“And when they can’t handle it, and you need our help, you may not get it, Princess.”

And we might need their help. I hoped not, but we might. I had an idea. I turned to Walters. “Do you have a cell phone?”

He looked a little uncertain, but he held it out to me.

“Can I make a long-distance call on it?”

“Who are you going to call?”

“Washington, D.C.”

Walters took in a deep breath. “Be my guest.”

I dialed a number that I’d had the queen’s secretary get for me before we came out here. I’d hoped not to use it, but I’d seen enough territorial disputes in L.A. to know that the feds and the locals could do more harm to an investigation than good, if they got into a serious pissing contest. Marquez was making this one serious.

After hearing my initial greeting and request, Marquez said, “You are not calling the president of the United States.”

“No.” I was on hold. “I’m not.”

Marquez frowned harder at me.

A woman’s voice came on the phone, and I said, “Mrs. President, how good to talk to you again.”