Deader Still

“Then tell us what he’s going to do,” I said.

Faisal cocked his head and looked at me.

“How do you feel about reality television?”

38

“Do you ever get the feeling Faisal was bullshitting us about Cyrus going off the deep end, even by cultist standards?” I asked. Twenty-four hours later, Co

“You mean are we really supposed to believe that Cyrus is pla

I nodded.

“Well,” he continued, “it does mix together a lot of what we know of him—his madness, his greed, his artistic desires for taking their message public with as much damage as possible . . .”

“I can’t really imagine anything going down here during Fashion Week,” I said. “Other than some best- and worst-dressed lists.”

“Sounds like a perfect place to get some notice, kid,” Co

“And there will be cameras everywhere,” I added.

Co

We had brought the entire situation to the attention of Inspectre Quimbley. He and as many people available from every other department had been gathered to surround the nexus of activity in front of us. No matter what went down, we were prepared. At least, I hoped we were prepared.

“You ready?” I heard from behind me, and I turned around. Jane was standing there and she looked gorgeous. I was used to her hair being up in a ponytail, but tonight it cascaded over her shoulders in delicious blond waves. Her long black dress sparkled like crazy and was slit up one leg. I stood there speechless.

Jane mimed bending to scoop something up. She held her hand out to me like she was holding something.

“I believe this jaw belongs to you,” she said.

I grabbed it and pretended to shove it back into place.

“Don’t mess your tie up,” she said. She reached over and pushed my arms out of the way as she straightened it. I smiled as I watched her concentrating on getting it just right.

Co

“Are you two ready for prom?”

Jane thwapped him on the arm with her handbag. “Don’t hate.”

“Now listen. There’re going to be television cameras and photographers everywhere in there, so we need to keep this low-key,” Co

Jane and I nodded.

“Yes, Dad,” we said in unison.

Co

I motioned for Jane to give me a moment alone with Co

“You sure you don’t want to come inside instead of Jane?” I asked. “I’m sure no one in New York would bat an eye at two men walking into a runway show together. It is Fashion Week, after all.”

Co

“After all the juvenile jealous crap you’ve put her through to alleviate your own guilt over working with Mina? I think you two need the on-the-job bonding time more than you and I do.”

“Thanks,” I said. “You’re a pal.”

I walked over to Jane and took her arm on mine.

“Hey, kid,” Co

“Will do,” I said.

“That goes for both of you,” he shouted as we crossed the street and left him behind.

The line to get in snailed along forever, but it gave us time to locate mayoral office liaison David Davidson in the crowd. Camera flashes were going off left and right. I waved him over to us.

“Nice to see you under more pleasant circumstances,” he said, flashing that wi

I thought back. The last time I had seen David Davidson was over the body of late Dr. Kolb in Central Park.

“Well, more pleasant for now,” I said, shaking his hand. “You remember Jane?”

Davidson took Jane’s hand, raised it to his lips, and kissed it. “Of course I do,” he said. “Charmed. May I say you look lovely tonight?”

“Thank you,” Jane said with a toothy smile. “And, yes, you may.”

Davidson reached inside his suit coat and pulled out a handful of identical envelopes. He thumbed through them. “Mr. . . . Canderous, there you are . . . a

He held them out and I took both of them.

“I just want you to know,” he said, lowering his voice to a whisper, “tickets to this were harder to arrange than setting up a visit for the president to the United Nations.”

“We appreciate it,” I said. “The whole Department does.”

“Should anything actually happen here, though,” Davidson continued, “the mayor would appreciate your discretion in handling the matter. He would prefer there not be as public a display as that last one back at the Met, especially given the media coverage here.”

“We’ll do our best,” Jane said, surprising me with the return of that boundless optimism and cheer that had been lacking these past few days.

“Exactly,” I said, “but I don’t know how subtle we’ll be. It’s hard to deal with extraordinary affairs by ordinary means. But like the lady said, we’ll try our best.”

Davidson gave a nervous smile. “I guess that’s as good as we can hope for,” he said, pulling out his cell phone. “I suppose I’d better have emergency services at the ready just in case . . .”

With that, he wandered off into the crowd, his cell phone already at his ear.

I looked over at Jane, only to find her looking back at me, smiling. Dressed as we were, it was hard not to relish in the strange fantasy of it all. I could feel the electricity in the air, and for once it wasn’t my power . . . or Jane casting spells through a junction box. It almost made me wish we were a normal couple out for a night on the town, rather than out to stomp the forces of evil.

The fashion plate bouncers ma

As we made our way across the transformed park, more of the staff checked our tickets and led us to our seats. We sat in two of the four unoccupied seats at the end of our row, and I looked over at Jane, who was still beaming. She squeezed my arm, and for a split second it felt like an actual date.