late, and I really needed to talk to Parlan. I staggered over to my purse, pulled out my cell phone, and called the O’Shea house. Big Red answered.
“O’Shea.”
Thirty years as a cop had left him incapable of saying hello. It drove Meg wild, but then she would just laugh and call him an old war horse.
“Hi, Red, it’s Linnet.”
“Linnie, how the hell are you?”
“Fine. Is Parlan there? I need to talk to him.”
“Yeah. He’s here.” There was weariness and frustration coating the words. “Parlan, pick up the damn phone—it’s for you.”
There was a brief silence then, “Hello?”
“Hi, it’s Linnie. You said you still had friends in Fey. How do you think they would feel if they were told they couldn’t cross over to the human world again, and if they tried, angry humans with pitchforks would be waiting for them?”
“I think they’d hate it. Why? Is that likely to happen?”
“That’s what somebody is trying, yes, and if he can arrange for a large and public bloodbath I think he may get his wish. So, I’m calling to ask for your help.”
“Sure, but I don’t know what I can do.”
“Can you get in touch with your friends? Tell them what’s going on, see if they’d be willing to help me?”
“I can contact them. I can leave messages at ley line crossroads. Where will you need this help?”
“In California.”
“How soon?”
“In a few days.”
“That’s going to be a problem. Rapid travel is not one of the hallmarks of Fey.”
“If they’ll cross over, we’ll fly you all to LA.” I put aside for the moment just how I was going to pay for all this. I hoped David was going to help, and it wouldn’t all end up on my credit card.
“On an airplane?” he said breathlessly.
“Yeah,” I said, drawing out the word because I didn’t exactly know how to respond. “That’s the only way we know how to fly.”
“I look up at them all the time and wish I could fly on one. If I could actually get to do that it would be … amazing.” He sounded very young now, not at all like a man in his forties.
“Well, consider it done.” I hesitated, then added, “Do you know about the Oscars? What they are?”
“Sort of.”
“It’s acting awards. Very glamorous.”
“So, I could wear some of my real … my own clothes?” he asked, his voice brightening at the prospect.
“You mean the clothes you wore in Fey?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t see why not, but you should probably be prepared for them to get messed up if you do end up protecting people. But maybe it won’t come to that.”
We spent a few more minutes finalizing things, then I hung up, stripped off my clothes, and fell into bed. I didn’t wake up until Maslin hammered on my door the next morning.
23
Belinda Cartwright had that deer-in-the-headlights expression when she looked up from the printed pages Maslin had placed before her. She quickly regained her composure and snapped, “Speculation.” I mutely handed over the research unearthed by Merlin. She read through those. This time when she met our gaze her expression was sick, and she didn’t recover. “Dear God, they’re everywhere, they’ve infiltrated everywhere.”
We were back in the offices of Human First.
“No,” I corrected. “This
“Question is, what are you going to do about it?” Maslin asked.
“Expose him! Tell our members how we’ve been compromised.”
Maslin sighed. “Wrong answer.”
“Think about this, Ms. Cartwright,” I said softly. “You’re the head of this organization.
Maslin studied his fingernails. “I’m betting the Reverend Trager will not take kindly to these revelations. You’ll probably lose your job.”
“You’re blackmailing me,” Cartwright said, her voice a rough thread of sound.
“No, just contemplating likely outcomes,” Maslin answered.
“What do you want? For us to disband? I don’t have the power.” She shot Maslin a venomous look. “As you rightly pointed out, I’m just hired help. Reverend Trager calls the shots.”
“Just dial it back. Tone down the rhetoric. Stop throwing gasoline on the fire.” She stared up at me, her lips set in a thin line. I pulled a chair in closer, sat down, and leaned across the desk. “Look, Belinda, we’re afraid. I understand that. The world as we knew it has changed. Nobody has a handle on how this is all going to work out. But this has happened many times before in our history—revolution, civil wars, depression, world wars, integration, immigration, technological innovation—and we’ve weathered them all. The world changes, and the people who stand against it inevitably end up being trampled because they can’t stop it. What you can do is
“That’s rich. They’ve turned our world upside down.”
“And we’ve done the same to them. A lot of the younger Alfar prefer our world to their own.” I gave her a smile. “Which sort of implies we’re way more awesome than they are.”
She chewed on that for a moment. “So, if we don’t join in this arbitration—”
“And tone down the public protests,” I interrupted.
“You have one in mind?” Cartwright asked shrewdly.
“The Oscars,” I said.
“So if we don’t picket at the Oscars, you won’t publish this story.” She shoved the pages back toward Maslin.
“As much as it pains me to say this: yes, I won’t publish,” the journalist answered.
She stood and extended her hand. “Then we have a deal. Now I need to see about replacing a source of funding. If you’ll excuse me.”
We wound our way through the desks and the hardworking volunteers all diligently trying to hold back the tide and stepped out into the parking lot of the strip mall. I released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “Well, that went better than I expected,” I said.
Maslin gave me a curious sideways look. “You ever considered a career in politics?”
“God, no. What made you say that?”
“You do seem to appeal to people’s better angels.”
“Right now I’m just trying to keep a lot of people from joining that heavenly choir. Shall we go?”
I was late meeting Kate. She was already in the Elie Saab store on Rodeo Drive, and under her guidance a
