“A latte please,” I said with a smile. “I’ll be on the patio.”
“Sure thing.” I handed Starr the exact change; I was definitely a regular here.
I headed out to the magically heated patio at the back of the shop that overlooked the lake and sighed with pleasure. This was my happy place here in town, with the blue waters of the lake lightly rippling in the afternoon breeze.
It was still the end of winter here in the Pacific Northwest, so while it was cold, it wasn’t freezing, but the magically warmed interior of the patio was still more than welcome.
I sat down at one of the picnic tables closest to the lake, overlooking the water, and let my mind wander as I waited for Starr or one of the other fairies to bring me my coffee.
“Excuse me,” someone said a moment later, and I looked up to find myself staring into the eyes of an elf. He was tall, with icy blue eyes and hair so blond it was practically white. He wore a simple brown robe, but he had that hard look about him that elves often did.
“Yes?” I asked politely. On the bright side, it wasn’t like he was going to try to pick me up or anything. Paranormals definitely stuck to their own kind, and I wasn’t into my afternoon coffee being interrupted by a guy who thought he was Rhea’s gift to witches.
“You’re Ali Everwood?”
“That’s me.”
“My name is Rudoldir, and I was wondering if I might hire you to solve a problem I am having.”
“Of course,” I replied. “Why don’t you tell me about it?”
Rudoldir looked around as if he was worried we might be overheard even though we were the only two paranormals on the patio. After all, late afternoon wasn’t exactly a peak time for the coffee shop.
He sat down on the bench across from me, looking slightly awkward with his tall frame in the small picnic table seat, and took a few moments. I was used to this when dealing with elves. Seeing as they were immortal, saving time wasn’t exactly a high priority for them.
While Rudoldir was collecting his thoughts, Starr arrived with my coffee, placing it carefully in front of me and flashing me a smile. I thanked her, taking a couple deep sips before Rudoldir finally started telling me his story.
“I believe someone out there is trying to kill me.”
“Well, that’s an opening line if I’ve ever heard one,” I replied. “Why do you say that?”
“I have this feeling that I am being followed quite often. I’ve attempted to read the thoughts of whoever is near me, and while I cannot know exactly what they are feeling, I can sense rage. I am quite certain someone wanted to kill me, but I was able to clear out of there before they managed to go through with the attempt.”
“Ok,” I said, nodding. I knew elves were able to sense the feelings of anyone near them who wasn’t also an elf. “So it has to be someone who’s not an elf.”
“Precisely,” Rudoldir replied. “But whoever it is, I know they want me dead.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’ve never felt that level of rage before.”
“And do you know who it might be?”
“That is one of the problems across which I’ve come; I don’t know who would have such feelings about me. I go about my business, and I do not get in the way of others. There is no reason why anyone should want to wish for my death.”
“Do you think you might be overreacting?” I asked. “Maybe you’re imagining it.”
“An elf does not overreact,” Rudoldir replied, sniffling with offense. “There is someone in my life who wishes me harm, and I would like to hire you to find them.”
“Have you been to the Enforcers yet?”
“I have, but unfortunately they are not in the business of preventing crimes; they are in the business of acting after my life has already been taken.”
“Right. Ok, I’ll do what I can to find out who in your life is mad at you right now. What do you do for work?”
“I am a manager here in the town of Mt. Rheanier. I am in charge of the department that oversees the permits that allow businesses to function.”
“So you have a boring office job,” I replied.
“It might seem boring to you, but to me, it is incredibly interesting,” Rudoldir replied. “The shift in the laws of the land over the previous number of years have been incredibly interesting to the student of municipal law minutiae.”
“Right,” I said, forcing a smile. Frankly, there was nothing in this world that seemed less exciting to me than municipal law minutiae, and I had a feeling that in Rudoldir’s job, I’d probably be the one trying to kill myself.
But hey, to each their own. Someone had to do the job; it might as well be someone who actually found that sort of thing interesting.
“So you give permits out to businesses? Are you in charge of alcohol permits?”
“I am,” Rudoldir replied. “The management of liquor licenses for paranormal businesses and their regulation is a large part of my job.”
“Have you encountered any particularly disgruntled business owners recently? Paranormals who weren’t thrilled that you denied their requests?”
Rudoldir nodded slowly, taking his time to think things through before answering. That was fine with me; I was frankly happier to have a client who actually thought about the words he was about to say rather than spitballing the first thing that came into his head.
“Yes, there have been a few paranormals recently who were not quite so pleased with my results.”
“Ok, when you say recently, what kind of time period are we talking about?” I asked. You always had to be careful with elves. Again, that whole immortality thing sometimes meant that they worked on different time frames from us witches.
“The last three years,” Rudoldir replied.
“Great,” I answered. That was exactly what I had suspected. “How about anything in the, you know,
