I smirked. “Oh, that’s why, huh?” My grin broadened. “You know, I bet if Daisy wasn’t sneezing her head off, she’d call you out on that.”
He crossed his arms. “What are you talking about? Of course that’s why I disliked him.” He counted off the reasons on his fingers. “Recently out of prison, he clearly had a motive—jealousy—and he was rude to you.”
I hustled to keep up as we rounded a stone wall. “Was he rude…” I tapped my lips like I was thinking hard. “Or flirty?”
He shot me another exasperated look, then stalked on in silence. I grinned at his back and jogged to catch up. I grabbed his sleeve as we came around the corner. “I’m just kidding.”
His shoulders relaxed a little.
“Hey!” I tugged on his jacket and we slowed, Daisy dropping back beside us. The young lady with the enormous hat stood with her clutch tucked under one arm, her back to the castle wall and the open window that led to the bridal suite above her head.
She took a drag of a cigarette, the ember at the end flaring orange, then tipped her head back and blew out a puff of smoke. I marveled at the fact that her monstrous feather-and-ribbon-covered hat stayed on her head. I pitied whoever had had to sit behind her during the ceremony—bet they couldn’t see a thing.
I leaned close to Peter and lowered my voice. “When we were questioning Chaz earlier and you asked him why Letty ran from the altar, he looked at her.” I raised my brows at him.
Peter took a deep breath, then blew it out and gave me a gentle smile. “Good catch. Let’s go question her.”
I nodded my agreement, and the two of us and Daisy headed forward. The young woman looked up as we came around the corner of the castle and startled, her already buggy eyes even rounder. She pressed a hand to her chest and tittered. “Oh goddess, I thought you were my mother.”
I frowned. Her mother? Please, she was probably eight years younger than me. I crossed my arms and glared at her.
The young woman took another drag of the cigarette, then turned her head and blew it out in my direction. “She hates that I smoke.” She made eyes at Peter as I waved the smoke away, coughing.
Daisy scrunched up her nose and sneezed.
Yeah, I feel you, Days.
Peter cleared his throat. “I’m Officer Flint and this is—”
The girl didn’t wait for him to finish. She shot her arm out and offered him her hand, wrist limp. “Enchante! I’m Rachel Whitmore.” She winked. “But you probably knew that already.”
She kept one arm extended and stroked the mink stole around her shoulders with the other. I frowned—a real fur, quite the bold choice. They’d fallen out of fashion, but as a shifter, they probably creeped me out more than most folks.
Peter’s throat bobbed as he stared down at her hand, as though he didn’t quite know what to do with it. She wiggled her fingers and he reached out, wrapped his hand around her fingers, and gave a little shake, then let his arm fall to his side.
“How are you connected to the family?” Peter’s quill and scroll magically appeared next to his head, hovering and ready to take notes.
Rachel batted her lashes and took another puff of the cigarette. “Chaz and I grew up together. Our families are close.”
“How close?”
She leveled Peter a saucy look. “Very.”
I looked around. Was there something in the air tonight? Was it the full moon?
She let out a wistful sigh. “Our families summered together.”
Peter frowned. “What does… summering involve?”
She waved a gloved hand. “Oh, you know, the usual—going to the country club, yachting, visiting our summer homes in the other kingdoms.” She shrugged. “Normal kid stuff.” She giggled. “We used to come back here and smoke together when we were eight.”
Peter choked, and I could only gawk. Eight? And I thought I’d grown up fast.
Peter recovered first. “Sounds like you knew Chaz well. Were you surprised by his choice to marry Letty Jones?”
“Surprised?” She scoffed and looked around before turning back to Peter, a humorless smirk on her lips. “Try shocked. Everyone was.”
She crossed one arm under her chest and took another drag of the cigarette. “It’s no secret that Chaz and I were intended for each other. Nothing official, but our families expected it—everyone expected it.”
Her nostrils flared, and she tossed her long strawberry blond locks over her shoulder. “It’s fine. Chaz saw the shifting social climate and, on advice from that little advisor of his, I’m assuming, went and married mousy Letty to garner more of the ‘poor’ vote.” She took another drag and her hand trembled slightly.
Woo boy. Somebody was upset about Chaz choosing Letty.
“Wow. So you spent your whole life planning a future with Chaz and then he goes off and chooses a waitress from the Darkmoon District over you?” I grinned in spite of myself. “That must’ve stung.”
She pinched her lips together and shot me a murderous look.
Yikes.
“It’s whatever.” She stared me down for another moment, then looked off into the distance. “If you ask me, ever since he got that new campaign manager, Cybil Whatsherface, Chaz has been acting so differently. It’s like, who are you?” She stroked the fur around her shoulders.
Peter shifted on his feet. “Do you have any idea why Letty ran from the altar after she and Chaz were pronounced married?”
She shrugged, though a hint of a smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “She was weird and private. Who knows?”
I looked down at Daisy, partly out of habit, partly in case her sense of smell had recovered. She sniffed the air, her wet, black nose twitching, then raised a paw and scratched at her eyes and snout. She groaned. So itchy!
Guess
