Glenn looked up at my silence, his eyebrows raised as he indicated the rainbow mug. 'I thought you'd want some coffee. This might take a while.'
'Okay... '
He chuckled, irritating me even more. The painfully slow sounds of him typing clicked key by key as he worked off the open file beside him. 'The I.S. is ignoring the incident completely, so sending a team to ascertain it wasn't your magic? You're going to take the hit for this,' he said, his resonant voice dark and sexy. 'Nice bit of passive harassment.'
My eyes flicked to my strawberry-covered bag and the little silver broach tucked inside. Passive harassment was a good story, but I think the reason the I.S. didn't show was because the coven told them to back off while they brought me in themselves. Guilt and fear kept my mouth shut. Crap on toast, what if I'd ruined my only chance to rescind my shunning?
'I got the store to agree to disorderly conduct if you pay for the damages,' Glenn said, starting as he noticed the rat looking at him. 'Unless you know who did it?' he added, gaze alternating between me and the critter.
I thought about the ID in my bag, and I shrugged. 'Vivian Smith from California?' I volunteered.
Glenn made a sound of both amusement and sympathy, his eyes on the screen. 'I hope you make more than I do. I had no idea strawberries were that expensive out of season.'
'Swell,' I said, then sipped my coffee. It wasn't bad, but nothing tasted good since having that raspberry- mocha-whatever-it-had-been Al had ordered me last winter. I set the coffee aside and leaned over to get a look at Glenn's neck. He might not know that he smelled like vampire, but any Inderlander could tell.
Glenn felt my gaze and looked up from his slow excuse for typing. 'What?'
I pulled back, worried. 'Nothing.'
Clearly suspicious, he pulled a paper from under the stack in the red folder and handed it to me. 'Damages.'
Taking the paper, I sighed.
'What did you expect? You can keep that. It's your copy.'
I sat back in a huff and shoved it in my bag with my sticky scarf as he typed his slow, painful way through my report. 'Where's this human compassion I keep hearing about?'
'That's it, baby doll,' he said, voice smoother than usual. He was laughing at me.
'Mmmm. Can I go now?' I said dryly, not liking the 'baby doll' tag but letting it go.
Glenn searched out a key and hit it with a sound of finality. Leaning back, he laced his dark fingers over his middle like I'd seen his dad do. 'Not until Jenks posts your bail.'
I groaned. Damn it, Ivy must have stopped at home first. One more thing to owe the pixy.
'He seemed proud to do it,' Glenn said. 'You can wait here, or go to the basement with the rest of the felons.' His smile widened. 'I vouched for you,' he added, then leaned forward to answer his phone, now humming on the interoffice line.
'Thanks,' I said sourly, slouching down as he took the call. How was I going to pay Jenks back? My share of the sale of my mom's house had been keeping me afloat lately, but I didn't want to tap into that to post bail. Robbie's half had gone to his upcoming wedding, and I was living on mine. It was hardly the statement of independence I'd wanted, but things would pick up. They always did around spring.
'Who?' Glenn said into the phone, his voice rising in disbelief, and then both Glenn and I looked toward the attention-getting tap on his door frame.
'Trent Kalamack,' the feminine voice on the phone said clearly over the faint office noise, naming the trim figure in his two-thousand-dollar suit now silhouetted in the doorway, his arm slowly slipping behind him from where he'd confidently tapped on the door. Suave and self-assured, the man smiled faintly at the woman's awe.
'Next time, call
'But it's Trent Kalamack!' the voice said, and Glenn hung up on her.
My breath slipped from me, almost a groan. Trent Kalamack. The obscenely successful, smiling businessman, ruthless bio- and street-drug lord, elf in hiding, and pain-in-my-ass-extraordinaire Trent Kalamack. Right on schedule. 'Why is it you show up only when I need money?' I sat straighter, but I wasn't going to get up unless it was to smack him.
Trent still smiled, but the faint worry pinching his eyes tickled the back of my brain. Trent wasn't especially tall, but his bearing made people take notice, as if his baby-fine, nearly white hair, devilishly confident smile, and drool-worthy, athletic physique gained from riding his prize-winning horses wouldn't. All that I could ignore— mostly—but his voice... his beautiful voice, rich in variance and resonant... That was harder—and I hated that I loved it.
Trent was Cincinnati's most eligible bachelor, still single because of me. He'd thanked me for that in a weird moment of honesty when he thought we might die in a demon's prison cell. I was still wondering why I'd bothered to save his little elf butt. Misplaced responsibility, maybe? That I'd saved his life didn't seem to mean anything to him, since he had tried to make my skull one with a tombstone not three seconds after I got us safe.
Apparently my helping him get the ancient-elf DNA sample from the demons to repair his species genome had been enough to earn my right to live, but I was sure he was still mad at me for having messed up his city council seat reelection plans by trashing his wedding. Rumors in the Were community had it that he was going to make a bid for the mayoral position instead. My gut clenched, and I winced as I flicked a gaze at him.
Where there had once been only irritation, there was now satisfaction in Trent's green eyes as he took Glenn's offered hand extended across his cluttered desk. My pulse raced—he'd called me a demon and tried to kill me. I wasn't. I was a witch. But he had a point—my children would be demons.
'Mr. Kalamack,' Glenn said, hiding his fluster. 'It's a pleasure.'
All trace of Trent's feelings for me were hidden but for the barest tightening of his eyes. 'Good to see you again, Detective,' he said. 'I trust Ms. Morgan is behaving herself tonight?'
Clearly uncomfortable, Glenn stopped smiling. 'What can I do for you, sir?'
Trent didn't miss a beat. 'I simply have something for Ms. Morgan to sign. I heard she was here, and I was nearby.'
He turned expectantly to me, and my bobbing foot stopped. I don't know what disturbed me more, that Trent wanted me to sign something, or that he had known where to find me. Had my grocery trip already made the news?
Tired, I shifted my hand to cover up a particularly big splotch of strawberry on my knee. 'What do you want, Trent?' I asked bluntly.
Trent's gaze noted everything before returning to Glenn. 'Coffee... perhaps?'
Glenn and I exchanged a knowing look. 'Why not,' the detective said blandly, maneuvering gracefully out from behind his desk. 'How do you take it?'
'Black, no sugar,' Trent said, and I thought longingly of the time when that would have been enough for me, but no, I was turning into a coffee snob despite my best efforts.
Glenn nodded before he shifted past Trent, the rims of his ears turning red when he rotated the rat back to the wall before he left. His footsteps sounded softly, and I held my breath and counted to five. 'What are you doing slumming?' I said as I swiveled the chair, trying to look casual.
'I'm here to help you.'
I didn't even try to stop my laughter, and in response, Trent moved and settled himself on Glenn's desk, one foot on the floor, the other pulled up slightly like a
'I don't need money that badly,' I lied, forcing my gaze from him. 'The last time I worked for you, you screwed things up so much that I got shunned. Nice of you to tell the press why I was in the ever-after, by the way,' I finished sarcastically, and his brow furrowed.
