Chapter 2

Making my way back to the van, I grumbled to myself and tried to remember the few things my mom taught me about the Fae. They hated iron, they loved music, and they definitely played by a set of rules, even if I didn’t fully understand them. All Fae had a purpose. I just had to figure out what it was to understand them. The ring was a nuisance, a big one. I doubted even if I cut my finger off that it would come off. I had to find out Jack’s purpose and what the ring was all about, but I also had a job to do and not a lot of time to do it.

Chen sat himself next to me, trying to make small-talk about my fiance. I didn’t want to engage much. The more questions I answered, the more lies I had to remember.

“You two meet in college? He’s a looker. And he moved all the way here with you?” Chen asked.

“Mhmm,” was all I could manage in response, while I flipped through the images on my camera again to see if I missed something.

“Does he have any cute gay friends? Just kidding, or maybe not.” Chen giggled and another coworker, Lopes, rolled her eyes.

“Maybe, let me get your number,” I passed my phone to Chen. I figured it would be enough to pacify him and keep him occupied for a bit, so I could think.

My mind was murky having slept the best I could on an airplane before starting my first day of work. I hadn’t even checked out the apartment the faeries secured for me, but I guess I wouldn’t be needing it. Apparently I had to solve this case tonight.

“I could use an iced coffee,” I said more to myself than to the others in the van, but Lopes sat up straight in response.

“Ooh, great idea, Newbie!” Lopes said, while knocking her fist on the driver’s seat. “Hey, Stevens, let’s go for a coffee run!”

Stevens shook his head. “Ask an officer. I can’t roll the van out until we’ve bagged all the evidence.”

“Better get to it, Chen. I want my coffee,” Lopes said, “and beignets!”

“What’s a beignet?” I asked.

The others laughed.

Chen placed my phone next to me and threw his hands up dramatically. “Maybe I can get Lacroix to finish up.” He slid open the van door, hitting us with a wave of hot air as he left.

Thinking back to the details of the murder, I wondered if there might have been a clue to the culprit. The murder had happened overnight. For a city that supposedly never slept, there weren’t any witnesses as far as we knew. I could stop by the houses nearby and ask if they saw anything, even if the police already did so. They might tell me a detail that a police officer would dismiss as being too crazy.

It was then that I noticed something strange about the pictures, or the background of the pictures. There were plenty of onlookers gawking at the scene from the sides of the police barricade and all of the uniformed officers, but somehow, one person had gone past the police tape unnoticed. She was wearing a knit dress with big, flowy sleeves, and her hair was done into long dreadlocks that reached all the way to her ankles.

“Hey, Lopes, who’s this?” I asked, turning my camera screen so she could get a good look.

“Oh, that’s Madam De LaClare. She weasels her way into everything ‘round here,” Lopes said.

“Did they ask her about the murder?” I asked.

“Yeah, she didn’t know who did it, but said there was a miasma of evil hanging over the scene,” Lopes said.

“You believe in that crap?” Stevens asked without turning around to look at her.

“No, but I tend to avoid miasmas when given the option.”

Taking out my phone, I looked up Madam De LaClare. She had a magic shop right on Bourbon Street. Perfect to pick up tourists for overpriced fortunes and trinkets. The apartment the faeries set up for me was above a beignet shop, whatever that was, and it was on the way. I could probably drop by both places before lunch was over and get back to the station. Although I didn’t like the idea of walking through the heat, I didn’t have time to waste.

“I think I’m gonna go get some lunch while we’re waiting and meet you back at the station,” I said. “Can I leave the camera with you?”

Lopes sucked her teeth. “Y’all Northerners in such a rush. We’re gettin’ paid to sit here ya know? Suit yourself. Pack the camera up and leave it here. You can pick it up back at the station. Have a good lunch with that skinny-boy fiance of yours. Maybe he’ll pick up a tan living down here.”

I tucked the camera into its protective container and packed it away in the van. Right before I got out, Lopes yelled my name.

“Take this,” she said and threw what looked like a clear plastic bag at me.

“A garbage bag?” I asked.

“It’s a poncho, trust me, you’ll need it,” she said.

“Uh…thanks.” I stuffed the bag under my arm and headed outside.

I immediately regretted my decision. The heat was oppressive. As the sun beared down on me, I didn’t think there was a single cloud in the sky. My Irish skin was not going to do well here. Lopes should have given me sunblock or a hat instead of a piece of plastic. While looking at the directions on how to get to my apartment, I tripped on the uneven sidewalk and just barely got my feet underneath me in time to keep from falling flat.

As I scanned out into the distance, I could see multiple mounds like the one I had tripped over and what looked like sea shells scattered around it. I then recalled that there had been serious flooding in that area before, and it likely caused the ground to buckle. When I got to the end of the sidewalk, there was a mural made with tiles to tell you the name of the road.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Note to self, look down.

I could feel the sweat dripping down the back of my shirt now, but it made no difference since my entire body felt drenched from the moment I stepped outside. At least tying my dark hair back into a bun behind my head provided a little relief. When I arrived at the station this morning, still wearing my jeans and t-shirt from the trip, I felt out of place compared to the business attire the rest of the Forensic staff was wearing, but now I was entirely overdressed. I made it about ten more feet before a man wearing copious NOLA paraphernalia stepped into my way. This was the first place I had ever been where the locals wore hats and shirts with the name of the city they lived in like they were permanent tourists.

“Hey, I know where you got them shoes,” he said in the gravelly voice of a long-time smoker.

“Huh?” It was such a strange way to start a conversation that I wasn’t sure how to respond. I couldn’t even remember where I got my shoes.

“On your feet!” He said and held his hand out.

“Oh,” I said while reaching into my pocket to see if I had any cash. I had left my bags at the police station to go to the scene quickly. As I pulled out a ten, I eyed the guy and said, “hey, how did you know I wasn’t from around here?

“You’re walkin’ on one side, not crossin’ to the shade.”

Note to self 2. Cross the road to walk in the shade.

Holding the bill up, I asked, “you know Madam De LaClare?”

“Sure, sure,” he said, eyeing the cash hungrily.

“Does she do walk-in appointments?” I asked.

“Yes, mam, but you don’t want none of that. She’s all doom and gloom. I could tell ya yer fortune.” He smiled to reveal multiple missing teeth.

“I’d rather enjoy the mystery,” I said, and I handed him the ten. “You hear anything about the dead guy up there?” I asked.

The smile disappeared. “Which one?”

Before I could respond, he had slipped the ten into his pocket and took off down an alley.

By the time I reached the beignet shop, I was soaking wet and thoroughly regretted my decision to walk. The shop was cool enough to provide a slight relief. The shopkeeper was an older, balding man in a stained apron. Something about his face looked vaguely aquatic to me. His eyes were a little too far apart, reminding me of a frog.

“I’m in the apartment upstairs,” I told him, trying not to stare at his unnatural facial features.

“Yes, yes,” he said in a thick accent that I couldn’t place. He pointed at a door on the other side of the shop and then handed me a paper to-go bag.

“Oh? How much?” I asked, but he just kept pointing at the door and smiling. I wasn’t sure if there was a miscommunication going on or if it was some faerie shenanigans, but I had given the guy on the street my only cash, so I decided not to dwell on it.

I thanked him, and pushed through the doorway to find a stairwell. At the top of one flight, there was a door with the apartment number “333” on it. Faeries and their sets of threes. I didn’t have a key, so I twisted the knob and found it unlocked.

Inside, I was greeted with a bright open room. Skylight windows with hanging plants and a jungle of various shrubs lining them surrounded multi-colored rugs and comfy looking furniture. The a/c was cranking through the vents, making it a comfortable temperature in the artsy studio apartment. There was a thick smell of coffee heating in a pot in the adjoining kitchen. Maybe I didn’t have to leave quite so soon.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something dark that didn’t fit the general ambiance of the room. It was a pair of black, leather boots next to the doorway. When I heard movement from the other side of the room, I involuntarily let out an unflattering noise and flung everything I was holding in the general direction of the sound.

Jack was standing before me, without a shirt on and a towel hanging around his neck. The paper bag I threw puffed open, covering him in white powdered sugar while the plastic poncho Lopes had given me slowly lilted to the floor by my feet. He blinked, completely flabbergasted by what had just occurred.

Trying not to crack a smile, I couldn’t help but think he looked like one of those sad clown paintings.

“I take it those were my beignets?” He asked.

“What are you doing here?!”

“Well, I was taking a cold shower. I can’t be in the heat that long,” he said. “Now, I may have to just start over.”

“I have questions for you, a lot of questions,” I said with my hands on my hips.

“Let me wipe this off and get a shirt on, unless you’d rather I left it off,” he grinned at me. He was starting to make the white powder look stylish with his faerie wiles.

Luckily, I was impervious to Fae enchantments, due to being part Fae myself. I hadn’t inherited any magic from my mom, but at least I didn’t go all googly-eyed over every beautiful faerie that crossed my path. The faeries, of course, hated this.

I glared at Jack with as much intensity as I could muster. “I’ll be over there when you’re ready.”

I went over to the attached kitchen to eye the coffee. The idea of caffeine was enticing, but not the heat. When I popped the fridge, I discovered a plethora of fresh fruit and vegetables. Someone was clearly living in this apartment.

“I thought this was where I was supposed to be staying,” I yelled across the room, but as I closed the fridge, I was startled to see Jack on the other side. At least he had a shirt on.

“Yes, there’s only one bed, though,” he said and winked.

“Ok, cut the Fae charm crap right now. It doesn’t work on me, and it’s just annoying,” I said while grabbing a coffee mug from a rack on the counter and pouring myself a cup.

“That sort of ruins the fun for both of us, doesn’t it?” He asked, “may I?” and pointed to the coffee.

I shrugged at him assuming he also wanted a cup, but instead he grabbed my cup and I watched as frost formed crystals on the sides, cooling the coffee inside. I watched in awe. Now that was a neat party trick.

“Ok, why are you here, and what the hell is this ring you put on me?” I asked him while adding milk and sugar to the iced coffee.

“You are so direct. I really like that in a mortal,” he said.

Glaring at him, I said, “I’m about to go find a hardware store and decorate this place with iron chains.”

“Woah, woah. O.K. No need to do anything hasty. Let’s have a sit in the living room and chat,” he said and headed over to the couch. His long stride got him there in two steps.

I made my way over to one of the chairs and sipped the iced coffee.

Once we were sitting, he opened the crumpled bag of beignets, and placed a pastry on each plate in front of us. My stomach growled angrily at me. It was lunchtime afterall. Although I knew the rule against accepting food from the Fae, I had seen where this food came from, and I was already working for them anyway.

Jack’s too-blue eyes were fixed on his coffee cup which he was cradling to his chest with both hands while he admitted, “I’m not here to help you with the case.”