our team now. It would have been rude not to include him.”
Being rude was Theo’s worst nightmare. Usually, Gretchen appreciated that about him. This one time, though, she wished he’d just said to hell with it and left Keith Ridley off the guest list.
Keith had just joined their team a few weeks ago. He was a new Marshal, and he hadn’t been in law enforcement before this job. It showed.
More accurately, he hadn’t been in any jobs before this job, and it showed. Even a high school job scooping ice cream would have taught him more about the world than he seemed to know. The guy just didn’t know how to deal with people.
Like Theo, Keith had been raised in a removed little society that had had very little do with the outside world. But unlike Theo, he hadn’t broken away from it because its sense of superiority had rankled his own ideas of right and wrong. He had been sent out into the world as a kind of tribute, a present from the unicorns to the rest of them.
Gretchen kind of wondered if they could regift him.
He was stiff, rude, and self-righteous. No witness felt like they could trust him, and no friend or family member of a fugitive would ever decide to help him out.
Also, he was kind of a pill. He was absolutely the last person you’d want at your party, and no one but Theo would have ever invited him.
“You know he reported Colby for running a March Madness bracket,” Gretchen said. “A measly five-dollars-per-person, just-for-fun office pool, and Keith went over Martin’s head to turn Colby in for gambling. And my bracket totally would have won, too.”
“And now he’s headed straight for us,” Theo said. “Brace yourself.”
But before Gretchen needed to, a hand fell on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Martin, who looked unmistakably grim.
Gretchen started to make a joke about how he looked like he’d already had to talk to Keith, but then she shut up: Martin’s expression had her genuinely worried. His mate, Tiffani, was Jillian’s beloved stepmother. Martin should have been ecstatic at having a grandkid on the way, and instead he looked like he needed to face a firing squad.
“What’s up, chief?”
Martin shook his head. “Not here—let’s go outside. I don’t want to spoil the celebration. Sorry about this, Theo. You and Jillian deserve better than having work crash your party.”
“It can’t be helped,” Theo said magnanimously. “Do you just need Gretchen? I can intercept Keith.”
“Keith’s here?” Martin said. “Why?”
“That’s what I was saying,” Gretchen said.
“Intercept away,” Martin said to Theo. “And thanks.”
Theo made a beeline for Keith, ready to fall on his sword in the name of being a good host, and Gretchen silently wished him good luck before she turned back to Martin.
“Outside?”
Martin nodded. “Take a coat,” he said, which was so reflexively parental that it made her have to suppress a laugh.
Once they were outside, Gretchen had to admit she was glad Martin had advised her to bundle up. It was freezing. Temperatures had plummeted lately, and all the weather reports were warning of big snowstorms up ahead. Her nieces and nephews were already eagerly planning all the sledding they’d do once school was inevitably cancelled.
She could almost smell the snow in the clear, dark air.
That was something she’d never told anyone. She’d always felt like she had some kind of sixth sense for how the weather was going to turn—a hyper-awareness of the sky above her and the way the wind felt against her skin. A yearning to be up there. She’d taken piloting lessons a few times in her early twenties, but while she’d gotten a kick out of taking a little plane up in the air, it hadn’t scratched whatever itch was deep down inside her.
By now, she was pretty good at ignoring it. She wrapped her arms around herself, hugging the wool fabric of her coat closer to her, and said, “So—what’s up?”
“I have a special assignment for you,” Martin said.
Gretchen relaxed.
“You look relieved,” Martin said, his mouth quirking. “I haven’t even told you what it is yet.”
“You had me worried! If it’s really just work, why the long face?”
“Because—wait, is that a horse joke? Horse walks into a bar, the bartender says, ‘Why the long face?’”
“Since it’s you,” Gretchen said, “it’s a pegasus joke.”
He shook his head in what she was guessing was supposed to be world-weary resignation, but she could see the deepened laugh-lines at the corners of his eyes;