or you and I will have another chat. And next time I won’t be so friendly.”
This was the first time he’d been asked to investigate a crime scene, and he hoped it’d be the last. If he didn’t know better, he’d think his father was running scared, having him come down here to smooth things over. Since when did they care if the preternatural community or humans got upset?
Of course, there was the incentive of keeping the existence of demons on the down low. It was a sound strategy, he admitted, one that had allowed him certain latitudes over the centuries. If no one knew you existed, you could pull all sorts of crap and blame it on the other guy.
Sam jumped off the tailgate. He wrote his name and address on the pad and handed paper and pencil back to Finn while glancing at the ambulance. “Look, uh, Lucifer doesn’t need to know about this, right? We can keep it between you and me?” He swung his gaze back to Finn.
Finn would say one thing for dear old dad. He still had the respect, and fear, of most in the demon community. “I hate to break it to you, buddy, but who do you think told me to come over here? I don’t normally do liaison work, you know.”
“Oh. Right.” Sam met Finn’s eyes. “Thanks. And don’t take this the wrong way, but I hope we never meet again.”
Finn grinned. “I agree.” He sobered and put one hand on the guy’s shoulder. “Seriously, don’t fuck up again, Sam. We don’t want humans to start getting itchy trigger fingers, you know what I mean? From now on, some human gets mouthy with you, you walk away. You get me?”
“Yeah, I got you.” A muscle twitched in Sam’s jaw and finally he started acting more like a demon. “It’s hard, though. Letting some puny human spout a bunch of tripe and not do anything to make him regret it.”
“For now, that’s how it has to be.” And for a split second Finn wondered why. Preternaturals were stronger than humans and in most cases more intelligent, more capable. After all, they’d come from technologically advanced people in the other dimension. Maybe keeping the rift open longer wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
Finn pondered that for a moment, and as Sam walked away he decided that his father was right, about the rift at least. Maintaining the status quo with humanity was the best way to keep everyone in the preternatural community safe, including demons.
But as soon as he was done with this final mission for his father, he was done with being told what to do. He’d be the boss, and others could do the legwork.
“What’s your guy’s story?”
He turned to see Piper standing a few feet away. She had her own pad and pen in hand.
“The human attacked him, not the other way around. He defended himself enough to get the guy off him.”
“Huh.” She glanced back at the ambulance. “And yet your guy walks away without a scratch, while the alleged attacker sits in the back of an ambulance with a broken nose and busted ribs.”
“Hey, I can’t help it if your guy can’t hold his own in a brawl. He should be more careful who he picks fights with.” He walked until he could see the human. “Sam told me the truth when he said the human started it.”
“How do you know that?” she asked. Her head tilted to one side. “You carry a box with you?”
Finn had been around enough law enforcement officers to know when they referred to a “box,” it was shorthand for a polygraph machine.
Since Piper knew he was a demon, he didn’t mind giving up some information. “In a way.” He shrugged. “I just know when someone’s lying.”
“That’s a handy little trick to have.”
“You can’t tell me you’ve never seen it done. Vamps do it all the time. You’ve surely seen Knox do it,” he said, referring to one of the quadrant’s vampire liaisons. “Or even Tobias Caine,” he added. “You know him, right?”
“Yeah, I know him. I worked with him, briefly, on a case several months ago. I haven’t seen much of him lately, though, now that he’s a council member.” She put one hand on her hip, and it drew his attention to the gun holstered at her waist. He had a feeling she was as sharp with that gun as she was at doing her job.