A Tale of Two Goblins - By H. P. Mallory Page 0,15

live in Splendor. He’d been looking for somewhere more permanent than the Marriott Hotel due to the fact that he’d be continuing his stint as head of the ANC division here in Splendor until the Netherworld found his replacement.

“So, you found an apartment then?” I asked.

Knight nodded and pulled out one of my kitchen chairs, straddling it backwards and leaned his big arms over the chair back. “I did.”

“And?”

“It’s nice. Over on Shamrock Street.”

Shamrock Street was the Beverly Hills of Splendor. “Well, good to see they pay you well,” I grumbled, thinking about the fact that I was about to be late on my rent.

“I’m worth it, Dulce,” he said with a smile, a smile that said his comment wasn’t just limited to his position as head of the ANC. Before I had the chance to respond, Blue casually trotted over to Knight and sniffed his feet curiously.

The visual of what happened next will forever live in my head in infamy. Blue simply jumped up onto Knight’s leg and with unbridled abandon, began humping his knee, thrusting back and forth with the expression of extreme concentration on his canine face.

“Blue!” I squealed and lurched for him.

Knight’s laugh was deep as he pushed the dog away. “Really, Dog, we only met yesterday.”

Blue apparently had it bad for Knight and resumed his straddled position, bracing Knight’s knee between his paws as my mouth dropped open again. As if doubly determined to let Knight’s knee know just how much affection he held for it, Blue started gyrating again.

“You get down right now, bad boy!” I yelled and yanked on his collar but he didn’t budge. He just tightened his grip on Knight’s leg and glanced back at me with an expression that said “mind your own business. This is between me and the Loki’s knee.”

Finally able to separate my dog from Knight’s pant leg, I forced him outside and tried to keep the flush from my cheeks, still in disbelief that my dog had just mounted him. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled.

“Don’t be,” Knight said with a grin. “That’s the most action I’ve gotten in months.”

I settled my attention on the three manila folders, trying not to think about Knight getting action at all and searched for a change of subject. “You want to review those now or after dinner?”

“Now is good,” he said, eyeing my flustered face all the while as he handed me the first folder.

Opening it, I immediately noted two pictures paper-clipped to the interior of the folder, one of a smiling brunette with round, twinkling eyes. She looked to be about my age, in her mid-twenties. The other picture was of a woman asleep in a hospital bed, probably in a coma given the context. The still figure on the hospital cot was nothing like the happy woman in the other photo. Her hair had lost its luster and her skin was pale—as if the Dreamstalker had blanched away the color in her cheeks as easily as he’d taken control of her life.

“Her name is Anna Murphy,” Knight said. “The next folder under hers is a woman named Heather Green.”

Anna Murphy…I rolled her name around on my tongue, thinking it sounded strangely familiar, though I wasn’t sure why. Course, it was a pretty common name so maybe it wasn’t anything at all. Heather Green didn’t ring any déjà-vu bells. “And the third person?”

“Jennifer Garrity…but she went by Jenny.”

Jennifer Garrity. A bolt of realization jolted through me. I did know that name. I knew that name well because Jenny Garrity had been my nanny when I was a child. I almost dropped Anna’s file onto the floor. “I knew…I know her,” I said in a small voice, my hands shaking.

“How?” Knight demanded, eyeing me with extreme interest.

“She was my nanny from the time I was born until I went to Kindergarten.” She’d been loving and wonderful.

Knight nodded and opened the third file, Jenny Garrity’s I presumed, and jotted down a note. “And Anna Murphy or Heather Green?” he asked.

“Anna Murphy sounds familiar but not Heather Green.”

“Well, they both should sound familiar,” he said and observing my dumbfounded expression, continued. “They were in your second grade class.”

I swallowed hard and felt like I needed to sit down. So, I did. I took the chair next to Knight and grabbed the file on top, opening it to see Heather’s name. What I presumed was her senior year photo smiled out at me, revealing a woman with platinum blond hair and full lips. There