motioned at the bodies. "I'm not sure I'd call this lucky."
"No murderer is this good the first time, or did you get a new flavor of killer while I was away in faerie?"
"Nope. Most murders are pretty standard. Violence level and victim differs but you're about eighty to ninety percent more likely to be killed by your nearest and dearest than by a stranger, and most killing is depressingly ordinary."
"This one's depressing," I said, "but it's not ordinary."
"No, it's not ordinary. I'm hoping this one perfect scene kind of got it out of the killer's system."
"You think it will?" I asked.
"No," she said. "No, I don't."
"Can I alert the local demi-fey to be careful, or are you trying to withhold the victim profile from the media?"
"Warn them, because if we don't and it happens again, we'll get accused of being racists, or is that speciesist?" She shook her head, walking back toward the police line. I followed her, glad to be leaving the bodies behind.
"Humans can interbreed with the demi-fey, so I don't think speciesist applies."
"I couldn't breed with something the size of a doll. That's just wrong."
"Some of them have two forms, one small and one not much shorter than me."
"Five feet? Really, from eight inches tall to five feet?"
"Yes, really. It's a rare ability, but it happens, and the babies are fertile, so I don't think it's quite a different species."
"I didn't mean any offense," she said.
"None taken, I'm just explaining."
We were almost to the police line and my visibly anxious boyfriends. "Enjoy your Saturday," she said.
"I'd say you too, but I know you'll be here for hours."
"Yeah, I think your Saturday will be a lot more fun than mine." She looked at Doyle and Frost as the police finally let them move forward. Lucy was giving them an admiring look behind her sunglasses. I didn't blame her.
I slipped the gloves off even though I hadn't touched a thing. I dropped them onto the mass of other discarded gloves that was on this side of the tape. Lucy held the tape up for me and I didn't even have to stoop. Sometimes short is good.
"Oh, check out the flowers, florists," I said.
"Already on it," she said.
"Sorry, sometimes I get carried away with you letting me help."
"No, all ideas are welcome, Merry, you know that. It's why I called you down here." She waved at me and went back to her murder scene. We couldn't shake because she was still wearing gloves and carrying evidence.
Doyle and Frost were almost to me, but we weren't going to get to the beach right away either. I had to warn the local demi-fey, and try to figure out a way to see if the mortality had spread to them, or if there was magic here in Los Angeles that could steal their immortality. There were things that would kill us eventually, but there wasn't much that would allow you to slit the throat of the winged-kin. They were the essence of faerie, more so even than the high court nobles. If I found out anything certain I'd tell Lucy, but until I had something that was useful I'd keep my secrets. I was only part human; most of me was pure fey, and we know how to keep a secret. The trick was how to warn the local demi-fey without causing a panic. Then I realized that there wasn't a way. The fey are just like humans - they understand fear. Some magic, a little near-immortality, doesn't make you unafraid; it just gives you a different list of fears.
Chapter Two
Frost tried to hug me, but I put a hand on his stomach, too short to really touch his chest. Doyle said, "She's trying to appear strong in front of the policemen."
"We shouldn't have let you come see this now," Frost said.
"Jeremy could have given a fey's opinion."
"Jeremy is the boss and he's allowed to turn his phone off on a Saturday," I said.
"Then Jordan or Julian Kane. They are psychics and practicing wizards."
"They're only human, Frost. Lucy wanted a fey to see this crime scene."
"You shouldn't have to see this in your condition."
I leaned in and spoke low. "I am a detective. It's my job, and it's our people up there dead on the hillside. I may never be queen, but I'm the closest they have here in L.A. Where else should a ruler be when her people are threatened?"
Frost started to say something else, but Doyle touched his arm. "Let it