"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?"