Charming (Exiled Book 3) (16 page)

“That’s a good idea,” Charming said.

“That’s him now.” Crowley waved to somebody behind Charming.

When Charming turned around to get a look, he saw a man in his mid-sixties, tall with a full head of white hair, accompanied by none other than Dread.

“Professor Beech,” Crowley said. “This is Charming. You know my partner already.”

“Yes,” said Beech. He shook hands with Charming. “This is one of my students. As you once were,” he said smiling at Crowley. “I should amend that. He’s my best student actually. His name is Dread.”

“A hybrid studying police work?” Hogshead said, both eyebrows raised to his hairline.

“Are you questioning the novelty or the fact that I chose this student to mentor?” Beech had turned to Hogshead who pressed his lips together, looked away and didn’t answer.

In an effort to make up for the ugliness of his partner’s overt racism, Crowley said, “It’s about time.”

“Matter of fact,” Charming said. “Dread is my nephew.” He smiled with a pride that rivaled parenthood, grasped Dread’s shoulder and gave him an affectionate shake.

Dread seemed embarrassed by the attention, especially when the professor looked at him in a new way.

“Is that right?” Beech said. “Imagine that. I had no idea.”

“Well, let’s see what we’ve got here, shall we?” He glanced toward the body. “Hope you’ve got a strong stomach,” he said to Dread.

“I’ll be okay,” Dread replied quietly.

They spent the next two hours combing over every element of the crime, hoping to squeeze out some detail that would present a lead not previously considered.

“Well, what do you think?” Crowley addressed the question to Beech.

He looked at his pocket watch. “It’s time for tea. With your permission, I’d like to send it round my brain over a hot cup.”

Crowley cleared his throat. “Yes, well, we, uh, have tea at the office. You can ride with…”

“Me,” Charming put in. “It would be my honor to give a ride to my nephew’s mentor.” He smiled at Beech. To Crowley, he said, “We’ll meet you there.”

When they arrived at Charming’s car, Beech said, “Oh my. It’s one of those new electricals.”

“Yes. My brother, Dread’s dad, designs and builds them.”

Again Beech looked at Dread with newfound admiration. He chuckled. “Seems you’re surrounded by success, boy. Your family is taking over the world.” He chuckled. “No wonder you grabbed my notice. Good stock and all that.”

Dread let the professor think he was related by blood. Why not? It didn’t make a difference to Crave or Dandy or their families. At least they’d always said it didn’t. And they’d treated him like their own. He knew that for a fact.

Dread opened the front passenger door for Beech then settled himself in the back seat. It was a fifteen minute ride to the offices of the police authority at that time of day, which gave Charming ample opportunity to question Beech independently.

As they drove away, he said, “Have you been following this series of murders, Professor?”

Beech chuckled. “Certainly. There hasn’t been anything this sensational in over a century. Of course, I’ve been following from afar like any citizen not directly involved in the investigation.”

Charming nodded. “Still, you’ve been keeping up. You must have some thoughts.”

“I might.”

“Let me just ask you outright then. In your opinion, is the killer more likely to be hybrid or a human hoping to make the murders look like they were committed by a hybrid?”

“Is that important?” The professor was being coy and Charming knew it.

“Not to the victims, but it would help us narrow the search.”

“Yes. I see that.” He nodded. “The crimes have given the hate groups not only renewed fervor, but a sense of purpose that seems more urgent than before.”

“So you think the killer is a misguided human?”

“I didn’t say that. Didn’t say that at all. Just making the argument that it could easily go either way. What I can feel fairly certain about is that the killer, whether human or hybrid, is a young male, late teens, who is a student and lives near the park.” He turned around and looked at Dread in the backseat. “Matter of fact, you fit the description perfectly, my boy. Is it you?”

“No, sir,” Dread replied without missing a beat or taking offense to the question.

Beech turned around. “Well, if it was, that would have beaten my own record for solving a crime.” He laughed. “I could speculate about motives, but it would be just that… speculation.”

In the conference room reserved for the Chief of Police they had tea and reviewed every shred of evidence. But in the end, Beech wasn’t able to contribute anything they didn’t already know.

“I’d better get back to City Hall. I’ll see you soon,” Charming told Dread.

“Sure. Good to see ya,” said Dread.

“Oh and congratulations on being teacher’s favorite.”

Dread rolled his eyes. “It’s not a paid position you know.”

Charming laughed. “Come see me when you graduate. Then we’ll talk paid position.”

Charming had an appointment at one of the schools for purposes of demonstrating differences in strength between humans and hybrids. The schedule included all levels of education from preschool up. He told human students to exercise civility when interacting with hybrids, not to insult or provoke them because to do would be both foolhardy and extremely dangerous to the human.

He knew the pleasure he took from scaring human kids was perverse, but he recognized that part of himself for what it was and embraced it. He saw nothing wrong with having pride in the unique attributes of his species so long as he kept it in perspective and never let it override his job, which was overseeing the permanent blending of humans and hybrids. But he did love hearing the gasps followed by stunned silence when hybrid kids demonstrated how quickly they could turn a graphite mannequin into tiny crushed pieces. Even the youngest children could make the leap of logic that mannequins were much more resistant to destruction than were their own very fragile, vulnerable bodies.

Charming had come to look forward to seeing Ana at the pub in the evenings for a supper time break. At first sharing dinner was a means of keeping tabs on her as obliged by the favor he’d granted Rosie, but little by little he’d come to realize that the nightly meetings helped him relax.

For some reason he felt like he could be himself with Ana. Maybe it was because she didn’t have any history with Exiled, no preconceived ideas about who or what he should be as compared to the way his father and oldest brother had been revered like legends.

Lately, she’d been providing more than just a tension-free experience. She’d taken an interest in cooking with a vengeance and, because of that, had become interesting. Every day he began anticipating the excitement she would have over some new thing she’d learned or created. The latest was ‘juggernut cookies. He laughed to himself when he thought about her telling him how she’d come up with the name for the Far Scar exclusive.

“Something funny?” the mayor asked.

Charming hadn’t realized he’d vocalized his chuckle. He looked up to see the mayor leaning against the door frame of his office. “No, but I’m taking a dinner break. Whatever it is can wait until after.”

It was a nice evening so he decided to walk to the pub. He’d only gone a few steps when he almost ran into Snow.

“Charming!” She smiled.

“Hey, Snow. How are you?”

“Fair to medium. You look good.” Her eyes ran up and down his body. “Real good.”

“Well, um, thanks. You, too.”

She laughed. “I do, don’t I?”

He smiled ingratiatingly. “I’m on my way out for a supper break.”

“Oh? You want some company?”

“Well, I…”

“Look, you know I’m not a diplomat. So I’ll just tell you straight up. I’m in a little bit of a dry spell. How’d you like to share sex with me? Quick. Easy. No muss. No fuss. Like I said, you look good.”

Charming’s smile grew into an ear to ear grin. “Same here. You’re a wish answered.”

She stepped into Charming’s body and pressed so that her breasts flattened against his chest. His smile died and he closed his eyes when he groaned from the pleasant sensation. The problem was that, with his eyes closed, what he saw in his mind wasn’t Snow. It was Ana, which made him all the more sure that it was way past time to fuck that out of his system.

He backed away, putting her at arm’s length. “Come on. I need to stop by Scar’s place and let somebody know to go ahead without me.”

“Sure. Sounds good.”

Ana had mentally catalogued Charming’s favorite foods. She would have had to have been trying to not notice which things elicited his yummy noises and which things he always ordered when available. With Abel’s and Moonlight’s help, she had perfected Shepherd’s Pie and oxnard greens so that she could treat him to a special homemade dinner.

She didn’t know if there were traditions for romantic dinners in Farsuitwail, but she liked the usual props that went along with occasions in her world of origin. So she procured candles, flowers, and a thin red ale that could manage as a close-enough substitute for wine.

She’d taken off early enough to get the cooking done, set the little table in the kitchen, and arranged fresh oatmeal raisin cookies under a glass dome.

There was no question in her mind that Charming was into her as a woman. For weeks she’d been reading the signals, but he never made a move to take things to the next level. Not even when they found themselves trying to get through the same doorway at the same time.

Coming to the conclusion that he must be shy sexually, or even inexperienced, she decided to take matters under her own control. She got out the red dress Rosie had bought her. The one she’d been sure she’d
never
wear. And just to demonstrate the depth of her commitment, she put on the red lipstick. When she looked in the mirror, she decided it was a good dress-up look and went with both her coloring and the dress.

Glancing at the kitchen clock, she ran back to the bathroom to make sure that her hair and lipstick were in place. She felt a little foolish in the dress, like she was trying to impersonate a much more overtly feminine personality, but it was too late to second guess even if that was true.

When Charming stepped up to the bar, Scar gave him a chin raise and said, “Snow. How are ya?” When she shrugged in reply, he turned to Charming. “Got a message for you from the little girl.”

“Yeah? What is it?” Charming asked.

“She says she has food for you upstairs tonight and for you to grab something up there.”

“Oh. Okay.” Charming was surprised since they’d never talked about eating at his place, but he was sure Ana must have her reasons. So he took Snow’s hand and led her into the building lobby and onto the elevator.

When he pushed the button for the top floor, she said, “My. The mighty are flying high, huh?”

He couldn’t think of a single reply. He didn’t want to get to know Snow better. He just wanted to unload some semen and get back to work. He’d miss his nightly check-in with Ana, but in the long run, a little sexual release would be better for everybody concerned.

When Ana heard the front door, she lit the candles quickly, but paused with a match in mid-air when she heard voices. Charming’s and someone else’s. Someone female.

The first thing Charming noticed when he opened the door was the heavenly aroma of his favorite Shepherd’s Pie. He smiled and turned to Snow.

“My roommate is a cook and, wow, smell that? She made Shepherd’s Pie.”

He looked up to see Ana coming into the living room with a question on her face.

“Hey, Ana.”
He looked her up and down. “You look great. Going somewhere? That smell is killing me. It’s my favorite and nobody knows how to make it like Abel. Thanks for grabbing some for me before it was all gone.”

“Well, I…” she stammered.

“Oh,” he said, proceeding in blissful moronic oblivion, “this is Snow.”