“That’s the idea. If you shoot that wolf, I will arrest you.”
“He’s dangerous, ma’am.”
“He wouldn’t be, if he’d been handled correctly. I’m sorry to say that your chief is a bloody, bigoted fool. If he’s given you orders to shoot if the wolf moves”—and he had, the craven bastard; she saw it in the way the officer’s gaze flickered—“you will disregard those orders. Jason Chance is my witness, and I will not allow you to tamper with my witness.”
The man was confused, uncertain. The other one was cut more from Daly’s cloth. He sneered and shifted position, keeping his rifle trained.
She moved with him, blocking his shot—and took her phone out of the shirt pocket. “Perhaps I should mention that I’m on an open line right now, transmitting images to FBI headquarters in Washington. Smile for the camera.” She held out her phone.
Daly took an involuntary step back. “That’s a phone, not a web cam.”
“That’s right. It’s my new iPhone. Cool, isn’t it? Want to see?” She turned it so he could see the screen—which showed his two men with their rifles trained on the cell’s bars.
The rest was anticlimax.
Daly left. His men stayed, but lowered their weapons. She sat on the floor and waited, carefully not looking at the wolf. Sure enough, after about five minutes he approached—still bristling, still growling, but with his ears pricked.
He wanted to know why she smelled like his Lu Nuncio. She told him, subvocalizing—which both kept the officers from hearing and let him know she was clan. No one outside the clans would think to do it.
He stopped growling.
She showed him the necklace she wore, the toltoi charm she’d been given to mark her status as Chosen.
He dropped to the floor, whining submissively.
“You’re getting out,” she assured him. “Rule’s here. Your lawyer’s here, and bail’s been posted. But we need you two-legged. Can you Change back?”
Ten minutes later, Lily left the cell block with a young man who looked like every cliché of a California surfer dude—sun-streaked blond hair, athletic body, and a quick, white grin. He wore ragged jeans and a blue T-shirt with a stylized wave.
The clothes had been on the floor of his cell. And he probably wasn’t as young as he looked.
Chapter 6
Bobbie’s Grill was Rule’s suggestion. The food, he said, was nothing special, but it arrived quickly and the portions were generous. Speed and portion size mattered for the same reason they were eating supper so early: the Change burns calories, and a hungry wolf is an edgy wolf.
Besides, his stomach was on the same clock as hers, and hers said it was after eight. On the way there, Lily checked her official email and found that the request for the police reports on Hilliard’s death was still pending. Big surprise.
She also saw that the photos she’d sent of the tattoo had been passed to Arjenie Fox, a young witch who worked in research. Arjenie was good. Lily sent her a quick note asking to be contacted as soon as she knew anything.
Once they arrived, Lily saw one more reason Rule had chosen Bobbie’s. It had outdoor seating. At this hour, the majority of customers were rushing home from work and opting for take-out, so they had the patio to themselves. The low wall around the patch of cement didn’t do much to reduce traffic noise or provide privacy, but the openness would be soothing to a claustrophobic lupus newly released from a cell.
Another plus: fish tacos. “Did you know they don’t have fish tacos in D.C.?” she asked Jason as Rule put down the plastic trays with their order.
“You’re kidding.” He shook his head and reached for the salsa. “How could they not, a cosmopolitan place like that?”
“They’ve never even heard of fish tacos.” Lily grabbed her tacos and began doctoring them with extra shredded cabbage, a generous dollop of salsa, and pickles. Rule had had to ask for the pickles; for some reason they weren’t a universally approved accompaniment for fish tacos.
“Go figure.” Jason said that around a healthy mouthful of tortilla and batter-fried fish. He swallowed. “That was so cool, what you did with the phone. I didn’t know you could do that—make it work like a web cam.”
“I don’t think you can.” Lily decided the tacos needed more salsa and spooned it on. “At least, I know I can’t.”
“It was a bluff?” Jason hooted and slapped his thigh. “Man, I’d like to be a fly on the wall when Daly realizes you bluffed him.”
Rule frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“Daly had a pair of officers training rifles on Jason,” she explained. “With orders to shoot if he moved. I had to persuade him he couldn’t get away with it, and I was short on options.”
Jason turned to Rule. “I wish you’d seen it. She’s got guts. They were aimed for me, so she stepped up between me and their guns. Told ’em their chief was a bloody idiot.” Jason grinned. “And when they didn’t—”
Rule broke in, his voice flat. “You stepped in front of their rifles.”
Uh-oh. Rule hadn’t been thrilled about her going in there alone in the first place. “I needed to interfere with their line of fire.”
“Dammit, Lily, Jason can heal most wounds! You promised me—”
“I promised I wouldn’t get in the cell with Jason until he Changed back. I didn’t.” But Jason had never been the main threat. Lily’s pleasure in the fish taco faded. She put it down and said quietly, “He’s a bad cop, Rule. Daly’s not just a bully with a badge. If he hasn’t yet killed, using the badge to protect himself, he will.”
He met her eyes. She saw the turbulence in him, the desire to go back and tear Daly apart. Maybe rip down the jail, too. After a moment he grimaced. “I suppose now you’ll tell me it must have been a good decision, since you’re still alive.”
“He intended to kill Jason. I wasn’t sure about that until I saw how he’d set the stage. I interfered with his plans, but he was damn near mad enough to go ahead anyway. So I bluffed.”
Jason spoke—more subdued now, but with a stubborn set to his jaw. “She handled herself. Handled Daly, too. She told him her phone was transmitting images to FBI headquarters. He bought it. Hell, I did, too…well, not immediately, because I was beast-lost at the time.” He flushed beneath his tan. “I’m sorry for that. I couldn’t…I knew I shouldn’t Change, but I felt so trapped, I—”
“It’s all right, Jason.” Rule managed a wry smile. “I understand the experience, believe me.”
“You wouldn’t have given in. You wouldn’t have Changed.”
“I’m Lu Nuncio. You aren’t. Why would you expect yourself to behave as if you were?”
Jason’s grin flickered. “Just as well I don’t, isn’t it?”
Rule’s phone sang out the opening bars from Mozart’s Night Music. That meant it was his father. Lily turned to Hal Newman while Rule answered. “Why haven’t I seen you around Clanhome?”
“You have.” Mischief lurked in eyes as blue as those of the other Newman. “We didn’t actually meet, but I was visiting my son and granddaughter there the first time you came to Clanhome. You looked right at me. What a blow to my ego that you don’t remember.”
Lily frowned, calling up memories of a day that remained vivid, if somewhat jumbled. There’d been a lot going on. “A large, silvery gray wolf?”
“Beth likes to play horsie.”
“Beth.” She smiled. “That’s my sister’s name.”
Jason perked up. “You have a sister?”
“Two. One older and married. One younger and…” She looked at Jason’s tanned and appealing face and finished wryly, “probably interested in meeting you.” Beth thought Lily took too many risks. Lily thought the same of Beth. Different risks.
Lily kept the conversation on lighter matters, ably abetted by Newman, who insisted she call him Hal. She had plenty of questions for Jason, but she’d let him eat first, get himself steadier. Rule didn’t take part; he was filling his father in on the day’s events. Lily had finished both of her tacos by the time he disconnected.