As we walked up to the station, I was surprised to see the forensics van was still parked in the lot. The majority of the usual squad cars were also in their spots. When I opened the front door to walk in, I heard a cheer from my coworkers.

  “Hailey, you’re alive!” Chen said with a grin on his face.

  Lopes, Chen, and Stevens were sitting at their desks chatting and sipping coffee. It was a typical end of shift for a slow day, but that day had been anything but dull.

  “We heard you were taken out by the Easter Bunny,” Lopes said. “Took too many chocolate eggs?”

  “Glad to see all of you too. You’ve met my…fiance, Jack,” I forced myself to say.

  Chen examined Jack from across the room and said, “Oh yes, we’ve met. Love the shirt.”

  Jack smiled a little too widely at Chen. Every Fae I’d ever met enjoyed attention; sometimes a little too much. I had to stop myself from gagging.

  “How come you guys aren’t at the scene?” I asked.

  “Because someone got attacked by a wild, ferocious animal,” Lopes said with a chuckle. “That’s why we were cheering for you, Newbie. You got us out of the heat for the night.”

  “Did you meet Lil…I mean Doctor Collete?” Stevens poked his head from around his computer monitor and adjusted his glasses that were sliding down his nose. When he was leaning back in his chair, he was completely hidden.

  “Uh yeah, she seems…nice,” I said, wondering how well Stevens had been acquainted with the Leanan Sidhe. “Any of you know why she was there?”

  Chen leaned forward and spoke in a hushed tone as if it were some sort of secret. As he did so, his pastel necktie dangled onto the desk in front of him and narrowly avoided his coffee. “Word is that the first body had lead and mercury poisoning. Lead could be from paint I suppose, but mercury’s not too common around here. She wanted to get a sample from the second one to check if they had more in common.”

  “Mercury poisoning?” I asked, “Could that be from the water?”

  “Sure as hell hope not,” Lopes said.

  “Maybe we’re all mad as a hatter,” Stevens joked. When no one laughed he said, “You know, like from Alice in Wonderland.”

  “What the hell are you on about now, Stevens?” Lopes frowned at him, shifting her dark eyebrows to give him a dubious expression.

  The way Chen and Lopes treated Stevens made it apparent that he was younger than them. Lopes obviously had some years on her. The thick eye-makeup she wore did not fully cover the crow’s feet at the edges of her face. And although it was hard to tell with Chen, because he clearly paid attention to his physique and posture, I assumed he was well into his thirties. Stevens had no sign of greying in his dark hair and, even with the thick glasses obscuring part of his face, he had the youthful appearance of someone in his mid-to late twenties.

  “The mad hatter, because they used to use mercury to shape top hats, and it would make people go nuts,” Stevens explained. “Thought everyone knew that.”

  Lopes shook her head. “Stevens, I swear you think the sun comes up just to hear you crow.”

  Chen snickered. Stevens seemed unbothered by their teasing.

  “Are we talking like broken-thermometer levels of mercury poisoning or ate-nothing-but-tuna-every-day levels?” I asked.

  Everyone seemed thrown off by how earnest my question was. I hoped they would pass it off as an overly curious forensics specialist and not some ulterior motive.

  “High levels of exposure. Could mean some sort of constant exposure, like when people used to get mercury fillings,” Stevens said, “ME seemed to think it could even be something the stiffs were carrying around.”

  “Carrying? Like those crazy knives?” I asked.

  “I doubt they’d be able to carry obvious weapons all over the place even in New Orleans,” Chen said. “But I guess I’ve seen weirder.”

  Stevens shrugged. “Maybe we should store the knives in steel or iron containers to be safe.”

  Apparently iron was good for keeping Fae and mercury poisoning at bay.

  “What about the lead poisoning?” I asked.

  “High levels too, like he was eating paint chips off an old barn,” Stevens said.

  “I had a friend from elementary school who did that, said it tasted real sweet,” Lopes said. “God, was he dumb.”

  “Before or after the brain damage from the lead?” Chen asked.

  Lopes shrugged.

  “How long do you suppose it takes after you're exposed to mercury to start acting funny?” I continued my line of questioning, hoping to get as much information out of Stevens as I could.

  “Depends on the person. Some months, some minutes,” Stevens said.

  “How do you know this stuff?” Lopes asked, and although I was annoyed she interrupted my questioning, it at least drew suspicion from me.

  “I don’t know, did some research on Love Canal once. All them people getting sick, seemed like it happens over and over again. Lead, mercury, radiation. Corporations cutting corners, using stuff they know hurts everyone.” Stevens shook his head.

  “Here it is! You want me to dust off your soap box. You haven’t stood on it for a few hours,” Lopes said, but Chen didn’t join her in the chiding this time.

  “I heard about some folk getting mercury poisoning before Hurricane Katrina and the floods. Maybe it is in the water,” Chen said, examining the contents of his coffee mug.

  Jack clapped his hands together, drawing everyone’s attention. “Well, this has been a lovely visit, but we just came to collect my fiance’s belongings. She’s had a stressful day and could use some rest,” Jack said. “Right hun?”

  Trying not to wince at being called, “hun.” I nodded. Unsure if I would ever see them again, I made sure to thank my coworkers before I left. It was a shame, because they seemed like they would be fun to work with.

  Jack had found my bags and was already bringing them outside by the time I reached the doors. He passed me the small padded box I had on top of my luggage which contained the only family heirloom my father ever gave to me.

  “It’s like you’ve forgotten we’re in a rush. We have to get to the bar and talk to Pete,” Jack said.

  “I wasn’t wasting time for the fun of it. There may be something to the lead and mercury poisoning. If those people went insane, it could explain why they harmed themselves,” I said.

  “It doesn’t explain the crazy daggers or the fact that they killed themselves the same way,” Jack said and flagged a taxi as it drove by.

  The taxi seemed hesitant to stop in front of the police station, but it slowed to a halt at the end of the street waiting for us. Still carrying my bags, Jack rushed up to the taxi to give him the address of our apartment. I sat inside, securing the box I was carrying on my lap.

  “We need to get cleaned up and dressed before we go out,” Jack said, motioning to our torn and sweaty clothes. “I don’t think the drenched rat look is in.”

  After securing my bags in the trunk, he sat beside me in the cab, staring out the window at the pedestrians we were passing by. My stomach rumbled audibly enough for everyone in the cab to hear, and I could see the corner of Jack’s mouth twist up. I really hoped he was right about the Lutin making us some food. I didn’t have the energy to cook right now, and one cannot live by beignets alone.

  When we reached our apartment, Jack paid the cab-driver in cash. I grabbed my bags this time. It was only a messenger bag, a box, and a small suitcase I could roll along after me. Jack led the way into the beignet shop and the smell of the sweet pastries made my mouth water. The amphibian-esque shopkeeper was wiping down a table, but most of the tables were full of customers.

  Jack nodded to the man, but if he acknowledged Jack, I didn’t see it. I appreciated that the beignet shop was clean, especially for a place that offered powdered sugar. Right before we walked through the door to our stairwell, I noticed a flyer taped to the wall. It stood out since the only other wall-hangings were framed artwork of the city and the shoreline. It was a flyer for the support group called, “AAS,” at the church Detective Lacroix had mentioned.

  As I snapped a picture of it with my phone, I got the attention of the shopkeep. He walked over to me and smiled so widely that I could see the gummy spaces where multiple teeth were missing. At first I theorized it was from eating too much sugar, but his gums had a deep purple color to them that made me wonder.

  “You need help?” he asked in a thick accent that I still couldn’t place.

  “Maybe, you been to this place?” I asked.

  “Oh yes, many times. Beautiful group. Glorious. You come. You learn. Free beignets after.” There was something about his tone that unnerved me.

  “Sure,” I said and then headed up the stairs after Jack.

  By the time I got up to the apartment with my bags, the door was open and Jack was already stripping his clothes off.

  “Oh, come on, at least go to the bathroom,” I said, shielding my eyes from his blindingly white skin. I could now see his fully defined six-pack and tight arm muscles that I’m guessing he never had to work for.

  “I’m going to take a cold shower and make dinner while you shower,” he said, “Unless you want to conserve water. Plenty of room for the two of us.”

  Ignoring him, I put the box I was carrying on the coffee table, and went to the bedroom to unpack. “Hey, what’s the deal with the beignet guy downstairs?” I yelled from across the apartment.

  “What? I don’t know,” Jack yelled back.

  “He seems…odd.” There was no reply. I assumed Jack was already in the shower.

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  I always packed one nice outfit in case I had to go out during a job. It was a little black dress that I thought I would have grown out of after college, but it just never happened. At least being the same size since high school made it so I didn’t have to buy a new wardrobe. I started to second guess my choice, since we were on an investigation. Jeans would make it easier to get around, but then I decided if it really was going to be my last night, I might as well look good.

  Since I wanted to be able to move quickly if I had to, I decided to wear my tall boots instead of dressier shoes. Then I emptied my pockets into my purse to deal with later. There was some cash, a folded piece of paper, and the card Lilith had given me. As I suspected, it had a cellphone number on it.

  Once I heard the shower stop, I waited a few minutes to go to the bathroom. Jack was already in the kitchen moving pots and pans around. He had changed into a black sweater with large fashionable holes in it to reveal the white tank top underneath. I had to admit that this combined with his tight pants was a stunning look for him. It was challenging not to admire his appearance, but I reminded myself he was a Fae and therefore able to make himself as appealing as he desired. I was able to pry my eyes away after only a glance and move on to the bathroom.

  Even though the building appeared to be from the early 1900s, the bathroom looked as though it had been remodeled within the last ten years. Whoever did it had the wisdom to leave the old white, clawfoot bathtub or maybe they didn’t want to haul the thing out. The showerhead and knobs were on the newer side, so when I twisted them on there was a steady stream of powerful jets.

  I happily removed my torn shirt and sticky clothing. Then I eyed the bandage, wondering how uncomfortable it would be to take it off. The wound had been nothing more than a dull ache while I was at the police station, and now I hardly felt anything but the pressure from the bandage. Gradually, I unwrapped the bandage from my arm, expecting to see a deep red gash, but the more and more of my arm I exposed, I still didn’t see anything. Once the bandage was off, I wiped away the antiseptic goo to reveal my arm without any cut or blemish. I gasped and stepped back, knocking a bottle of lotion from the sink. It crashed to the floor, and broke messily on the tile floor below.

  All of a sudden Jack threw the door open. Realizing I was naked, I let out a scream and threw the nearest thing next to me, which happened to be a bar of soap. He must have been shocked from all of the commotion, so he didn’t even attempt to block the projectile which smacked him directly in the forehead. I immediately felt a sharp pain in my own forehead and began to rub it.

  He shut the door and said from the other side, “Ouch, are you OK?”

  “The cut on my arm is gone,” I said.

  “Good. Fae heal faster than humans, and luckily we don’t scar from ordinary injuries, or we’d be riddled in marks from our proclivities,” he said, “I told you, our fates…”

  “Yeah, yeah, but I didn’t know that meant I’d get the added bonus of magical healing,” I said.

  “To be honest, I wasn’t sure it would work that way,” he said, “Maybe this will stop you from throwing things at me for a little bit?”

  “If you bust in on me while I’m naked again, I can make no promises.” I knew I was being unfair. After all, I was the one who made a loud noise and left the door unlocked.

  “Why don’t you just clean up that mess you made and stop being a klutz,” he chided.

  There were few things that felt more amazing than showering all of the dirt and sweat off after a long day. I could feel all of the muscles in my back relax. There was a lot to do and daylight was fading along with our chance to do it. I knew we had to investigate Pete at the Fae bar, but something was telling me it wasn’t where we needed to be. Even if he was our prime suspect, we had no idea what his motive would be to convince these people to kill themselves. We should have been looking into victims to get answers, but that would take time.

  While I had a minute, I decided it was worth a shot to try to get the ring off. I grabbed the bar of soap off of the shelf in the shower and scrubbed my finger until it was foamy. Then I twisted the ring back and forth. It moved a bit, so I tried to slide it over my knuckle. Just as before, the more I pulled on it, the tighter it became. My finger began to throb as though the circulation was being cut off, but I didn’t want to give in. I yanked as hard as I could, until my hand slipped on the soap and I ended up punching the wall and skinning my knuckle. Breathing out in frustration, I knew it was no use.

  Jack yelled from the other room, “What are you doing in there?” I assumed he had a similar scrape on his knuckle.

  I was happy to find plenty of clean towels folded onto a rack beside the shower. By no means was I an expert on makeup, but I was able to use eyeliner and mascara to at least add a little flare. As I toweled my hair dry, I found myself passable.

  When I walked outside, Jack was putting plates on the table. The aroma of tomato sauce and cheese filled the air, and I was filled with delight. He had made his own flatbed pizza with fresh mozzarella and poured us each some coffee.

  “I take back all the mean things I ever said to you,” I rushed over to the kitchen chair, ready to dig in.

  “Well, that was easy enough. I guess I should have introduced myself this way,” he said with an amused expression.

  I had already burnt the roof of my mouth, stuffing in as much of a slice of pizza in as would fit. “Mhmm,” I agreed.

  “You play that thing?” Jack asked, motioning to the box on the table. He was trying his best to be nonchalant about it, but I could see the anticipation of a faerie when presented with the prospect of music.

  “Maybe later,” I said, peering over at the concertina, but I could see the disappointment oozing out of Jack. “Oh, fine, one song.” After wiping sauce from my hands, I popped open the box to reveal an Irish concertina. With the lack of armrests on the kitchen chair, I was able to take my seat across from Jack and rest the concertina on my knee. I then flipped the latch and pulled open the little squeeze box to let air into it.

  When I pressed the buttons to a swift Irish jig I had played dozens of times before, I could see Jack’s admiration. For a moment, I thought he was getting up to dance along. Instead, he walked across the room and retrieved a guitar from behind a group of plants. Sitting across from me, he strummed chords along with the melody I provided. The song overtook us, as we matched one another’s dynamics and rhythm. I closed my eyes, picturing all the times I watched the Irish jams at pubs in Boston from atop my mom’s lap.

  The two of us went through a few rounds of the Kesh Jig before I put my foot up to signal the end. We finished the song together and smiled at one another.

  “That’s a fine instrument you have,” Jack said admiring the carved rosewood on the sides.

  “Passed down on my dad’s side. Only thing he left me. It was how my parents met– my mom heard my dad playing in a pub.” I suddenly felt like I had said too much. I quickly tucked the concertina back into its case and went back to eating my pizza. If Jack had noticed the change in my mood, he didn’t say anything. Instead he followed suit and picked up where he’d left off on his piece of pizza.

  We ate in silence for several minutes. After appeasing my stomach, my mind felt less foggy. Jack was taking small bites from the edge of the crust. I had to tell him what was on my mind.

  “Look, I was thinking, and I don’t know if The Wind in the Willows is the right place to be. I know you don’t want to separate, but we could cover more ground…” I started.

  “It’s too dangerous,” Jack disagreed. His eyes appeared to become more intensely blue.

  “But with the faerie healing…”

  “We can’t rely on that. You could get captured or severely injured. We need to stick together,” he said.

  “OK, then, hear me out. Lilith gave me her contact.” I dropped it on the kitchen table between us. It was entirely purple with a phone number written in marker on the center. “I know she’s your ex, and there’s probably a lot of history there, but we should at least try to get whatever information she has. She’s the ME on the case. She likely knows the victims and details about their death that could help us.”

  Jack put his pizza down. The look on his face was murderous. If he could shoot ice beams from his eyes, I thought he might have. “Do not call that number,” he said, carefully enunciating each word.

  “And why not?” I asked. I recalled him saying she tried to kill him more than once, but that didn’t seem as out of the ordinary for faeries as it should. I also didn’t know if he was exaggerating.

  “She will not help us,” he said.

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Hailey, please, just drop it. Can’t we just have a nice dinner together and worry about the case after.” He picked up his pizza and went back to eating it as if the conversation was over.

  I took a sip of my coffee. My mind was filling with dozens of things to say, most of them less than friendly.

  “You look very nice in that dress,” Jack said. “I’ll be lucky to have such a beautiful fiance on my arm tonight.”

  As I stood up, I inadvertently knocked my chair over. It didn’t make any sense. He was the one saying we were in a rush until now, and he was doing his best to distract me from anything having to do with Collette.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” I practically yelled. “Why are you here working on this case? What does Lilith have to do with it? What’s the game you mentioned? And, why did you bring me of all people here?!”

  Jack sighed and then said quietly in a defeated way, “We should get ready to go.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you until you answer my questions,” I insisted.

  “I don’t want to,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest like a pouting child.

  “Why not?”

  “Because we were just getting along and once I tell you, you won’t like me anymore.”

  “What does it matter if I like you?” I held up my hand to show the heavy ring. “You made it so I have to help you either way.”

  “OK, fine!” He threw his arms into the air and plopped onto the couch. Once seated, he pulled his knees up and hugged them to his chest. Then he took a deep breath and said, “Everyone at court kept talking about how great the Queen thought you were. The amazing Hailey O’Malley, Queen’s new pet. A genius, able to solve any case the Queen threw at her.” He didn’t look at me while he said this, but I could feel the contempt. “I’m supposed to be the Queen’s informant, so why did she pick you, a human, to be her investigator? Well, when one of the nobles was talking about you figuring out the whole dog-fighting case, I said that it didn’t sound like a big deal and that I could solve a case like that in less time.”

  I had a feeling I knew where this was going, and I didn’t like it. I walked over to the other side of the coffee table in front of the couch and stood over Jack while he spoke.

  “Somehow Lillith overheard. She told the Queen what I said, and the Queen sent me here to solve this case. She gave me the same amount of time it took you to solve the last case, but made it a game. If Lillith solves the case before I do, the Queen will unmake me. If I can’t give her evidence by tonight, she banishes me here. With this heat, I don’t think I’ll make it much longer.” Jack admitted and then his face rose to meet my eyes.

  “So, you got sent here for badmouthing me and then when you couldn't figure out the case, you tricked me here to help you?” I was fuming. “Wow, you really are a piece of work.”

  “I told you,” he said.

  “What happens to me if you’re stuck here?” I asked.

  “You’ll be stuck here too, and then you can’t do the Queen’s bidding,” he said.

  “And if I can’t do the Queen’s bidding, I’m as good as dead,” I said, “That was what you meant when you said I’d be closer to death.” I paced back and forth for a bit thinking through the entire scenario, then I asked, “Who was the noble that was bragging?”

  “Nimue,” he answered.

  Great. Thanks, mom.

  All of the pieces were adding up. I was facing imminent demise because my mom couldn't help but brag about me, and Jack Frost was too vain to let anyone else receive praise in his vicinity. I was getting really sick of how immortality caused the Fae to behave. It all came down to the fact that they were bored, so bored that they had to create conflict and high-stakes games to pass the time. Then a thought struck me. It was a little too convenient that Jack’s ex-girlfriend happened to overhear a conversation that would put him at risk. I almost felt sorry for Jack, almost.

  “You were set up,” I said, sitting beside him on the couch.

  “What do you mean?” he asked, but I could see the realization coming over him. His head sunk into his knees.

  “You think my mom was saying exactly all the right things to push your buttons and your ex just happened to hear you react?” I asked, “Have you done anything to upset my mom lately?”

  Jack groaned. “No…there was just a prank. Years ago, but why would she still be upset about that? It wasn’t a big deal.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I froze her lake.”

  “You froze the Lady of the Lake’s lake, and you didn’t think she’d be mad about it?” I could feel my eyebrows practically lift to my hairline as I asked this question. It was just too absurd.

  “I really am a fool,” Jack said.

  “Maybe the Queen has an opening for a court jester?” I couldn’t help myself.