Anna's Family Matters
Chapter 1 - A Brother's Murder
Liliana sat on the safety wall around the flat roof of a four-story building in downtown Portland at midnight, watching, with all eight eyes open. Flashing blue and red lights flickered, staining the clouds above her. Below her, in the alley between buildings, cameras flashed. People in uniforms surrounded a line of yellow tape keeping "unauthorized" people out of the alley. Liliana recognized Officer Wu as he waved in two familiar detectives and briefed them on the situation.
Detective Nick Burkhardt, who normally moved like a hunting cat, had a stiffness to his walk. Sleeping on his couch did not agree with him.
Detective Hank, for once, looked rested and relaxed, better than he had in weeks. Now that his Coyotl friend had helped Nick ease Hank into the truth of the wesen world, the dark detective no longer feared the shadows in his closet or that his own mind was betraying him. Hank had adapted to the new state of the world with remarkable ease.
Detective Hank was a brave man. Hank did not fear that the world held monsters. He had been a homicide detective long enough to already know that this was so. Hank had been terrified that he might go mad, and become a monster. Knowing that what he had seen was real, that he could still depend on his own senses, had given the detective tremendous peace of mind.
Liliana spared a small part of her mind that wasn't still reeling in shock to be happy for the detective. His world had become understandable again. Hers had just gone mad.
The center of all the activity was a dead man. He lay in the alley, face staring sightlessly at the cloudy night sky, throat ripped by what would appear to be an animal to human eyes. Her two detectives would both now recognize it for what it was, the kill of one of the fiercer varieties of wesen.
It wasn't the manner of the man's death that so deeply disturbed Liliana. It was the face, frozen in a moment of agony. She knew that face. But the man the face belonged to could not possibly be alive, or to be more accurate, he could not be recently, brutally dead. It wasn't possible.
Nick and Hank investigated the scene of the crime. They found a watch, dropped beside the body, a bloody scrap of clothing clutched in the victim's hand, a pair of broken glasses with a clear fingerprint on one lens. They thought it would be easy to catch this killer. So much evidence lay there to be found.
They were wrong. The evidence was a lie.
Liliana sent Nick a text. "We need to talk. Look up."
Nick reached for his back pocket as his phone vibrated. He looked down at the text, then up.
Liliana waved at him. From her vantage point directly above the murder scene, she suspected he would know what she wanted to talk about.
Liliana used her second and fourth eyes to watch Nick and Hank walk across the gravel of the flat roof toward her. She didn't bother to turn around. It just seemed like too much effort. Her soul felt like lead weights making all of her actions seem like too much bother.
Hank saw who it was and whispered to Nick. "Is she…?"
Nick nodded.
"Yes, Detective Hank, I am wesen," Liliana said.
Hank blinked. They were still several feet from her and her back was turned to them. "How …?"
"Do you not remember the sign above my door? Anna Sees All." Liliana found the unfamiliar taste of irony in her own voice. She always said exactly what she meant. But this time, she knew that, in reality, "Anna Sees All" was a lie. She didn't see everything. She couldn't. All of the world and all of time and all of the minds and hearts of every man and woman; no one could see all. No mind could hold it all if they did.
Hank smacked himself on the forehead and grinned. "You told me not to eat the cookies."
"And you didn't listen," Liliana sighed. If Hank had listened to that simple warning, so much would have happened differently. Adelind would not have poisoned Juliette. Nick would not be sleeping on his own couch. Sean Renard would not have obsessive thoughts of Nick's beloved tearing him slowly away from Liliana, even while they both fought to hold on to the delicate thing they had built.
She felt a surge of anger toward Nick's partner, but let it go. It was pointless. Hank had no idea what series of events he had set in motion. Even Liliana had not foreseen that.
"I'll listen next time." Hank stood next to her. "Promise." He crossed his heart with a grin.
Liliana looked up at him for a moment.
He still didn't take her seriously. The promise was made as a joke.
She opened all her eyes and made them visible to humans, so he would see them.
Seeing Liliana's eyes shook Hank's certainty that she was a harmless mentally defective kook. She saw his mind reassess what he knew as he studied her face with four different kinds of eyes. The world was not the place that he had formerly believed it to be. Liliana might not simply be one of the amiable con artists, or earnest but deluded mystics that he had encountered before who pretended to know the future.
Liliana was a part of the new world that Hank discovered. She told him not to eat the cookies. She told him Adelind wanted him dead. She warned him. He didn't listen, and he nearly died.
"I will hold you to that promise, Detective Hank," Liliana told him.
Hank nodded. "I'll keep it."
It was truth.
Liliana looked back down at her ballet slipper-covered toes, hovering over four stories of air, and far below an impossible face, staring back up at her accusingly.
"I lost track of my family," she told them. "I stopped watching over them. I withdrew into my little life and let them go their separate ways." Liliana hugged herself. So much had happened in her sister's life. Isabella had been smugly happy. Now, she and her daughter had no one to take care of them. Isabella was still proud, but now she was poor and alone. Her daughter Ariadne still had lingering mental problems from the opening of her fourth eyes. Isabella could not get a job because Ariadne demanded all of her time and care. If Liliana had not called, her sister and niece might have been in desperate straits. "You should never lose track of your family."
Nick sat next to her, letting his own feet dangle over the edge. "Did you know the victim, Lilly?" he asked softly.
"No," Liliana said, then thought about it. "Yes." She thought some more. "I'm not sure."
Hank looked over the edge nervously, then very carefully joined them, sitting on the other side of Liliana.
Nick stilled her hands where they were nearly tearing her skirt. He rubbed her fingers gently. "Family?"
Liliana nodded. A tear tracked its way down her cheek, going around one of her third eyes and along the side of her nose. Only her human eyes wept. She had wondered why that was sometimes.
"What can you tell me about the man who was killed?" Nick asked.
"He is a lowan. His face belongs to my brother, Jason."
Hank chuckled. "Did he steal it?"
Liliana cocked her head to one side and considered. "I do not believe so. Most shape-changers who can steal the appearance of another person change back to their own natural appearance when they die."
Hank's face took on a stunned look. "You mean there are people who can actually do that?" He looked at Nick when he asked.
Nick shrugged.
Liliana nodded. "Yes. But I do not believe that is what we are dealing with in this case."
Nick squeezed her hand. "You don't think this man is your brother, either, though?"
"Jason was my older brother. Ten years older."
Hank looked at her a moment, then said, "That would make him, what, thirty? The vic looks to be about the right age."
"I am ninety-eight years old. If my brother, Jason, were alive today, he would be one-hundred and eight years old. The only way that man could be my brother would be if he had mated with a spinnesehen."
Nick nodded understanding. "Rosalee told me that spinnesehen venom extends lifespan, and you usually share it with your mates so they live as long as you do. So, if your brother found a spinnesehen mate, then he could still look thirty?"
Liliana nodded.
"What's a spinnesehen?" Hank asked.
"I am a spinnesehen," Liliana said, "A spider who sees."
Hank studied her curiously. "If you're ninety-eight, how long do spinne .. whatever.. live?"
Liliana shrugged. "We live until we die, Detective Hank. We do not age. The venom of the spinnesehen is a concentrated dose of factors in spinnesehen blood that make us heal rapidly. We share it with our mates so they live as long as we do." Liliana studied tiny details in the face of the dead man with her fourth eyes. "My brother's eyes had hints of green mixed with the dark blue. His hair was dark brown, rather than true black. And his nose had a crook in it, where he broke it in the lowan games as a youth."
Nick took out a notebook. "So, the victim bears a very strong family resemblance to your brother Jason, who you lost track of, but it isn't him. He's much younger, so possibly a descendant." He stopped writing for a moment. "What was your brother's last name?"
Liliana smiled a little. "My father was from a time before most people had two names. His name was Simon. My brothers used the last name Simonson. My mother's name was Solifu. My sister and I use Solifilia as our last name."
"Brothers?" Nick asked. "More than one?"
"My last two surviving brothers, Jason and Petros, came to Portland with me thirty years ago after my second mother died. I lost track of them. I found Petros' descendents recently, still living here in Portland. A woman named Marilyn Kramer, and her little boy, Simon, who was named for my father."
"Tray Kramer's wife and son?" Nick asked. He and Hank had eventually had to investigate the death of Tray Kramer when his body washed up, sans head, on the shore of the river near the airport.
"Yes."
Hank brightened up. "Maybe the two cases are connected?" They had never solved Tray Kramer's death officially, and Hank thought it was still unsolved.
"They are connected, Hank. Through me. And through the man that the evidence below will tell you is the killer. But the evidence is a lie."
Nick looked a little uncomfortable. "Hank, um, about the Kramer case …"
Liliana smiled. "Nick does not like being dishonest with you, Detective Hank, but much of what happens in the wesen world is outside the normal human laws. You did not find Tray Kramer's murderer, but Nick and I both know who killed him and why."
"Who killed him?" Hank asked.
"I did," Liliana said.
Hank laughed. "That dude was huge, and it looked like whoever killed him actually went toe-to-toe with him. The coroner said his head was taken with a single blow from some sort of sharp sword. It would take someone a lot bigger and …" Hank stopped talking when Liliana popped out one of her arm blades. "Whoah!" He lost his balance as he jerked away.
Liliana grabbed his muscular arm to steady the detective, so he wouldn't fall off the building. She gave him a moment to get over his initial shock reaction. "Are you all right?" she asked him.
"Yeah, yeah, sure. Thanks. I'm good." He looked at her warily. "Should I be arresting you?"
Nick shook his head. "She had good reasons, wesen reasons. It's nothing we can explain in court. How would we even introduce the murder weapon into evidence?"
Hank chuckled. He looked at her arm blade, and his eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas. "That is all kinds of cool. Can I see?"
Liliana smiled. She let him study her arm, the gently curved razor sharp bone blade that stuck out from her wrist, the pocket in the outer edge of her forearm where the blade came from. Eventually, he noticed the tiny spinneret.
Hank's eyebrows drew together when he saw the odd little hole in her wrist.
Liliana shook off her lethargy, infected a little with Hank's wonder at the new world he was exploring. She drew a line out of the spinneret by touching the tiny drop of extruded liquid and pulling. The liquid dried into a tough silk line as air affected it. She attached the end to the bricks of the wall they sat on with a dot of the sticky raw liquid, measured out a few feet of silk, then jumped off the building.
Hank made a sound of distress and tried to catch her, but Nick put a hand on his shoulder. "She's okay. She does this all the time."
She landed lightly on a concrete windowsill one floor down, then used the line to rappel back up to where the boys waited for her.
"You're Spiderman!" Hank said.
Liliana chuckled at the thought of herself in bright colored spandex swinging through New York City to catch criminals. "Not exactly."
Nick said, "Lilly is one of the more formidable wesen in Portland. She's been training me in various fighting styles. She can kick my ass three ways to Sunday."
Liliana smiled. "Perhaps that was true when we met, beautiful Grimm, but not so now. You are far stronger and more skilled than you were when you were new at this."
Nick shrugged off the compliment, but his cheeks pinkened adorably. "Lilly has also been helping out with a lot of cases. She can see things we can't, sometimes even before they happen. She fought and killed Tray Kramer because I couldn't. I was busy on the other side of town, killing two other dangerous wesen who threatened Bud and his friend who was our murder witness. Lilly is my backup for Grimm duties, sort of like Monroe."
Liliana smiled and looked down at her hands. Nick thought of her as backup. She liked that.
She filled Hank in on the rest of the story. The two cases were related, and Hank needed to know the background. "The lowans of Portland had to choose a new king when Leo Taymor died. Tray Kramer would have been king, but he was a very bad man. He had already killed a few, and brutalized many. He was involved, along with Leo Taymor, in the travesty of the lowan games that nearly cost Nick and Monroe their lives. He was unworthy of being a lowan king. If Tray Kramer had become king, he would have wreaked havoc on the lions of Oregon, and probably done untold damage to many others as well."
"Why do you care so much about the lowans?" Hank asked. "You're a spider wesen, right? Don't the various kinds of wesen keep to themselves generally?"
Liliana nodded approval. Hank was learning fast. "My father was a lowen. My brothers were lowan. The lowan pride here is …," Liliana tilted her head, wondering how to express what the lowan pride meant to her. "They are like extended family." That sounded about right.
In the case of Marilyn and little Simon who Liliana had taken to babysitting occasionally, they were even closer family. "I was chosen to be the champion for a good, honorable, lowan man who has since proven to be an excellent king. His name is Daniel Samson. I fought and killed Tray Kramer so that Daniel could be king."
Nick scribbled something in his notebook. "And you believe the two cases are related?"
Liliana nodded. "I looked into the future. When your lab techs are done, the evidence below will indicate that Daniel Samson killed this lowan man who looks like my brother."
"Well, that certainly saves us some time," Hank said. "Let's just arrest Daniel Samson now, and we can all go home."
Liliana shook her head. "No, Detective Hank. You must help me prove that Daniel did not do this. The evidence is a lie."
"Are you sure, Lilly?" Nick put a gentle hand on Liliana's shoulder. "I know you believe Daniel is a good man, but a lowan king could have very good reasons for killing a lowan in his territory. Maybe the man who looks like your brother broke a law, or something. Isn't that possible?"
Liliana nodded. "It would be possible, even likely with some kings. But Daniel does not rule that way. In any case, I know that Daniel did not kill this man. I saw the murder happen."
"You're an eyewitness?" Hank said. "Why didn't you tell us that?"
Liliana blinked, confused. "I just did."
Nick chuckled. "Liliana's brain works a little differently from ours. She's always honest, but she doesn't always communicate things the way you or I would." Nick turned back to Liliana, notebook in hand. "Tell us what you saw."
"My sister and her daughter are going to come stay with me soon," Liliana said.
Hank started to open his mouth to interrupt, but Nick held his hand up to stop him. Nick knew that no matter how out of line with the question Liliana's words seemed to be, she was answering the question in her own way. And eventually, it would make sense.
"So, I was thinking about family. I had already met Petros' descendents. I wondered about Jason, and about his family, but I had no way to find them. I remembered Jason's face, and the faces of his children, but after that, …" Liliana shook her head. "I thought there was no way that I could find out what happened to them, then I saw Jason's face." She shook her head in remembered surprise. "It was Jason, young, strong, healthy. I saw him. Then, a moment later, I saw him get his throat ripped out by a lowan." Liliana's hands trembled as she ran the silken scarves that made up her skirt through her fingers, trying to calm her nerves again.
"I hadn't seen my brother in decades. He was a very old man the last time I saw him. Then I watched him die, young, here, in this time, in Portland." She looked down into the alley. Someone had covered the dead man's face with a sheet. "Here, in this alley, I saw him die. I came here, looking for him, thinking maybe I could save him, but I was too late." Another tear tracked down her face. "If I had searched for him a few hours sooner, …"
Nick put an arm around Liliana's shoulders. "It's not your fault, Lilly. I know this is hard, but I need you to tell me everything you can remember about the lowan who killed him."
Liliana wiped tears away and nodded. "He was about Detective Hank's height and build. That's about all I could tell. He wore a long coat, hat, gloves and a balaclava. His snout was briefly visible when he woged and tore Jason's throat out." Her voice caught. "So, I know he was lowan," she managed to finish.
"You can't tell us anything else about what he looked like," Hank asked. "Was he white or black? Dark hair or light? Old or young?"
"He did not move like an older man. He moved with a predator's grace. I do not know if his skin was as pale as yours, Nick, or as dark as yours, Detective Hank. I do not know if his hair was as golden as Adelind's, as red as Juliette's, or as black as mine. I am sorry, but without a clear image of the man, I could not follow him in time. I was only able to see the murder at all because I was looking for Jason and his family, and my eyes found this man, with Jason's face."
Nick squeezed her shoulder. "Lilly, if that's the case, then how do you know the killer wasn't Daniel Samson?"
"I told you. The killer was no bigger than the man with Jason's face. He was no bigger than Detective Hank."
"How big is Daniel Samson?" Hank asked.
Liliana pictured Daniel in her mind. "He is a very big man. Over six foot four, and he weighs around three hundred pounds, most of it muscle, but some extra weight around his waist. He has very dark skin, darker than yours Detective Hank. His hair is black and curly, but with gray around the temples. He is in his fifties and he moves with a slight limp from an old knee injury."
Hank shook his head, with an admiring smile. "I wish all of our eyewitnesses were like you."
Liliana looked down at her hands, sadly. "Good witnesses can testify to what they have seen, Detective Hank. I cannot."
"Just Hank, is fine." He considered the crime scene below them for a few moments. "If the evidence all points to Samson, we'll have a hard time continuing to look for another suspect, without something to aim us in another direction. Why can't you testify?"
"I was at home when the murder happened. I was not even here. How would I explain how I saw the murder when I was actually miles away?"
"You could just say that you were here." Hank gestured at the roof of the building.
"I am not good at lying," Liliana reminded him. "And I would not be considered a credible witness in any case, since most people see me as a "harmless mentally defective kook."
Hank's face showed comical surprise when Liliana spoke the contents of his thoughts to him, his eyes getting very large and his mouth dropping open.
Nick coughed, covering his wide grin with a hand.
Another time, she might have laughed, too. Even now, it made her smile a little. "You must find other evidence than that which was placed where you expected it."
"What do you mean?" Nick asked her.
"I saw the killer place a watch on the ground, a scrap of cloth in the dead man's hand, and a pair of broken glasses. These are false clues. You must look for other clues to find the real killer."
"Is there anything else that you can tell us that might help?" Nick asked.
Liliana shook her head. "Not that I can think of, Nick. I'm sorry I did not see more."
Nick chuckled. "You saw more than anyone else did, Lilly."
"Lilly?" Hank asked.
He seemed to be asking about the name itself, rather than getting her attention. "It was what my father called me when I was little. It is what my friends call me, Hank. You can call me Lilly, too, if you intend to keep your promise."
Hank chuckled. "Yeah, I definitely promise to listen next time you give me a warning."
Liliana nodded. "Nick, Hank, I am too much in the middle of this." Liliana hopped down from the little wall onto the roof. "I cannot see what will happen. A great many things are in flux that seem to be unrelated, but clearly are not."
"What does all that mean exactly?" Hank asked.
Liliana glanced up, briefly at the dark, handsome detective. "It means that there is far more at stake than just finding the murderer of one man. It also means that I may not see danger coming until it is too late. Normally, if one of you faces death, I know about it in time to warn you, or to help. But now ..." Liliana shrugged and hugged herself.
Nick kissed Liliana on the cheek. "We'll watch our backs, Lilly. Promise."
Liliana desperately hoped that Nick would keep that promise.