Chapter Twenty-Five
Darryl was willing to cook a proper lunch for not too many, including Sawyer if he wanted it, and for the pack and our various strays I placed another three-figure order with Benny's. The clerk was very surprised to have me on the line, offering confused but sincere good wishes about whatever had happened this morning, and promised a young mountain of pizza would be with us soonest. I used the two-way to warn the gate, and got Willis in person, who asked if he could have a word, so I added him to the lunch roster and told him half-an-hour.
Adam went to make calls, starting with Bran, Coyote wanted to talk to Asil for reasons I decided not to think about, and I finally got around to calling my poor customers at the garage whose cars were on hold. They were pleased to hear from me, and more concerned about me than their transport, which was nice but still left them in the lurch. As there wasn't much chance of my getting back to work anytime soon and I'd become richer, I agreed to cover rentals for them for a week, which made them happy and eased my mind. Then I went in search, and found Jesse tracking social media with Andrea, while Jenny argued vigorously on her phone with someone called Fred who seemed to represent a station in Arizona that had breached its contractual terms. I listened for a moment, but lost interest when I realised the breach had been using only the audio track, not re-editing visuals, and by then Jesse had noticed the feather in my hair.
"New style, Mercy?"
"Present from Gordon, apparently. Coyote says he likes the hashtag."
"Cool. Coyote's back?"
"Yeah, he is. Jumped the back fence and joined us."
I told her how he'd greeted Sawyer, and Jesse gave the first real laugh I'd heard from her in a while. Andrea thought it was funny too, but had news, starting with the fact that her dad said he'd be honoured to debate with Bright Future bigots on Jesse's behalf, and sent me warm congratulations and respects for yesterday.
"He messaged me this morning, too, first worried for you and then relieved and impressed all over again."
"Good to know. Thank him for me?"
"Of course. More seriously, Mercy, if I've understood you rightly, there's a lot of hashtag chatter about Carnwennan but much more about the walking stick. Lots of stuff out there about Manannán, but nothing at all on his Bane, so people are speculating hard."
She had remembered Jesse didn't know the full story, but I'd known in giving Taylor the name the stick had earned that this would happen and I wasn't unduly worried. Me killing Manannán was in Fae terms about as declassified as anything could be, but the details were in a hazier area, and speaking openly of Underhill was out until at least one Gray Lord formally told me otherwise. Preferably several. And Jesse was giving me a look. I waved a hand.
"Thanks, Andrea, but that bit's not a problem. He was the fae who grabbed me, Jesse, and it's as true I killed him as it is that I killed the River Devil. Yeah, sure, but, and some more buts. There was a lot else involved that I can't talk about, but the new Manannán's Bane is pleased to be famous. Aren't you?" It was and warmed in my hand, and on impulse I held it out. "I'm not sure if you'll feel anything much, but it warmed just now to agree it was pleased. You could try saying hello."
They did, Andrea with a rather goofy smile, and Manannán's Bane obliged them. Or me, but it was a nice stick.
"Please don't confirm anything, or attribute anything to me, but you don't need to pussyfoot around Manannán being dead, or that his Bane helped him get that way. It's details that are the problem. Jesse?"
"Just taking it in, Mercy. I knew you must have, but … a Gray Lord?"
"I know, ex-kiddo. But grabbing me the way he did … broke some old rules, let's say, and there were other Gray Lords involved."
"And you're OK with it?"
"Oh yeah. Straight up, Jesse. Kill or be killed. And it was all pretty quick. He's gonna be very low on my nightmare list."
"Good."
I gave her a hug, glad to receive one back, and was wondering if I ought to check on whatever Taylor was up to when Charles and Adam came in, faces tight, with a concerned Westfield and Fisher trailing behind. Jenny took one look, told Arizona Fred they weren't done and his employers would greatly regret any second offence, and cut the connection. Everyone settled in a loose circle, Charles took out a phone and speed dialled, saying nothing, so I knew Bran would be listening, and Adam gave me a nod.
"You made another good call, Mercy. Paul was set up. When Asil started asking it came out that Paul spent a lot of yesterday and this morning messaging. There were strong suspicions that he's been seeing someone lately he wouldn't talk about. He didn't want to give up his phone but Asil forced him, and Ben stripped out some encryption to find increasingly amorous and inflammatory exchanges over several weeks with a woman in Richland. Sexting with intent." A wolf's personal life was his or her own, but Adam did not approve and his distaste was audible. "His challenge was her suggestion, and she worked him up to it very slickly. Charles did some hacking, and the billing for her phone is in the name of Sarah Richards, which rang a bell for him."
Charles was not a happy man either. "It is a known alias of one Sarah Clements, who is Virginia old money and very John Lauren. And her like-minded daddy is a Harvard pal of Senator Heuter, which is why we're bringing you in on this, AED Westfield, and Leslie." He produced another flash drive and passed it to Fisher. "That's all we have. I've only skimmed the messages but it looks like a classic honeytrap, playing strongly on Paul's bigotries, especially against Mercy, and there are call records too. This morning the phone registered to Richards was certainly in Richland, but she's clever enough to be long gone by now."
Fisher nodded. "I'd think. I remember her from the data you gave us yesterday. She was the one who did pretty much the same thing to a wolf in Michigan, digging for info on a suspected wolf kill?"
"That's her. What we don't know, Leslie, and very much want to, is first, who if anyone gave her orders to target Paul, and whether she's connected to Preskylovitch or anyone higher in Cantrip, and second, for you as well, Jenny, whether there are legal issues here. Does Paul have a case against her? Or wolves generally? Or alternatively, is there any legal case against Paul?"
Fisher looked dubious, and Jenny shook her head.
"Adam might have a civil action, for breach of trust or something related, though I can't see anything obvious. But if this Richards or Clements was under orders, intending exploitation and harm, and misrepresented herself to gain an intimate relationship, Paul would have a civil case against her and whoever gave her the orders."
"Charles, you said you've only skimmed the messages. Did Paul know what he was doing?"
Charles hesitated, frowning. "In one way, no, Mercy. I don't think he ever realised he was being pumped and steered. But he knew she wasn't a wolf, indulged his resentment of you and Joel, and colluded with her to cause you and Darryl as much trouble as possible. And however she was priming him, he knew what he did today was … wrong. Why do you ask?"
Wrong meaning a wolf death sentence. I thought about that.
"She tell him Adam was weak enough after yesterday for him to win a fight? And that if KEPR was present it would protect him from the consequences?"
"Yes to both."
"So she's smarter than most, just as he's dumber. All wolves ought to know about her, yes?" I felt a certain viciousness about this woman. "There has to be some mileage in a rich John Lauren daughter who goes in for seducing wolves under false pretences. Do her JLS friends know about her little furry habits? And sexting a wolf?"
Adam gave me a look. "That would be … satisfying. Especially if she is connected to Cantrip."
"Wouldn't it? I think Taylor might cover it very cheerfully, too. But I was thinking we could argue Paul's guilty but with some mitigating circumstances, in that he's unusually stupid, the pack really has had weird stuff to deal with, and he, dumbass single male who does not socialise well and tends to think with his … trousers, was targeted by a smart, wealthy, and I assume hot woman."
"We could, love." Adam was frowning, though he'd liked my euphemism. "Why would we want to?"
"I'm making this up as I go, again, but let's say Paul was tried in a wolf court, with lots of dirt on Clements, John Lauren and maybe Cantrip, or Senator Heuter, and found guilty on a capital wolf charge. But, mitigating circumstances, so commuted sentence of incarceration for however long. Proceedings of necessity open to human view, and he could do the time in a human prison. He's wolf enough not to be killed by any non-wolf, unless someone smuggled in silver, but it would be an education for him, and he'd be out of our hair. Plus de facto acceptance of a parallel but adequate justice. Or more, maybe, if we wanted more."
Westfield and Jenny both looked thoughtful with a lot of dubious, and she spoke first.
"There would have to be a statute recognising the wolf court, Mercy, and that would not be simple, even with goodwill. What are its procedures, guidelines, precedents, and so on? AED?"
"I concur. But I'll add that I think the idea has some equity, and that if the custodial term were not extravagantly long it would play politically."
Charles shook his head. "We would have to reveal too much, Mercy."
"And what about recognising the court by executive order, citing the special circumstances?" I gave Charles a grin as he blinked. "I imagine the President might disagree, but I feel like I'm scratching his back, so I figure he can scratch mine a little."
"Actually …" Westfield really was thinking now. "That's not bad at all, Ms Hauptman. Forgive the question, Mr Hauptman, but am I right to think that the camera is the only thing keeping Mr Harris alive?"
Adam exchanged a look with Charles, who looked at his phone for a moment, and shrugged at its silence. We took another step towards greater frankness.
"More or less. Even without the special circumstances, an Alpha has the right to kill any wolf who formally challenges his leadership. And given those circumstances, no wolf would blame me for killing Paul out of hand. We understand personal opportunity, and a wounded Alpha can be fair game, but not while the pack is fighting an enemy. It isn't written down, but our way is more like a military code than anything civil."
"Yeah, it would be. And disloyalty must be top of the tree. So although he's now no direct threat, Mr Harris is in all sorts of ways still a headache for you and for those higher authorities who are listening?"
"That's fair to say, yes. So far we had thought that the pack in Seattle could take him for a while, to make sure he's behind silver bars during full moon."
"Ah. Yes, alright, I see that. You do take responsibility, I've come to realise. And you, Ms Hauptman, are once again spinning really weird and interesting solutions for everyone out of far-left field somewhere. And either your intel is very good, or your instincts are even sharper than I'd credited, because besides having some hard feelings of my own about Mr Harris for giving me a worse morning than I was having anyway, I have reasons to think this might find some real traction upstairs. The FBI wants that law on scent evidence badly, as do others, and an executive recognition of reasonably transparent wolf justice would be interesting help. The attitude of any new agency to preternaturals who break the law is also high on several agendas, and this could be a useful precedent. The Fae are a different case, but wolves are very integrated, so separate but equal's that much trickier."
He debated with himself briefly, flicking a glance at Fisher and another back at me that became a brief stare.
"That's some feather, Ms Hauptman. Thunderbird's?"
"Yes. A present."
"And it just keeps building. So please don't quote me on this, anyone, but for my money things DC can do to make you happy are in some demand, Ms Hauptman, for now at least. Yesterday morning you manufactured an astonishingly powerful political lever out of serious adversity, and have since magnified its strength I can't even count how many times — Hanford, your response to MacLandis, the Elder Spirits, and this morning. You'll do it again with the manitou's statement, in spades. And with a new agency being formed, and the Columbia and earthquake projects, that power is going to be sustained, unless you do something really silly. Believe me, Ms Hauptman, a whole lot of people want to know what will appease you best." He turned to Charles. "We'll follow the data as fast and as far as we can, and I'll keep you in the loop. Do you want me to float the other idea upwards?"
Charles lifted his phone to his ear, not that he needed to, and the wolves and I listened to Bran breathing for a moment before asking to speak to me.
/Mercy, do you have any sense of your new magics in this thinking of yours?/
"No." I thought about it. "Still no. There's revenge on Clements and Paul. He's been a pain in the butt, and if she preaches hate and practices what her friends would call perversion, I don't mind putting her sexts out there, nice and legally, next to my video." It was an ugly thought, but so is putting out a doctored rape scene, and I believed in the punishment fitting the crime. "I took the cloak off a while back, and my magic just feels like me, if a bit fizzy. If there's anything in this, it'd be Coyote, not manitou or cloak."
/It is another good idea, then. Angus is listening, and agrees, though he is having more difficulty than me with what you are becoming./
"Which is?"
/A power. Westfield is quite right./ Bran sighed gently. /Tell him yes, float it, and that we recognise there will be many deal breakers on both sides, but we hope they can be navigated. But stay on the line, please./
I did, seeing Westfield's eyes brighten while his brain was whirring with the implications of the scene.
/The other thing, Mercy, is that Gwyn ap Lugh has at last returned my calls, and you were right about the Fae too. He was as near as he gets to apologetic to me, very complimentary indeed about you, as well he might be, and unusually forthcoming. Manannán was not the only old one they have problems with, but he was the strongest and loudest, by some way, and the manners of his defeat and death — without complete loss of his power, which would have been very bad for water fae — have brought about what ap Lugh called a deep silence. So the Gray Lords say through him that if the President makes the statement you suggested, they will accept an invitation from you to attend negotiations with the manitou and meet humans representing the Federal Government./
I was too tired to cheer, but let out a huff of breath. "That all sounds good?"
/Oh yes. Better, anyway. Ap Lugh was also pleased by what you said to Taylor and managed not to say. But when I told him what Medicine Wolf is proposing, and that you might be speaking to the President this evening, he made some calls and said that you were free to speak to the man about what happened, including Underhill, if it made anything easier./
My mind skittered. That was a lot of latitude for the Fae. "Why would he do that?"
/I am not sure, Mercy, but I have had three thoughts. One is that Underhill's existence here is leaking anyway, and will leak further, so he is willing you should be a messenger. A more interesting idea is that as Underhill, whatever it may be, is no part of the US, its existence becoming public will help the Fae's claim to be an independent, in effect foreign, power. And the third is that as Underhill recognised you, you have the right to speak of it./
"Huh. I'll think about those, but I'm not presuming the last, now or ever. Anything about the cloak?"
/No. I asked but he said that was between you and it and Underhill./
"And a second huh."
/Indeed. Go on being careful, Mercy, but go on pushing too. It's working./
Bran rang off, and I passed the phone back to Charles before telling Westfield the highlight of the news.
"You hear the phrasing? Negotiations with the manitou, but only meeting humans. I'd guess you won't get more until they know what you might be offering, but at least they will listen."
"Yes. I'll tell the Secretary. And about Clements." He looked at his fingernails for a moment. "And though this can only be personal, Ms Hauptman, you have my best thanks for trying, whatever comes of it. You're deeply bewildering, but you're also getting a lot more done than I've seen happen in DC lately."
He went, once again leaving Fisher, who gave me and Adam looks, before turning to a surprised Jesse.
"Miss Hauptman, we've talked to Mrs Bradley, at some length and to her considerable discomfort, and while she is Bright Future, through her rather weird church, and did invite Mr Milanovitch's cousin because you were in her class, neither has any more serious connections that we can find. We will be informing the principal of your school about her behaviour, which was certainly grossly unethical, but she doesn't seem to warrant any further attention from us."
"Oh. Thanks, SA Fisher." Jesse thought about it. "Did Mrs Bradley know what Crazy Courtney did to Mom's garage?"
"Yeah, she did. She's known her since Bright Future was formed and they both joined up as eager little haters in Spokane. But being assigned to your class was chance, as far as we can see, even if Mrs Bradley thinks it was God's guiding hand. Then she and her pals got talking."
"Fruitcake luck, then?"
Fisher smiled, and she wasn't the only one. "Pretty much, Miss Hauptman."
I'd been monitoring Adam through our bond, and he was both relieved there was no further connection and quite angry.
"I'd be grateful if that letter to Jesse's principal could be ... vigorously worded, SA Fisher. You can take it that we will be having a conversation with her about Mrs Bradley's ethics sooner rather than later." He rolled his neck, easing tension from his shoulders. "And be aware we are willing to make this bit of bigotry public, at need."
"I can see why that might be, Mr Hauptman, and it's not a problem for us, though our interview with Bradley is not public domain. I have a daughter in school, and in your shoes my husband and I would be having some hard words with her principal too."
Fisher went, promising updates on the property search and other enquiries after lunch — which as Kelly told us, eyes glued to the floor, was ready. Willis was waiting, and the Benny's van almost through the crowd still hanging around outside. Adam thanked him, but before we went to eat spent a moment with Jesse and had questions for Jenny.
"A suit? Mmm. If the visiting speaker had visited, Adam, knowingly arranged as someone with a criminal history involving the parent of a class member, I'd say yes. But as a foiled plan? Not worth it. Still, they wouldn't want to contest a suit with you and Mercy as appellants on Jesse's behalf, so if the school doesn't offer apologies and ensure at the least that Bradley isn't taking Jesse for anything, I will — or Andrea will — be happy to write a letter to the School District Board that will not please them. And on up as necessary, but I doubt it would be."
"Alright. I can live with that. But would you make sure your father knows, Andrea? I am … seriously irritated by Bradley's behaviour."
"Sure thing, Mr Hauptman." Andrea had a sharper smile than I'd yet seen from her. "Self-righteous Christian supply teacher commissions hate speech from known vandal, targeting minor, would get some airtime and column inches."
"Mrs Bradley's Dim Future."
Jesse was Adam's daughter, as well as my step-daughter, and she understood payback. Andrea grinned, and so did Charles.
"Good one, Jesse. And I'll be borrowing Dim Future, if I may."
"Me too, ex-kiddo. You want to be there when we see the principal?"
"Maybe. But I don't mind her so much, usually."
"Your decision. But I note she hasn't called to ask after you, despite yesterday, unless I missed it in all the excitement, so she gets no slack from me."
"Actually, the school did issue a statement, Mercy." Andrea waggled a hand. "It was on KNDU so not many people saw it, and it was pretty bland, but they were concerned and wished Jesse well."
"Half a point, then."
"Ms Linner messaged me, Mom. The one Bradley's standing in for."
"Helpfully?"
"Yeah. Wanted to know if I was alright, and if I wasn't could she do anything. And if Dad was OK, and you."
"So she does get the points." I met Adam's eyes, and knew he'd be having Ms Linner checked as well, though from all Jesse had said about her it probably was just genuine concern. "Anyone else been in touch?"
"Friends. Gabriel and his sisters and mom. Margi. Stefan. And Mr Christiansen, who said he'd also emailed Dad."
"He did. Sent thanks to you too, Mercy, for Cantrip."
"He's welcome."
And it was good to know Jesse was getting some support, but Darryl's lunch was smelling pretty good too, and Willis was still waiting. From the sounds the Benny's van had also bulled through, and the pizza riot was starting. At least some things stay reliable.