Chapter 44

Monroe and I were at my place, since the trailer was closer to my house than to his. Thankfully I was able to shower and change into something less destroyed. My poor dress, I would miss it. I opted for a long sleeve t-shirt and jeans, and I pinned back my hair. Monroe was stuck in his dress clothes. But his outfit still looked good on him.

Dinner was quick, easy, and very late. I wasn't really in the mood for food after tonight, but I had some three bean salad after Monroe stressed I needed to eat something. My wine glass was refilled more than my plate.

Nick finally called after I'd gone through the cable channels a few times. I put him on speaker.

"There you are," I said. "So, are you already at the trailer?"

"Yeah, I just arrived. But I'll be honest, I really don't want to stay here for long. It's been an exhausting night."

"We can just talk on the phone if you'd prefer. What I need to say doesn't really need the ancient texts or torture devices."

"Yeah, let's just do that." He must have really been tired because he didn't acknowledge my snide remark. "But first, that comment the captain said tonight about our, umm, friendship…" Nick paused. I'd been waiting for that bomb to drop.

"Nick, I'm sorry. I've tried to remain aloof when we've talked at the police station. I don't know how he figured out we were acquainted, let alone that we could actually be friends. He's not completely all-knowing if he thinks that."

Monroe elbowed me at that last statement. Okay, that was rude, even for me.

"Well, let's try to refrain from having to be in here again, okay?"

"Sounds great to me. I'm getting tired of police stations."

"So, what's the rest of the story? I'm all ears."

I told Nick about Madame Dazzles' cryptic tale, the thefts sending a message to Seven Houses, and her verbal version of a blue card with the Prince song lyrics.

"Whoa, did you say Seven Houses?" asked Monroe. I looked up at him.

"What does it mean?" Nick and I both said at once.

"Well, if it's what I think it is, it sounds like the Royal families."

"Royal families?" We both replied again. I really needed to yell jinx next time.

"Yeah, I mean, it's kind of a long, drawn out story, and I just know some it. But it's like, not here. It's old world. You'd find most of in the last century in Europe. It's not anything, umm, local, you know?

"Well, this Waschbar seemed to feel whatever she was doing here was letting them know they were aware of the Seven Houses' plans."

"Man, I don't know what to tell you. All I know is if it's hit here in Portland, then it's spread further than I'm aware of. And I'm sure I'm not the only Wesen that's oblivious."

I went back to Nick. "Did Lydia say anything about her ulterior motives when you questioned her tonight?"

"No, but we didn't have an opportunity at a one-on-one talk. Tomorrow I will, though. I still have four other women to question tomorrow. Her alibi was some art meeting with all of them, and they confirmed that they were all with her that day. Now we're bringing them back in to find out why they lied."

It must be her interchangeable bookends, no doubt. Perhaps they were actually her band of merry women instead.

"So, does this clear my friend Natalie White? We're sure she's not a Waschbar."

"Yeah, and that still makes no sense," Monroe cut in. "I know I smelled one that night."

"I think I know why," I replied with a grin. "Natalie had brought over a dress to show me that she'd picked up from Lydia's. I'm sure her scent was all over it, along with the last time she wore her Chanel No. 5. Your nose was working just fine. Actually that you could catch that kind of scent from just a dress, that's really impressive, honestly." I leaned over and kissed him on the nose.

He grinned back. "Hey, I told you. The nose knows."

"So, Nick, about Natalie… She's clear then, right?"

"I'd say yes." Nick cleared his throat. "But I'm really saying too much about this case," he added. "Can I talk with Monroe for a moment?"

"Yeah, he's still here."

"Umm, privately?"

"Sure." I tried not to sound too sarcastic. I passed the phone over to Monroe. As Monroe and Nick talked, I watched my recording of Jeopardy on mute. The only downfall was that I couldn't hear the answers. Or was it the questions? I always got that backwards.

Midway through, I was doing fairly well, even without the sound. The next clue I shook my head at.

"A boondoggle," said Monroe and I turned toward him.

"What?"

"A boondoggle," he pointed to the TV. I paused it on the current clue.

THIS WAS ONCE A BRAIDED CORD
WORN BY BOY SCOUTS;
IT'S NOW A WASTEFUL PROJECT
THAT OFTEN INVOLVES GRAFT

I looked back at Monroe, who gave me a knowing grin. Sexy, sexy brain. He held up his hand with a boy scout salute. Sexy, sexy… boy scout? Hmm… I grinned back, giving him a nod.

I was able to finish Jeopardy by the time Nick finished with Monroe. He gave me back my phone.

"So, you're a Jeopardy fan, huh?"

"I record every episode."

"So do I."

"Oh, really?" I leaned into him. "No wonder you're so smart."

Monroe laughed. "I get most of them right. But, hey, I'm not perfect."

I turned my head up toward him. "So, when were you a boy scout?"

"When I was a boy," he smirked.

"Cute. Too bad you never grew up."

"Hey now. I'm as grown as you are."

"Touché," I replied with a grin. "How many merit badges did you earn, Mr. Boy Scout?"

"I received quite a few. I got my forestry one pretty easily," he grinned.

"I'll bet you did." I mirrored his grin. "So, you wanna stay here tonight?"

"Hmm… I wasn't prepared to stay. I thought we were going to the trailer and then back to my place."

"Oh." That's right. He didn't have a change of clothes. This arrangement was getting more difficult. Maybe he needed a drawer here. No. Too soon for that. I shook the thoughts out.

"But, I mean, I can stay... I'll just be in a suit for another day until I go home."

"There are worse things you could be dressed in," I grinned.

"I'm sure there could be. Besides, we both survived the slings and arrows of that Waschbar tonight. Well, technically more arrows than slings. I think we oughta stay close tonight, you know?"

"I like the idea of staying close." I moved toward him, kissing down his cheek toward his lips. "But what are you going to sleep in tonight? You can't sleep in the suit."

"I'll improvise."

"Works for me."

We moved toward the bedroom, as his dress clothes dropped to the floor.

"You know I earned a merit badge in knots pretty quickly, too," said Monroe with a sexy grin. "I still excel in that area." His grin turned a bit devilish and I had to bite my lip. "I could show you sometime."

"I wouldn't want you to show off all your skills so early on in a relationship," I mocked him.

"Too bad, it's pretty spectacular."

"I think I've been tied down enough this year."

"Not the way I do it."

If he only knew how tied up in knots he already had me.

A/N: Getting a bit ahead on the Seven Houses, but that's okay.

So the bookends were Madame Dazzles band of merry women.

And just for fun, if you didn't catch on to the names of the Bookends:
Johnna Smallwood = Little John
Frieda Tuckerman = Friar Tuck

Corny, I know. But I found it amusing.