Hank Mossberg, Private Ogre: Murder in the Boughs Read online

  “Could be,” said Butch. “Julius is a sleazebag, but not like his brothers.”

  “But if we’re right, tell me just how did the killer do it? Not just anyone can open these cells. The tree responds to my touch, mine alone… it doesn’t make sense.”

  “I bet I know who knows,” Butch said. “Vinnie and Julius.”

  “You’ve got a point. They were here when all of this happened.”

  “We’re gonna have to find ‘em,” Butch said.

  “Where would they go? They can’t go to the Cliff House, that place is demolished.”

  Butch thought it over for second, then he snapped his fingers. “The Jackal!” he said. “Mario Jovino!”

  I scratched my chin. “You may be right. I haven’t thought of him in years. I wasn’t even sure he was still alive.”

  “I’m pretty sure he is,” said Butch. “I hear word about family reunions now and then.”

  Mario the Jackal Jovino was the first-generation mobster in the bay area. He’s an old-world immigrant who came to the states in the mid eighteen hundreds, looking to get in on the gold rush. Gold is one of the few commodities that’s just as rare and valuable to the fae as it is to the humans. Mario secured his fortune for generations to come, and solidified his family as a staple in the new-world crime community. He also just happened to be Vinnie’s uncle. If there was a safe place for Julius and Vinnie to hide out, it was with Mario.

  “We’re gonna need S.W.A.T.,” I said. “Get Talia on the phone and tell her we need to plan a raid for tonight.”

  “Do we have probable cause?” Butch said. “I mean, not to be a stickler, but it would look bad if they weren’t there…”

  “You’re right. I don’t want to jump the gun and end up with another situation like the last Elders’ Council meeting.”

  “Riiiight,” Butch said. “About that…”

  I groaned and slapped my forehead. “We have another meeting scheduled, don’t we?”

  “Aye, tomorrow night. That was the soonest they could be here.”

  I glanced at the clock on my desk and took a deep breath. “I guess we’d better get this figured out before then. Call Talia and let her know what’s going on. Tell her to be ready.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  “We’re going to do some snooping… I’ll be right back.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “To get my gun.”

  I left Butch to make the phone call while I ran upstairs to my apartment. As I opened the safe, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the jailbreak and briefcase theft from my apartment. How had someone gotten into my safe? I originally thought that the Kaisers had done it using magic, but that didn’t make sense anymore. If they’d gotten the briefcase back, they sure wouldn’t have returned it to me. That meant there was a third party; someone I was missing. Whoever that person was, he or she was dangerous. The killer was able to come and go without a trace, to manipulate the tree’s defenses, and to gain access to and then murder powerful people like Anthony and Brutus. It had to be someone they knew. No one else could have gotten that close to them. It had to be someone they trusted.

  With more questions than answers, I pulled my 1911 pistol out of the safe and looked it over. Still in good shape, not even touched by the perpetrators. The black metal gleamed in the dim light, the bloodwood grips glistened like polished stone. It was beautiful, a true work of art. And a deadly weapon designed just for one thing: taking life as quickly and efficiently as possible. Guns make me uncomfortable. Maybe it’s because they’re so quick and so powerful, or maybe it’s just the fact that guns are one of the few things that can actually kill me. I shouldn’t complain. It’s a lot harder to kill me than it is to kill a human, or a fae for that matter. No one else would have survived what I’d gone through in the last few days. I may have been worse for wear, but I was alive.

  I jammed the gun under my belt at the small of my back and shifted my trench coat around to make sure it was well concealed. Then I headed back down to the office to grab Butch. Before we left, I fished a bulletproof jacket out of my desk and forced him to put it on. It wasn’t my intention to put him in the line of fire, but if he caught a bullet and died on me, I’d never forgive myself. Butch’s skin isn’t as thick as mine and if he takes a bullet in the heart, he’s got no backup.

  He held it up with a distasteful look. “’Tis a prissy thing,” he grumbled. “Why not give me chainmail, or mithril?”

  “Because chainmail won’t stop a bullet,” I said. “And mithril isn’t real. You watch too many movies.”

  “Ah, come on boss! I’ll be fine.”

  “We’re not arguing. You wear the vest or you don’t come.”

  He grumbled some more as he slipped it over his head. He strapped it down and then put on his jacket. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought he was trying to hide the vest. “How’s that?” he said, displaying himself.

  “Beautiful. You shoulda been a runway model.” He grinned a toothy dwarfish grin that would have scared off a grizzly.

  Butch knew I had my gun and decided he’d better go armed, too. Being a dwarf, he had no taste for human firearms. He reached into his locker and pulled out a long musket-like weapon with the name Reducer engraved on the barrel. “Where’d you get that?” I said.

  “I picked it up at the last gnome-expo. Clever little snots, aren’t they?”

  “Why’s it called the Reducer? Does it shrink people or something?”

  “Nah. It reduces ‘em to dust.”

  “Uh-huh.” Normally, I would have considered that too extreme, but I had just about reached the end of my rope. Since this thing began, I’d had my home and my privacy violated, I’d been under scrutiny by the Elders as a possible suspect, and I’d come close to death more than once. I’d even been beaten and tortured by Brutus and his goons. And now, just when justice was within reach, I’d had it stolen from me. I was through being polite. I wanted closure. I wanted the mystery solved, and I didn’t care how many doors I had to knock down to get it. And if I had to shoot, this time I would.

  We climbed the stairs to the atrium and headed for the elevator, the quickest way to the subway tram. We were almost there when Talia came running through the front doors of the building, waving her arms. “Wait!” she shouted. “Don’t leave without me!”

  I frowned and shot Butch a glare. “I told you to have her get ready, not to invite her along.”

  “Sorry. She insisted.”

  Talia was dressed in tight green and black breeches with black leather boots and a full white blouse that hugged her curves in all the right places. She had a long recurve bow slung over her shoulder and a quiver full of arrows at her waist. I glanced at her and back at Butch. I could have sworn he was blushing, but it was hard to tell with that big bushy beard and all the huffing and puffing he was doing under that jacket. Now I understood why he’d been so worried about how he looked with that vest on. He’d known Talia was coming. Not only that, he’d kept it from me so I wouldn’t have a chance to tell her not to.

  I could tell from the look on Talia’s face that arguing with her would be a waste of breath at this point. “All right,” I said, exasperated. “Let’s go.”

  Apophis got us down to the undercity posthaste, but not quite as quickly as last time. When we first stepped into the elevator, Butch warned him, “If you drop me like last time, this here weapon might just go off. Not threatnin’, just sayin’. Can’t be too careful.”

  “You might want to listen to him,” I warned. “Reducer doesn’t mean shrinker. I’d just as soon stay un-vaporized, if it’s all the same.”

  Apophis took the hint. He set us gently down at the substation and then wisped out of sight as soon as we stepped out of the elevator. “Which way?” Talia said.

  “Follow me, milady,” Butch said. He hiked up his trousers and started walking. Talia and I exchanged a grin and followed him.

  Butch led us down a long tunnel
to the outskirts of the city. From there, we hopped a cross-city tram and went downtown. We got a few stares as we stepped off the tram, and it wasn’t long before we were confronted by an undercity patrolman. He wore the standard uniform, an official looking blue suit with a gold star on the right breast. He was a big bruiser, half-human and half-dwarf judging from his looks. Not as big as me, though.

  “You got a permit for those weapons?” he said menacingly.

  Talia whipped out her ID and showed it to him. “We’re on the job, officer. I’d appreciate it if you’d let the others know to stay out of the way.”

  He immediately backed down. “Yes, ma’am. Is there anything we can do to assist you?”

  “If I need help, I’ll call in my team. You can go about your business.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  The guard dropped his head and walked away more than a little humbled. Butch stared at Talia like a groupie fawning over a rock star. I rolled my eyes. “Come on,” I said. “It won’t be long before they know we’re coming.”

  Under the south bay, in the farthest reaches of the undercity, there’s a neighborhood known as The Well. I’m not sure where the name came from or what it means exactly, but it may have something to do with the way the place came into being. Several hundred years ago when San Francisco was little more than a Spanish mission, the fae magically displaced one of their underground cities from the old world and relocated it into a cavern under the area that would become San Francisco. This was the first part of the undercity, even before the dwarves carved the rest of the buildings out of the earth. It gave the fae a piece of their old homeland, a familiar setting in this vast wilderness of North America.

  Today it still stands the same, like an ancient monument to civilizations long forgotten. It isn’t really part of undercity, not any more than the coliseum and the roman ruins are part of modern Rome. Like the ruins, undercity grew up around The Well, and for the modern fae, it might as well not even be there. But for the older ones, the ones that remember what the world used to be like, The Well is a haven. It’s a safe place to live, to retire to, and to bask in the old-world glory and sophistication. It’s filled with people like Mario the Jackal.

  The tram doesn’t go into The Well, but there’s a substation just on the edge of the district. We landed there and then started walking. The streets were quiet, dark, lit only by the old-fashioned gas torches along the narrow winding lanes. It was early evening, which is like four-thirty a.m. to the fae. In a couple more hours, the streets would be bustling with traffic and golf carts headed for the downtown country club, but for now, our only company were the few lonely hustlers and streetwalking nymphs. They were smart enough to make themselves scarce when they saw us coming.

  We spoke in hushed whispers as we walked. Butch and I took turns explaining everything to Talia, so that she knew exactly what we were up against. Talia urged caution. “I can understand your anger, Hank,” she said, “but we would also do well to remember that Julius and his friend are just pawns in this. They’re definitely not the killers you’re looking for. At this point, they’re witnesses and nothing more.”

  “They’re escapees,” I said. “I didn’t let them out, and I have every right to haul them back to jail.”

  “I understand that. I’m just saying... maybe you should be tactful. Remember where we are.”

  She was right. As angry as I was, it was sheer folly to go into The Well looking for a fight. Even though fairy magic doesn’t work on me, Talia and Butch weren’t so lucky. Not only that, the Kaisers had already proven that they wouldn’t hesitate to use automatic weapons and probably worse if they had to.

  Mario’s place was a nice big house with a wrought iron fence around it. It looked like something out of an old Italian movie. The gate was locked, but it opened when I gave it a shove. “Wait here,” I said. I went up the walkway, and sparks went flying out from under my shoes with every step I took. The protective spells were powerful enough that by the time I got to the front door, the soles of my shoes were hot against my feet. I turned to Butch and Talia and waved them forward. “It’s safe now,” I said.

  “I’ll go around back,” Butch offered.

  “No, the whole place is bespelled with fairy magic. Don’t touch anything here unless I touch it first.” I knocked on the door. After several minutes, an elderly elf woman came to the door. She wore a shawl over her shoulders. Worry lines etched her face, and I almost felt sorry for her. She looked like she had lived a hard life. “He’s not here,” she said. “Leave us in peace.”

  “I haven’t said who I am looking for,” I said.

  “Whoever it is, he’s not here.”

  She started to close the door and I put my hand against it. “Then you don’t mind if I look around.” I took a step over the threshold and sparks shot off all around me. I pulled my hand away from the door as jolts of electricity crawled up and down my skin, causing the hair on my body to stand straight up.

  The old woman took a step back and drew a wand with surprising dexterity. “I told you to stay out!” she said angrily. She waved the wand, hurling a small ball of lightning straight at my chest. It hit me dead center and fizzled like a wet firecracker. She frowned, looking me up and down. “Well, I’ll be.” She stepped closer, staring at me through her old half-blind eyes. “I don’t understand… there aren’t any more of you left.”

  “There wouldn’t be if you had your way, old woman.” I said.

  “What’s this?” said a voice behind her. “What’s going on here?” It was Julius. He glanced over her shoulder and recognized me instantly. He took off running.

  I pushed past the old lady as gently as possible and chased him down the hall. Julius barreled around the corner and disappeared. When I got there, I found myself facing a tall, narrow staircase. The stair treads were thin, the stairwell extremely narrow. The staircase had been designed for elves, not for an ogre. I took a cautious step up, and the wood creaked beneath my foot. I couldn’t even fit my heel on the step because it was so narrow. I twisted slightly, trying to give myself a little room. Even then I could barely fit my shoulders into the narrow space.

  “Julius!” I called out. “I need to talk to you! I just need to ask you a few questions!”

  I got no response. I carefully made my way up the stairs. Halfway up, a face appeared over me. It was Julius. He waved his wand and hurled a fireball at me. I raised my arms to defend myself. Just like the lightning, the fireball dissipated. Unfortunately, it still managed to hit me with enough force that I lost my balance and went tumbling backwards down the stairs. I tried in vain to catch myself as my feet went out from under me. My hand closed on the rail, and my shoulder slammed against the inside wall. I bounced sideways, plunging through the rail and somersaulted over the edge of the staircase.

  I landed with a crash, smashing through an end table like it was dollhouse furniture, and then slammed into the hard floor. I heard the old woman cry out angrily, and I heard the sound of Talia’s voice trying to calm her down. Butch’s wide frame filled the doorway, casting a shadow over me.

  “You okay Boss?”

  “I’m fine,” I grunted. I pushed myself up and went charging up the stairs. I was so angry now that thoughts of caution and tact were far gone from my mind. I was in a rage, and I was ready to smash through anything that got in my way.

  I made it to the top of the stairs and found myself facing a long hall lined with doors. It was a small, narrow space. The top of my hat rubbed the ceiling as I strode forward, and my shoulders bounced back and forth between the walls. The first door I reached was open, and I saw a scrawny old man with silver hair standing there. “This is an outrage!” he yelled at me. “I’ll see the Elders about this!”

  I moved on. The next door was closed and locked. I grabbed the handle and electric sparks jolted across my hand. I twisted the handle apart, busting the lock, and shoved the door open. I was staring into a small bedroom. Vinnie was sitting on the edge of the bed looki
ng as terrified as a rabbit in a wolf’s den.

  “I didn’t do it!” he said. “Please don’t take me back there! Anything but that!”

  “Where is he?”

  “He? Who?”

  “Julius, moron. Where is he?”

  “I don’t know… his room is just down the hall.”

  “Don’t move,” I said, waving my finger at him. I pulled the door shut and continued on. I bumped a candelabra on the wall and it crashed loudly to the ground. I grunted, kicking it aside.

  I took another step towards the next door and then a flash of blinding light erupted in front of me. I winced, shielding my eyes with my hand. “MOSSBERG!” a loud voice said in front of me. It sounded like Magnus.

  The light died down and I blinked. Zaxyl was hovering in front of me, a few feet down the hall. I blinked, realizing that I hadn’t seen him all day. I’d been so busy I hadn’t even noticed. “You?” I said. “What have you been up to?”

  “Come to me, Steward!” he said. Zaxyl’s lips were moving but it was Magnus’ voice that I heard.

  “I’m in the middle of something,” I said impatiently.

  “Let it pass. Come to me, now!”

  “No, Julius is just down the hall! If I let him go-”

  “Steward, listen to me!” Magnus’ voice was commanding, even angry. It was not something I expected from an Elder.

  My mind flashed back. I had written Magnus off as a suspect initially, because he couldn’t have remained an Elder if he’d committed murder. At least that was what he’d told me. Suddenly I wondered if it was true. What if he’d been lying to me? What if there was no oversight, no way for the Elders to know if one of them had gone corrupt? Was it possible that Magnus really was a suspect? That would explain a lot… but if I was right, then I’d definitely need Julius and Vinnie as witnesses. Only they could testify to what had happened in that jail cell. That would be why he’d let them go…

  “I’ll come see you as soon as I’m done here,” I said, taking a step forward.

  “No. You will come now!”