Divine Misdemeanors by Laurell K. Hamilton Read Free Book Online

witness who says she saw the killers?”
    “Don’t tease,” she said.
    “No tease, I plan to put out.”
    She almost laughed. “Where are you, and who is it? We can send a car down and pick them up.”
    “It’s a demi-fey, and a tiny one. She probably can’t ride in a car without being hurt by the metal and tech.”
    “Shit. Is she going to have problems just coming in the buildings at headquarters?”
    “Probably.”
    “Double shit. Tell me where you are and we’ll come to her. Do they have a room where we can question her?”
    “Yes.”
    “Give me your address. We’re on our way.” I heard her moving through the grass fast enough that her slacks made that
whish-whish
sound.
    I gave her the address.
    “Sit tight. I’ll have the closest uniforms come babysit, but they won’t have magic, just guns.”
    “We’ll wait.”
    “We’ll be there in twenty if the traffic actually gets out of the way of the lights and sirens.”
    I smiled, even though she couldn’t see it. “Then we’ll see you in thirty. No one moves in traffic here.”
    “Hold the fort. We’re on our way.” I heard the wail of the sirens before the phone went dead.
    “They’re on their way. She wants us to stay here even after the closest uniforms arrive,” I said.
    “Because they do not have magic, and this killer does,” Doyle said.
    I nodded.
    “I do not like that the detective asks you to put yourself in harm’s way for her case.”
    “It’s not for her case. It’s to keep any more of our people from dying, Doyle.”
    He looked down at me, studying my face, as if he hadn’t seen it before. “You would have stayed anyway.”
    “Until they kicked us out, yes.”
    “Why?” he asked.
    “No one slaughters our people and gets away with it.”
    “When we know who did this thing, are you determined to see them stand trial in human court?”
    “You mean, just send you out to take care of them the old-fashioned way?” It was my turn to study his face.
    He nodded.
    “I think we’ll go with the court.”
    “Why?” he asked.
    I didn’t try to tell him that it was the right thing to do. He’d seen mekill people for revenge. It was a little too late to hide behind the sanctity of life now. “Because we’re in permanent exile here in the human world and we need to adapt to their laws.”
    “It would be easier to kill them, and save the taxpayers’ money.”
    I smiled, and shook my head. “Yes, it would be fiscally responsible, but I’m not the mayor, and I don’t manage the budget.”
    “If you did, would we kill them?”
    “No,” I said.
    “Because we are playing by human rules now,” he said.
    “Yes.”
    “We won’t be able to play by human rules all the time, Merry.”
    “Probably not, but today we are, and we will.”
    “Is that an order, my princess?”
    “If you need it to be,” I said.
    He thought about it, then nodded. “It will take some time to get used to this.”
    “What?”
    “That I am no longer just a bringer of death, and that you are also interested in justice.”
    “The killer could still get off on some technicality,” I said. “The law isn’t really about justice here, it’s about the letter of the law and who has the best lawyer.”
    “If the killer gets off on a technicality, then what would my orders be?”
    “That’s months or years down the road, Doyle. Justice moves slowly out here.”
    “The question stands, Meredith.” He was studying my face again.
    I met his eyes behind their dark glasses, and said the truth. “He, or they, either spend the rest of their lives in prison, or they die.”
    “By my hand?” he asked.
    I shrugged, and looked away. “By someone’s hand.” I moved past him to touch the door. He grabbed my arm, and made me look back at him.
    “Would you do it yourself?”
    “My father taught me to never ask of anyone what I’m not willing to do myself.”
    “Your aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness, is quite willing to get her own lily-white hands