Lake Silence (The Others #6)(40)

“Ms. DeVine.”

“Officer Grimshaw.”

Aggie rushed up wearing a mesh beach cover-up and nothing else. She latched onto one of Vicki’s hands. Grimshaw wasn’t sure who was supposed to be protecting whom.

“Why is he here? What does he want?” Aggie asked. “Should I call Cougar?”

“If you think he could help with this problem,” Grimshaw replied. He’d skimmed a couple of cop and crime stories last evening, as well as reading a piece of the novel by Alan Wolfgard. He considered himself a good cop, a man who believed in the code of “serve and protect.” But he’d realized last night that it would take more than being a good cop if he wanted to deal with some of the Others. He had to present himself as the kind of cop they would recognize as good. Trouble was, if he started representing himself as a persona rather than the person he was, at some point he would slip up, and he didn’t think the Others ever forgave or forgot deceit.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t adapt a few things from the books and TV shows Vicki and Aggie might use as reference for dealing with the police during this investigation.

“You want to talk to Cougar?” Vicki asked.

Of course not. No one in his right mind wanted to talk to one of the Panthergard—or the Beargard, for that matter. Or the Sanguinati.

“If you think he could help.” Grimshaw pushed his hat back, a look that conveyed country friendliness. Sometimes people in the wild country needed help, and looking as official as possible made them feel easy. Sometimes looking a little more friendly made it easier for them to trust the man as well as the uniform.

“I guess it depends on the problem,” Vicki said.

“A piece of evidence wasn’t collected the other day when Detective Swinn’s team caused a fuss here while you were helping the police with their inquiries.”

Vicki DeVine raised her eyebrows but said nothing.

“A tie clip wasn’t bagged with the rest of Detective Baker’s personal effects, which means it fell off when the body was collected.” Grimshaw pointed to the area where Baker’s body had been twisted. “Right around there.” He focused on the two females. “It’s possible that someone picked it up, thinking it wasn’t significant—a pretty bauble that no one would miss. But it is an important piece of evidence, and we really need it returned.”

Grimshaw took the charm bracelet out of his pocket and held it up, spreading it open over his fingers so they could see the charms.

“Oh!” Her dark eyes bright with excitement, Aggie released Vicki’s hand and reached for the bracelet.

Grimshaw pulled his hand back just enough so that she couldn’t grab the bracelet and run away.

Aggie gave him a look that held a touch of menace. She might be young, and she wasn’t one of the forms of terra indigene that would be lethal as individuals—not like a Panther or Bear or Wolf—but he didn’t think calling a gathering of crows a murder was a designation someone made up just for the fun of it. And a gathering of the Crowgard certainly could be a danger to a single human.

“I’m willing to trade this bracelet, which a young woman could wear as well as admire, for the tie clip Detective Baker was wearing when he came to The Jumble the other day.”

“A lot of people could bring you tie clips in order to get the shiny,” Aggie said, her eyes still focused on the charm bracelet. “How would you know which one belonged to that man?”

“I’m a cop. I’ll know.”

Aggie looked at Vicki in mute appeal.

“An experienced police officer would know, just like the investigator in the story we watched the other night,” Vicki said.

Aggie sighed. Then she pulled the beach cover-up over her head, giving Grimshaw a look at physical quirks that he didn’t want, or need, to know about. Moments later, she shifted into her Crow form and flew away.

“You think Aggie took the tie clip,” Vicki said.

“Someone here pulled the tie out from under the body and took the clip,” Grimshaw replied. “If it wasn’t Aggie, then I’d bet a month’s wages that it was one of her kin.”

“You really need it for the investigation? Why?”

“Because Detective Swinn was very upset about its disappearance, and I want to know what’s so special about that particular tie clip.”

They fell into an awkward silence. She seemed reluctant to be around him, and not because he was a cop. She was acting like someone had painted an insulting remark about her on a public wall, making her the focus of unhappy attention—and he was one of the people who had read it.

Before he could decide if he should say anything about the fireplug remark Swinn had made, Aggie returned. She landed on the wide arm of the chair near the front door and dropped the tie clip she carried in her beak. She nudged it this way and that until the tie clip was resting on the front edge of the arm, right in a narrow beam of sunlight that showed the clip to best advantage.

Grimshaw set the charm bracelet on the arm and scooped up the tie clip. Aggie grabbed the bracelet and flew off. Bargain set and sealed.

He looked at the tie clip and frowned, unable to see why Swinn had gone into conniptions about its loss. Okay, everything from a crime scene should be bagged, but he didn’t think that was the reason Swinn had reacted the way he did.