Detective Bradley leaned back in his chair. He stretched, and how I envied the bastard for that.
I didn’t envy Jenny Kim, though. Unlike most snakes, Bradley obviously relaxed before striking. He was, I guessed, about to make his big play.
Jenny, cut off mid-explanation, blinked in wary confusion.
Then Bradley leaned forward, reaching across the table fast and hard to point his finger right in her face.
She shied back, but there was nowhere to go.
“Let’s start again,” he snapped. “With the truth.”
She stared at him for a moment. “I’m telling you the truth!” she said, panic creeping into her voice at last.
Bradley smirked.
“It was a good plan, Jenny. Bring in a bag full of old leaves. Fake a transaction. Hand the cash over to an accomplice… and then go crying that it was fairy magic.”
The poor girl tried to say something, but didn’t get a chance.
“You figured,” Bradley went on, “That we’d hand you over to the… the Borderland Guard. They’d buy your story, pat your poor little hand and give you a cup of tea, and go out looking for the bad, bad elves who tricked you.”
I wondered what he’d been about to say, instead of Borderland Guard, before he caught himself. The Pixie Patrol? The Freakshow? Something worse?
We know, you understand, what the more mainstream branches of law enforcement think of us.
Jenny Kim couldn’t say a word. She stared at Bradley, lost in the intricacies of his baroque theory.
“But you overplayed your hand, Jenny,” he went on and on, “You tried to cover too many bases. Because we talked to Liz Wheeler, and she hasn’t heard from her brother about a gift of money or anything else.”
“But-”
“And,” he cut her off, “We talked to Glenn Jackson.”
“You… no!” Jenny said, “He was leaving. Giving his sister some of his money and leaving. Going away.”
“He was in his apartment this evening,” smugged Bradley, “He told the officers who spoke to him that he hadn’t been out all day, and after what they had to do to wake his drunk butt up, I believe it. He wasn’t at your bank, he’s never heard of you, he doesn’t have a magic bag of cash and he’s not leaving town, Jenny.”
“No,” she whispered, “No, it’s not true.”
“We know your boyfriend came to see you today. You gave him a bag.”
“Henry? Yes, he… he came to see me. I gave him some groceries I bought for him to bring home.”
“Kind of funny,” Bradley said, “You didn’t mention that before. But don’t worry, we’re asking him about that right now.”
“You arrested my boyfriend?”
Bradley smiled again. I was getting to really hate that smile. “Arresting,” he said, “Comes later. We’re asking him some questions. Let’s talk about your money problems.”
“My student loan?”
Bradley leaned forward, gently this time. “It’s not too late,” he said, sounding all throaty and sincere, “You can return the money. You can help yourself, Jenny. You can help me to help you.”
That was it.
“You unbelievable douchebag!” I snarled.
Jenny stared at me. Bradley stared too, flushing with anger. Detective Colby, still slouched quietly in his corner, wasn’t staring though.
“I seem to recall we discussed that your presence here is a courtesy, Officer.” Bradley snarled back, “And that you were not going to interfere with a police investigation.”
Oh good
, I thought. Now it’s a real pissing match. Well, in for a penny…
“I seem to recall hoping that you weren’t going to be a complete spurking idiot, Detective, but I’ve gotten over the disappointment.”
Bradley sprang out of his chair. Jenny flinched, and yeah, for a second I thought he was going to go for me. But he glanced at Colby and seemed to pull back a bit. He straightened up and fixed his tie. But the look he gave me still wasn’t very friendly at all.
“Outside,” he said, jerking his thumb at the door. “Now.”
