Page 56 of Tooth and Nail

“That was Chief Deputy Priest’s idea. They couldn’t erase my memory of the incident because she needed me to describe my attacker. Since Devon was an I.S.R. employee, the chief wanted his murderer caught and they only had my description of our attacker to go on.”

“They could have erased your memory after you gave your description, no?” Ari asked.

Eoghan shook his head. “Actually, no…if memories of alien or paranormal encounters aren’t erased within seventy-two hours, they become permanent and cannot be erased. As it turned out, it took the I.S.R. two days to learn of the incident because Devon had been scheduled for time off. When he didn’t show up or return calls on the third day, it took them another twelve hours to locate him in the morgue. Then follow up with any witnesses who might have seen anything, and another twelve hours to track me down in the hospital. By then, it was too late to erase my memory of the attack, so it became permanent.”

“How’d you become a marshal then?”

“You’ve heard the old saying, if you can’t beat them, join them?”

“Sure.”

“Well, Priest basically decided to offer me a job when she did a background check and saw the criminal justice degree and my service in the Marine Corps. She told me I was being offered a job at an exclusive U.S. Marshals division and that intrigued me, so I accepted the job. Of course, finding out about the nature of the job and what I.S.R. did along withmeeting Gladys sealed the deal. She was amazing to me and struck me as exactly the kind of person I’d love to work with and for several years, she was.”

“I’m sorry I never got a chance to get to know her. It sounds like she was an amazing person, Eoghan,” Ari said, sounding so sincere, it made Eoghan’s heart hurt.

“Thank you, Ari. She really was. Anyway, after I joined the I.S.R., I couldn’t get the thought of the fairies who’d attacked me and Devon out of my head. Even though both Gladys and the chief told me that the rival fairies who’d attacked us couldn’t be found. And Oberon and Titania had found what remained of Miranda lying in the vacant field where they’d had so many good times with their fucked up fairie comrades, I wasn’t ready to give it up. I should have. My refusal to give up trying to find Devon’s killer, nearly got both Gladys and me killed.”

“You said that before. What happened?” Ari asked.

“Oberon and Titania were off the I.S.R.’s radar for the time being, accepting that Miranda was dead even before they’d brought us in to help with locating her, and the rival fairies had gone to ground. And although Gladys and I weren’t technically assigned to their case because of my involvement, two other marshals were still looking for the rivals who’d attacked us, searching everywhere for them. They checked every candy store in California, combing through hundreds of hours of security tapes to catch them going into a grocery store to buy sugar or honey, even staking out farm stands which sold the natural stuff with honeycombs. All to no avail.”

“Why is that? I thought once the offspring—Miranda—was found dead, the case was over,” Ari said.

“That’s true. It should have been the end, but the chief doesn’t like leaving loose ends. And I’m sure she never knew about any full-scale war between Oberon and Titania and theirrivals, or I doubt she would have assigned two marshals to keep an eye out for the ones who’d attacked and killed Devon.”

“And who were those marshals?”

“The first was a guy named Bulmaro Acosta and the other agent was none other than Chadwick St. Clair.”

“Wick was involved?”

Eoghan looked over at him and nodded. “Yes, he was with Acosta when he was killed.” He frowned. “Unfortunately, his killing was directly related to my actions.” He glanced at Ari to see him staring back with some surprise.

“I doubt that, Eoghan.”

“No, really, Ari. I should have left the case alone, left it to Acosta and St. Clair but, I’d been the one attacked. My date had been the one killed.” He sighed deeply. “I just couldn’t give it up. I figured I was law enforcement now. And even though locating the rivals and then capturing them didn’t fall within my purview once the chief said I had no business being involved in a case where I’d been the victim, I kept up the search.”

“I understand why you did it, Eoghan. You didn’t want to feel like the victim and by involving yourself and taking charge, you weren’t one.”

Eoghan smiled sadly. “See? I told you that you were a psychologist.”

“No, Eoghan. That’s what I would have done.”

“My pride got Acosta killed, Ari. There’s nothing noble in that. I should have listened to the chief and left the other team to take charge of it. I fucked up.”

“You were brand new to law enforcement. Don’t beat yourself up.”

“I’d been at it for over two years by then, not to mention my experience in the military.”

“Like I said, you were still brand new to law enforcement with the I.S.R. team. Anyway, I have a feeling your search paid off?” Ari said, deftly changing the subject.

“In a way. Rapid response actually figured it out before me, but because I was closely following Acosta and St. Clair’s involvement, I was right behind them.”

“Right behind what? What did rapid response find out?”

“Okay. Let me back up. You might know that more than a decade ago, property values started skyrocketing in California. Homebuilders out in Visalia put up a tract of new homes on what had been farmland before. That’s where Oberon and Titania made their home.”

“Near the vacant land where their offspring, Miranda, was taken and murdered?”

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