Page 41 of Elven Lies

Her gaze fell on the center drawer of her desk, and she almost leaped out of her chair when she remembered what she’d postponed to investigate later.

“All right,” she said. “Everybody keep thinking on this question, and in the meantime, thereisone lead I’d like to look into before anything else.”

She reached into her pocket where, just a few hours before, she’d previously felt the weight of two matching stone figurines from Harkennr. This time, her fingers closed around the equally cool metal of the last item she’d placed there.

As she drew it out, Maxwell leaned slightly toward her with a confused frown. “DoIknow about this lead?”

“We’re about to find out.” She pulled the key from her pocket—the key that had jammed the center drawer of her desk and fallen to the floor during the last council meeting—then held it up in front of her like a first-place trophy for everyone to see. “Does anyone know what this opens?”

She couldn’t help a growing smile as she scanned the council’s faces. Someone herehadto know something about the keys Aldous had crammed into his desk drawers. If not, they were flying blind here, and Rebecca couldn’t imagine anything worse.

14

The thick silence in her office seemed to last an eternity. Even with no immediate physical threat incoming, Rebecca’s pulse quickened in an almost desperate hope as she scanned the faces of her council around the table.

Everyone stared at the key in her hand, and everyone exhibited the same blank, clueless expression.

Of course no one wanted to be the first to shoot down their Roth-Da’al’s first and only lead.

“Maybe a little more context,” she said. “This fell out of the desk earlier this morning. A desk that used to belong to Aldous. I haven’t seen it before, but it has to opensomething.”

Bor’s scarred face darkened with a deeper scowl than usual. Zida snorted and seemed on the verge of bursting into laughter. Whit and Rick shook their heads.

Maxwell stared at the side of Rebecca’s face again, which now felt like an undeserved accusation.

“Okay, let me rephrase,” she added. “This is still a brainstorming session, people. Whatever pops into your head, feel free to lay it out here for the rest of us. I’m trying.”

“One hell of a joke, kid,” Zida blurted with a chuckle. “That’sthe first thought in my head. You thinking any ofusknow anything about keys in the changeling’s desk.”

“Aldous never told anyone what he was up to,” Whit said. “Ever. If our Head of Security can’t tell you what that key opens, I don’t think anyone can.”

Rebecca looked to Maxwell next, who scowled at the key in her hand as if it were a ticking time bomb.

“It could be literally anything,” he muttered. “If he didn’t tell me about it, Aldous meant it to be a secret.”

“So nothing, then.” Rebecca gazed around the table one more time. “Not even an inkling? Just a guess? Come on. Everyone in this room has been here longer than I have. Just think about it. Anything that might be remotely related. There’s no such thing as a bad idea in a brainstorming session.”

Once again, the silence was deafening, and Rebecca couldn’t decide whether it was more humiliating to face the extent of Aldous’s manipulative control over Shade or to have thought this might be a lead.

Had the changeling really left this task force in such an awful state that even their most experienced members had no idea how to access the resources required to do their actual job?

“All right, forget what this key opens. Does anyone know how to find out?”

A soft thump rose from across the room before the office door burst open with a bang against the adjacent wall. Then Rowan Blackmoon barged right in, his arms spread wide, that idiot’s grin plastered across his face. “If you need to see a guy about a key, I knowexactlywhere to go.”

Maxwell was out of his chair in the blink of an eye, snarling as he thrust a warning finger at the Blackmoon Elf. “Out!”

Rowan gestured toward Rebecca. “Shedidsay there’s no such thing as a bad idea, wolfie.”

“You can’t just barge in here whenever you want, elf,” Maxwell snapped. “This is a closed meeting. Get. Out.”

“Blackmoon,” Rebecca cut in, widening her eyes at Rowan, “where’s Carl?”

“Who? Oh, you mean the guy Rick set me up with on the buddy system?”

Rick’s eyes bulged; he looked horrified to have been mentioned by name, especially when everyone turned to look at him. \

Everyone except Rebecca. She kept her gaze centered on Rowan’s face.

---