Page 38 of Forget Me Not

“I don’t think you’re in any condition to pick a fight,” Penn said around a bite.

Ray glared at her, then at the sandwich which now reeked of hot peppers and vinegar, and did not massage his temples although he wanted to. He had memories of his work, of the station, but they were spotty. Fuzzy. When he tried to recall details, cases, names, his pulse seemed to throb behind his eyes.

“Cal said there was a rift,” he admitted. “Because of him?”

Penn’s scoff was bitter. “Yes and no. But we can leave that for another time.”

“And you?” Ray scorned that idea and pressed on. “Are you collateral damage?”

“Hardly.” Penn smacked Ray’s arm, not hard. “I’m not incidental. I chose a side. Or you chose mine.” She wiped her hands on a dish towel and picked up her coffee again, apparently just to hold it. “Ray, I know this is a new wound to you now, but…”

“How long?”

Ray didn’t let her look away.

“Depends,” she finally answered. When Ray narrowed his eyes, Penn narrowed hers back but then added, “On what you consider the start date. Cal would argue that it’s always been there.”

Cal had said as much.

“I have never been—” Ray had stop to catch his breath, totryto catch his breath. “I’ve done everything we’re supposed to do.”

He thought Penn meant to hold his gaze, but she glanced away at the last second. “They’d love us gone. Not just because of what we are, but because of who we are. We’ve always known that. Or,” she turned to Ray again, “we have, even if we didn’t want to admit it. But it’s more obvious now. Everything is more obvious now. That’s why we need to be careful. They might use this. They might—”

Ray cut her off. “Cal is coming back.”

Penn smoothly changed the subject. “It’s probably best that you use these days to catch up on paperwork, anyway.” Cal had jeans and purple argyle socks on. Penn raised her voice. “But not on this case, or even the one we were working yesterday.”

Ray slowly pivoted back to her. “What were we working on yesterday?”

“Ray can’t even remember that?” Cal remarked, sweeping by in search of… possibly shoes. He rummaged through the basket by the door, then sighed and came over to them. “That’s interesting. Though I suppose I was around, and that’s enough for this… curse. Or whatever. As for what you were working on, there’s been an uptick in crime in the village. I mean, in reported crime. I mean, in crimes that the police suddenly care about.”

He regarded them both innocently, then exclaimed when his phone chimed. He dashed to the table to look at the notification.

Ray studied him for another moment as he was engrossed in reading something, then looked to Penn for explanation. She was not even remotely surprised by Cal’s remarks.

This time, some of Ray’s growl did come out. “I don’t need to be spoon-fed. Who’s reporting them?”

“Witnesses.” Penn finally remembered her coffee and had a sip. “Calling it in, then vanishing. Yesterday, or—the day before yesterday now, a rather inebriated human apparently stumbled into the wrong alley early that morning. After midnight anyway. He wasn’t sure and I don’t remember the exact time on the call. He had the shit kicked out of him, and all that saved him from a probably fatal blow was the intervention of a troll who happened upon the scene. The attackers ran off. They left some chemicals behind them. Gas. Paint. Things like that. Were they just weirdos? Were they planning some arson?”

Cal jumped back in to the conversation. “But the thing is, this isn’t the first instance of that. A while ago, a fairy saw some people with, uh, well, ill-intent in their colors. Which, no, is not an exact science, Ray. That’s just what the fairy told us—me and Benny, anyway. This was around one of the old markets that’s been closed forever.”

Ray exchanged a glance with Penn. “It burned down after?” he guessed.

Penn coughed the fakest cough. “So, the human in this instance does not want to be involved in this in any way. Meanwhile, some local groups kind of raised a stink about possible arsonists at loose. And how the neighborhood had a chemical smell that had them worried.”

“Penelope Del Mar,” Cal said chidingly. “The elders in most of the local organizations are certainly old enough to remember when deliberate vandalism by humans was common in the village. Hell, my dad can remember it.”

Penn gave Cal a brief acknowledging smile without turning away from Ray. “So yesterday, they sent some detectives back to investigate the scene, along with Cal and Benny…”

“For appearances, I’m sure.” Cal could be sour, but not for long. “But if we can find the truth, we will.”

Penn patted the air soothingly in his direction while speaking to Ray. “And you, well, you weren’t about to have him there by himself. He must have told you at lunch where he was going, because you insisted we stop by.”

Ray frowned. “We weren’t assigned there?”

Penn closed her mouth.

Cal broke the silence. “You and Penn are not given cases in the village anymore, Ray.”

---