Page 31 of Goblins Don't Count
“It’s fine. I wouldn’t have listened, anyway. It was too exciting to correspond with the Goblin Authority.”
“As exciting as going to the governor’s ball?”
“Absolutely not. That’s just my job, not my passion.”
“Corresponding with goblins is your passion? You probably need some new hobbies.”
“True. I need to go to the skatepark with Gabby one of these days. I’m getting out of practice.”
We walked past the pillars and inside the open double doors, into a golden scene straight from a storybook. Everyone was beautiful, graceful, enchanting. The chandeliers had rainbow nimbus around each flame, lending an unearthly glow to all the guests.
“Tickets,” a large ogre said, showing his tusks.
Sashimi put his hand inside his jacket and the ogre tensed up, like he might get a bomb in his face. Sashimi pulled out two tickets, no bombs, and gave the ogre a soft smile. “If I was going to do damage, I wouldn’t use the front doors.”
The ogre grunted, and we walked past him. The ogre sniffed me, looking at my hair, making me feel self-conscious. What had been in Clary’s detangler?
“You don’t want to know, but you should definitely wash it out as soon as you get the chance,” Sashimi murmured, leading me towards the dancing.
I wanted to hold back, but I’d said I’d dance. He put a hand on my waist, and held my other hand at shoulder height, then started walking with me, half as fast as everyone else.
“Who are you going to interrogate first?” he asked, eyes shining from the rainbow lights.
I glanced around, then returned my gaze to his. “The other judges on Stevens’s circuit would be good, but I’m really here to talk to anyone who would have rubbed elbows with the representative. I need to find out more about his corruption. Who here was most likely to try and bribe him?”
“Other than myself?”
I sighed, noticing the way he stepped into me, turning me around without any effort at all. “You’re a good dancer. Aren’t you concerned about not wearing a mask?”
“Thank you, and no. If I’m publicly dating, a mask wouldn’t help because your face is bare.”
“I could also wear a mask. That’s actually an incredible idea. That way, no one will know that it’s me when I humiliate myself during this dance.”
“Why would you care what anyone here thought of you?”
“It’s not me so much as the department.”
“Ah. Lady Justice must represent. In that case, I will make a point of being an overbearing lead that you can’t resist.”
And he was. If I fumbled, it was in the right direction and turned into something intentional by him. If I went in the wrong direction, my hips suddenly went the right direction and it became some artistic body roll. His reflexes were unparalleled, and his sense of music wasn’t bad either. By the end of the song, I was starting to relax.
As we walked off the floor, I said, “I take it back. You aren’t a good dancer. You’re far better than that.”
He smiled slightly, fingers sliding over the sleeve of my dress, lingering on the silk. The edible flower fabric that he found much more irresistible than me. “You flatter me.”
I snorted, pulling my sleeve out of his hand. “You know me better than that. Ah, the silver-tongued senator.” I smiled at the tall elven man and then at his wife. Then I started because I’d seen her before. She’d come to identify a body. The nice reporter who brought everyone cookies.
The senator gave me a warm smile and held out his hand. Sashimi took it instead, shaking it firmly while the senator eyed him, startled and then concerned as he looked from Sashimi to me.
“The Goblin Authority, and without your mask? To what do we owe the honor?”
“I wanted to come,” I said, yanking Sashimi’s hand out of the senator’s. There was some weird power play going on there that we didn’t need. “And Sashi…That is, the Goblin Authority. Corcarn was sweet enough to humor me. We’re dating. Publicly. So, how well did you know Representative Phil? Strange thing to have such a shocking suicide at the court house. Did you ever speak with him? Particularly recently?”
The short, sweet woman next to him laughed and gave me a very sincere smile. “You’re here to investigate his death? That sounds like a perfect date for a police officer. You work at the downtown station, right?”
I gave her a slight smile. “That’s right. And you’re the society reporter. I really enjoyed your article about the zoo…” It would be rude to call it a debacle. I refocused on the senator. “So, in regard to Representative Phil?”
He glanced from me to his wife, then nodded. “Yes, I spoke to him last week about a bill that he wanted to pass, but it seemed problematic to me. Most politicians do take bribes in the guise of campaign donations, but I never suspected anything overt in his case. I heard that Phil left a note, something about struggling with feelings of guilt?”
