Lover Beware

Lily didn’t know what it might be. “I was sorry to learn you’d been injured. I have some questions.”
    “It is a trifle awkward, Lily, your being with the police.”
    An odd thing to say, since that was why she was here. “Rule said you recognized your attackers.”
    “Did I? I have forgotten. The trauma, no doubt.”
    “Were you attacked while in wolf form, sir?”
    “I find this difficult to express politely, but since the attack did not take place in your jurisdiction, the details are not your affair.”
    “Three other people have been murdered who are most definitely my affair. Their killer is almost certainly connected to those who tried to kill you.”
    “A like-minded soul, perhaps. I assure you that the ones who attacked me did not travel to the city the next day and kill someone else.”
    Lily had the unpleasant suspicion he meant that his attackers had been killed. Probably by those defending him, judging by the extent of his wounds. He wasn’t going to “remember” anything about the attack, no matter what angle she took. And he was in pain. Though he hid it well, it showed around his undamaged eye.
    Time to finish up. “I need to question your people, sir, about these murders. Will you ask them to cooperate with me?”
    He looked at her thoughtfully for a long moment. “I will call a meeting of my Council for nine o’clock,” he said at last. “We will discuss it tonight.”
    Anywhere else in the country, people didn’t hold a meeting to discuss cooperating with the police. “I understood that you had complete authority.”
    His mouth crooked up on the undamaged side. “We have a saying: The Lupois who rules alone soon runs out of sons. I will bring this to Council, Lily. You go with my son, let him show you around. I must require you to pretend, for now, you are not a police detective. Ask no questions related to your investigation until after I have spoken with the Council. And I…” He sighed. “I must rest, unfortunately, if I am to hold Council tonight.”
     
    AS SHE AND Rule passed from the hall to the entryway, Paul raced past. “Bye, Dad! See you at lunch!” He yanked open the door, stopped, turned around, and added in a polite rush, “It was very nice to meet you, Lily. I’ll see you at lunch, too. We’re eating with Aunt Nettie and Uncle Conrad.” Then he sped outside, leaving the door open.
    A gnome trotted out of the atrium. No, not a gnome, just a tiny old man made of wrinkles stretched over bony angles. He had a little potbelly and a round, smiling face, and wore yellow biking shorts. “There you are!” he exclaimed, as if amazed to see Rule, and added apologetically, “Is it lunchtime? I lose track. The laundry, you know.”
    “That’s fine, Louvel. We’re eating with my aunt and uncle, I’m told. This is Lily Yu.”
    “Oh! Lily?” The old man trotted up, lifted Lily’s hand, and, in a curiously graceful gesture, raised it to his face. He smelled it thoroughly, then dropped a kiss on it before releasing it. “Charming. Charming. Do you like chocolate, Lily? So many humans do.”
    “Louvel is my father’s cook and housekeeper,” Rule said.
    “His chocolate torte is legendary.”
    “I love chocolate,” she said honestly.
    “Good! I’ll make you a torte.” He beamed at her, then trotted off down another hall.
    “Louvel is a little beyond taking care of the house on his own, but his baking is still not to be missed.” Rule put a hand on her back. “I could use some coffee. You?”
    She nodded.
    A few minutes later she was seated in a sunny kitchen while Rule poured them each a cup of coffee. The back door stood open. They tended to leave doors open, she’d noticed. Perhaps because there wasn’t any air conditioning. Or maybe they just liked things open.
    Rule handed her a steaming mug and sat at the table beside her.
    “What your father said about running out of sons…does that mean someone might do that challenge thing?”
    He sipped his coffee. “It depends. If he says you will be allowed to ask questions, that may annoy people but is unlikely to seriously upset anyone. It wouldn’t be the first time police or other law enforcement agencies poked around in clan business.”
    “This isn’t just clan business.”
    “Most people here will see it that way, though. We haven’t exactly been on friendly terms with the authorities—any authorities. If, on the other hand, the Lupois rules that you are to be answered honestly and