Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

feel it. The sweet liquid burned with magic and the goblet throbbed under my hand—so hot that I was surprised my hand wasn’t smoking.
    I set the old thing down on the table and wished the stupid book had included a picture of Orfino’s Bane—the goblet that the fairy had used to rob Roland’s knights of their ability to resist her will. I’d bet it would match the rustic goblet beside my plate.
    â€œIt was you,” I whispered.
    â€œYes, of course,” he said. “Tell me about your friend. Why do the police think he killed O’Donnell?”
    â€œThey found him there,” I told him. “Zee could have run, but he and Uncle Mike were trying to gather all the fae artifacts so the police wouldn’t find them.”
    â€œI thought I got all the artifacts,” said Tim. “The bastard must have been taking more things than the ones I sent him for. Probably thought that he might get more money for them somewhere else. The ring isn’t as good as the goblet.”
    â€œThe ring?”
    He showed me the worn silver ring I’d noticed last night.
    â€œAnd it makes the tongue of the wearer sweeter than honey. It’s a politician’s ring—or will be,” he said. “But the goblet works better. If I’d made him drink before he went out, he wouldn’t have been able to take more. I told him if we took too much, the fae would start looking outside Fairyland for their murderer. He should have listened to me. I suppose your friend is a fae and was going to talk to O’Donnell about the murders.”
    â€œYes.” I had to answer him, but I could hold back information if I tried. “You hired O’Donnell to get magic artifacts and kill the fae?”
    He laughed. “Killing the fae was his thing, Mercy. I just gave him the means to do it.”
    â€œHow?”
    â€œI went over to his house to talk to him about the next Bright Future meeting, and he had this ring and a pair of bracers sitting on his bookcase. He offered to sell them to me for fifty bucks.” Tim sneered. “Dumb putz. He had no idea what he had, but I did. I put on the ring and persuaded him to tell me what he’d done. That’s when he told me about the real treasure—though he didn’t know what he had.”
    â€œThe list,” I said.
    He licked his finger and pointed at me. “Score a point for the bright girl. Yes, the list. With names. O’Donnell knew where they lived and I knew what they were and what they had. He was scared of the fae, you know. Hated them. So I loaned him back the bracers and a couple of other things and told him how to use them. He fetched artifacts for me—for which I paid him—and he got to kill the fae. It was easier than I’d thought it would be. You’d think a dumbshit like O’Donnell would have a little more trouble with a thousand-year-old Guardian of the Hunt, wouldn’t you? The fae have gotten complacent.”
    â€œWhy did you kill him?” I asked.
    â€œI thought the Hunter would take care of it, actually. O’Donnell was a weakness. He wanted to keep the ring—and threatened to blackmail me for it. I told him ‘sure’ and had him steal a couple more things. Once I had enough that I could do my own stealing without much danger, I sent O’Donnell after the Hunter. When that didn’t work…well.” He shrugged.
    I looked at the silver ring. “A politician can’t afford to hang out with stupid men who know too much.”
    â€œTake another drink, Mercy.”
    The goblet was full again though it had only been half-full when I’d set it down. I drank. It was harder to think, almost like being drunk.
    Tim couldn’t afford to let me live.
    â€œAre you a fae?”
    â€œOh, no.” I shook my head.
    â€œThat’s right,” he said. “You’re Native American, aren’t you? You won’t find any Native American fae.”
    â€œNo.” I wouldn’t look for fae among the Indians; the fae with their glamour were a European people. Indians had their own magical folk. But Tim hadn’t asked, so I didn’t need to tell him. I didn’t think it was going to save me, him thinking I was a defenseless human instead of a defenseless walker. But I was going to try to keep any advantages that I could.
    He picked up his fork and played with it. “So how did you end up with the walking stick?