Each morning upon waking, Aissa listened for the sound of the cloister bells to sound a call to morning prayers. The city wasn't silent, but the absence of the hollow chimes made it seem so. As always it took her a moment to remember she wasn't at home; she was at the Morton Avenue Shelter, the same place that gave her a purpose in this strange and dangerous city. She knelt beside her bed to say her morning prayers before going into her personal bathroom to take a quick shower. Hers was the only private room at the shelter, a luxury Eddie had insisted on when she refused to sleep on his and Anita's foldout couch. She liked the little room. It reminded her of the home she had left behind.
She dressed in blue jeans and two shirts, pulling on boots Anita had donated to her. She wore a hoodie under her leather jacket, because after a lifetime of wearing a hood, she felt naked without one.
It was still dark out when she left the shelter. She climbed the stairs to the elevated train station. As she waited, she took out her notebook and flipped it open to the last page with writing on it. She had filled almost half the book so far with tight handwriting so small even she had to squint to make out some of her own words. She double-checked what she had found out, making sure she could answer any questions that might come up, and then flipped the book shut as the train pulled into the station.
A man was standing in front of the train's doors, hands in the pockets of his jacket and his bald head down so she couldn't clearly see his face. He looked like a vulture perched on the inner windows, but the doors parted to reveal his lower body. He twisted sideways to disembark as quickly as possible, striding toward the stairs with a gait that would take him there in four steps.
In the second their eyes had met, Aissa read him with ease. She knew his heart and knew that he was intending to cause violence.
Aissa backed up and fell into step with him. When he turned to look at her, she kicked the side of his knee. The man cried out in surprise and went down. His right hand came out of his jacket and he thrust a pocketknife at her midsection. Aissa grabbed him just above the wrist and struck out against his hand, snatching the weapon away as she twisted his hand back. The wrist snapped and the man shrieked.
Someone pulled Aissa off of him and she pointed. "Check his left pocket."
As the train security officer bent to do as she said, someone in the train said, "My wallet is missing."
The security officer took a handful of wallets out of the thief's coat and turned to look at Aissa. She shrugged as people began to flow out onto the platform to retrieve their belongings. Aissa sat on one of the now-empty plastic seats and rested her head against the glass, waiting for the fervor to die down so the train could leave the station. Eventually the thief was led away in handcuffs and the train was allowed to continue on. As they pulled away, Aissa saw the security guard looking around, most likely for her, but the train soon turned a corner and he was left behind. She checked her watch, grateful she had left early. The delay meant that she would arrive just after breakfast.
#
Gillian woke in her own bed, sore but not as sore as she had been the past few weeks. She pressed a hand to her side as she rolled over, pausing before she sat up. Bacon was cooking in the kitchen, the smell wafting down the hall on a wave of freshly-brewed coffee aroma. She carefully climbed out of bed, put a robe over her nightgown, and shuffled carefully down the hall to find her new servant girl hard at work in the kitchen.
Riley had obviously heard Gillian coming and was filling a glass with milk. "Morning, hon."
"Wow. You really did turn this place into a bed and breakfast while I was away."
"The doctor said you should take it easy. You've made me enough breakfasts, so... sit down, take a load off."
Gillian took her usual seat and let Riley serve up her breakfast. "So, um... I was thinking about what we should do today."
"Uh-huh?" Riley said.
"It's not that I don't love--"
Her carefully orchestrated speech, which she had worked on last night while Riley was washing her hair in the bath, was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"I'll get it," Riley said. She swept out of the kitchen and around the couch, checking the peephole before unlocking the front door. "Aissa? What are you doing here?"
Gillian got to her feet and saw the girl standing in the doorway. "Riley. Dr. Hunt. I'm sorry, I'm interrupting your breakfast..."
"No, it's okay," Gillian said.
Riley stepped aside to let Aissa in. "What's going on? Is everyone okay?"
"Everything is fine at the shelter," Aissa said. "Today was actually supposed to be an update of sorts about what I've been doing since last we saw each other, and I also wanted to see how Dr. Hunt was doing." She smiled at Gillian. "You're looking very well."
"I'm feeling better every day, thank you. And thank your sisters for coming down to the hospital." She wasn't a strong advocate of the healing power of prayer, but she also knew it couldn't hurt. She wasn't about to discount the fact a group of nuns who dedicated their lives to praying for protection were praying for her in her speedy recovery. "And please, call me Gillian. Everyone who has seen me in my nightie calls me Gillian."
Aissa blushed and looked at Riley again. "I've been making my presence known throughout No Man's Land as much as possible while still keeping a low profile. I talk to people about injustices and things that could be fixed with a little elbow grease. I don't mean to give you more to do--"
Riley shook her head. "No, Aissa, that's... outstanding. With my reputation, I can't get within ten feet of those people without having them run the other way. Find anything interesting?"
"Yes. Um." She looked at Gillian.
"I can go back into the bedroom--"
"It's okay. Whatever you say to me, she'll end up hearing about it anyway. What did you find out?"
Aissa cleared her throat. "Five years ago, a woman was killed in a hit-and-run. Detectives tracked down the vehicle and arrested the driver who insisted he'd been home asleep the entire night. The case went to trial, at which the driver was revealed to be a blackout drunk. He was sent to prison for ten years. I spoke to someone who knew about the case and knew that it was a setup. The woman was targeted, and the man who went to prison was framed."
"Blackout drunk?" Riley said. "You're talking about Lisa Kennedy. Kara and I investigated this." She pointed at Gillian. "You remember the case. We're the ones who found the car, we... we arrested Drew Hartley."
Aissa nodded. "You arrested the wrong man, Riley."
Riley stepped back and sat heavily on the couch. Gillian moved into the living room and took Riley's hand. "Is that possible?" she asked. "Could you have arrested an innocent man?"
"Yeah." She shrugged. "We don't like advertising it, but sure. It happens." She looked at Aissa. "Who did you talk to?"
"One of the woman's coworkers. She's been fighting to get someone to listen to her for years. Her name is Annie Irving, and she had an internet thing called Lisa's Peace. I saw a flyer for it and sought her out. That's when I heard the whole story. I was hoping you might be willing to reopen the case."
Riley winced. "Normally, yeah. Of course I would. But with Gillian--"
"Ah," Gillian interrupted. "That actually was what I was trying to say when Aissa showed up." She knelt and took both of Riley's hands in hers. "You know I adore you, Riley, and you know that every second we spend together is a... gift. Especially now, after what just happened. But honest to God, if you don't get out of my hair, I'm going to strangle you."
Riley frowned. "What?"
Gillian kissed Riley's cheeks. "I love you. And I love that you're willing to spend your every waking hour either at work or tending to me. The baths and, and the foot rubs and the meals. And I love that you brought your paperwork from the office so you can work and take care of me at the same time. But it's been ten days since I got home from the hospital, Riley, and to be honest, I need some time to myself. I was going to ask you to take me down to the morgue so I could take care of some paperwork of my own just to have a little... me-time. Please don't take this the wrong way, Riley. I wish--"
"No." Riley kissed Gillian's lips. "I've been smothering you. I've been treating you like a kid. I knew what I was doing, but I couldn't stop myself. You were almost killed, and there was nothing I could do. I couldn't help you or get revenge, so I... I made sandwiches." She sighed. "But if what you need now is for me to be gone--"
"I really, really do."
Riley smiled. "Then I guess Aissa has pretty good timing."
Gillian scooted forward on her knees and hugged Riley. Riley carefully returned the hug and kissed Gillian's neck before pulling away. "I'll have my cell with me if you need anything. The three of us can ride to the station together. Unless you'd rather take a cab..."
Gillian slapped Riley's shoulder with the back of her hand. "I think I can handle one car ride."
Riley kissed the tip of Gillian's nose and stood up. "I'll help you to the car, though."
"I'd be sad if you didn't."
Aissa had smiled through their exchange. "Will we be picking up Detective Priest on the way?"
"Priest hasn't been around the past few days. I think she's still feeling guilty about Gillian's accident. I'm giving her some space."
#
Priest lay flat on her back in the middle of the space that once housed Alvin Siler's trailer. She blinked at the clear southwestern sky over her face and tried inhaling. It worked, so she exhaled. Her clothes were tatters. Her skin was blackened. Sariel's face appeared over hers and eclipsed the sun. "I hope you learned your lesson."
Priest turned her hands palm-down onto the concrete foundation and pushed herself up. Alvin Siler was lying a few feet away. She watched his chest rise and fall before she looked at Sariel. "Ouch."
Sariel held out her hand. "I couldn't enter the flax without becoming trapped myself. But I heard your idiotic request and knew I had to act."
Priest only remembered asking Siler to kill her. Then an immense flash. She took Sariel's hand, got to her feet, and looked at the damage all around her.
"You ignited the flax. You could have turned him into charcoal."
"The alternative was to see what happened when he shot you in the head. I doubt it would have killed you, but your body could have been permanently damaged. I don't imagine you'd be open to creating a new one." She brushed the ash from Priest's shoulders and back. "What were you thinking?"
"How much did you hear?"
"Enough to be concerned about your state of mind."
"Riley wants to be free. If granting that wish is within my power, isn't it my responsibility as her guardian angel to do whatever it takes?"
"Not at the cost of your own life. Alvin Siler asked if you were human or angel. Offering your life in place of Riley's was a very human thing to do, Caitlin."
Priest wasn't certain if that was meant as an insult or compliment, so she remained silent.
"Come with me. You're far too weak to return on your own." Sariel held out her arms and Priest embraced her. They disappeared in a blinding flash moments before Alvin Siler regained consciousness. His hands and legs jerked and then began patting his doughy flesh to make sure he was still in one piece. He scanned the open air around him, realized what had happened, and sneered.
"Damn angels."
#
Aissa stopped at the doorway and drank in the sight of the Homicide offices. The east-facing windows were glowing with the morning sunlight, and the room seemed divided into rumpled and exhausted men and women who were coming off the night shift, and the fresh-faced officers who had just started their day. Riley stopped when she realized Aissa wasn't following her. "Aissa? Everything okay?"
"I've never been up here before. It's a little daunting."
"It's not so bad once you get used to the smell of bad coffee." She led Aissa to her desk and pulled an empty chair away from Priest's desk.
Aissa sat and looked at the clutter in front of Riley's computer. "You have to understand, Detective Pa-- Riley. I've spent my entire life up to this point praying for this city's protector. I only knew your name. I didn't know what you looked like. And now I live a train ride away from your home. I've seen you barefoot in your pajamas. And now I get to see you at work. I hope you forgive me if I act a little awed."
"I'll try to keep my ego in check. And since we're investigating the idea I put an innocent man in jail, it shouldn't be too hard."
Aissa nodded and folded her hands in her lap. She may have looked like a normal girl out for a walk, but her rigid posture and deferential nature identified her as a Good girl. "I'm certain you and Detective Sweet did everything in your power to ensure you had the right man."
Riley's mood darkened slightly. "Yeah. You didn't know me back then..."
2007
Riley hid her hangover behind a pair of aviator sunglasses, her hand curved along the side of the glasses to block the sun from getting around the edges as she got into the passenger seat. Sweet Kara, also known as Detective Kara Sweet, had her blonde curls tamed in a ponytail that looked like an explosion, and she pushed down her sunglasses with one finger to get a good look at Riley's current state of disarray. "Hope you at least got her phone number."
"What would I do with her phone number?" Riley's voice was rough, and she treated it with a swig from Kara's coffee cup. She grimaced but managed to force it down before she made a disgusted noise. "What the hell is that?"
"Non-alcoholic. You should try drinking more stuff like it now and then."
Riley pressed back against her seat and put her foot on the dashboard. "You know what shit they put in water these days? Heineken is healthier for you. They did a study."
"Uh huh." She gestured at the placement of Riley's foot. "And you know if the airbag goes off it's going to shoot your knee into your face and break your nose."
"So don't get into an accident."
Kara smiled as she reached over and pushed Riley's foot down. "So whose apartment was that? Honestly. I'm not teasing you anymore."
Riley shrugged. "Some woman."
"You hopeless romantic."
Riley flipped her off. "I get laid regularly, and I don't have to deal with the drama of a relationship. Tell me what I'm doing wrong."
"You mean you don't have to care."
"It's easier when you don't care."
Kara had stopped smiling. In her casual blouse and tight jeans, Kara looked like a college student driving her older sister around town. Riley looked like a haggard hitchhiker who had just rolled out of bed, which was uncomfortably close to the truth. Her hair was still wet from her quick shower, she was wearing yesterday's clothes, and her breath stank of booze. When they pulled up at the scene, Kara took out a container of breath strips.
"Here. In case Hathaway makes an appearance at the scene, you don't want her smelling what you did last night."
"Yeah." Riley obediently popped the strips into her mouth and hissed through her teeth as the flavor crystals did their work. She and Kara got out of the car at the same time, and Kara let Riley lead the way to the portion of sidewalk where everyone else had gathered. The ME was already on the scene and Riley checked her out as she ducked under the yellow crime scene tape. A nice ass and, due to her position kneeling over the body, she saw a hint of the good doctor's underwear.
"Dr. Hunt."
"Detective Parra." She looked Riley up and down. "Oh, good. The dead bodies are starting to come to me and save the gas money."
"Har-har. Like you've never had a bad night."
Gillian looked back at the body, but Riley thought she might have seen a smile before a curtain of chestnut hair fell over her cheek. "Not as bad as this young lady."
A uniformed officer approached with his notebook in hand. "Witness says she was crossing with the light, inside the crosswalk, by the book the whole way. Green car comes barreling down the street and slams into her."
"And she went airborne from the looks of it." Gillian indicated the scrapes where the woman... the girl, really... had hit the pavement. "Witness moved her out of the road so other people wouldn't hit her."
"Damn it. Considerate, but... still." Riley knelt and looked at the body. Her arm brushed Gillian's thigh. "Sorry," she murmured.
"S'okay."
"Any identification?"
Gillian picked up a billfold off the pavement. "Found it in her jacket pocket. Just a library card and a few dollars."
Riley flipped it open and looked at the library card. "Just a patron number. And you know the librarians are going to be super-helpful giving us her information."
Kara smiled. "Maybe you could work your magic on one of them, Riley. Flirt her into the back room while I check the records."
"Shut up, Kara," Riley said, harsher than she intended. She stood up and looked up and down the street. There were a few businesses that, in the light of day, looked so poorly maintained she wasn't sure if they were still open. "Any of these places have security cameras?"
The officer shook his head. "Only the nearest two would answer when my partner knocked, and they both said they were deterrents. Duds, not hooked up to anything."
Kara sighed. "You know what a good deterrent is? Working security cameras."
Riley motioned for Kara to follow her. "All right. Looks like we're canvassing."
"Great." Kara followed Riley away from the crime scene. Once they were out of earshot, Kara slapped Riley's arm. "Cigarette."
"Are you still quitting?"
"As we speak."
Riley took Kara's pack out of her coat pocket, tapped one free, and handed it to her. Kara muttered a thanks as she held it between her lips, lighting it and returning the lighter to her back pocket. "Just to take the edge off before I talk to these skells."
"Detective!" Riley and Kara both turned to see Gillian waving at them.
Kara nudged Riley again. "You go. You've got seniority. Plus you want to fuck her."
Riley snatched the cigarette from Kara's lips and flicked it down the street. Kara called her a choice pair of curse words, words Riley wasn't sure went together, but she ignored it as she walked back to the medical examiner's truck.
"Find something already, Doc?"
Gillian held up a small plastic card holder. "This was in her shoe. A lot of women do that when they have to walk somewhere at night. They have a decoy for the pickpockets and muggers to find, but the real stuff is out of sight. We have credit cards and a state ID. Lisa Kennedy."
"Excellent work. I'll make a detective out of you yet."
"Thanks, but I'm happy right where I am. Go get 'em, Detective."
Riley waved as she walked back to Kara with the ID. "We caught a break. Let's go see if anyone is waiting at home for her."
2012
Five years later, Riley paused in her recounting of events. Lisa had lived with her boyfriend, and Riley lost the game of rock paper scissors for who would break the news. He was crushed, naturally. She could see Kara standing in the kitchen doorway, hands in her pockets, nervously shifting her weight as they watched the poor guy whose name she couldn't even remember sobbed. Afterward she gave the man her card - Ian. His name had been Ian something - and told him to call if he remembered anything.
She looked at Aissa again and saw she was waiting for the rest of the story. "The boyfriend told us she was probably walking home from work. She was a dancer at a club not far from where we found her body. So Kara and I went down there and..." Her mind was flooded with memories and flashes of sensations. "We questioned her coworkers."
Kara looked back at Riley as they entered. "Are you going to be able to restrain yourself?"
"Restraint is overrated." Riley smiled at a topless waitress who offered her a drink. She refused, but made a note of the woman's face for later. She followed Kara toward the bar, eyes on the girl currently on-stage. She was incredibly petite, dressed in a green brassiere and thong, with fairy wings hanging off her shoulders. She glanced at them as she curled her leg around the pole and swung her body in a wide arc that made it look like she was flying. When she came to a rest, the bra was gone and her small breasts were exposed to the room.
Kara was speaking to the bartender. "--talk to some of your girls?"
Riley nodded at the waitress. "I'd like to start with her, if I can pick and choose."
"How did that go?" Aissa prompted.
Riley cleared her throat and shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Uh."
Riley took the shot glass from the waitress' cleavage and tilted her head back, downing the tequila before stretching to tease the lime from the stripper's mouth. They were in a curtained area, so no one could see what she was doing. One shot wouldn't affect her judgment. It might even help with the headache pounding behind her eyes. Hair of the dog and all that. She closed her mouth around the wedge and took it into her mouth, letting the woman kiss her as she reluctantly observed the no-touching rule.
When the lime was gone, the waitress plucked the rind from Riley's mouth and dropped it onto the table with a smile. "I thought you said you had some questions for me."
"I do have some questions for you. First and foremost, the no-touching rule. Does that apply for you touching me?"
"Oh, Detective. I think you'll like the answer to that."
Riley scratched her neck. "I wasn't exactly the consummate professional back then, but we did our jobs. Andrew Hartley took a car matching the witness description to a body repair shop to have some dents banged out of the hood. We went, we questioned him, and he admitted that he'd gotten blackout drunk the night before. He was a frequent customer at Lisa's club and some of the other strippers confirmed that... that--"
"You know, detective... we have special rules for cops."
"And what would those rules be, Sinamon?"
"You can touch us all you want. But we get to take off your clothes."
Riley slid her hand over the curve of the waitress' hip. "Well. Rules are rules."
She focused on the actual information she had gotten from the dancers she'd spoken to after her rendezvous in the private room. "The other women confirmed he liked her. He would spend hours in front of the stage waiting, and then he'd be riveted by her dance. He always left right after she finished her last set. So Kara and I figured he propositioned her, she said no, and he decided that if he couldn't have her, no one could. He admitted he couldn't remember, and the car was in his garage when he woke up in the morning. Case closed." She looked at Aissa. "Until now. What did you find?"
Aissa took out her notebook. "One of Lisa's coworkers, Annie Irving, never believed the official story. She said Hartley was obnoxious, but he would never hurt a fly. She thinks Lisa was killed by someone who had been stalking her for a while. She was scared of someone. The night she died, she asked some of the other dancers if they could take her home, but no one else was scheduled to get off at the same time."
"They never told us that." Riley knew it was a flimsy excuse. "You said Annie Irving had a website?"
"Lisa's Peace. It implies she won't rest in peace until her real killer is behind bars."
"But she has evidence that Hartley's not the right guy?"
Aissa said, "You have no reason to feel ashamed, Riley. You did your job. Hartley couldn't deny his actions. He was a viable suspect. Annie Irving only pursued the case because she was the last person Lisa asked to take her home, and Annie lied. She wanted to do some errands on the other side of town, so she told Lisa she couldn't help her. The next day she saw the news and felt responsible."
"Ah. That's a hell of a thing. Is Lisa willing to talk to me?"
"She was hoping you'd be willing to talk with her. I said I would either bring you by today or at least come by to tell her you'd passed on the meeting."
Riley stood up. "I'll let Briggs know we're reopening the case. I'm not going to sit back and hope I have the right guy. Either we right a wrong or we waste a day. I'm fine with either."
#
"Stop."
"You shouldn't be exhausted." Sariel's hair hung in her face, caught in her eyelashes and the sweat of her brow. She nipped at Priest's shoulder, growling as she pressed harder against her. Priest was on her hands and knees, naked and sweating, and Sariel was kneeling behind her. She had both arms around Priest's waist, one hand stretched down to cover Priest's sex. "Your mortal body is weary, but your angelic self..." She pressed harder and Priest cried out. "Your divinity is unflagging."
Priest pressed one hand against the headboard. Her eyes were closed and she bared her teeth as Sariel teased between her legs.
"Come for me, Zerachiel."
"I ca-can't."
Sariel bit Priest's neck, and Priest cried out in another orgasm. She had lost count of how many times she'd come; she was sore all over. She just wanted Sariel to stop touching her, she just wanted to rest. She dropped onto the mattress and Sariel pinned her there.
"Please."
"Say the words."
Priest whispered, "I'm human."
Sariel put her hand in the middle of Priest's back and pushed herself up. Priest's body jerked and twitched as the hand was taken from between her legs, and she buried her face into the pillow. Sariel rolled to one side, the sweat that had been dripping down her body evaporating as she leaned against the headboard.
"You may have regained your divinity, and Zerachiel may live on through you, but you're more mortal than angel."
Priest sat up, her legs folded under her and her hands in her lap. She took a breath and met Sariel's eye. "Get out of my apartment."
"I didn't make you say anything you didn't already know. Riley Parra has corrupted you. This city has corrupted you. I knew Zerachiel before she took your form. She was a very--"
"Is," Priest snapped. "Is, is, is."
"Zerachiel was the strongest of us," Sariel said smoothly. "We shouldn't have been surprised she would make such a stubborn and headstrong host. You've fooled yourself into thinking you exist just because you drew breath without her. You're nothing but a suit, Caitlin Priest." She slipped off the bed and picked up the remains of the suit Priest had been wearing in Alvin Siler's trailer. "And like a suit, you'll be discarded when you're of no further use."
The crumbling material glowed slightly as Sariel's energy flowed into it. Pieces flaked off in disappearing cinders that vanished before they hit the floor. When the suit was gone, Sariel brushed a hand over her own chest and a red blouse and slacks appeared to cover her nudity. She eyed the row of suits in Priest's closet and made a small sound of judgment.
"Goodbye, Caitlin Priest."
Priest crossed her arms over her bent knees and pressed her face into the crook of her elbow. The apartment door closed with a crash, and Priest let her wings extend and close around her as she healed herself.
#
Driving into No Man's Land, Riley passed several Good Girls standing on street corners with their heads bowed in prayer. She watched Aissa out of the corner of her eye. As a former member of their ranks, Aissa paid attention as they passed, but she didn't seem morose or mourning. Riley cleared her throat before she spoke. "I guess you've been seeing them a lot, working in No Man's Land."
"Not as much as you would think. They tend to remain near the demarcation between the good part of town and the bad. Morton Avenue is too deep inside No Man's Land. Although I do occasionally see them during my wandering, yes."
"Must be hard."
Aissa shrugged. "They have their mission, and I have my new work. I'm too excited to feel I've lost anything." She wet her lips and tilted her head to the side. "My Sisters are born into prayer, and those who don't die or become exiled grow up to become Mothers. That path is set from the moment we're born. Sometimes it feels as if we're all merely waiting for something to happen. And something did happen to me." She smiled. "I'm very happy where I am, Riley, and I'm honored to be your successor."
Riley felt guilty. She was actively looking for a way to retire her position as champion, but doing so would call Aissa to take her place. How could she possibly shirk her responsibilities knowing it would condemn Aissa to take her place? She was just a kid. She grew up in a nunnery and now she was scouring No Man's Land for wrongs to right. When was she going to have a childhood?
She parked in front of a bar and put her badge on her hip where it could be easily seen. Aissa started for the door but Riley stopped her. "Whoa. How old are you?"
"Old enough to enter a bar."
Riley dropped her hand, chagrined. "Sorry."
Aissa smiled and held the door open, and Riley stepped inside. The room was dim even early in the morning, and the few people seated at the bar held up their hands to block the sun. Riley let the door swing shut behind her and paused on the threshold to let her eyes adjust to the darkness.
Riley finished her latest mug of beer, tapped the young guy on the shoulder, and stepped between him and his date when he turned toward her. She smiled drunkenly. "I want to fuck your girlfriend, so why don't you go ahead and take a hike so we can get to know each other better?"
She absently rubbed her jaw as the memory came rushing back. Not her proudest moment. Shamefully, it also wasn't her worst. Aissa noticed her hesitation. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah. This case is just reminding me a lot about who I used to be."
Kara stood over her. Riley was sitting in the alley, lip busted and eye swelling shut. Kara crouched and touched Riley's cheek.
"Ow. That hurts."
Kara pressed harder.
"Ow!"
"How about this for a new rule," Kara said. "You hold my cigarettes for me, and I slap you in the face every time you want to go into a bar? It'll heal faster."
Riley grimaced. "She was into me. She kept eyeing me."
Kara stood up. "Sure. You want a ride, Casanova?"
Riley took Kara's hand and let herself be hauled up. "Slap me if you must, but not hard. I don't want to explain big red marks on my cheek to everyone."
"Who said anything about slapping your face?" Kara swatted Riley on the ass hard enough to make her yelp.
The bartender, a much-too-thin woman with glasses too big for her face, came around the bar. She was so focused on Aissa that she didn't notice Riley until she was almost in front of her. She stopped and pointed her finger. "You."
"Lotus."
The bartender bristled. "I go by Annie now." She looked at the barflies. "Mike. I'm going to take five."
A man came out of the pool room, and Annie led Riley and Aissa into the back. Cases of beer lined one side of a narrow corridor leading to a fire exit. "Why did you bring her?"
"I told you I was going to try bringing her."
"You said you'd bring someone named Detective Parra. You didn't say she was the one who screwed it all up in the first place."
Riley said, "I told you my name when I interviewed you."
"Yeah, well, then I guess neither of us was listening in that interview."
Aissa put up her hands for peace. "Riley is only interested in the truth."
"Five years too late."
"So you're willing to throw away the opportunity to get the truth out there just because you're pissed at me?" Riley stifled her anger. "I'm a different person than I was five years ago. If I made a mistake, give me a chance to make it right. Please."
Annie took a milk crate away from the wall and dropped down onto it. She looked up at Aissa. "You'll vouch for her?"
"Of course. I wouldn't trust anyone else, except maybe her partner."
"Okay." Annie pushed her hair back with both hands and leaned forward. "Okay. I've been begging cops to listen to me for five years, I'm not going to throw it away just because the wrong one showed up. Lisa was scared the night she died. She begged someone to take her home. And I was... a bitch. I lied because I didn't want to take an extra five minutes. I just wanted to go home and relax."
Riley nodded. She remembered this part, but she had originally heard it from a girl wearing a green thong and fairy wings.
"When I found out she was dead, that she'd been hit by some asshole drunk driver, I blamed myself. Never mind that ten other people had all refused to drive her home, I was her last chance. I went to her place to... hell, I don't know. To confess or to apologize to her boyfriend. When I showed up, there was a guy there with him. I heard them arguing before I knocked. Whoever the other guy was said that what happened to Lisa could easily happen again."
"Did you see the other guy?"
Annie took out her phone and brushed her thumb over the screen. "Yep. I have a drawing of him up on the Lisa's Peace website. I told you about all of this when you interviewed me that night." She turned the phone around so Riley could see the drawing. The man had a lantern jaw, close-set eyes, and dark hair cut short. Riley didn't recognize him.
"The boyfriend never mentioned being threatened when my partner and I spoke with him."
"He was scared. You guys were so ready to believe it was an accident that he didn't want to stir the waters. If he had, would you have listened to him?"
"Back then, probably not," Riley admitted. "Drew Hartley knew Lisa, and he was a blackout drunk. Are you claiming this mysterious man just happened to steal his car, or are you saying there was a conspiracy to frame him in particular?"
"I'm saying it was no coincidence that it was Drew Hartley's car. Lisa was targeted, and he was as good a mark as any."
Riley found another milk crate and sat down. "Okay. I testified against Hartley in court and then I forgot the case. You've spent five years on it. Tell me what you have."
Annie looked up at Aissa, and then held out her phone. "Here's something I didn't tell you five years ago... Lisa's boyfriend Ian was a pimp. He would arrange Lisa's boyfriends for her and set up the 'dates.' Lisa went along with it because the money was good and she liked sex. It turned her on. But after a while it got more scary than sexy. Can you imagine coming home and your boyfriend says you have a date with some guy you've never even met? That's part of the reason I didn't want to drive her home. I didn't want Lisa thinking we were friends, because I was afraid she'd try to recruit me or something." She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. "I could have helped her. Not just saving her life by giving her a ride, I could have gotten her away from the douche bag."
"Or gotten yourself killed for your trouble," Riley said.
"Right. Well, I think Lisa was scared of a date that went wrong." She pointed at the sketch. "I think that's the guy."
Aissa shook her head. "If he wanted to date Lisa and she said no, then it would make sense for him to kill her. But why would he then threaten the boyfriend?"
Riley looked up at the girl. "You know what date means in this context, right?"
"Yes. They dined together."
Annie stared at Aissa and then looked at Riley. "Is she for real?"
"What?"
"Lisa was a prostitute, Aissa." Riley handed the phone back to Annie. "But her point stands. Once Lisa was dead, there was no point in threatening Ian. Have you spoken to him about the threat?"
Annie shook her head. "He won't talk to me. He's married now, and he says that it's part of his past and he'd rather just move on."
Riley tapped her badge with two fingers. "I have this. He'll talk with me one way or another."
#
The door swung open and Ian Dawson looked Aissa up and down before he spoke. He wore a white T-shirt and baggy white pants, his dark hair uncombed and bushy over his ears but thinning on top. He squinted at her and leaned heavily on the doorknob. "Yeah? Help you?"
"I heard you were the guy to talk to if my boyfriend and I wanted to have some fun. Someone mentioned your wife, but wasn't sure if she, um, catered to couples."
He straightened slightly and looked past her. His apartment was on the second floor, facing a railing that looked over the drained pool. "You heard? Who'd you hear from?"
"Once of the dancers down at the Shaded Glen. She said I should come here and talk to you. I really hope you can help us."
"Well. Joy prefers guys, you know, but I can talk some sense into her. If the price is, you know, appropriate. How much you looking to pay?"
"It's our anniversary so we've been saving up. We don't want to pay a lot, but I mean, you get what you pay for."
Ian nodded. "Couples are a little extra, o'course." He leaned against the doorframe. "Two hundred gets you an hour, but if you want the whole night, it's a grand."
"And what does that... I mean... I sound like an idiot. But two hundred is for, um..."
He smiled. "Basic touching, kissing, and oral. Your boyfriend gets penetration, front-door only. For an extra hundred, he can finish in her mouth. For an extra two hundred, she'll swallow."
"Swallow?" Aissa said. "Swallow what?"
Riley stepped around the corner, badge held at eye level. "That's okay, Aissa. I think we have enough."
Ian tensed like he was about to bolt, but all of the windows in his apartment faced either the walkway where Riley was standing or a fifteen foot drop. He groaned and then focused on her face.
"Hey. You're that detective who was here after what happened with Lisa."
"Detective Parra. I thought I'd drop by for a little reunion. How's that sound?"
He looked at Aissa. "Like entrapment."
"Look at you, with your big words. So I don't arrest you now. I go downstairs and wait for you to do something stupid and arrest you then. Or we go in here and have a nice chat about your former employee."
Ian frowned. "Lisa was my girlfriend."
"I've had girlfriends. Never rented any of them out by the hour." She stepped into the apartment and Ian was forced to retreat or get pushed out of the way. "You didn't tell me the whole story about what happened to Lisa."
He followed her into the living room. "Yeah, well, it was a hit and run, okay? No sense dragging out all our skeletons, right?"
"Hit and run," Riley muttered. "So who was the guy threatening you the day after she was killed?"
Ian froze. "I-I-I don't... I don't..." He closed his eyes and began to pace. "Oh, that bitch and her fucking website..."
"Who was he?"
"I don't know his name. Honest. After I found out about Lisa, he just showed up."
Riley laughed. "So your girlfriend dies and this guy uses it as an opportunity to just randomly threaten you? He wanted something. It's been five years."
"You think he's just forgotten about it? Silence for life."
"This guy can't be that powerful."
Ian laughed. "You want to know who he is? Look up. And then keep looking."
Riley didn't like the sound of that. She glanced at Aissa and realized that if one person had been threatened, another could have been paid off. "You told this guy about Hartley, didn't you? You set him up as a patsy. Whoever wanted you quiet stole Hartley's car and used it to kill Lisa. And Hartley's been sitting quietly in prison because someone paid him for these ten years. Who was it?"
"I told you, I don't know the guy." Ian sat on the coffee table, defeated. "But I know who he represents. Shit. I can't believe I'm about to say this."
"I'm all ears, pal."
"Dominic Leary."
Riley thought she felt the air sucking out of the room and looked at Aissa. Even she looked stunned. "The guy who threatened you, who killed Lisa..."
Ian nodded slowly, accepting his fate. "He was hired by the mayor. Mayor Leary was a real regular. He saw Lisa at the strip club and wanted her, so he... took her."
"And Lisa took pictures."
"Worse. Lisa took Tic-tacs instead of birth control pills. She used condoms with everyone else, but told Mr. Mayor she was on the pill."
Riley lowered herself into a nearby armchair. "And eventually she had something bigger than a photograph, didn't she?"
"Six pounds, three ounces. Little girl."
"What happened to her?"
"Shipped away. Adopted. I don't know. I never saw her again."
Riley sighed. Five years ago, Leary was starting his first term as mayor. A scandal of that magnitude would have destroyed his career. "Lisa was a stripper. How did she manage to hide her pregnancy?"
"She claimed she got sick. Took a few months off."
"All we have right now is your word on this. Are you willing to testify?"
Ian shrugged helplessly. "You're going to keep investigating anyway, and eventually he'll know I talked. So... if testifying means you'll keep me safe, then fine. I'll do it."
Riley stood up. "All right, come on. We're going to get you protective custody."
"What about Joy?"
"Don't worry. We'll make sure she's protected. And as far away from you as she can get."
Ian sighed and stood up, trudging toward the door. Riley wasn't inspired to make him move faster. Once Ian Dawson was taken care of, she would torpedo her career by confronting the mayor about the five-year-old murder of a stripper.
#
Drew Hartley listened as Riley explained her theories. His time in prison had taken at least twenty pounds off his frame, and his hair was receding away from his forehead. Briggs was in the room with her, but they'd asked the guards to step outside to give them privacy. Drew's hands were still cuffed, resting on the table between them, and his stony expression wavered as he listened to Riley's story. When she was done, he was covering his eyes with one hand.
"Does that sound about right, Mr. Hartley?"
"You don't understand," he said softly. "The money was... really good. And I couldn't be sure. I mean, the way I was back then? It was only a matter of time before I hit someone for real. So I figured this way... this way at least I come out on top when it's all over."
Briggs said, "You'll be charged with conspiracy and concealing evidence, but a judge can be convinced to sentence you to time served if you help us out. How's that for coming out on top?"
Hartley stared at them both and then looked at his hands.
"You liked Lisa didn't you, Drew? You had a little crush on her. Someone used that crush, used it to frame you, and now Lisa is dead. And the man who killed her isn't going to face justice. He's had five years of freedom. Isn't that enough?"
"I never saw his face. I only dealt with the man who came to the door, who told me what to say. He's the one who drove the car. Rollie Daniels."
Riley looked at Briggs, whose face was set and determined. "Mayor Leary's right-hand man. It's enough to get him down here and talking. Go find your partner and bring him in."
#
Riley let herself into Priest's apartment after knocking for five minutes with no response. "Cait? Come on, vacation's over. I know you're feeling bad about what happened to Gillian, but we're all in one piece." She scanned the kitchen and went down the hall to the bedroom. She knocked and the door swung open. "Caitlin? Are you in here?"
"Yes."
Riley stepped into the room and saw Priest on the floor. She was naked, her feet crossed in front of her and her knees pressed against her chest. Her closet was empty, everything taken off the hangers and dumped onto the bed.
"Having trouble deciding on an ensemble?"
"I'm mortal."
Riley furrowed her brow. "Again? What happened?"
"No, I'm..." She rubbed her face and stood up. "I'm still Zerachiel, but Sariel made me realize I was... I was... ruined."
Riley stepped closer and saw bruises on Priest's thighs. "Cait... what happened?"
"'Cait.' And Priest. You never call me Zerachiel. Why?"
"Because Zerachiel is the part of you that always pisses me off, and Caitlin has always been there for me through thick and thin." Her voice softened. "What's going on here?"
Priest sat on the edge of the bed. "I found a way for you to retire as champion. If every player but one is removed from the field of battle, and if that individual has chosen a successor, they are effectively retired. Sariel killed Gremory, Gail Finney killed herself, and you've chosen Aissa to take your place. The only thing remaining is to remove the final player."
Riley laughed. "You? Priest, you've got to be kidding me."
"It could free you. And if I wasn't so attached to being mortal, I would do the right thing and--"
Riley crouched in front of Priest and put a hand on her shoulder. "That's not the right thing, Priest. I don't want to just retire and ride off into the sunset. I want to retire so I can enjoy my life and my loved ones. That includes you. If there's one path to retirement, then there must be another. We'll keep looking for it, and we'll find it sooner or later."
Priest finally met Riley's eye. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Just get dressed. We have to go somewhere and, as much fun as Aissa is, I'd rather have my guardian angel at my side."
"Where are we going?"
"We're going to arrest the mayor."
Priest stared and shook her head. "The one day I don't go to work..."
#
The mayor's office was located in the courthouse. Riley and Priest, both wearing bulletproof vests, led a squad of uniformed officers up the marble-and-tile staircase. When they reached the top floor, a contingent of security officers was waiting for them. One held up a hand, palm flat, to stop their advance. "I'm sorry, detective, but this is as far as you go."
Riley pressed the warrant against his palm as if she was high-fiving him, and continued past, bumping her shoulder against his in the process. "Feel free to read it out loud for your less-literate friends."
The security officers trailed behind her. "You can't just barrel through--"
"Sure I can. Warrant says I can. Stay back or I'll arrest you for obstruction."
He fell back as they reached the doors to the mayor's office. The mayor was standing behind the desk with his deputy, both of whom had obviously been alerted to the disturbance making its way to his office. Mayor Leary had the receiver of his desk phone in one hand, while Deputy Mayor Lark Siskin was speaking rapidly into her cell phone. Riley motioned for them both to hang up with forked fingers.
Leary was six-four and built like a linebacker. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to reveal thick, muscular forearms. His hair had been shaved down to snow-white peach fuzz. Lark, on the other hand, looked as if she could have been carved from marble. She let her gaze linger on the intruders as if sizing them up in preparation of a fight.
The mayor stared at Riley for a moment with cold, unblinking eyes, but then he carefully lowered the phone to the cradle and held his palms out.
"Dominic Leary, you're going to have to come with us, sir."
Lark stood stoically next to her boss, hands behind her back and chin raised defiantly. "I would advise you not to go anywhere with them, Mr. Mayor. We can handle this without the authorities getting involved."
"Another group of officers are taking Rollie Daniels into custody as we speak. How loyal do you think he is, in terms of a prison sentence?"
"Mr. Mayor..." Siskin warned.
"You can go downtown now, with me, or we can wait around until Mr. Daniels tells us what we all know he's going to tell us. And by that time, we'll have to walk you out of here past reporters. And even if we cover the handcuffs with a jacket, everyone knows what that means." She looked at Lark, daring her to intervene. "Your career ends today, Mr. Mayor. The only question is how much dignity you take with you when you go."
Leary took a deep breath and then looked at Lark "Hang up the phone."
"Sir..."
"Hang up the phone." He took his jacket off the back of his chair and stepped around the desk. "I'll go with the detective." He stopped in front of Riley and said, "Mr. Daniels has been a good friend, but when the noose is around his neck, I fear he will not be the loyal soldier I need. I surrender to you, Detective Parra."
"You remember me?"
"Of course. I gave you an award last year for stopping the Angel Maker."
Riley smiled. "Well. Maybe someone else will give me an award for this. Dominic Leary, you're under arrest for the murder of Lisa Kennedy, and a whole host of other charges we'll sort out at the station. But mainly... this is for Lisa. Put your hands behind your back, sir."
"I thought we could do this without all that."
Riley shrugged. "Lisa Kennedy's family expected to get justice five years ago. We all have disappointments we have to live with."
#
Gillian looked up when Riley darkened her doorway. She smiled and put down her pen. "Go in to work for a few hours. Just following up on an old case."
Riley shrugged and slumped against the doorframe. "You know me. If you're going to spend a day at work, make it count."
"How was your afternoon?"
"Unsettled. I kept bouncing from one interrogation room to the next to the next. Mayor Leary, Rollie Daniels, Ian Dawson, all of them telling different parts of the same story. We've managed to put most of it together. Mayor Leary likes strippers, and he liked Lisa more than the rest. She propositioned him and decided having a kid would put her on easy street. After she got pregnant and asked for money, Rollie Daniels explained why blackmail was a very, very bad idea. After she had the baby and gave it up to Daniels, he kept hanging around and watching her. She realized she was a loose end. Daniels told the mayor she was getting scared enough to start talking, so the mayor gave the okay to get her out of the picture."
"Where'd the baby go?"
"A woman on the mayor's staff had a baby who was stillborn. The timing wasn't exactly right, but it was close enough."
Gillian looked away. "The baby happened to be stillborn at a convenient time?"
"If the baby was born alive, they would have just added a second one and said they were fraternal twins. At least that's what I'll be telling myself to get to sleep tonight."
"Will you whisper it to me, too?"
"Depends. Where will you be?"
Gillian leaned back in her chair, momentarily cradling her side. "Oh, I'm sure I can find a woman willing to let me share her bed."
Riley sat on the edge of Gillian's desk. "Did you like me?"
"When? Just now?"
"No. When we first met. When I was working with Kara and I had... problems."
Gillian shrugged. "I only knew you from the morgue. You were lively enough that I guess I didn't mind the company. Why?"
"A lot of old memories came flooding back today. I drank too much, I slept around, I was rude and short-tempered."
"You were that way when we started sleeping together, too."
Riley frowned. "No. By then, I was..."
Gillian was shaking her head. "You drank a lot when we started dating, Riley. You were rude. You got angry over the smallest things. You would brood and sit quietly in my living room and it was torture getting you to say two words about your day. But I could tell that wasn't the real you. When I came back from Georgia, you had relaxed. I knew that I could be good for you, and that you could be good for me."
"So if not for you, I'd be that same hothead." Riley considered that as she toyed with her wedding ring. "I really didn't like her, Jill."
"You just didn't see her potential." She took Riley's hand, kissed the palm, and brushed the knuckles against her cheek. "She's matured into quite a fine lady."
"Lady?" She twisted and looked at the desk. "What kind of pain meds do they have you on?"
Gillian laughed. "Help me up. Take me home. Make gentle love to me."
Riley took Gillian's hand and helped her out of the chair. She might not exactly be a lady, but she had certainly learned how to follow orders.
#
Riley held up the newspaper as she joined Gillian in the kitchen. "MAYOR LEARY ARRESTED. Faces Murder, Conspiracy Charges." She dropped the paper on the table and went to refill her orange juice.
Gillian smiled. "It's always nice when my wife makes the news."
"I'm a very small part of the story. Footnote, practically."
Gillian picked up the paper and focused on the newspaper. "Who is that standing behind Mayor Leary as he's led out of the building? Why, I think I know that hand. I think that hand was inside of me twenty minutes ago."
Riley bent down to kiss the top of Gillian's head. "That was my right hand. My left hand is on his shoulder."
"Oh. My mistake." She put the paper down and sipped her coffee. "How is Priest?"
"Still reeling a little bit from the whole Sariel thing. She won't say what happened, but I can tell it was something big. Sariel's not exactly the type to make a subtle point."
"Hm."
"I'll talk to her today." Her phone buzz and she checked the display. The text was from dispatch and showed an address where a call had gone out for Homicide to step in. "And someone died last night. Do you want me to wait and drive you in?"
"No, that's okay. I won't be in the field today, so you'll get to play with one of my assistants."
"Oh, joy," Riley muttered. She kissed Gillian goodbye and took her jacket off the hook as she left the room. She called Priest as she headed downstairs.
Fifteen minutes later, she parked with the nose of her car in front of a strip of yellow crime scene tape. "Do Not Cross tape. Now there's a recession-proof business," Riley said. "How much crime scene tape have I ducked under? Miles and miles of it. Guys must be making billions."
Priest's smile was wan and Riley dropped it. She'd been trying to get something out of her the entire drive, and even a weak smile was better than sullen silence.
The first officers on the scene were standing in the middle of the alley facing a body on the far side of a dumpster. As Riley approached, she had a sudden, chilling premonition that she was about to see Annie Irving's body sprawled on the ground. She braced herself and nodded a greeting to the nearest officer. He moved to meet her halfway. When their paths crossed, he turned and started walking with her.
"What do we have here, Officer?"
"No ID, no trauma, no markings. Looks like she just sat down and went to sleep. Fully dressed, no wallet... could have been a robbery or could be she just wasn't carrying one."
"Did you check her shoe?"
"Pardon?"
"Never mind." She stepped around the dumpster expecting to see Annie, but the dead woman's identity hit her like a slap in the face. She recoiled and twisted to see Priest was almost on her. "Cait. Stay back."
Priest stopped. "What's wrong?"
"You recognize her, Detective?"
Riley looked again. "Yeah. I, uh..." She wiped her hand over her face. "Officer, could you and your partner start canvassing? Find out if anyone heard or saw anything in this alley."
"Yes, ma'am." He eyed her for a second before he gestured for his partner to lead the way. Riley stepped back from the corpse and faced Priest.
"Riley, you're frightening me. Who is it?"
"Sariel."
Priest blinked, pushed Riley out of the way, and stepped around the dumpster to see for herself. Sariel was barefoot, but otherwise dressed for work. Her hands were limp in her lap, palms turned up and fingers loosely curled around nothing. Her chin was down against her chest and Priest could see that her eyes were closed. She touched the former angel's cheek and then rubbed her thumb against the tips of her first two fingers.
"It's like wax. Not even cold or warm, just... there."
Riley cleared her throat. "Didn't you, ah, didn't you say angels create a shell and then just leave them behind when they... leave?"
"Yes." Priest's voice was flat. "Sariel is gone. This is Sara Elmore."
"Did she say anything about--"
"Not a word." Priest stood and looked down at the body. "Why would she do this?"
Riley massaged her neck where it met her shoulder. She turned and watched the Medical Examiner's van pull up behind her car. One of Gillian's assistant MEs get out of the cab and go to retrieve the body bag. "You said that yesterday she coerced you into admitting you were more human than angel. In the time she's been here, she's been following in your footsteps. She took on a mortal identity, she got a job, she's... she started a sexual relationship. Maybe she was afraid of going down the same road you did. Maybe she made such a big deal about your humanity because she saw it happening to herself."
"Maybe." Priest looked in the direction the policemen had gone. "We can't list her as a Jane Doe. We'll have to identify her as Sara Elmore in the official report."
"Great. Two reporters who wrote the same column end up dead in the space of a year, and I'm standing over both bodies. People are going to talk."
Priest actually smiled. "Yeah. They'll wonder why you're not targeting the food critic." Riley stared at her with wide eyes and Priest's smile wavered. "I'm sorry. That was in terribly poor taste..."
"It was gallows humor. It was a very cop thing to say, Cait. You're getting more human every day." She paused as they looked down at Sariel's discarded form. "I meant that as a compliment."
"I know," Priest said quietly. "I take it as one."
Riley patted her on the shoulder and nodded toward the ME that was coming toward them. The fallout of "Sara Elmore's" death was going to be at least as hectic as her arrest of the mayor, but Riley had little doubt she would be able to handle it. With Gillian at her side, and Priest at her back, she was confident she could take on whatever the demons threw at her.