Chapter 3: Kind of a Bad Idea

“They must be out of their minds!” Kegan said.  “The guy’s in prison!  And he’s dangerous!”

“He’s not in prison,” I said, very slowly.  “He’s in jail.  There’s a difference.  It has to do with it being temporary versus permanent, or . . . something.  Anyway, apparently he won’t get sent to prison until his trial is finished.”

“Are you kidding me?” Kegan said incredulously.  “He tried to taint everybody in the city!  That’s practically mass-murder!  They should throw away the key!”

I agreed, but the trial had been going on forever.  Rodrigo’s lawyer was arguing that Rodrigo had not killed anyone and the government should legalize taint, and there was a nasty upswelling of people who seemed to agree with him, especially mermaids.

I’d been called upon to testify about his actions early on in the trial, including his threatening to kill me, but unfortunately, there’d been no way to prove that Loretta Vampireclanbaobhansith hadn’t misinterpreted his orders and acted on her own.  And his lawyer had been calling tons of character witnesses ever since then.  Mostly mermaids who videoconferenced in for their testimonies.

I was really, really ticked off that the guy hadn’t been convicted yet.  He was so obviously guilty, and there was no way the guy should be back out on the streets.

On the other hand, Loretta Vampireclanbaobhansith was solidly behind bars.  She’d been convicted pretty quickly, and put away with life in prison.  Given the fact that she’d attempted to murder me, and had been stealing time from lots of people without their consent, and she had been successfully convicted for the murder of Alex Basajaunclanmothman, in fact, I didn’t know why they hadn’t given her a death penalty.

I wished they had.  It seemed like such an obvious thing to do.  I mean, other than the fact that she clearly deserved it, there was the fact that she had to suck time from humans to survive during the full moon.  Apparently they’d been having her spend time with death row inmates during the full moon, with the very strict rule that if any of them died before their execution date, she would be held responsible and convicted of their murder and put on death row, too, because they had to die at only the scheduled time and in the scheduled way because of due process or whatever . . . but seriously.

She was a murderer.  She was a baobhan sith who stole people’s time.  There was no good reason to keep her alive.

“They’re totally stupid,” Kegan told me.  “How can the police think it’s a good idea for you to talk to Rodrigo?  He’d probably use you to escape, or something!”

“No . . .” I said slowly.  “I don’t think there’s any way he could use me to escape.  Anyway, I think he’s trying to win the court case, not get out of it.”

Rodrigo smiled way too much when I watched bits of the trial on TV.  He seemed to think he had a pretty good shot of using the trial to get exactly what he’d wanted in the first place: the legalization of taint.

“I’m going to go,” I decided.  “If there’s anything I can do to help, I’m going to.  I want that guy locked up forever.”

“Are you sure you’ll be safe?” Kegan asked anxiously.  “It’s probably a trap.”

“Maybe it is, and it’s a trap for Rodrigo,” I said.

“You could still get hurt if you’re the bait!”

I shrugged.  “Well, if that happened, that would destroy Rodrigo’s credibility at the trial.”

“So what?” Kegan argued.  “You’d still be hurt!  Or killed!”

“That’s my point,” I said.  “Rodrigo wants to look good right now.  He has a reason to not want to hurt me.”

“It’s still kind of a bad idea.”

“I’m going to do it,” I said definitely.  I tugged off one of the fingerless gloves I’d been trying on, and then the other.  “In fact, I’m going to do it right now.”

Kegan gaped at me.  “Right now?”

“Sure,” I said.  “If it’ll help, it’s better to do it right away.”  I didn’t add that I also didn’t want to give myself time to chicken out.  “You coming with me?”

“Of course I’m coming with you,” Kegan grumbled.  “Do we have time for me to finish trying these on and buy them if I like them?”

“Take as long as you want,” I said grandly.  “Oh, and don’t tell my parents I’m going to the police station to talk to Rodrigo.”

“Do I look like a tattletale?” Kegan snorted.  She stomped back to the dressing room and went right through the door instead of bothering to open it.

No, you look like a vampire, I thought.  I wished she would wear normal clothing once in awhile.

We arrived at the police station half an hour later.  Well, actually, it was more like fifty minutes later, because Kegan had taken twenty minutes trying on the rest of her stack of clothes and then buying the corset and a pair of boots that had laces made out of braided hair.

Horsehair, apparently.  But still.  Hair.

“Thank you for coming in,” one of the police officers said when he saw me.  He was a kappa, but I didn’t remember his name.  Fortunately, since I remembered his clan, that was enough to not make it obvious.

“You’re welcome, Officer Loreleiclankappa,” I said.

“Please, just call me Jon,” he said.

Well, so much for that.

“We didn’t expect you to come in so soon,” he said.  “We can have someone escort you to the jail.  Do you have your parents’ permission to be here?”

Er . . .

“Do I need it?” I asked.

“I’ll get you the forms,” he said.

Darn it.

“I guess you’d better call your dad after all,” Kegan said.

“Hang on.”  I waved my hands.  “My parents signed all sorts of stuff before.  Isn’t that enough to count for this, too?”

“I’ll check,” the kappa said.

We settled down to wait in the chairs.  I swung my legs back and forth impatiently.

“Is there a reason you don’t want your parents to know you came here?” Kegan asked.

“Yeah.  I don’t want them to tell me not to,” I snorted.

“Can I tell you not to?” Kegan asked.

“Won’t work.  I just don’t want to start a fight with my parents.  It might make it harder to go to New Yeti City with you.”

“Good reason,” Kegan admitted.

The kappa came back and said that Rodrigo’s lawyer had been notified, and that we would be meeting with him at the jail.  “There will be several guards there to make sure you stay unharmed, too, including a haltija, a vetter, and a troll,” he assured me.

“Oh, good,” I said.  I hated to admit it, but I’d been starting to get just a teensy bit nervous.  I mean, the last time I’d seen Rodrigo, I’d testified against him in a courtroom.  And the time before that, he had been trying to kill me.  The guy probably didn’t like me very much.

“Ummm, if I may ask . . . why me?” I asked.  “Why do you want me to talk to him?”

“He asked to talk to you,” the kappa police officer said.  “He said there was some information we’d want to know that he would only tell to you.”

My stomach knotted.

“Trap,” Kegan said.

I breathed in deeply, then let it out slowly.  “Okay, yeah.  But they’ll have guards there.  What harm can he really do?”

“Lots,” Kegan said darkly.

I tried to ignore that as I followed a different police officer out to a car.  Having to leave Kegan behind only made me more nervous.

Was I making a mistake?  Was it a bad idea to do this?

But I really, really wanted to get that jerkface thrown in prison for the rest of his days.

When we got to the jail, Rodrigo’s lawyer was already waiting for us.  I eyed the nicely-dressed aswang man suspiciously.

Did Rodrigo’s boss send him?  Is he in on the whole thing?

I knew I shouldn’t judge all aswangs based on Rodrigo, and it would be a bad thing to be suspicious of an entire species based on one person being evil . . . but then again, all aswangs could theoretically do the same thing he could, and control taint.  That meant any aswang could be in league with the whole plan.  There could be an enormous conspiracy.  Every aswang in the entire country could be in on it.  It was theoretically possible!

Don’t be paranoid, I told myself.  Do you really think your second grade teacher was part of this?  Miss Vampireclanaswang had been my favorite teacher in elementary school.

Still, this lawyer aswang could definitely be in on everything.  There was no doubt that he had everything to gain if taint was made legal and aswangs became significantly more powerful because of it.

We were escorted through several locked doors, given badges with our names and pictures on them, and allowed to go into a conference room.  The three guards I’d been promised were already waiting there, along with two more.  It was going to be a tight squeeze.  The haltija considerately went insubstantial and stood partially through the locked door, in order to make more space for the rest of us.

Rodrigo was brought in a few minutes later.  He seemed uncomfortable when he was walked through the haltija, who continued standing right in the middle of the open doorway without moving, but as soon as Rodrigo saw me, his face split into a broad smile.

“Lisette.”

“Rodrigo,” I said coldly.

“I’ve been hoping to see you,” he said pleasantly.

“Why?” I demanded.

“Well, like I told the police, I have a piece of information to share with you.  Something I only want to give to you.”

“I’m not going to ask the guards to leave,” I snapped.

He laughed.  “That’s fine.  You can tell whoever you want, too.”

“Good, ’cause I will.”

“Okay, then let’s get right to it, shall we?”  He smiled.  “I can tell you where another tainted turning stone is.”

“There are dozens of them.  All across the country.  Thanks to you.”

“Ah, but this one is different.  You’ll be able to see the difference.  This one’s . . . special.”

“How?” I asked warily.

He laughed.  “Now, I can’t give everything away!  But I’ll tell you where it is.”

“It’s a trap,” I said flatly.

“No, it isn’t.”

I snorted.

“Do you want to know where it is?”

I shrugged.

He sat back and smiled.  “I’ll draw its exact location on a map.  Just as long as you’re here to see it.”

“Why me?” I demanded.

“Because you’re the only person in the entire world who can untaint turning stones.”

“Yeah!  Which is why you tried to kill me!”

“Allegedly,” he said teasingly.

I glared daggers at him.

“Bring me a map,” he said.  “I’ll mark its exact location for you.”

I looked over at the guards.  They said nothing.  I gave them a pleading look, as if to ask, What should I do?  One of them shrugged.

Well . . . what harm could it do to know where it is? I thought finally.  It’s definitely some kind of trap, but we could just, like, not go if it’s seriously suspicious.

“Okay, get a map,” I said.

One of the guards talked through a walkie-talkie, and a map of the country was brought.  I never saw the person who brought it.  The haltija just reached through the door and took it from that person and then walked over and set it on the table next to Rodrigo.  He then added a felt-tip marker.

I wondered if the marker was because it wasn’t sharp-tipped, unlike a pencil or pen.  If so, I wished they had brought a crayon instead.  It would have been even less dignified for Rodrigo.

But Rodrigo didn’t seem to notice or mind.  He just picked up the red marker, uncapped it, and calmly poked a dot in the countryside of New Yeti state.

“There,” he said.

“That’s only about two hours away from New Yeti City!” I cried.  “I’m going to be in the area next week!”

At which point I realized how stupid I’d been to tell him that.

Rodrigo laughed.  “I figured you’d go there sooner or later.  It’s the only werevulture clan in existence.”

I glared at him.  “That doesn’t mean I’m going to fall into your trap.”

“It’s not a trap,” he said.  “Merely an invitation.  You might even call it an opportunity.”

“Ha!” I said.

But I fixed the point of the red dot in my mind anyway.  If nothing else, I should tell the New Yeti City police it existed.