Yes, as of this moment, that’s the new plan, I’m not lying.
Chloe’s smile faded several notches. “The coroner and his staff are currently swamped with the oni dead from yesterday. They’ve set up a mass grave beyond the Rim. I doubt if you can get the bodies officially released tonight.”
That would explain why the morgue was so empty.
“I don’t need to have them officially released.” Tinker waved that aside; she was domi after all. “I just need someone that can burn the bodies. Tonight.”
Get rid of the evidence. Good plan. Who would know about cremation? Lain would.
Lain answered on the first ring with worry in her voice. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll have to get back to you on that.” It was not a good sign that apparently both Esme and Lain were seeing bad things in store for Tinker. “When you had my grandfather cremated, who did you call?”
“McDermott’s in McKees Rocks.” Lain didn’t ask why; she simply supplied the phone number. Did she already know or did she just stop asking awkward questions when Tinker descended on her with weirdness? “When you see my sister, bring her to me.”
Tinker sighed.
“Ladybug.” Lain used the “you will obey” tone.
“Okay, I will.”
Chloe’s smile vanished completely as Tinker dialed McDermott’s. “You — you can’t just take them.”
“Yes, I can. The coroner’s office has no jurisdiction over elves — dead or alive.” A man picked up the line, identifying himself as Allen McDermott. “Yes, this is Tinker ze domi, head of the Wind Clan. Can you come to the morgue? I have three bodies that need to be cremated.”
Tinker hung up before the annoying questions on authorizations could start.
Chloe reached into her suit pocket and pulled out her eyepiece. “This is a clear abuse of power. You can’t just walk—”
Chloe froze, her eyes going wide as Esme suddenly stepped out of the shadows with a gun leveled at the reporter.
“I don’t know who you are, although you look very familiar. .” Esme trailed off, cocking her head.
“You’ve probably seen me on television.” Chloe held up her eyepiece as explanation. “Pittsburgh only has three TV stations.”
“Put it away,” Esme growled. “And stay away from my kid.”
“You have a child?” Chloe paled.
“Alexander Graham Bell is my—”
“Daughter,” Tinker said to cut off any confusion, since she was fairly sure Chloe — if not all of Pittsburgh — knew her real name by now.
“Daughter?” Esme glanced sharply at Tinker.
“You’re Captain Shenske’s daughter?” Chloe gave Tinker a horrified look.
“Yes, I’m her daughter.” Tinker stayed focused on Chloe, not wanting to see how her mother took the news. Why, though, was it so upsetting to Chloe? It wasn’t like she was suddenly getting a daughter dumped in her lap.
“Fine. I’ll stay away from her.” Chloe backed out the door.
Tinker really wanted to bolt out of the room on Chloe’s heels instead of turning around and facing Esme.
She made Lain lie to me. She drove me nearly insane.
With that smoldering anger stoked back to a flame, Tinker turned back to Esme.
Esme was giving her a befuddled look, as if Tinker’s words had sunk in but hadn’t made any sense. “Wait! What?”
“I’m Alexander Graham Bell.” Tinker pointed to herself. “I’m your daughter.”
“Scarecrow?” Esme said faintly.
“Daughter,” Tinker said. “As in: not a boy.”
Esme shook her head. “But — but — you’re an elf!”
“Well, that’s a little more complicated to explain,” Tinker allowed.
Explanation had to wait, though, as city officials descended on them, responding to anonymous phone calls about “someone stealing bodies from the morgue.” Chloe must have started calling in strike forces before she even left the building. The police showed up first, followed by the deputy mayor and three city council members for reasons that Tinker couldn’t fathom except maybe that they were pigheaded enough to argue with Tinker. Someone made the mistake of contacting Maynard, who was out with Prince True Flame, which led to the Wyverns getting involved.
The sudden incoming wave of red made Tinker’s heart hammer in her chest. If the Wyverns found the DNA swipes, things could go ugly quickly. She casually swung her messenger bag with the swipes back behind her so it was hidden from view.
“I will deal with them, domi,” Pony murmured.
That was what she was afraid of: he would only tell them the truth. Her fear must have shown on her face as he gave her a slight smile.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “You have taught me that truth is a weapon to wield carefully.”
She had? That made her feel weirdly guilty. Pony embodied a hundred years of perfection: corrupted by her in one hectic summer. She nodded, trusting him.
Signing to Cloudwalker to take his place as Shield, Pony intercepted the incoming Wyverns. Their conversation was in machine-gun High Elvish, rattling out faster than Tinker could follow. She focused on keeping the undertaker from McDermott’s from leaving empty-handed.
“The coroner would tell you — if he were here — that he doesn’t have any jurisdiction over elves — alive or dead.” Tinker stood firm on her strongest argument, then pushed on to points she wasn’t as sure about. “I’m the Vicereine of the Westernlands.” At least that’s what people kept telling her. “That means I do have jurisdiction over all elves — not just the Wind Clan.” As far as she could tell, that’s what it meant. She was going with that until someone told her otherwise. “These children have suffered enough. It’s time they are decently put to rest.”
“The elves have their laws,” the councilwoman said. “And we have our own laws and procedures. We’re tired of having your people walk all over our rules. This is still our city.”
Her people? Had they forgotten she was a Pittsburgh-born human until Mid-Summer’s Eve? And this wasn’t about who owned the city but basic decency. “Do you have any kids?”
“Yes, a little boy.”
“If your boy died outside the city, on Elfhome, you’ll be happy with letting the elves do whatever they want to his dead body? Let it lay out where the animals could eat him? Stuff and mount him?”
The woman gasped with outrage. “They wouldn’t dare—”
“That’s what you’re doing to their children! Locking those kids up in boxes is an abomination on the level of having your boy taxidermied.”
“Waiting until tomorrow morning will not make any differ—”
Tinker hadn’t noticed that the Wyverns had left the room until they came sweeping back in from the morgue. They projected extremely pissed off, which was good, because they were talking High Elvish full tilt; she suspected none of the humans were following. Unfortunately, they were aiming their conversation at her.
“Forgiveness, I don’t understand.” Tinker looked to Pony for help.
“They demand that you have the children given to the sky immediately.”
Tinker turned to the humans, who thankfully spoke enough Elvish to understand Pony. “Okay, are you going to do what I asked or do you want to tell the Wyverns that they need to wait until tomorrow?”
Luckily none of them were totally stupid as well as pigheaded.
Remembering her promise to Lain, Tinker dragged Esme along on the impromptu procession to the funeral home. Her mother hadn’t said anything during the entire three-ring circus; she only watched Tinker in unnerving silence. The silent treatment continued even once they were safely isolated in the Rolls-Royce. Tinker figured that Esme was angry that Tinker hadn’t explained their connection the first time they met.