No Quest For The Wicked

I took a tissue out of my purse and handed it to him, then patted him on the shoulder. “It’s okay,” I told him. “Everything will be okay. Maybe it’ll make you feel better to tell me about her.”

He blew his nose into the tissue. “I don’t know what I’ll do without her.”

“Surely she hasn’t gone forever. You’ll see her soon.”

“She won’t need me now. She has it. She can have anything she wants.”

“I doubt that’s true. Look at you, what woman wouldn’t want someone like you?” Well, what gold digger wouldn’t, but I was too nice to say that.

A tiny glimmer of hope shone in his eyes. “You think so?”

“Of course. I could even talk to her for you. Just tell me how I can find her.” Really, all I needed was her name, but since I was acting like I knew her to get him to talk to me, I could hardly come right out and ask it.

“She has some thing tonight—one of her projects. That’s why we had to celebrate her birthday at lunch.”

Now we were getting somewhere. “What thing? She has so many projects, you know.” I gave a little laugh, like I was well aware of the mystery woman’s foibles.

“A gala. I’m not going. She said it was far too late for me to be out. Past my bedtime. My Sweetie-pie looks after my health, you know.”

I tried not to wince. It sounded like the poor man needed an intervention. The woman must have been using his money to gain a social position for herself while cutting him out of society. “That’s very considerate of her,” I said halfheartedly. “You don’t know where the gala will be or what it’s about?”

“Sweetie-pie said I shouldn’t worry myself.”

But what is Sweetie-pie’s name? I wanted to shout, but I suspected that yelling at him would only make him cry. Surely it wouldn’t be too hard to track down a billionaire’s fiancée who was involved in a gala happening that night. I thought I’d try one last line of questioning where he might be more helpful. “When she took it away, was it in a box?”

“It was in a jewelry case lined with dark velvet.” His eyes went unfocused as he added, “It was so beautiful nestled in that little box, the gold and the sapphire against the velvet. I never should have given it to her. It should have been mine.” He broke down in sobs again.

There was a surge of magic from across the room, followed by a series of thuds, and I looked up to see the people I assumed were wizards slumping to the floor. The elves had just lost their distraction, which meant it was time to get away from Martin before the elves noticed me with him.

I gave Mr. Martin one more pat on the shoulder before standing up. He tried to hand me the tissue I’d given him, but I smiled and said, “You can keep it.”

“Thank you so much,” he sobbed.

“And you should probably see a doctor about those scratches on your face. You don’t want those getting infected.”

He clutched my hand. “You’re so kind to care.”

Feeling guilty about leaving him, I hurried back across the room to stand at Owen’s side as Lyle Redvers, the elf from the jewelry store, said, “Palmer, I’m sure you didn’t come here just to interrupt our search.”

“Actually, I heard they serve a good lunch here.”

“I know what you’re after, Palmer.”

“Yes, I realized that when you gave us the slip at Tiffany’s, but we’re both too late. It’s not here.”

“How do you know? I thought you lost the magic.”

Owen gestured at the lingering madness. “Does this look like anyone’s in possession of the Eye?”

I folded my arms defiantly across my chest and said, “Yeah, face it, Elvis has left the building.”

“Did you let it go?” Owen asked.

“‘Let’ is not the word I would use,” Lyle said with a haughty sniff. “I sensed its presence here, but I believe it had already gone before we arrived.”

“Serves you right for tearing out of the jewelry store and trying to cut us out of things,” I said.

“You would have done better?” Lyle asked, arching a slanted eyebrow.

“We don’t have magic, and yet, we’re here,” Owen said. “This would probably work better if we cooperated. We have information on the owner, and we have people who are immune to the effects of the Eye. You can sense the Knot and use magic to help obtain it.”

“What do you plan to do with the Eye?” another elf demanded.