CHAPTER 44
DAWN BROUGHT LAURA back
to her public-relations desk. In the last few days, the Guild work
had grown to beyond neglect. Rhys was writing in a flurry of
activity she hadn’t seen in years—memos, white papers, and
speeches—all of which had to be revised and polished. Whenever the
subject of Cress—and her species—came up, the Guildmaster found a
negative way to associate Terryn with her. Since politically he
couldn’t outright attack Draigen, smearing Terryn maintained his
image as a defender of the Seelie Court. Laura understood the logic
of it. That didn’t mean she liked it, even had her friends not been
involved.
Saffin arrived with more files flagged with her
color-coding system for order of importance. The number of blue
tags amused Laura. Blue rhymed with boo-hoo, which was Saffin’s way
of describing minor problems. Without being asked, Saffin
straightened up the paperwork on the edge of Laura’s desk. Laura
pulled the black-tagged—critical priority—and red-tagged—going
critical—folders and set them aside. The rest joined the pile of
untouched matters. She noticed the untouched stacks remained
suspiciously the same height, and suspected Saffin was handling
issues she ignored.
“You’ve been falling behind a lot lately,” Saffin
said.
“I’m being pulled in too many directions,” she
said.
Saffin continued organizing without looking up.
“You need to say no more often. You can’t be everything to
everyone.”
Startled, Laura snapped her head up. “What’s that
supposed to mean?”
With a defiant look, Saffin crossed her arms.
“Permission to speak freely?”
“Of course,” Laura said.
Without looking, Saffin flexed a leg back and
kicked the door shut. “I saw you on the news last night.”
She thought about the previous night, remembering
her movements in relation to the news crews that had shown up at
the Uma macGrath crime scene. She had stayed away from cameras.
“Saffin, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“The murder in the park. You were in the background
of a news shot. Well, Mariel was.”
Laura placed her hands on the desk, staring down at
them. “Saf, I can’t talk about that.”
Saffin waved her hand over the stacks of folders.
“I know. I’m not asking about that. What I am asking is, how can
you deal with all this and a murder investigation? That’s two
full-time jobs. Hell, this desk is more than a full-time job. The
Guildmaster uses you like his personal laptop, for Danu’s
sake.”
Laura slumped back in her chair. “It’s . . . my
life.”
Saffin tapped her index finger on the desk. “I
don’t know everything, but I do know one thing. This isn’t your
life, Laura. None of this is. Your life is what you do outside of
all this. When’s the last time you went on a date with tall and
humpy?”
She lifted her chin in timid defiance. “Night
before last.”
Saffin’s eyes sparkled as she leaned on the desk.
“Really? Where’d you go?”
“Dinner.”
Saffin pursed her lips. “And . . . ?”
“Then home.” Saffin squealed.
“Saf!”
She laughed. “Okay. Over the line. None of my
business. But if your idea of a date is standing over a dead body
and whispering, I know a good therapist.”
“There were no dead bodies.”
“I was talking about the tall guy with the hoodie
on the news standing behind you in the park last night. I thought
he was a cop, not InterSec. When did that happen? Oh, wait! Has he
been InterSec all along and went undercover as a cop? I just
thought of that.”
Dumbfounded, Laura stared. “You recognized Jono
from a simple flash on the screen?”
Saffin rolled her eyes. “Hello? I watch the news on
the Internet. I paused the shot. I couldn’t see the dead body very
well, though. She looked like she was executed, poor thing.”
“What do you mean?”
Saffin shrugged. “She was on her side, and it
looked like her arms were bound. Whoever killed her was a coward
who she trusted to get that close. If you’re going to kill someone,
at least have the decency to let them fight back.”
“She was bound. You frighten me sometimes,
Saffin.”
“Me? You’re the secret agent.”
Laura chuckled. “Not a very good one if you can
figure out my personal life from a long shot on the news.”
Saffin waved her hand dismissively. “I notice
things. You know that. Is the murder related to the assassination
attempt on Draigen macCullen? I’m pretty sure it was Brinen
macCullen squatting by the body.”
Laura put her face into her hands. “Terryn would
kill me if he heard this conversation.”
Saffin’s eyes went wide. “Really?”
Laura dropped her head back on the chair. “Any
other time, I would say I’m joking, but lately his patience has
been stretched pretty thin.”
Saffin held her hands up. “Not another word from
me. You’re the greatest boss I’ve ever had. If you think I’d
jeopardize that, you’re crazy.”
She smiled. “I am joking,
Saf. I can’t stress enough how serious we take secrecy. If Terryn
knew that you know about me, he’d . . .” She paused, thinking. “I’m
not sure what he would do.”
She thought about the corner Terryn had backed Jono
into. What would Terryn say about Saffin? She wasn’t trained in law
enforcement, physical combat, or weapons.
“Well, you have my word not to say anything. I
always look at part of my job as making you look good, boss. Is
there anything you want me to take off your hands?” Saffin
said.
Laura gazed at the paperwork on the desk. A
red-tabbed folder caught her eye, and she handed it back to Saffin.
“Can you categorize the guest list for Draigen’s reception? Resha
doesn’t think about balance, and I want to make sure that he
invited enough people from competing parties so no one will feels
isolated. I can’t get my head around it right now.”
Saffin took the folder. “Do you want me to order
lunch in?”
“No. I’ll get something myself.”
Saffin opened the door. “I’ll keep everyone out for
about an hour so you can focus.”
Laura stared out the window. She made a mental
note, the same mental note she had made before, never to
underestimate Saffin Corrill. The brownie knack for detail
impressed most people, but Saffin was special.
As she slipped papers out of a folder, she paused.
Saffin’s comment about a fair fight tickled at her. Uma macGrath
had been in the attic with Sean Carr. She escaped only to be
murdered. Silenced. She thought of the report on Sean Carr’s death.
He had been killed in self-defense according to the report. The
dead woman gave her pause, though. If she had been
silenced—murdered—maybe there was more to what had happened in that
attic than the report said.
She gathered her purse and keys and went out to
Saffin’s desk. “I have an appointment I forgot about. I don’t know
how long I’ll be. Can you cover for me?”
Saffin kept typing. “Leave your PDA on vibe.”
She paused at the door to the hallway. “And, Saf?
So you know, you’re more than the best assistant I’ve ever had. I
couldn’t have done this work all this time without you.”
Flattered, Saffin ducked her head and grinned. “And
you wonder why I put up with you.”