Ignoring him, I nudged Shadi. “Hey, do you still have that picture of Dionysus the mayor gave us?” She shuffled through a folder and handed it over. Staring down at the image, I realized with a start that if Dionysus had on a mask he’d look a hell of a lot like the satyr from the square.
And then there were the eyes. In the mayor’s picture they were heavy-lidded and issuing a challenge. When I’d seen him in the square I remembered a glint of something off in the two eyes looking at me from behind the mask. “Shit, Morales,” I breathed, “it was totally him.” I looked up, my eyes wide and my stomach tight. “He was right there in front of me.”
Shadi’s eyes widened and she took the image from me. Morales’s chair creaked. Two seconds later he was taking the picture from Shadi. “Well fuck me,” he said, “I thought this asshole looked familiar when the mayor showed it to us, but I figured I was just remembering some perp I’d arrested.” He glanced up. Whatever he saw in my face made his expression soften. “Whatever you’re thinking, stop it. We both let him go.”
I knew he was right. Unlike the gypsy who’d taunted me that day, I didn’t claim to have the gift of prophecy. But damned if it wouldn’t have been a really fucking handy skill. “Regardless, it’s clear we need to revisit everything that happened that day—” I froze, the events of the rest of the day coming back to me. I grabbed Shadi’s folder. “The god of wine,” I whispered. “Morales, what was it that leprechaun prick said right before we took him to the precinct?”
My partner looked up, his eyes narrowing as he tried to recall. “Something about the devil fucking your neck?”
“What?” Shadi asked.
I waved a hand and grimaced. “No, after that. He warned us about the Blue Moon, right?”
“So?” he said.
“So, don’t you find it odd that two minutes after we saw Dionysus in the square, a fucking leprechaun hexes two cops and then starts spouting bullshit about the Blue Moon?”
“Not especially.” He crossed his arms. “No offense, Cupcake, but I think you’re reaching. The moons are making people do all sorts of crazy bullshit right now.”
“Hold up,” I said, ignoring his doubt. “Shit, Morales, that tattoo.”
Something shifted in my head, like the tumblers of a lock clicking into place before the safe opened to reveal its secrets. My eyes met his and I could see the memory spring up behind his eyes, too, and then quickly shutter.
“In Vino Fucking Veritas,” I said.
“Someone fill me in,” Shadi said.
I turned to her. “The leprechaun we arrested at the festival had a tattoo that translated to ‘In wine, the truth.’ And the potion he hexed those cops and people with made them dance around and hump everything in sight.”
“You think the leprechaun worked for Dionysus,” she said, frowning like she was considering it. However, Morales’s expression was closed as tight as a bank vault.
“Come on, Morales. It’s worth a trip to county to talk to the little shit at least.”
His nostrils flared as he expelled a rush of air. “Even if you’re right, he’s not going to tell us crap.”
I raised my brows in challenge. “He’s a potion freak who thinks he’s a leprechaun, and he’s been locked up in county for almost a week. I’m thinking he’ll jump at the chance for a plea bargain in exchange for information on Dionysus.”
“He’s facing assault with an Arcane weapon on two cops, Kate. The DA will never go for it.”
“He doesn’t have to know that. He just has to think it’s possible.” I tugged at his shirtsleeve. “C’mon. It’s the best lead we’ve had in days.”
His lips screwed up into a martyred grimace. “I’ll do it if you buy me a burger on the way.”
I awarded him with a wide, bright smile, the kind I reserved for people who were smart enough to let me have my way. “Deal. I’ll even throw in a shake to sweeten your disposition.”
Shadi shook her head at us. “You two are a trip.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Morales asked.
“Oh, nothing.” She chuckled like she was laughing at a private joke. “Enjoy your interrogation.”
Two hours later Morales had a full belly, but his attitude hadn’t improved much. We’d been sitting in the interview room for thirty minutes already waiting for Sean O’Lachlan to grace us with his presence.
Morales slouched in the metal chair beside me. Clearly he’d decided to play “ambivalent cop,” which left me to play both good and bad. He’d made no secret of his doubts about getting intel from the leprechaun. But I figured that was just his pride talking, seeing how O’Lachlan had gotten such a rise out of him last time. Honestly, I was fine taking lead on this one. Especially since of the two of us, the leprechaun seemed to favor me, which meant I was the more likely one to get intel from him.
The door cracked and a detention officer ushered our friend inside the cramped interview room. I didn’t react to the way the guy looked, but I was cringing on the inside. The green suit was gone and replaced with a bright orange jumpsuit. The legs and sleeves were too long for his short legs and arms, so he’d had to roll them up a couple of times. But it wasn’t his ill-fitting uniform that grabbed my attention when he walked in. It was his face. Or what was left of it, anyway.
Judging from the way his right eye swelled and the large bruise on his jaw, his time inside hadn’t exactly been relaxing. Not surprising since the cells at county tended to be less civilized than some zoo pens I’d seen. Weakness of any kind was sniffed out, targeted, and exploited with vigor. “Someone take exception to your charms, Leprechaun Man?”
He launched up a middle finger to let me know what he thought of my sense of humor. “The fuck you want?”
“Sit down.” I nodded to the uni to “help” our friend comply. Once he was seated, I waved the officer off to go wait outside.
O’Lachlan watched the guy leave with a placid expression. Despite the bruises and abrasions, he had the scent of a guy who prided himself on not being a snitch. Prisons were full of these assholes. Criminals don’t follow society’s moral codes, but that doesn’t mean they have no code of conduct at all. Rule number one was no snitching, which made my job a pain in the ass sometimes. Trick was you had to find some sort of currency to use against them. Or, failing that, you had to locate their weakness and apply the screws until they broke. That part could be really fun.