“If you question her, you will get the answers you need, and learn that Dimitri had nothing to do with the death,” Nin told them. “She was the one to modify the door knocker. Search in the basement. You will see that she has tools that she used.”
“We will question the baker and search in the basement,” the officers mumbled in unison, their eyes still glazed.
“That’s a little creepy,” Liam whispered to my mom.
“You get used to it,” Mom surprised me by saying.
“You will leave now and not return to this structure.” Zav lifted a hand, and the bracelet that I’d suspected allowed one of the detectives to sense this place floated off his wrist. It plopped down into someone’s coffee mug.
The two policemen marched toward the door with the stiffness of robots, Zav stepping aside so they could exit. Their stiff gaits continued as they walked down the street to their car, got in, and drove off.
“Thank you.” Dimitri slumped in relief, then lifted his hands. “But, uhm, they forgot to unlock these. Do you think you can…?”
Zav incinerated the handcuffs with a puff of smoke. Impressive since they were made of metal. I would have guessed metal had to be melted instead of incinerated, but dragon magic was amazing.
“Thank you,” Dimitri repeated, though he winced as he rubbed his wrists, which were perhaps now lacking in arm hair. “I owe you a big favor. Is there anything I can make for you? Or do for the wedding?” He looked at Zav and me.
I started to say no, but a familiar voice spoke from the doorway. “He needs a bachelor party.”
Willard stood there and smirked when I looked over at her.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, though I could guess.
From Mom’s house, I’d texted Willard to let her know I was back, the thief was dead, and the lich controlling the dwarven world was no more. As I’d suspected, she had asked for a thorough report for her records, and I’d made the mistake of saying I hadn’t been on assignment for her and therefore wasn’t required to write up a report. I suspected she’d come to get that report in person.
“Bachelor party?” Zav frowned. “This is the event you discussed with Xilnethgarish? With promiscuous mating?”
“No, no.” I lifted my hands. “Like I told him, it’ll be a sedate gathering of friends at the coffee shop.”
“I do not like coffee.”
“You can have sparkling mineral water.”
“That is sufficient.”
“That’s not quite the description of bachelor parties I’ve heard.” Dimitri scratched the side of his head.
“Dragons are special and need special gatherings.” I made a cutting motion with my hand, hoping he wouldn’t go into more details about bachelor parties.
“That’s a given. I guess I can figure something out.”
“It doesn’t have to be as sedate as Thorvald suggested.” Willard stepped up to my side. “Her bachelorette party won’t be sedate.”
“I was thinking I wouldn’t have one of those.” I was too old for raucous parties, wasn’t I? And what did I need male strippers for when I had a sexy dragon?
“Think again.” Willard’s eyes were still twinkling. Wedding planning sure brought out her light side. “I have ideas. I’ll tell you about them after you give me your report.”
“Won’t that be fun?” I muttered as she headed to a table.
Zav touched my arm and pointed to Dimitri. “What role does he play?”
“What?”
“You said he has a role to play in our wedding.”
“Oh, he’ll probably be your best man, unless you’re able to convince a male dragon friend to do the job.” I hoped not. Everything would be confusing enough without any more non-humans playing important roles in the wedding. “Xilneth, perhaps?”
“I do not know what a best man is, but Xilnethgarish will not be it.”
“Dimitri will be tickled to know he has the job.”
Dimitri arched his eyebrows but didn’t protest, given that Zav had just saved him from being arrested.
“Hm.” Zav didn’t yet appear convinced.
“Maybe we should start with the party.” Dimitri grabbed a pen and notepad off a counter. “What kind of mineral water do you want? And do you care if other people drink? I have a feeling the party will go over better with the guests if they’re drunk. Should we invite the goblins?”
“I’ll leave you two to figure out the details.” I patted Zav on the shoulder and headed over to join Willard.
Before I reached her table, my phone rang.
“Hey, Amber. Everything okay?”
“You didn’t show up for the second dress fitting.”
“Uh, was that yesterday?” I didn’t know what day it was or how long I’d been on the dwarven world. The days and nights there had been long.
“It was. There’s a twenty-dollar charge if you miss your appointments. Do you need me to take you down there personally?”
“That’s not necessary.” I imagined Amber riding her bike all the way down here to get me. “I won’t need to leave Earth to battle liches and retrieve my sword from dwarven thieves again anytime soon. I hope.”
“I don’t think that excuse is going to save you from the no-show fee.”
“No? Should I say I was sick?”
“You should have called. Before leaving the planet. I can’t believe I have to tell you these things.”
“I was sucked through an interstellar portal with no time to make phone calls before I left. Will that get me out of the no-show fee?”
“Ugh, Val. I’ll pay the twenty dollars if you don’t say any of that stuff to the bridal people.”
“Deal.” I set my hand on the back of a chair at Willard’s table and casually asked, “How are things going at school?”
“Fine.”
“Any decoy-boyfriend news?”
“I gotta go.” Amber hung up.
Willard raised her eyebrows as I lowered the phone.
“Amber is opening up to me more these days.”
“It sounded like she was lecturing you.”
“That’s how she opens up.”
“Being a parent must be interesting,” Willard said.
“So my mother tells me.” I slid into the seat to give an oral report—hopefully, that would suffice—to Willard.
While I spoke, Gondo and several of his goblin buddies came in. They joined Dimitri and Zav, with Gondo jumping up and down and pointing at Dimitri’s notepad as he spewed what might be ideas for the bachelor party.
“I think my second wedding is going to be a lot different from my first,” I observed.
“You’re just now realizing that?” Willard asked.
“I realize it anew every day.”
“I was hoping to make it proper and respectable for you. Now, after speaking with Zav several times, I’m just hoping we can avoid goblins, ogres, and dragons burning down the city.”
“That seems like a good goal to have.”
“Hopefully, not a naively ambitious one.”
“We’ll find out.”