Last time…
A group of Niall Byrn’s men were slaughtered, and he wants Owan and Roe to find out who is responsible.
We didn’t talk on the ride home, but as soon as Niall’s car pulled away from the curb, Roe looked at me and said quietly, “It’s a kelpie.”
“Big fangs, hooves, sticky skin?” I started walking. “Sure sounds like a kelpie to me.”
“Where are you going?” Roe asked, catching up with me.
“Home. I need sleep. And so do you.”
“So you don’t want to see what I found?”
I stopped. Roe kept walking and smiled coyly at me over her shoulder.
“It’s all right, I understand. You’re probably so tired…”
I had been, until she’d said that. I caught up with her and nudged her with my elbow. “Okay, okay. Spill the beans, bearcat.”
Roe laughed and produced a ring from her pocket.
I picked it up and examined it in the glare of a streetlight. It had the weightiness of real gold to it. The band was simple, unadorned on the outside. The inside had a few faint markings, but the streetlight wasn’t nearly bright enough for me to make them out in detail.
“What do you think?” I asked Roe.
“Well, it’s not a relic.”
I nearly fumbled the ring and looked at her. Roe grinned up at me mischievously.
“”What?” she said, all innocence. “I wouldn’t have let you touch it with your bare skin if it was a relic.”
“Still.” I handed the ring back to her. “I’m so glad you waited until I was holding it to announce that.” I waited a beat, then added, “Doll.”
Roe’s eyes flashed a vivid blue. “Careful, Owan,” she said. “A guy could get into trouble that way.”
I grinned at her. It was probably hazardous to my health, but damn if I didn’t like seein’ her eyes flash and her spine stiffen. The little Missouri bearcat had a spunk to her that was beautiful to behold.
Roe rolled her eyes and pocketed the ring. “Did you see the maker’s mark on it?”
I nodded.
She rubbed her hands together. “I’ll get on that.”
“Tomorrow,” I stressed.
“Yes, yes, yes. Tomorrow.” We arrived at the corner of Roe’s street, and she turned toward her apartment building. I waited at the corner until she disappeared into the front door, then turned and headed towards my own apartment several blocks away.
###
The next morning, after making a few phone calls to some people Roe knew, we walked into Medford & Sons, a nice little jewelry shop just off Broadway, with black paint on the door and gold lettering on the sign. Inside, the tiled floor was swept clean, and the display cases sparkled nearly as much as their contents.
"Hello, may I help you?" The man behind the counter called.
I gave him a quick once-over. He was on the shorter side, with pointed ears, slightly bigger than a fae's, and his eyes were wide and round, the color of the irises nearly filling them completely. A clurichaun. To be honest I shouldn't have been surprised--as long as it involved gold or wine, clurichauns were sure to be involved.
His eyes met mine, then skittered away. He did the same thing to Roe, then fidgeted with his collar. Nervous, fussy--judging by the way his eyes had lingered on the cuffs and collars of my well-worn coat, he probably already knew we weren't here to buy.
He adjusted his cufflinks and cleared his throat. "Is there something I can help you, em, find, perhaps? A simple gold locket, perhaps?"
Yeah, just like I figured. I dug into my pocket and extended the ring over the counter. "No, but if you could tell us who this belongs to, I'd be pleased as punch."
"I'm not a pawn shop," he blustered.
Roe grinned at him. "Right, you're not, and we know that. But it would sure be nice if you could help us locate the owner of this ring." She let a tiny hint of southern drawl drip into her words.
The clurichaun straightened his cuff links again, eyes widening slightly as he took Roe in. He smiled broadly, then slipped on a pair of white gloves and took the ring from me. He produced a loupe from somewhere on his person and screwed it into his eye.
At this point I had to fight not to roll my eyes. If he thought he would get Roe to buy somethin’ by wheedlin’ up to her, he was dead wrong. I turned and leaned against the counter, watching the door of the place as people strolled past the huge open windows. Why did jewelry shops always have such big windows? It was practically inviting the crooks to come visit some night.
I was about to say that I was gonna go down to the diner at the street corner and get myself a cup of coffee rather than wait in the jewelry shop any longer when the clurichaun cleared his throat, a fussy little hem-hem noise I'd never heard the like before in my life.
I glanced over my shoulder but decided to let Roe take point on this one.
Roe smiled encouragingly at him. "Did you find something?"
"Well. Yes. As a matter of fact." The clurichaun reached under the counter and pulled out a ledger, then flopped it open on the counter. Somehow, he'd opened it nearly to the right spot--he only had to turn on page and give a quick glance over the page before stabbing an entry. "Yes. This is it. About six months ago, a young couple came in and bought a matching set. They came in together the first time and then he picked it up on his own a few weeks later."
He looked up at Roe and his cheeks bunched into a smile. "See?" He used his pinky finger to point to the inside of the ring. "Just opposite my marker's mark, there--they didn't want anything fancy, bless them, but those are their initials intertwined there, in the shape of a horseshoe--the young man was raised on a horse farm, I suppose, horses were rather important to them. She was wearing a horseshoe-shaped necklace too. Very pretty." He placed the ring back down on the counter.
Roe and I exchanged a look. I didn't say it, but half of me was sure we'd found the right people. The other half of me thought that that many horseshoes was a bit on the nose.
"Where did you say you found this?" the clurichaun asked.
I glanced over at him. The squinty-eyed peepers he aimed at me told me immediately that he was suspicious. A bit late in the game, buster. I reached across to pick up the ring, but he was quicker and slid it closer to him.
"Look, pal," I said, trying to keep my tone friendly. "We just want to return the ring to them."
"Well, I have his address here, so, em-em, thank you for your service, and I can take care of the rest."
I blew out an irritated breath.
Beside me, Roe suddenly leaned forward. "I think I might be interested in a little something after all," she told him. Her elbow brushed against mine as she leaned forward. The electric tingle of glamour skittered across my skin. The hairs on my arms and the back of my neck rose. She tucked one hand under her chin, her neck arched slightly and her eyes fixed on the clurichaun with a faint, coy smile on her lips.
I eased away. Roe was full fae, sure, but I'd never seen her turn on the charm quite like that before. The poor little clurichaun didn't have a chance. He nearly went cross-eyed, murmured something in assent, and drifted to one of the other display cases. I waited until I was sure Roe had his full attention and that he wasn't going to even look at me, then quickly spun around his ledger and found the place he'd tapped his finger.
Allan Dulluhan, the name read. And an address near the edge of town.
I snorted softly. Dullahan. The name of the headless horseman of legend--not exactly a kelpie, but definitely fitting the horse-adjacent theme. The guy wasn't even trying to be subtle.
I copied the address down and slipped out the door.
About a quarter of an hour later, Roe came to find me at the little cafe down the street where I’d holed up. I was leaning on the corner of the door, flipping through one of the copies they had on the counter of the morning paper, but put it down as she walked up. "How'd it go?"
"I nearly had to promise to buy a bracelet, so I hope whatever you got was worth it."
Out of the side of my eye, I noticed the waitress behind the counter looked a little too interested in our tête-a-tête. I offered Roe my elbow, and we sauntered down the street a ways before I pulled the slip of paper from my pocket and handed it to her.
Roe arched an eyebrow. "This is in Brooklyn, near the water."
"Sounds like a perfect place for our bruno, don't you think?"
"That it does." Roe handed me back the paper. "Let's get some lunch first. I'm starving."
Thank you for reading! If you’re enjoying The Case Files of Owan Craig and don’t want to wait to read it week by week, it is available in ebook or print form on Amazon!
Really well written! Never ceases to hold my attention, even on a groggy morning, haha! Looking forward to more chapters to come.