Free Naming Day (Jake Underwood Book 1) by Michael Ruger Page A

watching to see what the law would do and what was being said. I didn’t have a handle on Kevin’s murder and the Silver Tree was my best bet to make something happen.
    In the meantime, I would poke my nose into anything I could and see who wanted to bloody it. Not elegant, I’ll admit, but effective. I would love to toss Kevin’s apartment right now but if I knew that they cops would be there and would love to have something on me. That would not do, so I decided to just talk to people and get a better idea of who all the players were at the bar. Maybe I could find out if there were any patrons I should know about, but don’t. At the same time I had to be careful not to get too noticed by the Sheriff or the Black Watch. Ah, the exciting life of the PI.

Chapter Six
     
    After about five hours of making a nuisance of myself I decided that I should leave and head for home. I was more than ready to see this day end. First there was Jeryn Callisandra and his little job at the court of Twilight, not mention his rather cryptic remarks regarding my “reputation” among the court. Add to that Kevin’s death and today had turned out to be a long and very bad day.
    By the time I was ready to leave, most of the police types had gone, but on my way to the door I noticed that Sergeant Bermuda motioned me over. He was still here and keeping his too watchful eyes on the place.
    “Mr. Underwood, I have your weapons here.” He indicated a small bag that was tied closed and sealed with runic wax. “I trust that you’ll find everything in the exact order that you surrendered it in. The seal will keep the bag closed until you have left the premises.”
    I started to object but he held up a hand. “Just a precaution. Deputy Crosswich insisted, I’m afraid. I would also caution you about coming here armed for the foreseeable future, especially with so much cold iron. We’ll have some men poking around and observing the place for the next few days at least and heavily armed civilians make them nervous. Just a friendly word of advice.”
    “Thanks.” I said, feeling anything but thankful. “I’ve got some advice for you. If you let Crosswich run this investigation you will never find out what happened to Kevin. He’s a bigoted ass and nobody here will talk to him. He doesn’t like half breeds or humans and working in the mortal world gives him hives, in short he is just about the worst detective you could assign to this case. Maybe if he had the manpower of a mortal police force he might get lucky, but this far from the court I can’t imagine he has the resources or the skill to bring the case to resolution.”
    “Perhaps. But he is in charge of this case it is not for you or me to dispute this fact. We all have our roles to play and our orders to follow.” Bermuda looked anything but happy.
    “Maybe he’ll get a break on this case. It’s been known to happen.”  I gave the sergeant a friendly nod and headed home.
    I made my way back through the mirror and returned to the mortal world and tried to push my questions out of my mind. It was late and getting later. I was tired and needed to get some sleep. I don’t sleep much, a benefit of my half breed status, but when I need sleep, I need it.
    I hopped in a taxi and directed him to my townhouse. I live downtown, at the venerable Houston House, and have for quite a while. I suppose at some point I’ll have to change addresses and ID as it wouldn’t do for someone to notice that I wasn’t aging very fast, but for now I can tough it out, at least for a few more years.
    I live on the 25 th floor in a 3 bedroom apartment with a magnificent view of downtown. About four months ago I had put in a decent alarm system put in after a disagreeable incident with a couple of nasty locals. Naturally, I haven’t needed it since, but I still keep it turned on and working. A security system is like wearing a seatbelt. If you don’t do it all the time, it won’t be of any use when you