Free Goblin Precinct (Dragon Precinct) by Keith R. A. Decandido

yet!
    “You mind getting your ass in here?” Iaian spoke with even more testiness in his voice than usual. “Y’know, to solve a murder?”
    Grovis shook his head. “Yes, yes, of course, my apologies, I’m a bit—a bit distracted, I’m afraid.”
    “Well, cut it out. We got work to do.”
    They went into the tiny hovel, where there was the body of a human on the floor, head at an odd angle to the rest of him.
    Seated on a small crate, which was all the furniture the residents had, was a crying woman. Another guard from Goblin was standing near her.
    Iaian looked down at the woman. “You the victim’s wife?”
    She shook her head. “Elko and me, we ain’t, well, married, exactly.”
    Then Iaian turned to look at Grovis, who looked around, confused. “What?”
    Chuckling, Iaian said, “Damn, two people living in sin, I thought for sure you’d make a remark. You really are off your game, ain’tcha?”
    Grovis put his hands on his hips. “What is that supposed to mean?”
    “Never mind.” Iaian turned back to the woman. “Can you tell me what happened here?”
    “Can tell you exactly what, well, happened. It was Brindy. He, well—all right, see, Brindy? He, well, he likes his Bliss. But after what happened with Jhef and Tiny, Urgoth wouldn’t deal with him no more.”
    “Who’s Urgoth?” Iaian asked.
    “He’s the dwarf. He deals the, well, Bliss ’round here. Y’know?”
    “Okay, so Urgoth wouldn’t deal to Elko?”
    “No!” The woman shook her head. “Ain’t you payin’ attention? Urgoth wouldn’t deal to Brindy ’cause’a what happened to, well, Jhef and Tiny. ’Specially Tiny. Tiny was always a pain in everybody’s ass ever since Grunty left town.”
    Iaian held up his hands. “Okay, ma’am, I’m sorry, but—” He shook his head. “I need you to focus. What did Tiny do to Brindy?”
    “Tiny didn’t do nothin’ to Brindy! But Brindy went and pissed off Urgoth, so Urgoth wouldn’t give no Bliss to Brindy no more!”
    Glancing over at Grovis, Iaian asked, “You gettin’ all this, boy?”
    Grovis blinked. He had been thinking about what Daddy must have been going through. The family had only just gotten over the double scandal of his cousin Cam hiring a sex-sim shortly before his fiancée Arra Cynnis was killed by a succubus. Well, actually, it was a hone-onna, but Grovis had given up correcting the rest of the family, who kept insisting it was a succubus, and after a while it just wasn’t worth correcting. But adding this theft to the weight of what happened with Cam and Arra, it was just going to kill the family. Grovis had no idea what he was going to do.
    Which meant he had no idea what Iaian was doing or talking about.
    “I’m sorry?” he said lamely.
    Now it was Iaian’s turn to put his hands on his hips. “Oh for Wiate’s sake, will you get your head in the game?”
    “Of course, of course, I’m sorry. Now, then, madam, you say the victim is Brindy?”
    The woman wiped a tear off with the back of her hand. “No, the guy who, well, killed the victim is Brindy. Elko.”
    Grovis frowned. “I’m sorry, was it Elko or Brindy?”
    “C’mon, boy,” Iaian said, “even I know that Elko’s the victim.” He turned to the woman. “So Brindy killed him because Urgoth told him to?”
    “No! Dammit, ain’t you payin’ any attention?” The woman sighed. “Urgoth wouldn’t give Brindy Bliss no more, so Elko, well, he said he’d get Brindy his Bliss for him, since Elko didn’t take that stuff, and Brindy did. But then Urgoth got all, well, suspicious and stuff, because Elko, he said that he was, well, buyin’ the Bliss for me, but I can’t actually take Bliss. I mean, I tried once, but I was, well, allergic to it, got all puffy and such-like. So Urgoth, he found that out, and it didn’t take long for him to figure out that Elko was doin’ it for Brindy, and Urgoth was all pissed about what happened with Tiny and Jhef, so there was no way he was selling no