She thumped her tail.
"A temporary new life, at least," Ricky said. "We should keep trying to find her original Huntsman."
Ioan pretended not to hear, but Ricky said, "It's only right. Put out the word to your contacts and see if we get a bite."
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Back to Cainsville after dinner. While waiting for Gabriel, I spent some quality time with TC, which amounted to feeding him and cleaning out his litter box while he watched. When I tried to pet him, he stalked off, and I threatened to replace him with a cwn puppy. He ignored me.
Gabriel arrived, and we walked to Veronica's. I told Melanie I'd like to speak to the other lamiae in Chicago, as part of the investigation. Just touch base, find out if they'd seen anything, heard rumors...
She said she'd talk to them, in a tone that warned me not to hold my breath. She knew full well I was looking for a killer among her sisters, and she was having none of it. Could I blame her? Not really. They were second-class fae and had suffered their share of witch hunts.
We returned to my apartment to grab my overnight bag and the cat. I worried a bit about how TC would react, given that he'd spent a few days locked in the Carew house basement. He zoomed in and made himself at home on the couch, as if nothing bad had ever happened to him there. Which makes him a lot like his human, who happily embraced the same house where she'd found a dead body in the attic.
"My office fireplace is cleaned," Gabriel said as we settled in the garden with mochas, cookies, and blankets. "I'll use it tomorrow."
"Then I'd better start looking for a garden one."
"That was the idea," he said as he tugged the blanket over his shoulders.
"Or we could just not sit in my empty garden when it's so damned cold."
He didn't even answer that, instead saying, "About the hound..." Which was the prompt I needed. I explained.
"So the Huntsman was connected to Lucy Madole's death," Gabriel said when I finished the story.
"Seems like it. He had Lloergan do surveillance, and the hound sensed Lucy would die at another's hand."
"Whoever he's working for had Lucy killed and then had him persuade Ciro to kill the lamiae. That person also set him on Aunika."
"Or has made it seem that way."
"Perhaps," Gabriel said. "False persecution to deflect attention and give Aunika what appears to be an alibi."
"As soon as I catch up with her, she's beset by mystery stalkers and then disappears...which allows her to continue carrying out her scheme. If I only had any idea what that scheme could be. Or what her motivation might be."
"You likely won't know all that until you find Aunika. We should rechannel our efforts in that direction. The Cwn Annwn want to find the rogue Huntsman. See if Ricky can persuade them to locate Aunika instead."
"Right. Because leading us to her may lead them to him. Okay, then. We have a plan. I'll concentrate on that and stop chasing my tail trying to make connections with the rest."
After a few moments of silence, Gabriel said, "I will also speak to Melanie myself. I might be more persuasive."
"Persuade her as Gwynn."
He stiffened at the name.
"I saw him here in the garden," I said softly. "When I had the vision here last spring."
"Which explains the fever," Gabriel said. "Your brain's equivalent of an allergic reaction." He tried for a smile, but it faltered, and he busied himself drinking his mocha.
"It's not like that. When I see Gwynn, they're good memories. It's easy to paint Gwynn and Arawn as selfish and arrogant and thoughtless, and it's easy to paint Matilda as silly and weak. They were young and they got caught up in fear and jealousy and they made mistakes. Terrible, senseless mistakes."
"Can we discuss something else?"
"I just think you need to come to terms with Gwynn, or it's just going to get more and more uncomf
ortable."