*
On busy days, HGR had had more humans in the store than there were right now, but they hadn’t been gathered around the counter wanting to talk to him.
“What?” Simon growled, eyeing Burke, Montgomery, and Lorenzo.
He decided to take the same approach as he’d take with vultures covering a kill: scatter them.
He pointed at Monty. “Meg asked the girls at the lake if the Lizzy could see the ponies, so Meg, the Lizzy, and Nathan have gone to the Pony Barn and should be back soon.” He pointed at Dominic Lorenzo. “Merri Lee, Ruthie, and Theral are at the Liaison’s Office, watching for deliveries and making notes to add to The Blood Prophets Guide. If you want to talk to them, I’ll have Henry go over with you.”
“That’s fine,” Lorenzo said. “I would appreciate any information. But I did want to talk to you about the task force that’s now responsible for ascertaining the mental and physical well-being of blood prophets in Lakeside and the surrounding areas.”
Stay human, Simon told himself. Tess had finally calmed down enough that she wanted to talk to him. It wouldn’t help anyone if he damaged the one doctor he was willing to have around Meg.
Besides, Vlad had just slipped into the front part of the store.
“I don’t think the task force will have a problem around here as long as you are the doctor making these visits,” Vlad said with a smile that showed a warning fang. “I think we can arrange for you to visit Great Island and talk to the people who are taking care of the blood prophets. Then you can assure the humans who didn’t care a week ago that the girls are being looked after properly. Make your report about their physical and mental condition. Just remember that it would be very unhealthy if the girls’ location ever showed up in a report.”
“One of the things I’ve been asked to decide is if a girl is an alleged blood prophet or a girl with other problems that manifested as some kind of self-harm,” Lorenzo said. “I’d like to talk to Meg Corbyn and get any insights she can offer.”
“Steve Ferryman might have someone who can provide you with some insights,” Vlad said.
<Ferryman?> Simon asked, using the terra indigene form of communication.
<A female showed up at Ferryman’s Landing, driving a car that was loaded with all her possessions, including a dog. She’s worked at several houses that took care of troubled girls. After being fired, again, because she isn’t afraid to share her opinions with anyone, she packed up and started driving. She told Ferryman she had a feeling this was the place she’d been looking for, the place where she could really help.>
<A feeling? She’s an Intuit?>
<He thinks she is, but he’s not sure she knows what she is. He still wants to take her over to the island and see how she responds to the girls. He wants your approval. So does Ming.>
A few weeks ago, a man named Phineas Jones had tried to reach Great Island to find girls who might be cassandra sangue. He had been an enemy. The Controller was dead, and so was Phineas Jones, but other men running compounds could have sent other humans to find the girls.
<She doesn’t stay on the island, and she’s never alone with the girls,> Simon said.
<Ferryman said the same thing.>
Simon realized the humans had been watching this silent exchange, knowing something was being discussed. “If the woman who came to Ferryman’s Landing is acceptable to us, then you can talk to her.”
He didn’t think Lorenzo liked having decisions made for him, but an Intuit who hadn’t lived in one of their communities might understand outside better than individuals who had been accepted for their abilities their whole lives. And that was the person Lorenzo should see.
The lattice door between A Little Bite and Howling Good Reads opened. Tess gave no sign of noticing the cloth Simon had used to cover the lattice. Her wildly curling hair had streaks of brown, green, red, and black, as if she didn’t quite know how she felt.
Since he suspected her hair had been the death color an hour ago, Simon took all the other colors as a good sign that the rest of the Courtyard most likely would survive.
“When you’re done talking with each other, there’s something I want the four of you to see,” Tess said, looking at Vlad, Montgomery, Burke, and finally Simon. Then she retreated into the coffee shop.
“I’ll go over to the Liaison’s Office now, if that’s all right with you,” Lorenzo said. He looked at Montgomery. “If I finish up there before your daughter returns from visiting the ponies, you can find me in the medical office.”
Montgomery nodded.
“That takes care of the doctor,” Simon said. “Now what do you two want?”
Burke turned to Vlad. “We would appreciate a little more information from your kinsmen in Toland.”
“Ah.” Vlad looked at Monty. “We’ve heard nothing more about the death of your former mate.”
“I’m wondering if they’ve heard anything about stolen jewels or jewelry,” Burke said.
“Wouldn’t the Toland police have heard about such things? Why can’t they tell you?”
“The Toland police captain I talked to doesn’t like me, so I doubt he’ll tell me anything,” Burke replied. “Unlike the police captain, I don’t think the Sanguinati have any interest in the jewels that were found in Boo Bear. That makes them an unbiased source of information.”
Simon studied Burke. The police captain thought the Others would be more honest than his own kind? What did the Sanguinati think about the police in Toland?
“I’ll give Stavros a call and see what he or Tolya has heard,” Vlad said.
“I’d like to stay in the efficiency apartment with Lizzy one more night, if that’s all right with you,” Montgomery said.
“We set one apartment aside for the police, so you can stay,” Simon said. When the humans didn’t speak, he added, “Shall we find out what Tess wants to show us?”
He walked into A Little Bite. Vlad and the two policemen followed him.
Tess stood behind the glass display case, her hair now solid red coils. Angry again. But why?
He glanced at the food in the display case—the pastries, cookies, sandwiches, and other items that were delivered that morning. When he leaned down for a closer look, he understood, and shared, Tess’s anger.
Spoiled. All of it. Mold on the bread. Dried-out or moldy cheese in the sandwiches. Even with the lesser human sense of smell and the glass between him and the food, he could scent meat going bad.
“Is something wrong with your refrigeration system?” Burke asked.
“No,” Tess replied in a rough voice. “Something is wrong with the humans in this city.”
The bakery they had been dealing with had stopped making deliveries a few weeks ago. Trying to give the humans another chance before informing the mayor that the agreements between humans and terra indigene had been broken, Tess had contacted another bakery in Lakeside that provided the kinds of foods she sold in A Little Bite.
“This is what I was given this morning,” Tess said. “It was packaged in a way that I couldn’t see the rot, so I paid the invoice in cash, as required.” She came around to the front of the display case and jabbed a finger toward the food. “Would you eat that? Would you feed that to your child?”
“No,” Montgomery said.
“We’re not open to humans who aren’t connected to the Courtyard anymore,” Simon said.
“That’s not the point,” Tess snapped. “That was never the point. The agreements with the city are clear enough: we are entitled to anything available to humans. If they can buy it, so can we.”
“And if we can’t, neither can they,” Simon said.
“Are a few pastries and sandwiches that important?” Montgomery asked, sounding alarmed.
Simon looked around. “This coffee shop was modeled on the ones humans use. It provides the same beverages and foods. Most of those shops don’t bake their own products; they buy them from bakeries. So we did the same in order to understand why such a place would have any value. When the bakeries all close tomorrow because the agreements with the terra indigene were violated twice with regard to supplying food for the coffee shop, how important will the lack of those pastries and sandwiches be to the humans who go into those coffee shops?”
“I’m not sure the government will tell the bakeries to close or require the police to enforce those closings,” Burke said, sounding as wary as a coyote who’d just caught the scent of a grizzly.
“You won’t have to enforce anything,” Tess said. “The Elementals can take care of closing the bakeries. I’m sure Fire would oblige once I show her what the monkeys sent us as food for Meg and the other girls.”
Simon blinked. Ask one of the Elementals to burn all the bakeries in the city? That seemed . . . harsh. Better to burn down the troublesome ones, especially the one that sold Tess rotten food to give to Meg.
Burke and Montgomery looked shocked—and sufficiently afraid.
Vlad smiled. “Or, rather than burning down all the bakeries, we can redirect the food grown in terra indigene settlements and offer it only to human businesses that will honor the agreements they make with us. That would cut the food supply coming into this city.” He looked at Simon. “Perhaps we can build our own little bakery and hire someone to make what we need.”
“Steve Ferryman said the bakeries in Ferryman’s Landing would sell to us,” Simon said. “And we will need to adjust supply allotments for Ferryman’s Landing anyway to accommodate the Wolf cookies they’re already making. Redirecting the food is more practical than burning down buildings.” But he would give some thought to asking Fire to visit that one bakery.
“Would you be willing to try one more Lakeside bakery?” Montgomery asked. “There’s a place on Market Street that I frequent. I’ll talk to the owner and see if she would be interested in supplying items for your coffee shop.”
Simon hesitated. None of the Courtyard’s stores were going to be open to the general public anymore, but the coffee shop would still be a useful learning experience for the terra indigene who didn’t have access to such a place—or a chance to interact with humans like Meg’s pack.
“All right,” he said. “One more. If that doesn’t work, we’ll give our business to Ferryman’s Landing—and give them the extra supplies as well.”
“We’ll do that now,” Burke said. “The lieutenant needs to stop by his apartment and check his mail anyway.”
<One more thing after the humans are gone,> Tess said to Simon and Vlad.
“I’ll tell Jester that Meg and the Lizzy should come back now,” Simon told Montgomery. “You can wait for her at the medical office.”
“Do you mind if I take a quick look around the bookstore?” Burke asked.
“Go ahead.” He watched the men go through the archway before turning to Tess. “What?”
“Even if that food had been good, I wouldn’t have placed another order with that bakery,” Tess said.
“Why?” Vlad asked.
Black threads appeared in her hair. “Because Jake Crowgard noticed an HFL decal on the delivery van’s back window.”