I was finishing dinner when there was a knock on my door. I opened it to find the chief with both Gillman and Flannigan. I raised an eyebrow and stepped aside. It was once believed that certain creatures couldn’t enter your home without permission. That was never true, but elves adopted the behavior of not inviting in unwelcome guests as a sign of displeasure. The humans were oblivious of this as they entered my apartment. It was just as well. I needed to talk with Gillman. “Yesanith, what is this about you killing someone if I don’t speak with you?” Gillman demanded. “I never said that. I said someone would die.” “And the difference is?” “Who is doing the killing.” “Does this have anything to do with the murders and the wine?” The chief asked. “Yes. Each of the murder victims has consumed elven wine. I don’t give that out. It’s almost impossible for a human to get it from Underhill. My apartment is warded against theft. I’ve always warded my homes in such a way. In the past fifty years, that ward was only broken once, by the men you sent to empty my last apartment. I had thought I had two bottles of wine before I was abducted. When I went through my things here, I only had one. I’d assumed I remembered incorrectly. Now, it’s the only explanation I can think of.” “What about Katrine?” The chief asked. “Who?” Flannigan asked. I ignored him. “I already spoke to her.” “And you believe her?” “Yes.” “Who is Katrine?” Gillman asked. “Another elf,” the chief told him. “You said you were the only one,” Gillman reminded me. “I thought I was. We met the other day. According to her, we are the only two left. She was conscious when the others disappeared.” “Maybe she’s involved.” “While she may be Unseelie, serial murders aren’t their style. It’s also unlikely she would have taken Seelie wine. The Unseelie have their own vintners. “We already looked into her,” the chief said. “She isn’t involved.” “Who had access to my things?” I asked Gillman. “Flannigan?” Gillman turned to the man who’d overseen my captivity. “It’s possible anyone on base could have gone through his things.” “Are you serious? You told me they were secure.” The sense of violation would never end. “They were. It is possible someone gained access they shouldn’t have, but less of a chance than the same person entering this apartment. There were only a small handful of people authorized to enter the storage room.” “Who?” I demanded. “The science team and the ones who moved the stuff. Everything was inventoried when it was packed up. When they unpacked everything here, it was checked with that list. I don’t recall there being any discrepancies. I will double-check and get you a list of those who helped. “The science team is classified, but if it’s not the others, we’ll look into them ourselves,” Gillman assured us. “Thanks.” The chief nodded. “And if it turns out someone did take the wine, we’ll replace it as per our agreement,” Gillman promised. “You can’t replace it.” “Something special?” “It’s elven. It’s nothing like human wine.” “It’s fermented grapes. How different can it be?” Flannigan asked. “Want to try a glass?” I offered. “No,” the chief insisted. “Do not take any. Sean, do not give them any. That stuff is dangerous.” I laughed. “You enjoyed it.” “You had some?” Gillman asked. “He was trying to show me how much more potent it was than human wine. He wanted to drink on his lunch break and was trying to convince me a few glasses wouldn’t get him drunk.” Gillman raised an eyebrow at me. “It’s only on full moons, sir. It’s a religious thing,” Flannigan explained. “He wanted some while he was with us. Tom wrote a report on it.” I was a little insulted that he hadn’t read them yet. It had been a year. Why even bother with it all if he was going to ignore it? “Yesanith…” Gillman started. “Call me Sean. Everyone else does.” “Sean, no more threats. Call me if you need something.” “Check your messages. I called you this morning. I wasn’t threatening anyone. It was a warning. We only have a few more days until we find another body. I don’t care about the missing bottle, but it’s one of the few leads we have. You put me here to do a job. I’m going to do it.” “What was your rank again?” Gillman asked. “When?” “What do you mean when?” Gillman demanded. “He’s served several times in the military here and in Europe,” the chief explained. “I meant when you were a knight for your own people.” “I was a nishtal.” “A what?” “It was an elven army. We didn’t have American ranks. And I don’t know the equivalent.” I knew I would have outranked him, but I couldn’t say by how much. “According to Roy, this Katrine knew of him and called him Oberon’s champion and gods blessed.” “That’s not a rank. That’s just…I did well. Oberon was the king. I served him. And Shandalar has always blessed me since I started following her. Unlike here, where people refuse to accept miracles, elves noticed.” “So you got used to success. Now you can’t handle failure,” Gillman surmised. “I’m used to more freedom. I’m used to protecting the innocent, not the criminals.” “But we can’t treat everyone like criminals while we look for the real one,” Gillman pointed out. “So we let them die instead. I have followed the laws and the restrictions put on me. I don’t have to like it.” “When you were with us, you prayed frequently about being released. You claimed your goddess spoke to you. Pray about this,” Flannigan suggested. “Do you think I haven’t done that? I’ve been praying since the first body was found.” “And what did she tell you?” “That we’ll catch him. How soon depends on you humans. She isn’t a goddess of humans, and she doesn’t interfere with them, and the human gods don’t interfere with us elves.” “We’re doing everything we can,” the chief assured me. “They’ll get us the list, and we’ll check it out.” I didn’t feel like that was everything. They weren’t making full use of me. But they were bound by laws too. They were doing everything they could within those laws, and I would have to accept it.