Page 97 of The Flame Game

“That’s on my wishlist of crimes Morrison has committed. He recruited Audrey to seduce and marry you specifically so he could collect dirt on you and defame you as a police chief. However, he did not anticipate your inflexibility in your ethics, resulting in Audrey being unable to gather the evidence or catch you in the act of cheating or whatever it is other police chiefs might use to discredit one another. As it is on my wishlist of crimes Morrison has committed, your grandfather cannot take credit for your decision to marry her.”

“Huh. Do you have a list of plausible crimes?”

“I do.”

“Move that wishlist item to your list of plausible crimes and motivations. Motive matters in cases like this, and if that motive is presented, the judge may request additional information from Morrison’s cops—and also demand angelic verification. The innocent cops will be critical in the proceedings, as his character is on trial as much as his actions are. It absolutely is a factor if the court determines Morrison was attempting to corrupt or discredit a fellow police chief. That’s a direct violation of our oath to our communities and those we serve and protect. That alone would lose him his job, as we’re supposed to be the highest ethical standard among uniformed officers. We need to have sufficient circumstantial evidence to warrant additional investigation into Audrey’s relationship to Morrison before my marriage to her. If we can prove a relationship, that becomes very good fuel for the flame game.”

Huh. I copy-pasted the entire section involving my guesses regarding Audrey and Morrison into the more realistic list. “Done.”

“As your first wishlist item is worth pursuing, give me your next wishlist item.”

“That his son is the product of rape from a woman he forcibly turned into a gorgon, stripping her of her rights as a human so she would not be able to press charges against him.”

“Move it to the other list. Both of those are crimes. Angelic verification should be requested on this one, so we need to confirm with her. We’ll have to lean fairly heavily on Saven for that, but he probably has an angel or two who owes him a favor and can verify everything before the official verification. Angels can’t lie, but that doesn’t prevent them from instructing humans on how best to manipulate the truth through omission and careful selection of words. Cases like this trip angelic triggers.”

No kidding. “Your grandfather is probably more pissed he has to be questioned as a witness than anything else, because it means he can’t play that game this time.”

“You’re probably right. Next item on your wishlist?”

“He’s rabid.”

“Bring that up for questioning, because an angel can verify if he was, at any point in the past, infected with the virus or treated for it. That’s something specific enough they might be able to search through the past without him being present.”

“I really meant that he’d just fall over dead in a month or two after the disease progresses because he wouldn’t be able to get the right grade of neutralizer to cure it.”

“Unless he was behind the warehouse raid and had the neutralizer available,” my husband replied.

“Which would make him complicit in a major felony theft and manipulating law enforcement through the 120 Wall Street incident.” I copy-pasted that from my wishlist, too.

“Next item?”

“Noodles topped with sea bugs with some form of cream sauce for dinner. I really like sea bugs and believe we should find another restaurant tonight that will serve me sea bugs.”

“If you want noodles topped with sea bugs, we shall look for noodles topped with sea bugs. Just don’t forget to eat your other sea bug sandwiches before we quest for more sea bugs.”

“You should eat your share of the sea bug sandwiches. And have some fries.”

“I’m not feeding three, and it seems fair for the twins to get a sea bug roll each.”

“Do I get to use that claim when I feel like overeating like some glutton?”

“Considering how infrequently you allow yourself to overeat like some glutton? Yes. Please. You have a horribly difficult time gaining weight, and you need to be packing on some extra healthy pounds right now. You know that pregnancy weight a lot of women complain about after the delivery?”

“I’m concerned for my back and feet,” I admitted.

“With your metabolism, if I feed you salads for a week and ask you to keep up with me, you’ll have lost all of that weight plus ten extra pounds.”

“I’m a freak.”

“You’re a cindercorn, and I’ve been feeding you like you’re a human woman. All shapeshifters have heightened metabolisms.”

“Except you!”

“I do have a heightened metabolism, Bailey. I’m just feeding really well just about every night several times over.”

Right. Gorgon-incubus doohickeys had specialized diets of delicious tasty woman, and I was on the menu most nights. Whee! “I’ll have to exercise you extra to make sure you don’t gain excess weight.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine. So, after your noodles with sea bugs, what else is on your list?”