“Wow, that’s different from here.”
“It only went over twenty percent because they had some foreign lycanthropes get out of hand about two years ago.”
“It made the international news,” I said. “Wasn’t there a sorcerer involved, too? It was like a gang of preternatural criminals, right?”
“Not like, Marshal. It was,” Pearson said.
“The sorcerer was homegrown, but the shapeshifters were immigrants, if I remember correctly.”
“You remember correctly.”
“And now you’ve got your first vampires. What’s changed about your country in the last few years?”
“Nothing that I’m aware of,” he said.
“Then why does Ireland suddenly have supernatural crime?”
“I don’t know, but it’s a good question.”
“Do you have a good answer?” I asked.
“Not yet, but I may know who to ask for one now.”
“We’ve all been trying to figure out why we have our first vampires,” Logan said. “She hasn’t told us anything that we didn’t already know.”
“She asked the question differently from anyone else; didn’t you hear it?” Pearson asked.
“It’s hard to hear anything when you have your head shoved that far up your own ass,” Edward said.
“You won’t always have other cops around you, Forrester.”
“Is that a threat?”
“That would be illegal and I could jeopardize my career, so of course it’s not a threat.”
“Let’s pretend it is a threat, because you need to understand that the other officers aren’t keeping me safe from you; they’re keeping you safe from me.” His voice had started in Ted mode but had sunk all the way down to that cooler, slightly deeper Edward mode. What was it about Logan that made it so hard for him to stay in character? I’d been insulted worse than this before, and we’d both worked with bigger pains in the ass, so what had Logan done to get on Edward’s serious shit list? Usually you had to be a bad guy to piss Edward off this badly.
“Enough out of both of you,” Pearson said.
“I’ll play nice if he does,” Edward said.
“We’re not playing here, Forrester. We’re trying to catch these vampires before they kill more people. That’s not a game.”
“What good is playing if the stakes aren’t high, Logan?”
“What does that even mean, Forrester?”
“It means that life and death are the ultimate stakes to play for.”
“Ted, you might want to tone down the big-and-bad routine a little.” It was the best I could do to warn him that he was being all too much Edward and not enough Ted. It was like Superman putting on Clark Kent’s glasses but showing up to the Daily Planet in his super suit. If you’re dressed up like Superman, the glasses aren’t going to hide who you are.
“Yeah, Ted, tone it down for your girlfriend,” Logan said.
“What are your rules on sexual harassment, Superintendent Pearson?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Logan just seems like he’s going to keep pushing on this until it falls down around his ears.”
“Nothing’s going to be falling on me, Blake. This little problem goes one way, and that’s your way.”
“I’m glad we agree on something, Logan.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You just said the problem is going to go my way; that means I win.”
“That is not what I meant.”
“Your language is imprecise, Logan. It has been the entire time I’ve been here,” Edward said.
“Fuck you, Forrester.”
“No, thanks.”
“That is not what I meant, damn it, and you know that.”
“I don’t know anything about you, Logan, except you are an incredible pain in the ass,” Edward said.
“If you can’t work civilly with Marshal Forrester, then you may need off this case,” Pearson said.
“I’ve been on this case from the beginning.”
“We want the Americans to help us find and contain our vampires.”
“We don’t need some cowboy cop from the States to help us do our jobs,” Logan said.
“I’ll take all the help we can get. These vampires are killing innocent people, Logan, and all you can do is pick at Ted,” Sheridan said.
“So it’s Ted now, is it?”
I suddenly had a clue: Logan liked Sheridan, God help us and her. She had reacted to Edward in such a way that Logan thought Sheridan liked Ted. We never really leave junior high and that he-likes-the-girl-who-likes-someone-else game, or reverse the sexes and get the same story. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I was right, but it was worth a try.
“How long have you been in Ireland?” I asked.
“A week.”
“Donna and the kids must be missing you.”
“I’m missing them, too.”
“She must be frantic having you gone in the middle of all the wedding planning.”
“Our wedding is just about finalized. It’s your wedding that’s taking forever to plan.”
“The wedding has gotten huge,” I said, and felt that familiar tightening of my stomach whenever I let myself think too hard about the size of the guest list.
“Looks like you’ll be my best man before I get to be yours, at this rate.”