I slowly nodded, although I wasn’t exactly ready to swear an oath of silence. I didn’t plan on blabbing about it, but I wasn’t sure this kind of news was something I could keep from Selene or Eli.

“Good,” said Lady Elaine. “Now, I’m sure you have lots of questions.”

“You can say that again.” Some of the tension left my body now that I’d made up my mind to stay and hear them out. “Why did they let Paul go?”

“Officially,” Sheriff Brackenberry said, “the Magi Court has dropped all charges against him due to his age and the lack of indisputable evidence that he contributed to any of the significant crimes.”

“What?” My fingers clenched into fists. “But what about my testimony? And Selene’s and Eli’s? My mom’s? We spent hours in those deposition meetings telling everybody what went down with Marrow. How is that not evidence?”

Lady Elaine raised both hands. Deep crevices lined her palms and ran down her twig-like fingers. “Calm down, Dusty. It is evidence, but there’s more going on here. For one thing, Paul put on a convincing display. He said he was sorry for the things he’d done and voluntarily shared the password to his administrator account on the reckthaworlde.com website.”

The sheriff growled. “Fat lot of good it did. The blasted thing was already completely offline by the time we got into it. And we’ve had no luck tracking down the host servers. Paul claims he doesn’t know where they are. We’ve checked Marrow’s apartment, Paul’s dorm room, and even his uncle’s house, but no luck.”

I leaned back in my chair, my breath coming in angry gulps. Of course they hadn’t been found. Paul was too clever. I didn’t understand how anybody could let him off. What kind of idiots were running the magickind government, exactly?

“There’s no point in being angry,” Lady Elaine said, addressing Brackenberry as much as me. “The deed is done. Now all that matters is how we handle what comes next.”

I sighed. “I guess you’re right. But what exactly do you want me to do?”

Lady Elaine dropped her gaze from my face and began to pick at a fingernail. “We want you to resume your relationship with Paul.”

I stood up so hard, I banged my knee against the table, sending a sharp stab of pain down my leg. “No way. Ew … and … gross. There’s no way I’m going to pretend to be that creep’s girlfriend.”

Sheriff Brackenberry tsked. “I told you she wouldn’t go for it. These kids are all the same. Only concerned about themselves.”

My skin prickled. It was so unfair, so insane. How could they ask me to do it?

And then the more obvious truth occurred to me.

Gritting my teeth, I said, “Even if I was willing, it wouldn’t work. Paul doesn’t like me. He never did. He just pretended to date me because Marrow told him to.” My voice broke as I finished speaking, and unexpected tears stung my eyes. I opened them wide, trying to hold them back.

Sympathy filled Lady Elaine’s gaze as she looked at me. “I know you feel that way, but I’ve spoken to Paul several times and have kept an eye on his behavior. I do not believe that all of his feelings for you were on account of Marrow.”

At once, those stupid tears burned my eyes again, and a bubble of emotions rose up my chest into my throat. I swallowed it down, unable to deal with it. Especially not in present company. “That’s impossible. He’s just fooling you the way he fooled me. It’s what he does.”

Lady Elaine nodded. “Maybe, but if so, then he must have an ulterior motive for putting on such an act. In either case, I believe he will be receptive toward any advances you might make.”

I sat down, my stomach roiling.

“We’re not asking you to resume any kind of sexual relationship with the suspect,” Sheriff Brackenberry said.

I flushed. “I never … I didn’t … I mean…”

Lady Elaine cleared her throat. “We just want you to spend some time with him. Get him to trust you if possible. Just enough that you can keep a lookout for any suspicious behavior.”

Like luring girls to their deaths?

I tried to picture myself spending time with Paul again, pretending to like him. I couldn’t do it. I was the wrong person for a job like this. They needed someone like … like … Katarina, a siren full of confidence and staggering beauty. Not someone like me.

Then the absurdity of the entire situation occurred to me. I shook my head and started smiling. “You guys don’t need me to spy on him. I mean, come on. You’re the freakin’ government. Don’t you have professionals for this sort of thing? Won’t you be keeping tabs on him all the time already?”

Sheriff Brackenberry sighed. “Well, that took less time than I thought.”

Lady Elaine shot him a look. “I told you she’s far cleverer than you give her credit for.”

“Hey.” I stomped my foot, annoyed at the implied insult. Not that Brackenberry’s doubt about my intelligence came as a surprise. “I’m sitting right here, you know. And I can hear you.”

That got their attention.

“Why do you need me?”

“Because we don’t have anyone else we can trust,” said Lady Elaine.

I shook my head. “Not buying it.”

“It’s true,” she insisted. “Under normal circumstances, the government would keep close tabs on Paul, but nothing about this situation is normal.”