Lurine shrugged. “Well, he’s guilty of tampering with a federal jury, not to mention interfering with a judge. Now that I know magic will function in his presence no matter where he is, I’m sure I could persuade him it would be in his best interests to recuse himself from the case when it’s appealed and let the legal process take its course. You should have told me sooner about hell-spawns carrying their own underworlds inside them,” she added. “I could have paid him a visit weeks ago and laid this whole business to rest.”
Oh, gah! Yes, I should have. I had a strong urge to stab myself in the eye with a fork. “It didn’t occur to me.”
“Sometimes the best defense is a strong offense, baby girl,” Lurine said. “If you’re going to protect this town, you might need to take the fight to your enemies instead of waiting for it to come to you. Right now, we just need to make sure Pemkowet’s willing to go forward with the appeal. Once that’s in play, I’ll deal with Dufreyne.”
“Are you sure you can handle him?” I asked. “After all, he’s invoked his birthright.”
Lurine gave me a sidelong look. “You don’t think my powers of persuasion are a match for his?”
I flushed. “I’m just asking.”
She laughed. “To be perfectly honest, I don’t know. But don’t worry. If I can’t persuade him, I’ll settle for squishing him.”
It was a huge relief. Well, except for the part about the squishing. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Mostly.
I felt guilty relying on Lurine to bail us out of a bad situation, but not as guilty as I felt about all my missteps along the way. Lurine was right. Instead of focusing on protecting the judge, I should have concentrated on attacking Dufreyne with everything at my disposal the minute he’d revealed himself as an adversary. It was the same mistake I’d made with Sinclair’s mother last fall. I’d been too hesitant, too trusting in the advice and suggestions of others.
And, maybe, a little too absorbed in my own complicated love life.
No more.
Along with reassuring the coven and the Scooby Gang that Lurine had promised to handle Daniel Dufreyne, I did a lot of thinking about what my role in fixing this mess ought to be. Acting in my capacity as Hel’s liaison, I asked the board and council members for the opportunity to be the first speaker to address the town meeting. Although somewhat bemused, they agreed to it.
Pemkowet City Hall was packed to the rafters the evening of the town meeting. I have to admit, it was only the second meeting I’d attended. Mom and I had gone to one years ago, hoping it would be just like the popcorn-worthy town meetings in Stars Hollow on Gilmore Girls, but it turned out that the reality of municipal governance was a lot more dull and prosaic than it appeared on television.
Anyway.
The Pemkowet PD was providing security, including Cody, who studiously avoided looking at me when I arrived with Stefan. Members of the township board and the city councils were crammed shoulder to shoulder into seats at a long table at the front of the hall, with a podium and a microphone set up at an angle for residents of the tri-community area to address the room. The rest of us were crammed into seats facing them, latecomers packed into the standing-room-only spaces in the aisles and at the back of the hall. The furnace wasn’t working properly and the place was frigid.
After the opening remarks, Jason Hallifax, the mayor of Pemkowet, called me to the stand.
“Good evening.” My nerves got the better of me, and my greeting came out at a higher pitch than I’d intended. In the audience, Stefan met my gaze and gave me an encouraging nod. His pupils dilated slightly, and I felt my anxiety abate as he drew on the connection between us. “I’d like to start out by apologizing to everyone here.”
It got their attention. I saw my friends scattered throughout the audience frowning in perplexity, including my mom.
“As Hel’s liaison, it’s my job to enforce her order in the eldritch community in Pemkowet,” I said, my voice steady now. “And that includes protecting you from predators. I took down the Tall Man. I banished the Night Hag. But I failed to protect Pemkowet from Daniel Dufreyne.” There were murmurs of surprise. “We know in our hearts, all of us, that that trial was rigged,” I continued. “And some of you may have heard rumors. Well, I’m here to confirm them. Dufreyne’s a hell-spawn, just like me. Unlike me, he was able to invoke his birthright without breaching the Inviolate Wall. He has infernal powers, including the power of persuasion.”
“How’s that different from any other lawyer?” someone called, setting off a ripple of nervous laughter.
I ignored the interruption. “It’s not that I didn’t try to oppose him, but the problem is that I didn’t fight smart. I should have been shouting his identity from the rooftops. I should have been meeting with our legal team to figure out a way that we could pool our resources, eldritch and mundane alike, to expose Dufreyne for what he is, to negate his influence. And I promise you, as we move forward with this appeal, that’s exactly what we’ll do. And it will work.”
There was applause as I took my seat.
The next speaker to address the room was Don Reynolds, whose young son had been one of the Night Hag’s victims. “Look, I’ve got a lot of appreciation for what you do, Daisy,” he said. “My boy sleeps soundly at night because of you. But I’m concerned about throwing good money after bad. We’ve already spent tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. What happens if you’re wrong or you fail again?” He shook his head. “If we appeal and lose, we’re right back where we started, only deeper in the hole. I think Pemkowet’s tri-community governments need to take a hard look at their assets, and figure out how we’re going to pay the damages.”