Spike Mallet is my name. Private investigation is my game. I hung my shingle outside my iron door about four hundred years ago. In that time, I'd had some pretty interesting cases, believe me.

    Last month an extremely succulent broad rang my chimes. When I went to answer the summons, I couldn't believe my eyes. She was gorgeous. Small, almost dainty for a dragon, she had emerald green eyes, an adorable snout, beautiful iridescent green scales, and lovely long claws with pink tips. But her wings! Flat in all the right places, if you know what I mean.

    "Spike Mallet?" she asked in a husky voice.

    "That's right," I said.

    "I need your help."

    "Come on in," I told her, opening the door wide.

    She looked around my digs with interest. I try to keep it nice, not gaudy. The front room has a crushed pearl (fake) floor, and strings of glass "sapphires" hung between it and my office. Only a few treasures were displayed artfully about--a Ming vase (crack to the wall) here, a statue of Apollo (nose missing) there.

    I held the "sapphire" curtain open for her, and she went by me to enter my office. I caught a whiff of Eau de Treasures perfume which made my snout twitch. I almost sneezed, but fortunately was able to contain it. I didn't want to have to redecorate again. My last sneeze cost me plenty.

    We settled ourselves, I behind my obsidian desk, she on the satin lounge.

    "What can I do for you, Miss, ah Miss. . . "

    "Wrench."

    "Wrench?"

    "Yes," she said. "Ima Wrench."

    "Oh, I wouldn't say that. . ."

    "No, you don't understand. My name is Ima Wrench."

    "Ah. As in, last name, Wrench. First name, Ima?" You see what a good detective I am.

    "Exactly."

    "Pretty."

    "Thank you."

    "Anyway, Miss Wrench, what can I do for you?"

    "Call me Ima." She blinked her eyes at me, and my heart fluttered along with her eyelids.

    "Okay, Ima," I breathed, afraid she'd lit my fire. I took a drink of water from the dented silver pitcher I always have handy for such emergencies. I offered her some, but she shook her head. A cool customer.

    "It's my brother," she said, reaching for a linen handkerchief from the garnet-encrusted gold box I keep on my desk. "He's. . . he's disappeared." She covered her snout with the handkerchief and blew. I held my breath. Blowing can be dangerous for dragons, but she knew what she was doing.

    "Tell me about it, Ima," I said in my best investigator tone. "What's his name?"

    "Turner."

    "Turner Wrench," I said. "I see."

    "Yes. We had a date for lunch today. He never showed."

    "You were going to meet where?" I asked.
  
    "At the Golden Pagoda."

    "You like Chinese?

    "My favorite," she replied.

    "Mine, too," I said, trying not to breathe heavily. I didn't want to scorch my desk.   

    "Anyway, I waited and waited. He didn't come."

    "Has he ever done that before? Missed an appointment?"

    "Never," she said, dabbing those emerald eyes with her handkerchief.

    I forced myself to look away as I continued my questioning.

    "What do you think might have happened to him?"

    "I don't know! I went by his cave, but he didn't answer the chime." She buried her snout in the handkerchief and blew gently. I admired her constraint under the circumstances. I continued to ask investigator-type questions until I thought I had enough information.

    Then I asked her how long she wanted me to work on it.

    "How much do you charge?" she inquired.

    "A ruby a day, plus expenses."

    "Sounds fair," she said. "Let's start with five days."

    I tried to act nonchalant as she tumbled some jewels out onto my desk and picked through them to get five rubies. When our fingers touched as she handed them to me, I felt a old familiar sensation go through me. It's a wonder I didn't explode from the fire I felt inside.

    She rose from the lounge and walked toward the door. I followed, careful not to step on her finely pointed tail.

    At the door, we shook, and I promised to come see her as soon as I had any news. Then I watched her fly away gracefully from my mountain.

    The first order of business would be to check out Turner's digs. His address placed him twelve mountains over.

    Rain first drizzled, then came in torrents. I kept my head down as I glided over the mountains. No men were about. Rain tended to mire their wagons and rust their armor.

    I found Turner's cave and landed on the handy ledge in front of the entrance.

    I blew on his chimes, but no one answered. I tried again. Nothing. Poking my snout inside the grille on his iron door, I sniffed. And smelled death. Quickly, I pulled my snout out and took a gulp of fresh air. Going through my skeleton keys, I found one that worked and entered, holding my breath.

    Turner lay on his back. A ring of fire on his chest showed that he'd died of heartburn. This meant he'd been killed by another dragon, not a human.

    I searched the place. His treasure remained behind his gate. No sign of a struggle. Odd. Very odd.

    A scurrying sound in a dim recess caught my ear. I approached cautiously. Probably only a mouse, I reassured myself, although I hate mice. The sound came again. I hesitated.

    "Who's that?" I asked, still approaching.

    The only answer was a loud sniff. When I got closer I could see a darker shadow in the corner. The shape seemed familiar. A virgin! The girl huddled in the corner, crying.

    "Who are you?" I asked as I approached.

    She looked up at me, two tears balancing on her bottom lids like diamonds. I reached for her and gently pulled her into the light. Her beauty made me ache. "Who are you?" I asked again.

    Of course, she didn't understand me, just stared at me, terror in her eyes.

    "We've got to get out of here," I told her and put her on my back. I took off as fast as I could. She felt light as a feather, and I could have spent the rest of eternity flying, just the two of us. The rain had let up, and a mist covered most of the mountains, making them look clothed in filmy cotton. I rode the air currents feeling like a young dragon again, full of life with a girl on my back.

    When we got to my cave, I showed her the room for virgins. It hadn't been used for over fifty years. The draperies were dusty and faded, the leather on the chairs cracked. I felt ashamed that I had to put her there, but I didn't have any choice. I locked her in, then went to my office. I needed to notify the authorities, but wanted to work a while longer on my own first.

    I thought for awhile, then took off for The Lair, a local joint run by my old friend Jack Sprocket. He was wiping down the bar when I entered, his yellow eyes gleaming in the lamplight. His pale green scales glistened on his huge frame. He's one of the biggest dragons I know. The only other customers were One-Eye and Louie, two two-bit no-goods. I greeted everyone and ordered up a fire-eater to cool myself down a little.

    Then I asked Jack if he knew Turner Wrench. "Sure," Jack said. "We're cousins. Distant cousins. What'd he do now?"

    "Got himself murdered," I said, loud enough for the two-bits to hear.

    All motion stopped.

    "What?" Jack exclaimed. "How?"

    "Heartburn."

    "Hellfire!" Jack said. "I always thought he'd come to no good."

    "Why's that?" I asked, sipping my drink, but watching everyone real careful.

    "He took chances he shouldn't have. Flew too close to the sun, fought too many knights for fair maiden. Wanted too much treasure and got it by shady means, sometimes."

    "You must know his sister, too?" I asked.

    "Ima? Yeah. Now there's a dragon!"

    Everyone remained still again, thinking about Ima.

    "How come I never saw your cousins in here?" I asked.

    "They lived quite a ways off and stayed near home."

    "Jack, can you think of any reason why anyone would want Turner dead?"

    Jack's eyes glanced over at the two-bits at the table, then back to me. "No reason, really," he said. "He was doing business with Rudd Tower, if that's any help."

    "Maybe," I said, turning and looking at One-Eye and Louie.

    "Whatcha looking at?" One-Eye growled.

    "Nothing," I said. "What makes you ask?"

    "Hey," Louie said. "We don't know nothing."

    I moved toward them. They stood, upsetting the table in front of them. A quick spurt from my snout set it afire. Jack was fast with a big bottle of seltzer. We'd done this before and had it down to a routine. The smoke seemed to have blinded One-eye momentarily, so I concentrated on Louie, grabbing a bottle, breaking it and waving it in his face.

    "Tell me what you know," I growled.

    "Nothing. I know nothing, Mallet."

    "Yes, you do. Tell me." I nicked the side of his head with the bottle.

    "Ow, ow," he cried. "Look, I only heard that Turner got a girl. And Axel wants her."

    "Old Axel?" I asked.

    One-eye squinted at me and feint left. I lashed him with my tail and sent him sprawling and moaning to the floor. Then I nicked Louie's other side for good measure.

    "Can't Axel get one himself anymore?"

    "Nah, he's too old. So he wanted Turner's."

    "Who'd he send to get her? Not you and Bozo here."

    "No, no. He sent Tony."

    I groaned. Turner hadn't had a chance.

    Throwing two pearls at Jack to cover my drink and the damages, I split.

    I decided to go back to Turner's place and look around one more time. Discovering the girl had distracted me, and I might have missed something.

    When I arrived I found Peg Shackle and her deputy already there. The sheriff looked good. She's orange and has the most gorgeous black eyes. She paints her claws green and wears lots of jewelry. She did not appear to be happy to see me.

    "What are you doing here, Spike?" she asked, her black eyes flashing.   

    "Came to see Turner," I said in my most innocent voice.

    "You're too late," she said drily. "Or did you already know that?" She gave me a shrewd look.

    "Now, Peg," I soothed. "What do you mean?"

    "He's dead, Spike. And I want to know what you know about it."

    "What would I know?"

    "Stop answering my questions with questions, you old dog."

    I grinned at her, staring at her orange wings. She pulled them tightly around herself and straightened up to her full height.

    "You have a client?" she asked.

    "Maybe. But you know that's confidential."

    "Hellfire, Spike. We have a murder here. Now, I want you to tell me all you can."

    So, I told her about Axel and Tony. She didn't seem surprised.

    "I'd heard Axel couldn't fight the knights anymore," she said.

    I asked her if she had anything on Turner. Had he ever been in trouble with the law? She shook her head and took me inside the cave. The doctor was just finishing up examining the body. He pulled a tarp over Turner.

    "What'd you find?" Peg asked him.

    "Another dragon did it," he said grimly. His blue eyes turned icy, his blue scales shimmering with indignation. "About fourteen-sixteen hours ago, I'd guess."

    "Probably someone he knew," Peg mused. "No forced entry. No signs of a struggle. No sign of the girl."

    No one in their right mind would let Tony in, I thought, but didn't say anything. Peg's a bright dame. Let her figure it out. I glanced around, but decided the answers were somewhere else. Time to go.

    Back at my own digs, I checked on the virgin. She sat in the cracked leather chair looking out the barred window at the other mountains. A pretty little thing. I saw now that her cotton gown had gotten ripped at the shoulder and the hem. Her pale skin showed dark circles under blue eyes. Blonde hair hung in tangles down her back. Altogether a bedraggled-looking human. I opened a wardrobe and looked through the gowns hanging there. Most were in tatters. One, ruby colored, looked decent, and I held it out to her. She shook her head. I wasn't surprised. Most of them act that way at first. I hung the dress on the wardrobe door and went to get her some food.

    For a change of scene, I brought her into my office to eat. She made no attempt to escape. Had probably tried that with Turner and found out you can't outrun something that flies.

    She picked at the salad and fruit while I stared off into space and thought about the case. I decided my next visit should be to Rudd Tower. The only red dragon in the area, he was also the richest. I'd been to several gatherings with him, spoken to him briefly. He had business interests that reached into the next continent. I'd heard he was buying up caves and dividing them into sections, then charging dragons to stay in them. He called them apartments. But because there were fewer and fewer of us all the time, some said he was nearing bankruptcy.

    Regretfully, I locked the girl up again and flew over to Rudd's mountain, the biggest in our range.

    His door was open, and a beautiful lilac dame sat at a desk in the foyer. She was sharpening her claws to a fine point when I entered. Without looking up, she asked, "Do you have an appointment?"

    "No, but I need to see Mr. Tower on urgent business. My name is Spike Mallet."

    She put down the whet stone and looked at me. "The Spike Mallet?" she asked.

    "Guilty as charged."

    "I'll let Mr. Tower know you're here." She fluttered her eyelids at me and slithered out of the room.

    I sighed and waited.

    She returned and showed me in, standing in the doorway so that I had to brush against her as I passed. I passed slowly.

    "Spike," Rudd greeted me. "What brings you to my place?"

    A bit surprised that he remembered me, I said hello and looked around appreciatively. Rudd had done his office in onyx and mother of pearl so that his red self stood out like rubies on white silk.

    "Turner Wrench has been murdered," I said, hoping the unsoftened words might jar something loose from Rudd.

    But Rudd was cool. He barely blinked.

    "Why tell me?" he asked.

    "He was an associate of yours."

    "Not exactly. We just did a few deals together."

    "What kind of deals?"

    Rudd gave me a sharp look. "What's your interest in all this, Mallet? You're not here in any official capacity, are you?"

    I backed off a little. "No, I just have a client who's interested."

    "I see," said Rudd. "Well, since he's dead, I guess I can tell you that he helped me buy up a few properties."

    "He was a front dragon."

    "Yes. When anyone learns that I'm interested in a certain piece of real estate, the price suddenly goes up. So I use different dragons to throw them off."

    It made sense, but somehow I didn't think he'd told me the whole story. "That's all?" I asked.

    "Yes," he said shortly, frowning at me.

    I shrugged and thanked him for his time.

    His receptionist still had nothing better to do than sharpen her nails. I leaned on her desk and asked, "What's your name, sugar?"

    "Mauve," she said and smiled at me.

    "How about going out for a drink? Should be about quitting time."

    She looked at the sundial on the window ledge and smiled again. "It is," she said. She got up and told Rudd she was leaving, stretching her wings a little, slowly undulating her tail. I breathed through my mouth.

    At The Lair, Jack served us both fire-eaters, and I asked Mauve some general questions about working for Rudd. By the time we'd finished two drinks, she was loosened up. I stroked her neck and asked, "He working on anything new?"

    She blinked her golden eyes at me. "How'd you know?"

    "Just a guess. Something interesting?"

    "I think so. He gives seminars on how to get more treasures. Then he gets members of the audience to invest in the seminar company, promising to at least double their investment."

    It sounded like a pyramid scheme to me, and we were far from Egypt. "Did you know Turner Wrench?"

    She lowered her eyes, and her mauve cheeks turned to a purple blush. "Yes," she said, not looking at me.

    I didn't want to be the one to tell her he was dead. But her reaction would be interesting. "He's dead," I said, putting my arm around her, watching her face carefully.

    "No!" she exclaimed and looked at me in amazement. "How?"

    "Murdered."

    "Oh, oh!" She finished her drink in one gulp. I signaled Jack for another. "Who did it?" she whispered.
    "I don't know," I said. "I thought you might have an idea."

    "Rudd? You think it might be Rudd? They had a terrible argument a few days ago."

    "What about?"

    "I'm not sure. I heard Turner say something about going to the authorities, though. I think it had to do with the seminars. Rudd wanted Turner to give some, but Turner wouldn't, said it sounded dishonest to him."

    I wondered if his refusal had cost him his life. I paid Jack for the drinks and flew with Mauve to her cave. At the door, she said, "Will you come in for a nightcap?" She was back to fluttering her eyelids at me, and she had restless wings. Regretfully, I said no.

     Time to update my client, I thought. The rain came down in torrents, dampening my spirits as well as my scales. It seemed like it always rained or at least misted lately. My bones protested a bit, and I was glad to find Ima's cave. Near the top of a high peak, she had a wide ledge and an enormous door with gargoyles peeking over the top, guarding it.

    I rang Ima's chimes. In a minute, she opened the small inset door at eye level and looked out. I gave her my best smile. Chains clanked and finally the door opened. She held a handkerchief to her eyes as she motioned me inside.

    "Oh, Spike," she cried and fell into my arms.

    I helped her to the lounge across the room, noticing the expensive, flamboyant decor as we went. The senior Wrench's must have been extraordinarily wealthy for Ima to have inherited all this. I knew she didn't work for a living.

    We sat on the couch and she quieted some. "The sheriff was just here and told me about. . . about Turner."
    I murmured something as she broke into fresh tears. After she settled down, I asked, "Do you have any idea who may have done it?"

    She shook her head at first, but then her emerald eyes grew thoughtful. "He was so good. Never in any trouble, even when he was a teenager. The only change lately has been that he started seeing Mauve--Rudd's receptionist. He met her at Rudd's, and from what he told me, they had a rather stormy relationship."

    Interesting. Mauve hadn't mentioned this at all.

    "What did they argue about, do you know?"

    "The usual. Mauve was jealous of the girl."

    The girl, I thought. Young princesses were going to be our final ruin. The younger dragons just couldn't stay away from them. Even some of us older ones, like Axel, who should know better, couldn't resist having one.

    I sighed. It seemed a lot of dragons had a motive to kill Turner. I felt like I was missing something, though. Something important.

    I said good-bye to Ima and left. I glided among the mountains awhile, just thinking. Finally something clicked. Everyone had said Turner was honest. Everyone except Jack. I went to The Lair. The place was deserted, but I heard voices in the back room. Raised voices.

    "Why'd you hire Spike, of all dragons?" Jack shouted.

    "I didn't know you knew him," Ima answered.

    "That's beside the point," Jack said. "He always solves everything. He'll figure it out, and then we're done for."

    "I thought it would throw suspicion off me if I hired someone. I didn't know he was so good. His cave isn't much. Fake stuff everywhere."

    "Because he's honest," Jack said, his tone bitter. "Treasure doesn't matter to him so much as it does to the rest of us."

    "I still don't see how he can find out you killed Turner."

    Jack groaned. "I never should have."

    "Aren't I worth it?" Ima purred.

    Jack groaned again. "Yes."

    That's when I walked in.

    Ima reacted first, raising her snout to strike. But I was too fast for her, and fire engulfed her before she knew what hit her. Jack grabbed the seltzer, but he was too late. She died of heartburn, just like her brother.

    Jack moaned and knelt down beside her. He lifted her into his arms, her brilliant green wings drooping toward the ground.

    "You'll do the honorable thing?" I asked.

    He nodded, then went to the entrance of the cave, Ima in his arms, and started flying southwest to find the sun since it had already set in our mountains. I flew with him as far as I could before it would be too late to turn back. Jack kept going, and I glided, watching him fly to the sun until I could see him no more.

    Wearily, I made my way back to my own digs. When I got there, I remembered the princess. I unlocked the door and stepped into her room. And stopped and stared.

    She'd put on the red dress and sat at the vanity, brushing her golden hair with an old tarnished silver-backed brush.

    I watched her awhile, then went to get us some supper. She sat across from me in the dining room in that ruby dress, and I observed her eat so delicately. After she ate the last bite, she gave me a tentative smile that almost broke my heart. I took her back to her room and locked her in.

    The next morning I prepared a large breakfast and took it to the girl's room where we ate off of trays.

    When we were done, I handed her the ruby dress. She put it on and brushed her hair. After placing the virgin on my back, we took off. For a change, the sun had come out, and the mist rose up around us until we were almost at the bottom of the range. I kept a lookout for humans but saw no activity.

    I flew until I saw the rainbow, then headed for its right end. I could feel the girl tensing as we got closer. The colors ended in an emerald green meadow with wildflowers everywhere. I made a perfect soft landing and turned my head to look back at the princess. She looked at me for a long moment, and then I helped her down.

    No other dragon could take her now, and she would have good fortune for the rest of her many days. This was promised to any virgin returned to the rainbow's end.

    I flew back to my mountain and my cave, poured myself a fire-eater and sat down to wait for the next adventure to come to me.