The Chimney: The Merc Papers

by G. T. Spoor

  “Unfortunately, that’s where I work. The apartment’s not far from there.”

  Chapter 7

  He Had It Coming

  “What time did you get in?” Sarah asked.

  Emily sat down at the kitchen table where a breakfast of water, burned toast, and dry eggs waited for her.

  “I have no idea,” she said, poking at the eggs with a fork. “I still haven’t quite gotten the hang of telling time in this city.”

  Sarah set aside the paper she was reading and took a sip of her coffee. “I know it was pretty late. I fell asleep waiting for you.”

  “Sorry about that. I kind of got a little sidetracked.”

  “No luck with Brian then, I take it?”

  “Hardly. Someone managed to get to him before I could.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I think he was abducted.”

  “Abducted?”

  “Yeah. Ironic, isn’t it? Two men in a black vehicle grabbed him off the street.”

  Emily slid the paper over to her side of the table and glanced at the headlines. There was a story about four orcs being arrested down on tier eleven. Something to do with them entering a diner they shouldn’t have. There was another story about the Crystal Exploration Corporation and their ongoing problems with saboteurs. A third story was about an unexplained explosion in the residential district on tier thirteen. Fortunately, there was nothing about her run-in with Mr. Sinclair, not that she expected to read it on the front page. It didn’t take a genius to see that Sinclair had connections, and they probably ran a lot deeper than the Blue Tigers.

  “Do you think Brian’s abduction had anything to do with yours?” Sarah asked.

  Emily pushed the paper aside and leaned back in her chair. “I don’t think so. I think he was into something else.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “I managed to overhear a bit of his conversation before they took him away. It sounded like he was supposed to deliver something to someone, but I’m not sure what it was or who he was supposed to deliver it to.”

  “Holy Badger.” Sarah jumped up from the table and ran into the kitchen. “I almost forgot. I found this in his cot.”

  “Found what in whose cot?”

  When Sarah returned, she was carrying a small black sphere in the palm of her hand. She set it down in the center of the table.

  “I found this in Brian’s cot,” she said.

  Emily carefully picked it up.

  It was heavier than it looked and cold to the touch. She couldn’t tell if it was made of stone or metal. Whatever it was, it was pieced together from smaller parts. The craftsmanship was remarkable, the seams almost invisible. Turning it over, she noticed a faint circle of a lighter color on the other side. When she pressed it, nothing happened.

  “What is it?”

  “I have no idea,” Sarah said.

  Emily placed it down on the table and gave it a gentle nudge. It rolled slowly across the surface. When it came to rest, she picked it up again.

  “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

  “Do you think it’s what Brian was supposed to deliver? It seemed so out of place with the rest of his stuff.”

  “I’m not sure. It could—wait a minute. How did you get to see Brain’s cot?”

  “Curt showed me.”

  “Curt? Who’s Curt?”

  “Oh, you remember Curt. He was the young man who pointed Brian out to you.”

  “And he showed you Brian’s cot?”

  “Well, yeah, after I explained everything to him.”

  “You didn’t tell him why I was looking for Brian, did you?”

  “Oh, come on. Give me some credit. I told him Brian owed you money.”

  “And he believed you?”

  Sarah grinned mischievously. “I can be very persuasive.”

  “Somehow, I don’t doubt that.”

  “Besides. I don’t think he liked Brian all that much.”

  “Why? What did he say?”

  “He said Brian was a bit odd. Stayed mostly to himself. Never hung out with any of the other crew members. He also said that Brian was known to hit on a lot of the female passengers, which got me thinking. You might not have been the first one Brian tried this on.”

  “I agree,” Emily said. “I don’t think I was targeted personally. I think I was simply a target of opportunity. He followed me around to make sure I was traveling alone, and when he got me away from the other passengers, he started asking me questions about why I was coming to New Doral and if anyone was here to meet me. I don’t think he had any idea who I was, and I thought he was some guy trying to pick me up. Now I know it was all a trick to gain my confidence. He even convinced me the directions I had were wrong. Now that I think about it, I can’t believe I fell for it.”

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Sarah said. “He was a good-looking guy—for a creep.”

  “Still. I should have been more careful. I knew there was something off about him, but I thought I was being too suspicious.” Emily set the sphere down on the table again. “I wish I knew where this thing came from, or who he was supposed to deliver it to. Maybe there is some connection.”

  “If it will help, I’ll try to find out more about Brian tonight.” Sarah got up from the table and carried the dishes into the kitchen.

  “What do you mean?” Emily asked.

  “I’m meeting Curt after work. He’s taking me out for dinner.”

  ~~~***~~~

  By the time they reached the Bird and Bay, the morning shift had already started. Dorothy and Kate were waiting tables while Tom wiped down the bar. He glanced up when they entered.

  “You’re late,” he said.

  Sarah didn’t even look at him.

  “Sorry, Tom. The trams were running slow again.”

  He huffed and shook his head. “You’re going to have to come up with a better excuse one of these days.”

  “Why? You’ve always seemed to accept that one.”

  “Yeah, but one of these days I might not. Then what?”

  Emily said nothing and passed under Tom’s gaze. She entered the back room where Sarah was already getting changed.

  “Aren’t you afraid he’ll fire you?” she asked.

  “Not really.” Sarah laughed. “He’s too desperate for waitresses.”

  Retrieving her uniform from off the peg, Emily held it up to the light. Unfortunately, it hadn’t grown any more material since yesterday. It was still as revealing as ever. No wonder the customers didn’t respect her. She lost respect for herself each time she slipped it on. It was going to be another humiliating day, she thought as she looked at herself in the mirror.

  When she followed Sarah onto the main floor, Dorothy ran up to greet them. The otherwise reserved young woman seemed overly excited.

  “Am I glad you two made it in.”

  “Why? What’s the matter?” Sarah asked.

  “I have to leave. We finally have enough for Jake to get his license.”

  “Dot, that’s great.”

  “Yeah, we’ve only been saving up for the last two years.”

  Sarah frowned. “But does that mean you’re going to be leaving us soon?”

  “Not yet. This is just the property license. We still have to get the business license and then the merchant license, but at least we’re one step closer.”

  “Well then, you’d better get going. Don’t worry. We’ll cover for you.”

  Dorothy hugged both Sarah and Emily before disappearing into the back room. Emily wasn’t exactly sure what had just happened. All she knew was that with Dorothy gone, her workload just increased.

  “What was that all about?” she asked.

  “She and Jake have been talking about starting a bakery for the longest time,” Sarah answered. “It would appear they finally saved up enough money to afford their first license.”

  “How many do they need?”

  “Three, as far as we know. There
’s the property license for owning the building, then there’s the business license for operating a bakery, and then there’s the merchant license for selling to the public.”

  “That’s… ridiculous.”

  “That’s the way things are.” Sarah shrugged and pointed to the far side of the room. “You can take over Dot’s tables since Kate is running the booths. It will give you a chance to earn more tips.”

  “Wonderful,” Emily said as she grabbed an empty tray from off the bar.

  “And, uh… try to smile more. Okay?” Sarah called after her.

  ~~~***~~~

  As the lunch hour rolled around, Emily kept watch on the door. She was hoping to see Tilly or better yet Mira, but it’d been two days since the elf came in to dine. How long did it take to analyze a poison sample? Now that Brian seemed to have gotten himself abducted, it was her only lead to Squeaky Voice, although she wasn’t sure how. If she could find out who supplied the poison to Brian, then maybe she could find out who Brian worked for unless the supplier was Squeaky Voice himself. The whole subject would be moot if that was the case and she’d be back to square one.

  The tables were filling up faster now, and the customers seemed a bit rowdier than usual. According to Sarah, they were mill workers who only came in every other week, probably because that’s when they got paid. They came into the city to eat, drink, and blow off a little steam until their money ran out, although it appeared drinking was their top priority. Emily was forced to make multiple trips to the bar and back to keep their glasses filled.

  She was also informed they tipped very well, although so far she hadn’t seen any evidence of that. Sarah advised her to keep a smile on at all times, no matter what, but that was becoming harder to do with each trip. Table six was the most challenging. A large man with a scruffy beard and a head full of shaggy hair kept leering at her each time she served him a drink. At first, she was more concerned with his drinking companion, a gangling middle-aged man with sunken cheeks. He was the more vocal of the two and shared with her his unfiltered opinions of her appearance—everything from the length of her hair to the size of various body parts. Emily was starting to wonder if keeping a smile was worth the few extra fyn.

  It was on her fifth trip that things got a little awkward. Carrying a tray loaded down with food and drink to table number five, she paused momentarily to serve the gangling man his sixth drink of the night and that’s when she felt it—the bearded man’s hand on her backside. It was at that very moment, the two paths she followed diverged, and she was forced to choose one. Unfortunately, it was not the one her father would have approved of.

  Gripping the tray firmly with both hands, she tipped it sideways and swung as hard as she could. There was a satisfying crack as the tray slammed into the bearded man’s face, breaking on impact. Food and drink went flying across the table, and the man fell over backward, clutching his shattered nose, blood streaming from between his fingers.

  The room fell silent. Everything was moving: people, chairs, tables, mouths. The men were shouting, but there was no sound. It seemed as though things moved in slow motion.

  Gangling man jumped to his feet and grabbed Emily from behind.

  She never hesitated.

  No sooner did his arms close around her, she dropped down and pulled him off balance, then quickly drove her head up under his chin. The impact snapped his mouth shut and loosened his grip and probably a few of his teeth. Twisting his arm, she broke his hold and came around behind him where she drove her left knee into the back of his. As his leg buckled, she grabbed the collar of his shirt and helped him fall face-first into the table. She looked up in time to see a second man, in a red coat, lunging at her. Grabbing his wrist, she pulled him forward and drove two fingers into the base of his throat. The man fell to his knees, gasping for air. When someone else grabbed her from behind, she spun around with a palm strike but stopped the moment she realized it was Sarah. She came within an inch of making contact. The young woman looked terrified. She was trying to say something and Emily forced herself to listen. That’s when the sounds came flooding back. The room was no longer silent. Yelling, cursing, screaming, most of which was coming from Tom. Sarah quickly pulled Emily off the main floor.

  When they reached the kitchen, Beth was standing near the door with a rolling pin in her hand.

  “What’s going on out there? What happened?” she asked frantically.

  Sarah pointed back to the main floor. “Emily tried to kill three customers.”

  “I wasn’t trying to kill anyone,” Emily said, pulling herself free of Sarah.

  “You smashed a man’s face in with a tray,” Sarah shouted.

  “He grabbed my ass.”

  Beth’s eyes widened. “So you tried to kill him?”

  “I wasn’t trying to kill anyone,” Emily repeated.

  “You slammed another man’s face into a table,” Sarah said.

  “Okay, maybe I overreacted on that one, but that man grabbed my ass. You may be fine with that, keeping a smile and all, but I’m not.”

  Beth lowered her rolling pin, and a grin slowly spread across her face. “Good for you.”

  Sarah’s jaw dropped. “Beth?”

  “What? She’s right. He shouldn’t have touched her.”

  “Well… yeah, but… she tried to kill him.”

  “I did not try to kill him. He’s still alive, isn’t he?”

  At that moment, Kate busted into the room laughing. “That was incredible,” she squealed. “I can’t believe you did that.”

  Sarah glared at her. “Not you too.”

  “Come on, you can’t say you never wanted to do something like that—”

  “Well, maybe, but—”

  “Maybe nothing. If I thought I could get away with it, I would have done it a long time ago.” Kate ran up to Emily and gave her a big hug. “You are officially my hero,” she said, “but Tom is livid and you’re probably going to get fired.”

  Pushing Kate away, Emily moved to the far side of the kitchen. She needed space. When she turned around, all three women were staring at her. Beth looked concerned, Sarah looked scared, and Kate, well, Kate looked like she was having the time of her life.

  “You know, at this point, I don’t even care,” Emily said. “No offense, but I can’t do this anymore.”

  Beth smiled, but it wasn’t one of her happy smiles. “Unfortunately, dear, there aren’t too many jobs open for women in the Chimney.”

  “There has to be something better than this.”

  “There’s always the night work.” Kate laughed.

  Beth hit her with a towel. “Don’t say such things.”

  “I was only joking.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We don’t—”

  “She’s fired,” Tom shouted as he burst into the room. His face was red and he was shaking. “I want her gone. I want her out of here.”

  Beth quickly stepped between them. “Now, Tom.” She held up her hands to calm him down. “She had a very good reason for doing what she did.”

  “Reason? What possible reason could she have for attacking paying customers?”

  “He grabbed my ass,” Emily said from behind Beth.

  At first, Tom seemed stunned. She wanted to believe he cared about what the man had done. She wanted to believe that but knew it wasn’t the case. He ran his fingers through his hair, let out a long groaning sound, and shrugged it off. “So what?”

  “Are you saying you’re okay with that?” Beth asked.

  “What’s the big deal?” he said, brows drawn together. He didn’t seem to understand why she was so mad. “It was a compliment.”

  Emily slowly looked over at the tray on the counter. Sarah moved it out of her reach. Kate moved it closer.

  Beth sighed and shook her head. “You know you don’t believe that, Tom. You can’t fire her for something like that.”

  “I can’t let her go back out there, either.” He pointed to the main room.

 
“Fine, then she can work in the kitchen with me. I’ve been telling you I could do with some help.”

  Tom’s eyes widened. “Work in the kitchen? Did you see how much damage she did with a tray, and you want to arm her with knives?”

  “But she really needs this job,” Sarah pleaded

  “And besides, she can’t harm any customers back here,” Kate added.

  “I don’t believe this,” Tom groaned and shook his head. “All right. All right. It goes against my better judgment, but all right. I’ll give you another chance as long as you stay away from the customers.”

  “No problems there,” Emily replied.

  “And you’re going to pay for the damages, as well as their meal and their drinks—do you understand?”

  “Fine.”

  “And apologize.”

  “Out of the question.”

  “What?”

  “I refuse to apologize. If anything, they should be apologizing to me. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Tom’s face twitched. “You… you didn’t do anything wrong? You listen to me—”

  “Tom.” Beth drew out his name with a sharp edge to her voice. “Now calm down and take a deep breath. You know you can’t expect her to go out there and apologize. It will only make matters worse.”

  “Very well,” he said through clenched teeth. He turned and headed back to the main room. “I guess it’s up to me to do a little damage control.” When he reached the hall he seemed a bit more composed. “Kate, Sarah, you still have customers on the floor.”

  The two young women quickly followed him out.

  When she was finally left alone with Beth, Emily collapsed against the counter. Now that it was all over, she was drained, sweating, and her knees were shaking. She had never experienced that level of rage before. She had always been able to control her anger, but in that brief moment, she forgot everything her father taught her. Wherever those feelings came from, they came all too naturally, and what truly scared here was how much she enjoyed them.