“Mari Falk. You two looked pretty chummy down at the police station.”
David blinked behind his round glasses. “Mari? What does she have to do with anything?”
“Mari? Oh, peachy. You guys are on a first name basis now? Brilliant!” If David was going to be this dense about it, I wasn’t going to draw him a map.
“A map! With weird screwy words. I knew I’d seen those words before!” I exclaimed. I clunked the last bottle on the shelf in front of me and rushed back toward the kitchen.
“Hat?” David asked, puzzled.
I turned back to my bestest bud. “Millicent! Millicent’s maps! The motive! I think I know what got Millicent killed!”
“Maps? Motive? What is she talking about?” David spun around after me. The cats followed suit.
“What I think she means, Chief,” Jet mewed excitedly. “Is that Ravena Valley’s ex marked the spot
Chapter Twelve
The whole flight back to Ravena’s house, I couldn’t shake off David’s erratic behavior from earlier. The latest in a line of worrisome events. The outburst back at The Angel. The weird shock of white hair. The overwhelming sensation I received when I touched him. I’ve known him for most of my life and what I had seen just lately was completely foreign to me. It brought up some unpleasant memories from a night not so long ago where I had to get between him and a lethal bit of Fae magic in the apartment just above Celestial Cakes. Were the Fae making another play on the man that I…liked an awful, awful lot? If so, then why?
“Good questions, dear Hattie,” Onyx said from his perch on my broom. “But, if the Fae are involved, then I think you know that it's probably best to let the answers reveal themselves, rather than to hunt them down. We all know how slippery the facts can become where our Faery friends are concerned." He gave me a gentle look. "Let the answers show themselves at their own pace."
I was too concerned about what was going on with my favorite cop on Glessie to be annoyed by Onyx’s usual thought intrusion. “Still doesn’t mean that I’d be annoyed if the answers didn’t land right in my lap this very instant.”
“While you’re flying a broomstick?” Gloom growled next to Onyx. “Sounds like a great way to lose them all over again.”
“As charming as your conversational skills are, dear sister,” Onyx said with heavy dollops of irony. “You do understand that you are expected to contribute beyond a bad attitude to this little expedition of ours to be considered for future voyages, yes?”
“Whatever. Carbon was getting on my nerves today. I just wanted a couple of hours peace. It's worth putting up with a love-sick cop, a brother with delusions of leadership and my way-too-nice pet human.”
I glanced over to the flying David on my left. “Seriously, though, Gloom…didn’t David’s behavior strike you as being completely out of character?”
“Is this your not-so-subtle way of asking me if you think he’s fallen out of love with you?”
“Gloom!”
“Alright, alright…guess that last would be more of a Shade question. But, yes…he’s definitely acting strangely. Even his scent is off." She sniffed the air in high-nosed indignation.
Onyx gave a puzzled meow at that statement. “How do you mean?”
“What, you didn’t pick up a hefty smell of cow milk on the guy when he busted through the front door earlier?”
The gears started turning in my head. “So maybe he’s being dosed with something?”
“Hey, you’re the apothecarian, not me. Still, you got to figure that something's going on for him to use your birth name in an actual conversation, right?”
I felt a chill go through me. Once again, it looked like my quarry was stalking my partner in the hunt. The chill gave way to a steely resolve. I'd beaten the Fae at their own game before. I would again. Anything to protect David.
Ravena wasn't holding the taser when she opened the door this time. I felt myself relax almost immediately. The grieving woman mustered a smile that didn’t quite touch her red-rimmed eyes as she waved us both in.
“From his phone call, I was expecting only CPI Trew,” Ravena said as she closed the door behind us. “So, I am a bit surprised to see you again, Ms. Jenkins.”
“I hope it’s not an unpleasant surprise,” I said.
“Oh, no, far from it,” Ravena said, waving her hands a little too emphatically. She looked incredibly flustered; as if she possibly hadn't rehearsed receiving two people. Was she hiding something?
“Well, for my part, dear lady,” Onyx said. “Let me just say what an absolute pleasure it is to be in the presence of such a fascinating scientific mind. I've read all your work, and your thoughts on radiation and how it works is quite radical.”
You could have knocked me down with a feather. This cat ...
“Suck up,” Gloom muttered sourly.
Ravena’s smile went from practiced to amused. “And who, may I ask, is this grumpy little kitty?”
Despite herself, Gloom started purring as Ravena scratched behind her ears. I glanced at David, who seemed to be looking around at everything like he’d never been in a house before. That uneasy feeling in my gut stirred.
“That's enough now, lady” Gloom finally said, indicating that she'd had quite enough caressing for one day, thanks very much. My unselfconscious cat turned her bounteous rump toward us, telling us all interaction was over.
Ravena giggled nervously. I wanted to apologize for Gloom's impolite behavior, but I kept quiet. Ravena stood.
“So…how may I be of assistance, Chief Trew?”
David shook his head as if to clear it. “Well, actually, it’s Seraphim’s idea, not mine. My bestest bud was thinking—“
Ravena looked confused. “I’m sorry but who is Seraphim?”
“Didn’t you two already meet earlier?" David motioned to me. "I mean, I know I wasn’t around for all that, but—“
David suddenly gave a start and fell to the floor with a strangled cry. I cried out his name as I ran, in slow motion, over to him. His limbs were as rigid as a bronze statue, and he was rocking side to side like he was having a seizure. I pulled out an olive branch stick from my bag, stuck it between his teeth. At least he wouldn’t bite off his tongue. As a part of me was amazed I could think so quickly, the rest of my thoughts were consumed with worry for David.
Thankfully, just as quickly as the seizure came, it passed. But as it did, David passed out on the spot, his breath uneven and ragged as his limbs began to relax little by little.
“Should we get him to a hospital?” Ravena asked, her pixie face blanched white from the shock of the spectacle.
“No, I think he's coming around now. " I felt his pulse, and I could feel the pumping of blood begin to return to its normal flow. With a flood of relief, I realized he was going to be okay. Suddenly a thought occurred to me. "I’ve got a better idea,” I said. “Do you think you can test out his body chemistry in your lab?”
The centrifuge started whirring. I was knelling down next to the prone David, wiping the sweat from his brow. Onyx and Gloom helped in their own way. Gloom by sitting atop David's head, and periodically booping his nose in a reassuring fuzzy touch. Onyx by licking the Chief's ears. All of David's other vitals seemed to be operating normally now: even breaths, steady pulse, pupils less dilated. He was just unconscious, but finally at rest. At peace.
“While I couldn’t smell it before, Gloom,” Onyx said between licks. “I certainly can taste the milk now.”
“And, it tastes a little wrong, doesn’t it?” Gloom pointed out.
That remark made Ravena look from her lab equipment and over at my pair of helpful kitties. “Oh, dear…that doesn’t mean that you two—“
“No, no, no,” Onyx assured her. “If it were anything too harmful, our tongues would have detected that by the third lick, I am certain.”
“Tell that to Fraidy,” Gloom said. “If he’d come along instead of me, I’d be hearing about slow-acting poisons for the next month.”
I ignored my cat-kin and stroked my friend's forehead instead.
“What is happening to you, David?” I asked the unconscious Chief.
Ravena noticed. “You really love him, don’t you?”
I looked over at her, a little sheepishly. “Oh, it’s not like that. We’ve just been really good friends for…”
I had to stop there. There was a knowing look in the scientist’s eyes that told me I wasn’t fooling her at all.
She walked over to me without a word, gave my shoulder a sisterly squeeze. “You know, no matter what she did, I never stopped loving Millicent. Her being with Governor Shields wouldn’t have hurt so bad if I had.”
The tears came, silently spilling down her cheeks. “I’m still glad that we had the time we did together. I…I don’t want to even think about what my life would have been like if I had never had her in it at all.”
My heart went out to her at that moment. Maybe she was the murderer, but I no longer doubted her love for that crazy eco-activist who had so utterly captured her heart.
Taking her hand off my shoulder to wipe her tears, she finally said between sniffles, “My point is, Ms. Jenkins, don’t wait too long to tell him how you feel. It’s always later than you think.”
Ravena looked crestfallen as she walked back to the centrifuge. Gloom, tiring of "head duty" ambled after her.
David began to stir at that moment, coming to with a moan and reaching a trembling hand to the side of his head. “Wha…what happened?”
“What do you remember?” I asked him, still concerned.
“Not much after I left Mari and came to see you,” David admitted, slowly rising to a sitting position.
“I'm glad you're okay, Chief Trew,” Ravena said from her station. “I thought maybe the colorful decor in here put you in a spin." The petite woman offered her weak joke with an even more fragile smile.
David’s eyes grew wide with alarm. “Wait, we’re in your house?”
“Oh, my,” Onyx said. “CPI Trew, allow me to rephrase Hattie’s previous question. What is the last CLEAR memory you have before this moment?”
David shook his head as he struggled to remember. “Reading Hattie’s note to come…here. Everything after that is…extremely fuzzy.”
“I think I may have a partial answer to why this is so,” Ravena said in alarm. “You both might want to take a look at this.”
“Am I not invited to this conference?” Gloom asked with her trademark snarkiness.
Ravena didn’t look up from her microscope, however; she merely gestured for all of us to come over. I noted how her one hand was adjusting the dial on the equipment while the other was scratching Gloom's head. The latter, feeling pretty pleased with being in the heart of the action, was purring and puffing out her chest, her tail curling around the microscope itself.
Ravena looked up from the lens and hit a switch just below the countertop. An unseen projector flashed an extreme close-up of what looked like organic cells on the opposite white wall. They looked like a funky purple brick wall from a 1970s pop art poster.
“Let me preface this by saying that I am no medical doctor,” Ravena said. “However, when you wind up sharing your life with someone as deeply involved in environmental issues as Millicent was, issues of health do come up. Some of my lab equipment could test those conditions on site.”
“So those are my cells we’re seeing here?” David asked, the color draining from his face a little.
“Actually, no, those are Millicent’s cells. These I saved from our last little homemade medical exam.”
Ravena cleared her throat to keep the tears from coming back again. She then hit another switch under the countertop and a second picture popped up alongside the first. “THESE are your cells, Chief Para Inspector.”
The contrast was, um, not striking. No matter how much I squinted or nodded thoughtfully, I just couldn’t figure out what the difference between the two images was. David voiced my confusion, “I'm not sure what I'm looking at.”
“You have an excess buildup of calcium,” Ravena said. “Which makes perfect sense, seeing as you have an alarming deficiency of magnesium. The latter prevents the former from getting this far gone.”
My mind flashed back to the milk taste and scent that Onyx and Gloom had picked up. “But how do we go from a calcium buildup to seizures?”
“You might want to ask that question another way," Ravena stated. "A better way to ask might be: How does magnesium deficiency affect the body. A primary function of magnesium is its role in the regulation of brain chemistry. I’m only speculating with incomplete expertise and information, so bear with me here. But, based on what I DO know, it is entirely possible that the magnesium deficiency contributed to your seizure by promoting a chemical imbalance in the brain.”
“Is it possible that it could have been caused by poison?” I asked, still suspicious from David's last encounter with toxic materials.
Ravena held up her hand. “Please, remember what I said about not being certain about this. I will be glad to keep testing these samples and forwarding my results to any party you deem qualified to make these judgment calls. But I'm not willing to speculate any further about what it all may mean.”
“Well, seeing as we're here for something completely different,” David said with a sigh. “Can we change tack here and get onto what we came for?" The Chief ran a shaky hand through his white-streaked hair. "I believe there's something else you can help us with regarding Millicent’s case.”
I felt a wave of relief inside. Whatever had just happened, it hadn’t interfered with David’s innate cop-like ways. I backed him up. “Actually, I wanted to take a look at Millicent’s maps again. I saw them briefly last time I was here, but I wasn't paying attention. There was something written on them that I think can help us.” I gave Ravena an imploring look.
Ms. Valley looked confused for a second, and then realizing what we were asking of her, she replied; “Of course…but what—“
“It’s a hunch,” I said, holding up my hand. “Maybe it’s nothing. But the only way to be sure is if we take a look.”
“They’re in her study. She kept them on the bottom bookshelf behind the desk. I’ve meant to…”
Gloom suddenly started purring again and rubbing against her. I smiled inwardly. My abrasive kitty could show such kindness. She knew that Ravena was about to crack up with raw emotion again. The sad woman seemed grateful for the kitty distraction and immediately lightened a little. “You can find the study just outside this door to the right.” Gloom nestled closer to Ravena, even allowing the latter to scratch her on her back close to her tail. A giant 'no-no' in Gloom's picky world. And, yet, my kitty kept purring and rubbing against the bereft Ms. Valley offering warm and furry consolation.
Five minutes later, we were halfway through Millicent’s maps when Gloom came tip-toeing in. Before anyone could say anything, she declared;
“Not one word to anybody about what I did for Ms. Einstein today, got it?” Her head turned from me to David to Onyx, and then on each of us again in the opposite direction, checking our understanding. “Especially Midnight,” she finished.
“But of course,” Onyx replied, amusement just right behind his politeness. “You, after all, have a reputation to maintain, dear sister.”
“Onyx…” I warned.
“Did Dr. Valley say anything else about my test results?” David asked, not looking up from the maps as we picked over the next one.
Gloom snorted. “Like I’d have understood a word of it if she had.”
David nodded, but he looked troubled by that statement. It was obvious that whatever was going on with him had him shaken. And, I suspected it had been going on for a while. Whatever 'it' was. The weird streak in his hair, the fact that he managed to not get shocked during Maude’s little demonstration, his utter enchantment with Ms. Falk…all troubling signs of something he, as yet, refused to share. What was so troublesome that he thought he had to keep
it from me?
The question got tabled when I happened upon what I was looking for. It was a map of the section of Glimmer Mountains that towered above where Millicent had died. The writing on it was every bit as screwy as I remembered, but one phrase jumped right out at me: “THUC SIN DARN ECOS.” I started tapping the strange words with my pointer.
“What language is that, Spanish?” David asked, giving it a closer look.
“I regret to say, Chief Trew, that I find it just as unfamiliar myself,” Onyx said.
Gloom didn’t bother to chime in, having already settled into a corner of the room for a nap. Displaying such unguarded affection took its toll on her, it seemed.
I pulled out my enchanted notepad and asked David, “Borrow your pen a minute?”
David was befuddled but complied. I activated the Authoria charm on the pad, and every phrase on the map started showing up, double-spaced, on the charmed paper. It only took a couple of page flips for all of the nonsensical words to be recorded, but I kept jumping back to the letters that seemed so familiar to me. Just then, the phrase from my dream leaped right to the forefront of my brain, “HIC SUNT DRACONES.” I wrote it underneath THUC SIN DARN ECOS and started matching up the letters.
Within a minute, I had a complete match of every letter in both phrases. I lowered the notepad to show Onyx and David the results.
“So it was an anagram,” David deduced. “You certainly seemed to connect the dots on this pretty fast. Had you seen these letters before?” I didn't mention my dream, given that it appeared so un-scientific. The last thing this investigation needed was any more confounding elements. Luckily, I didn't need to.
“The other night at the town hall, there were antique maps hanging on the walls,” I explained, tapping the translation with the pen. “One of them was of Cathedral -- specifically, the Glimmer Mountains terrain, and it had this phrase in the area of Burning Peak,” I said, referencing Cathedral's most towering peak.
“I’m still a little lost on how you knew that Millicent would have a map of this area,” David admitted.
The Black Diamond Curse (Hattie Jenkins & The Infiniti Chronicles Book 4) Page 13
