“Ouch. No wonder you guys are drained, if you’re fighting both building and books at the same time. Uh…I kinda told the landlady this could be fixed. Did I lie to her?”
An excellent question. I didn’t have a ready answer for it. “Anything can be fixed. This might take more effort than usual.”
“Got it. Okay, go, go. And go straight home afterwards, you’ve earned the rest of the day off.” She leaned in quick to give me a chaste kiss. “I’ll check on you later. Maybe pick up dinner on the way in.”
“I look forward to it.” The idea was, in fact, quite appealing.
“Good, go.” She bounced back out—because, of course, she had energy to spare—and was already off, back to working on the logistics of it all.
Because I did not trust myself, I focused solely on starting up the car and following Gibson. I didn’t know where precisely to go, he did, so follow Gibson. Just follow.
I might have zoned out a little during the drive. I had no memory of it, at least. I blinked and suddenly realized we’d stopped. And we were on palace grounds. I hadn’t been challenged at the gate—Gibson’s doing? I had to assume so.
It took willpower and mental bribes, but I managed to pull myself out of the vehicle. Then I stayed there, feeling a little light-headed for a moment. Oh dear, I really had overdone it.
A hand landed on my shoulder, and Gibson peered at me intently, brow furrowed. “Davenforth. I think you’re done.”
“We have to unload the grimoires,” I protested. I didn’t actually want to unload them. It was the responsible part of me speaking.
“No, you’re done,” Gibson repeated with a firm shake of the head. The line of his mouth brooked no disagreement. “You and Colette are both swaying and barely keeping your head up, you’re so exhausted. I’m glad Jamie interrupted us when she did. I should have been keeping a better eye on both of you. Just hold tight for a moment longer. I’ll have someone drive you home.”
He gave me no room to protest, just spun on his heel and was off, calling out to people.
I looked around myself, trying to gain my bearings, but nothing looked familiar. Had I been in this section of the palace grounds before? Even while working on the wards here, I hadn’t visited the whole place. I did see a flag flying above one of the buildings, though, and it was the kingsmen red. We must be near their compound, or on it.
Colette came over and leaned against me and the car, using us both to prop herself up. Since she was not an insignificant woman in size, I felt my own muscles strain to keep us both up. Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing deeply as if she were honestly attempting to sleep while upright.
“Colette.” I put force into her name. “Do not sleep on me.”
She made a noise of disagreement, a sort of growl-slash-whine. “People can sleep standing up. There’ve been studies.”
“And you are not going to validate those studies. Gibson is fetching someone to take us home.”
Her displeasure lifted, and she gave a smile. “Oh, I do like him.”
“He’s a good sort,” I agreed.
A young kingsman came jogging up to us, looking unfairly awake and sprightly. “Doctor Davenforth, Doctor Harper? I’m to take you home.”
Colette finally opened both eyes and gave him a brilliant smile. “Thank you, Kingsman.”
He had us loaded up in no time at all. I gave him the direction for my own flat and Colette’s, and he drove quite competently. It took willpower and grit, but I didn’t fall asleep during the drive. Colette did. I had to prod her awake.
The young kingsman escorted her to the door and stayed planted there until he was sure she was well on her way up to her own flat. Only then did he come back to the car and resume driving me. My flat was not far from Colette’s, fortunately.
“I’m not sure if I can ask any details, sir.” He paused at a stop sign and gave me a quick smile over his shoulder. “It’s alright if it’s too classified for me to know. But did something happen?”
“A flat full of grimoires without protective boxes all jammed together. We spent four hours trying to clear it and keep the building from falling down.”
“Great magic, sir, that sounds dreadful! No wonder you lot are all so exhausted. I’m not a magician myself, but we all get training in supporting those who are. I’m not sure how much I could help with this type of situation, though.”
“I’m sure Gibson can tell you. Taking us home has been helpful. I’m not entirely sure I’d have made it back under my own willpower without getting into an accident.”
“You do look very tired, sir, if you don’t mind my saying. You and the other magical examiner. I can tell how hard this case must have been, as you all looked at your wits’ end.”
“That we are.”
He pulled up to the curb and parked. “This one, sir?”
“This one. Thank you, Kingsman. I appreciate your time.”
“Not at all, sir. Have faith we’ll get the situation back under control while you rest and recover.”
His attitude was refreshing, to say the least. I approved of it. “Thank you.”
I dragged myself bodily out of the car’s back seat and into my own building. Phil must have seen my approach from a window, as I was barely into the tiled foyer when he appeared at lightning speed down the stairs.
“Henri!” His light voice was surprised but also suspicious. He knew I shouldn’t be home halfway through a workday.
I waved, a tired wiggle of the fingers. “Phil. I’m done-in. We had a very difficult case this morning.”
“Need help?”
It was on the tip of my tongue to say no, but I remembered something important—Phil was meant to be a magician’s familiar. It wouldn’t hurt for him to inhabit that role, for a change.
“I need to rest. Will you watch over me? If something untoward happens, I need you to run for help or use my pad to contact Seaton.”
Phil gave a serious nod. “Will.”
“Excellent.” I got up to the first landing, realized Tasha and Clint were on the stairs above me, and directed them. “One of you go to Colette. She’s in the same shape I’m in. Someone needs to watch over her.”
Tasha and Clint exchanged glances, and Tasha said firmly, “I’ll go.”
Colette was close enough that I wasn’t worried about Tasha going by herself. She was only eight blocks down. The kitten could traverse that distance easily.
Clint had a different worry on his mind. “Jamie?”
“She’s fine. Coordinating efforts, not in the middle of things. If you want to report to the palace and see if you can help the kingsmen, though, you can. I’ll put you in a taxi if you wish.”
He was obviously torn, then shook his head. “Stay with you.”
Did I look so bad that I required two Felixes to watch over me?
I decided, for my own sake, to not answer that question.
I was all set to help people at the site, but I had barely gotten everyone coordinated to go into the building and pick up where the first group had left off when I got a call from Niamh. If she was calling, I figured it had to be important, so I stopped right at the edge of the ward to answer her.
“Speak, Niamh.”
“Detective, I think we found him. But…I can’t be sure.”
“Yeah, you’re going to have to clarify that.”
“We’re at a nearby hospital, Rexford’s. We asked if anyone by the name of Samuel Laughlin was admitted, and they said no. But when I asked about the first patient they saw with the right symptoms, they reported a name to me that we hadn’t heard. What makes me suspicious is that this man came in yesterday evening with those symptoms. He predates all other patients by a good fourteen hours.”
“Oooh,” I crooned. “That is so very suspicious. And what name did he give the hospital?”
“Nye Abbott.”
What was this guy, a spy? Seriously, how many aliases did he have?
“Get a description of him if you can. A
nd show the staff the sketch we’ve got, see if you get a match. Any idea where this man went after he was discharged? I’m assuming he was discharged.”
“After he was treated, he vanished. Skipped on the bill, too.”
“Of course he did.” Color me surprised. “Alright, good, sounds like you have a lead. Follow up on that, I might meet you at the hospital later. It depends on how much help they need here.”
“I think we’ve got this,” Gerring pitched in. “We thought we’d give you the name in case it would help.”
“And it might. We’re trying to catch something of a lead ourselves. If you’re done there, go over to Blue Rose Street and see if you can drum up someone who knows this man.”
“That, we can do. He’s slippery, but supposedly people do business with him, so someone has to know him, right?”
“You’d think. Good luck, though, I have a feeling you’ll need it. I’ll keep you updated.” Ending the call, I looked around, saw Jules, and jogged toward him. “Jules!”
He turned and gave me a distracted smile. “Hi. I’m ready to go in.”
“Yeah, about that, can I go in?”
He blinked at me, gave me a once-over, and then shrugged. “Your protections should be more than adequate for this. If I’m wrong, I’ll reset you.”
Jules was not nearly as protective of me as the other two, and I trusted his eyes and magical sense. I, too, felt like this place would just roll right over me, like water off a duck’s back. Sherard had made sure of it after the last time I’d gone down, and I trusted his work. And I really needed to check the landlady’s files.
We both went in, but while Jules went up the stairs, I deviated to the office to the left of the front door. Even as I entered, my nose crinkled in distaste. The ozone in here was something else. If you mixed paint fumes with the scent of fresh tar, and added in tropical humidity, you’d get something close to this smell. Yikes, no wonder everyone on the first shift had been done-in after four hours. I couldn’t imagine frantically working in this environment, and it had to be so much worse on the third story.
The office was organized and simple. A desk for the paperwork, three tall filing cabinets arrayed on a wall to the right, two chairs in front of the desk for visitors. I went for the filing cabinets, pulling open the drawer most likely to have Laughlin’s file. Quite a few names under that letter, but I found his mid-way through and pulled it out.
It was thin, which didn’t give me much hope, and when I flipped it open, I sighed. Yup, about what I’d expected. The application was a single sheet, and there were only three receipts for the months he’d paid rent. Nothing else.
But the application was what I’d come in here for. I tucked the folder under my arm and jogged back out, as I had no desire to stay in the building a second longer than I needed to. I got outside, breathing in fresh air with relief. Better.
Foster had been patiently waiting for me outside, and he popped up eagerly, no longer leaning against the side of the car. “You found it.”
“I did. Hopefully it holds the goods. Update me first. Maslin?”
“Found her, got her witness statement and an invoice,” he assured me. “It’s all in the folder in the car.”
“Cool beans. We’ll deal with that later.” I flipped the folder open as I walked to him, reading quickly through to the bottom where a contact name and an address were listed. Then I groaned. “Are you kidding me?”
“What?” Foster came in closer, tilting his head to read over my shoulder. “Nye Abbott. Wait, isn’t that the name Niamh and Gerring found at the hospital?”
“He’s listed as his brother. Ha. Okay, no, I guess there’s a chance Nye’s really his brother and just happened to be exposed to that madness while visiting. My gut says this is another alias, but there’s a real possibility he’s got a partner in this business.”
“We have to verify it, one way or another.”
“We do. Bad thing for a detective to do, assume anything.”
I tapped a finger thoughtfully to my mouth. On Earth, it was pretty easy to verify a person’s identity. We had lots of helpful databases for that. But here, nothing easy about it. It’s why Massimo’s use of aliases worked so well—there was no way to readily check someone’s identity. Switch your name, move to a section of town where no one knew you, bam. New person.
But here, at least, he’d listed an address with Nye Abbott’s name. And I needed to speak with Abbott, anyway, since he’d skipped out on a hospital bill.
“Let’s check the address, see if anyone knows him.”
“Might as well,” Foster agreed. “I can drive. I know that area of town.”
“Awesomesauce. Go for it.”
Foster had driven his own vehicle in, so I hopped into the passenger side, willing to be chauffeured. He drove a bit like I did, anyway. That was to say, with a lead foot. I approved.
As he drove, he cleared his throat. “Detective. I heard from Niamh that you chose to bring both her and I into this because the Queen wants some of her kingsmen trained in investigative procedures.”
“Correct.” Where was he going with this?
“I just wondered why us? Is it because we’re junior agents?”
“Yeah, that’s part of it. I mean, you’re easier to pull from the roster because you’re not assigned to one place in particular. But I don’t want you to think you’re the only ones I’ll train. I think I’m supposed to do around twenty people, all told.”
At least, Regina had made noises to that effect.
Foster made a low noise in the back of his throat, taking this in. “But not the senior agents.”
“Totally depends. Marshall and Gibson have both told me they’d love to learn how to do what I do. They’re usually super busy so I’d have to find a way to block out their time for a case. Not easy to do.”
“Hmm. I didn’t really know the difference, at first—what a kingsman does verses what a detective does. Now that I’ve experienced it, I realize there’s quite a bit that’s different. You don’t approach a case in the way I was trained to. And we deal with completely different matters most of the time.”
I could see that intelligent mind clicking away. Foster had been brought into the kingsmen for a reason. And his brains were the main reason.
“But you also see the overlap, don’t you?”
“I do,” he admitted readily. “Like with the last case I helped you on, with the stolen gold. And this one, where the integrity of a city is under threat because of this man’s greed and stupidity. You often work with RM Seaton on cases like this.”
“Well, Sherard loves working cases with us. He enjoys the intellectual challenge. And working with two of his best friends. If he hadn’t gone royal mage, he probably would have ended up as a magical examiner. That’s how much he likes the work.”
“I can see that, actually.” Foster slowed for a stop sign, looked both ways, then went through the four-way intersection. “And he would have been good at it. I know a few of my superiors have made noises about you and Doctor Davenforth joining the kingsmen. Do you think that will happen?”
“Eh, not anytime soon. I’ve really just hit my stride at the station. I’m not really in a hurry to leave it yet.”
“I’m glad. I think you’re doing a lot of good where you are. Although I’d be happy to see you join us, too.”
Something about the way he said that made me realize. “You know, don’t you?”
“That you’re not from this planet?” he responded calmly, with only a glance towards me. “Yes. I know.”
“Kingsman security clearance,” I muttered to myself.
Dummy, dummy, dummy. I should have realized long before this. Of course he could pull my file and read through it if he wanted to. He had the clearance to do so and nothing to stop his curiosity.
“When did you read my file?”
“After the first day I worked with you on our previous case.” He shrugged, a little abashed. “I realize now I should h
ave asked. But…I couldn’t put the pieces together. You knew so much, so many things I’d never heard a hint about. And every person we worked with deferred to your knowledge, even experts in their field. There had to be a reason. And—don’t take this the wrong way—you don’t quite look like the other humans from this world.”
“It’s my skin tone,” I admitted easily. “My mother’s from a people that have an olive skin tone that doesn’t really exist in this world. Sometimes I think people assume I’m really, really tan or something. I let them think what they like because I really don’t want to explain my story over and over. They know too much of it as it is.”
“That they do. I didn’t tell anyone else what I read. I kept that confidence, as I felt bad about even reading the file.”
Foster really was a good guy. I wanted to hug him. “I appreciate that, thanks.”
His brows lifted slightly. “But it mentioned in your file that you know a unique fighting style. Can I possibly ask for a sparring match?”
“Why is it that whenever the guys learn I know how to beat people up, they volunteer themselves for a match?” I shook my head, laughing. “Sure, Foster. I like to spar with the kingsmen about once a week, anyway. Come with me sometime, and I’ll introduce your arse to the mats.”
He grinned from ear to ear, happy as a clam. “I look forward to it.”
Well, at least I won’t ever be short on sparring partners. There’s that, right?
Foster confidently took us into the correct neighborhood, and it didn’t take long for us to get on the right street. The houses here were nicer townhomes, not upper class, but a good two steps up from lower class. We pulled up to the right door and I slid out, making sure my badge was handy.
The front yard of the townhome had a clutter of bikes and discarded toys, which I noted as I went up the sidewalk. The place was in that state of not-quite-maintained, a sign of a young family. I got the impression of parents constantly trying to keep things clean and organized but getting distracted by children. The front door was a cherry red—cheerful—and I gave it a sound knock, then stepped back, waiting at Foster’s side.
Grimoires and Where to Find Them Page 19
