He tilted his head and chirped.
The woman shook her head and turned to Master Gella. “I’m sorry, what?”
“We’re here to look into the nahual attack.”
After a more thorough look at what was in the thin leather case, the police woman handed it back to Master Gella. “Thank you. I’m Officer Bess. You’re more than welcome to have a look around, and once he’s finished, at the victim, too.” She pointed to the kneeling man who had returned to examining the body.
Coatl sniffed. Now that they were closer, even the sharp, strange smell in the place could not cover up the scent of all the blood around the dead man. From his wounds, it was more than likely a nahual that killed him. Fillion should be able to tell for certain, once he examined the body.
“I don’t know much of what transpired,” Officer Bess said, “other than what the officers who arrived first told me. You can ask them when they get back, if you like. The only ones here right now are myself and Jimmy.”
Coatl glanced up to a kind of balcony made of metal grating, the top landing of an open staircase on the wall. There was a doorway, there, and just to the side of it was a short line of cabinets of some sort. Was the person somewhere over there not with the police? Coatl focused a bit on the thoughts coming from that direction. The person was asleep.
“It’s a mystery,” Officer Bess said. “How could a nahual get this far into the city without being spotted by anyone, officer, or citizen? We’re four blocks in from the north, and the rest of the city’s to the west and south. Unless they’re really good swimmers, I doubt it crossed the river.”
“Do you suppose it’s still nearby?”
Coatl glanced at Master Gella. She was looking around the place, suspicious.
“No.” Fillion shook his head and placed his hand on Coatl’s shoulder. “If it were still within ten miles, we’d know.”
“Oh? How?” The officer’s brows were drawn together.
“It’s an innate sense dragons and their bond-mates have.” Fillion shrugged. “That’s one of the reasons we’re so good at hunting nahual.”
“Well, we could have used a dragonlinked tonight.” Officer Bess frowned at the body.
Coatl looked back up to the cabinets. Each time he tried to scent anything, however, that strange and powerful smell in the place interfered. He had to sniff the air more times than normal before he learned more of the sleeper.
He turned to Fillion. It smells funny in here.
“I wonder where it went,” Master Gella said.
Funny?
“The other officers are having a look around outside for signs, but I doubt they’ll find anything.”
Yes. Like those taxidermy chemicals, but different.
Hmm. Fillion looked around the place.
“Even under normal circumstances,” Officer Bess said, “nahual don’t leave many signs of their coming and going.” She watched Jimmy as he examined the body. “From what I understand, this one came and went before anyone knew. The sound they make attracted a passing foot patrol, but by the time they arrived and searched the area, it was too late.”
Coatl chirped. Maybe the girl knows something.
Fillion looked at him. “What girl?”
He pointed with his nose. The girl asleep in those cabinets.
“Girl?” Master Gella stared at Fillion.
“Yeah. Coatl says there’s a girl up there.”
Master Gella followed Fillion up the metal stairs, with Officer Bess not far behind. Faint clanging noises came from the grate steps as they went up.
Coatl padded a little closer.
Fillion eyed the narrow cabinets and looked down at him. “Which locker is she in?”
Locker. So many words for the same thing. Coatl could see them through the metal grating that made up the large landing. The second from the left.
The girl woke frightened as Fillion opened the door. She looked to be about eleven years old.
She is scared.
“We’re here to help,” Fillion said.
“Is he gone? The wardrobe man?” She stared down through the metal grating, gaze darting about the floor of the warehouse before settling on something. The body. Horror and despair surged from the girl.
It is gone. You need not fear.
The girl pressed herself farther into the locker, against its back wall. “H–How can you know?”
Officer Bess, who had turned to Coatl upon hearing him speak, now turned back to the girl. She was about to say something, when Master Gella put a hand on her shoulder.
“We can feel nahual,” Fillion said. “My dragon and I would know if it were still here.”
The girl looked down. “That’s your dragon?”
Coatl returned the stare. We are bond-mates. And Fillion speaks true. If the nahual were here, we would know.
The girl raised a hand to her temple and whispered, “Golden.”
“My name’s Fillion. And that is Coatl.”
“I’m Preeti.” Gaze still on Coatl, she said, “How did you get a dragon?”
“I’ve finished down here,” Jimmy said. “If you’d like to do your own examination, Special Investigator, you’re more than welcome.”
“In a moment,” Master Gella replied.
The girl looked at the body, and again horror, despair, and a deep sense of loss surged from her.
The girl knew the dead man. She is very sad.
“Coatl says you knew the man who was killed.”
“He’s my—” Preeti swallowed. “He was my dad.” Tears began to form in her eyes as she stared at her father’s body.
Fillion offered his hand. “Come on, let’s step outside.”
Preeti looked up at him and nodded.
“I’ll have a look at”—Master Gella glanced at Preeti and then back at Fillion—“at the victim in the meantime.”
Fillion and Preeti walked outside, and Coatl followed them to the edge of a wide wooden walkway overlooking the enormous river. Fillion told him once that wooden things like this were called boardwalks, which made surprising sense for a human word. The things were constructed of boards and you walked on them. Beyond it, many boats and ships were tied to the piers that extended into the river from the boardwalk.
Coatl chose a spot to sit on his haunches so as to block Preeti’s view of the warehouse behind.
“This river is a lot bigger than it looked from the air.” Standing below a street lamp, hands on the handrail, Fillion stared across the dark expanse of water.
“It runs pretty deep, out in the middle. Fifty feet, maybe.” Preeti sniffled and rubbed her nose. “Or so my dad told me.”
“Preeti,” Fillion said, gaze on the wide river, “who’s the wardrobe man?” He turned to the girl.
She looked down, perhaps at the worn shoes visible below her ragged trousers. “Years ago, back before we lost our house, before my dad lost his good job, I realized that someone lived in my wardrobe.”
She walked to the handrail a few feet to Fillion’s left and stared out at the dark water. The river breeze played with her shaggy, shoulder-length black hair.
“Sometimes at night,” she said, “the door of my wardrobe would swing open on its own. The slow creak it made sent chills across my body. It would scare me so much, I could hardly move. I’d call to my dad to come get whatever was hiding inside. Every time he looked, though, there was never anything in there but my clothes.”
Preeti turned to them. “I’d stopped thinking about the wardrobe man a long time ago, but somehow he found my dad and killed him.”
“It wasn’t the wardrobe man,” Fillion said, “it was a nahual. We can tell by what was done to your father.”
Anger burst from the girl. “You think I don’t know what a nahual looks like? That I wouldn’t have recognized one of those things?” She shook her head. “No, it was the wardrobe man. After so many times where my dad found nothing but clothes, I finally understood. The wardrobe man is invisible.”
&nbs
p; “Invisible?” Fillion’s brows drew together.
Tears formed in Preeti’s eyes, spilled down her cheek, and fell to the ground.
Coatl let out a soft whine. Unsure what to do to help, he could only watch Preeti. Such terrible emotions swirled within the girl as she stared blankly, lost in an awful memory.
“I saw it all.” Preeti turned and sat down on the boards, back against the rail post. She pulled her knees to her chest. “My father sent me up to the office to put away some tools before we left for the night. As I was locking the toolbox, I heard something strange. I walked to the office door, wondering what was making the noise, but all I saw was my dad standing down there.”
She locked gazes with Fillion. “My dad was alone. No ugly creature, just my dad.” She looked down at her knees. “Then, my dad lay on his back on the floor. I didn’t know why he was doing that, so I took a few steps toward the handrail, but I stopped when blood splattered from his neck. It sprayed out like some kind of horrible fountain. I couldn’t move. I just stared. The sound of tearing cloth made me look at his chest. His shirt was . . . cutting itself. It slit open down to his belly, and then, so did”—a sudden sob was followed by more tears—“his skin.”
Preeti buried her face in her knees.
The pain, the horror flowing from the girl was too much. Coatl padded over and touched his nose to Preeti’s head.
After a moment, the girl sniffled and wiped her nose again. She looked up and touched Coatl’s cheek before continuing. “Somehow, my back was against the lockers.” She glanced at Fillion. “I opened one and hid inside and started crying as quietly as I could. It was my fault. My daddy was being punished for trying to find the wardrobe man. If I hadn’t asked him to look in the wardrobe all those times, he’d still be alive.”
Fierce denial shot through the link. “No. Alandra’s merciful heart, no!” Fillion crouched next to Preeti, placed his hand on the girl’s shoulder. “It was not your fault, Preeti. It wasn’t the wardrobe man who killed your father, it was a nahual-ton.”
“I told you.” Preeti’s voice was flat. “What killed my father was invisible. It had to be the wardrobe—”
“Nahual-ton are invisible. No one can see them except dragonlinked and their bond-mates.”
Preeti looked up at Fillion. “Invisible?”
“They are nahual, but with the ability to hide themselves from view. You said you know what nahual look like. Do you also know what they do to their victims?”
“I—yes. I heard about the terrible things they . . .” Realization blossomed in the girl’s mind and spread out and over Coatl.
Everything that was done to your father was done by a nahual-ton. It was not your fault, Preeti.
She looked at him. Fresh tears welled in her eyes and hope in her heart. “It wasn’t?”
Of course not. Coatl touched his noise to the girl’s forehead. You are not to blame.
The despair and horror billowing out from Preeti lessened, but the acute sense of loss remained.
Coatl took a step back and sat, watching the girl.
“Do you know where the nahual-ton went?” Fillion’s voice was quiet.
Preeti shook her head. “No. I was too scared to look out the vent holes. I don’t even remember falling asleep.”
Fillion turned to him. Do you think you can scent out where the nahual-ton went after it killed Preeti’s father?
He was not sure he could. It will take some time. That strange smell in the building makes it difficult.
Fillion frowned and mumbled, “Damn. I wonder what that smell is even from.”
“You can still smell it? It came from the barrels.”
Coatl and Fillion turned to Preeti.
The girl looked from one to the other. “The sharp smell inside, you mean?”
Fillion nodded. “Yeah.”
“They put a small hand pump on one of the barrels and drew out a little of what was inside for some test. The stuff gave off that strong smell. I’d never seen metal barrels before. There were a lot of them in there, too, thirty or forty. They were all shipped out earlier today.”
Coatl turned to the ships tied up on the docks. For commerce or trade as Fillion had earlier mentioned?
“Not on those.” Preeti pointed to the warehouse. “There are loading docks on the other side of the building, too. The barrels were packed onto a bunch of wagons there, and then driven into town.”
A warm glow of life came from the south. Coatl glanced that way. Someone, a man, was approaching quickly.
“No matter.” Fillion stood. “Coatl, can you try sniffing out the nahual-ton around the outside of the building? That chemical smell won’t be as strong outside.”
He looked at Fillion and chirped. That might be easier. By the way, someone comes. It may be one of the officers the police woman spoke of.
From where?
Coatl turned. He is running up from the south.
Fillion looked that way as well. If he’s one of those officers, I can ask what he knows of the attack.
What the man was thinking made it clear that he was not an officer. Some of his thoughts floated above the others, gleaming brightly. He was worried. The man knew the girl was there, was thinking of her, and of barrels. Were they the same barrels Preeti had mentioned?
The man trotted into the light of the nearest street lamp, breathing heavily. “Preeti!”
“I’m fine, Uncle.”
“I saw some police officers searching about the area back there. What’s going on? Where’s your father? You two never arrived for dinner.”
Preeti shook her head.
Fillion said, “I’m afraid Preeti’s father was killed by a nahual-ton. There are officers inside with his body.”
Coatl glanced sharply at the man. There had been a sense of loss, but why had relief pierced through all else the man felt? And now his thoughts were filled with barrels and a building that was not this building.
When he saw Coatl staring, his thoughts settled, became less clear.
“I was telling them about the—”
“You should go home, Preeti. I’ll see to your father. Later, I’ll drop by the apartment to help you pack. Your aunt and I will take you in with us.”
“But they were—”
“You’re going to need time to look over everything and decide what to keep and what to leave behind. Get your horse and go get started. I’ll be along later to help.”
Preeti looked toward the building and then to the ground before her. She nodded.
Concern came through the link from Fillion. Frowning, he looked from the man to the girl. “Are you okay right now to get home by yourself, Preeti?”
“I think so. Thank you, Fillion.” The girl turned to him. “And thank you, too, Coatl.”
Coatl chirped at her as she left. Preeti’s thoughts were still troubled, but the despair was gone. Turning to the girl’s uncle, Coatl wondered why the man had seemed so eager to get Preeti away from them.
“I need to examine the body.” Fillion removed his kit from the saddlebags and headed for the warehouse. Only a small amount of fear and loathing for the examination came through the link from him.
The man trailed after Fillion.
Coatl followed. There is something not quite right about this man.
Oh?
He was relieved when he heard his brother had been killed by a nahual. While there was sadness, too, he felt intense relief. Why? And did it not seem as if he rushed Preeti away?
Hmm. Yes, it did.
Officer Bess and the examiner were gone. Looking up from the body, Master Gella watched them approach. Her gaze flicked to the man. “Who are you?”
The man looked at the body. “Astin is, was, my brother.” His face was contorted by grief. An emotion not fully reflected in his thoughts and feelings.
He is feigning some of that sadness.
Is that so? Fillion stepped closer to the body. “What sort of work did your brother do here?”
A spike of worry came from the man. Coatl watched him.
“He was a handyman and laborer for this shipping company.”
“Shipping company?” Fillion glanced around the large room. His gaze lingered on two large tables near a far wall that were covered in glass and metal equipment of various size.
Worry increased as the man also stared at the tables.
“I’m done, if you want to start.” Master Gella stood and stepped away from the body. “Incidentally, did you learn anything from the girl?”
The surge of worry was such that Coatl was certain the man would physically twitch. He did not.
Fillion frowned and knelt to begin his examination. “From her account, I’m certain it was a nahual-ton that did this. She actually witnessed the beginning of the attack.”
Master Gella shook her head. “The poor girl.” She turned to the man and he took a step back. Her eyes narrowed at that. “You’re the girl’s uncle, then?”
“Y–Yes, ma’am.”
“What’s your name?”
“Tobin.”
“You’ll need to treat the girl with care for a while, Tobin. She saw her father killed.”
“Of course.”
Master Gella turned to watch Fillion. “An officer went out front to meet a corpse wagon that should be arriving soon,” she said. “When our examination is complete, Tobin, we’ll leave you to tend to your affairs.”
“Thank you.”
Once Fillion was done, they left for the riverside.
Fillion glanced at the warehouse. “There is definitely something suspicious about Tobin. Even Coatl thinks so.”
Master Gella raised her brows. “Oh?”
Coatl rumbled in agreement. The man knows about the barrels that smell strange. He was worried about them the entire time.
“Barrels?” She looked at Fillion. “What barrels?”
“Preeti told us that the smell Coatl says still lingers in there comes from four-dozen or so barrels that were shipped into town earlier today. And, when he arrived, Tobin seemed worried about letting us talk too much to the girl.”
He seemed more concerned with police presence here than the fact that his brother was killed.
Master Gella stared at the warehouse. “He did seem a bit antsy.”
Of Gods, Trees, and a Sapling: Dragonlinked Chronicles Volume 4 Page 7
