In Search of Justice

by Katie Holmburg

  Aletta hesitantly reached forward and placed her hand on his forearm. The warmth helped to push the ghosts back and he felt the memories fade to a manageable distance. “After a year, I decided to return to the Glade in hopes of finding peace there. But it was too quiet; I had changed too much to ever be content living there again. So I set off roaming again. I picked up odd jobs when I could, usually as a bodyguard.” His lips twitched up into a brief smile, but it quickly faded away.

  “Anyway, on my last guarding job, we were attacked, and I managed to subdue him. It turned out that that man just happened to be wanted by HSI. They offered me a job and I never looked back. I’ve been with the department for a few years now. Been partnered up a few times, but they just never really worked out. I just didn’t really…click with any of them.”

  She looked at him seriously, completely focused on him and whatever his answer to her question was going to be. “So what do you gain from me being your partner?”

  He didn’t hesitate when he replied. “Purpose. Having a purpose keeps me from getting sucked into my memories, from getting bogged down. Having a partner means I have to be present – to make sure that I don’t miss anything in an investigation that could help us catch the criminal. It forces me to think clearly and concisely because people are depending on me. That’s how I got through the war. I was a team leader, and if I wasn’t at the top of my game, people would die. So I did whatever was necessary to make sure that my people made it through the day. That was enough.”

  “Isn’t it too stressful, having to be on high alert all the time?”

  “I find it calming actually. It gives me something to focus on; it helps to keep the nightmares in my head at bay. And it’s not like I never relax, I just only relax around people I trust. That’s why I want this partnership to succeed. I have the feeling that as long as we’re honest with each other, like today, we can make this work. However, if you want to look for a different partner, if my past is too much, I understand.”

  Removing her hand from his arm, she abruptly stood and slung her messenger bag over her chest, causing Lirim’s heart to drop. So he was surprised when she grinned at him and said, “Well, if you can deal with a human female with a chip on her shoulder the size of a mountain, I suppose I can manage to deal with a Fae with overbearing protective issues. Now, don’t we have a criminal to track down?”

  Three

  They had been waiting to speak to the bank manager for almost an hour. Fiddling with the strap of her messenger bag again, Aletta groused quietly, “I hate waiting. You’d think that they’d be more accommodating knowing that one of their employees was murdered.” Lirim just smirked at her and she scowled at him, debating whether it was too childish to stick her tongue out at him.

  Thankfully, she was spared from having to decide when the secretary finally motioned that they could come in. Springing to her feet, she grumbled under her breath, “Finally!”

  Lirim eyed her but held his silence. She thought about saying something snarky, but the secretary was waiting, forcing her to remember that she was there in a professional capacity. Taking a deep breath, she mentally centered herself, preparing to be stonewalled by the manager.

  Entering the office, Aletta paused imperceptibly in the doorway when she realized a family friend sat behind the desk. She internally debated whether this was a pro or con before deciding to just roll with it. Putting on her best society smile brimming with charm, she entered the room. “Mr. Raymer, I didn’t realize that this was your bank.”

  Raymer looked up from the paper he was perusing, startled by her cordial tone. “I’m sorry, do I know you, miss?”

  She propped a hand of her hip and cocked her head, feigning hurt. “Why Mr. Raymer, I’m hurt that you don’t remember me.” He just looked at her. “It’s Aletta Sheridan.”

  He studied her closely before suddenly standing and coming around the desk. He offered her his hand, grinning broadly. “Brian’s girl, Aly! Look at you, all grown up.”

  She shook his hand lightly and they exchanged the usual pleasantries. After a couple of minutes, she delicately worked her way around to why they were there. With a small sigh and a regretful glance, she stated quietly, “While it’s good to catch up, my partner and I really did come here for another reason.”

  “Of course, of course, how rude of me. Please, be seated. You too, Mr. …” Mr. Raymer left the sentence hanging, sizing up her partner.

  Lirim answered laconically, “Agent Bosk.” He moved over to the seat next to Aletta, his stride reminding her of a large cat stalking its prey.

  She shot him a glare from the corner of her eye, quickly smoothing her face back into its pleasant mask when Mr. Raymer sat back behind the desk. She looked at Lirim, waiting for him to take the lead, but he just looked back at her. Swallowing her frustration, she turned her attention back to the bank manager.

  “Mr. Raymer, we’re here to talk to you about the man who was murdered, a Mr. Jeremy Brown.”

  “Ah.” He settled back into his chair and appeared to be genuinely saddened. “What can I help you with?”

  “Right now, we’re trying to get a feel for Mr. Brown and his life. How would you describe him?”

  “An intelligent, bright young man. He was going places. Very dedicated to his job, professional and detail oriented.”

  “Any problems with co-workers?”

  “No, although I won’t say that he was universally liked. He tended to be focused on work. He didn’t really spend a lot of time with his co-workers. But his relationships with his co-workers were all amicable.”

  “Was he close to any of his co-workers?”

  “No, he always held himself apart, a bit of a loner. Always focused on doing his job perfectly.”

  “And his family?”

  “An only child. His parents live upstate. He goes home on holidays; that’s about all I know.”

  “How would you describe Mr. Brown’s character?”

  Mr. Raymer thought this over for a moment before nodding decisively. “Immovable.”

  Aletta felt her brow furrow slightly. “Immoveable. That’s an…unusual choice.”

  “A man of strong convictions, then. He had very strong morals and ethics, one of the most upright men I’ve ever met. And he stood behind them, wouldn’t be swayed no matter how great the pressure from peers or popular opinion.”

  “Ah,” she nodded slowly, carefully pondering her next question. Judging by his house and the description from Mr. Raymer, Jeremy Brown seemed to be an upright, law-abiding citizen. So if he hadn’t gone looking for trouble, what had singled him out for murder? Could it have been his access to the bank vault? Where would he have run into the murderer? Since he had been murdered at home, most likely in the early evening, it would appear that he didn’t have much of a social life. His parents lived upstate and he was an only child, so it most likely wasn’t family-related. That just left his work.

  “Mr. Raymer, in the past few weeks, have there been any customers that seemed…off? Especially one that interacted with Mr. Brown?”

  Raymer looked at her, his eyes hard. “What are you implying, Miss Sheridan?”

  She soothed, “Right now, my partner and I are looking for anything out of place, something to help us find whoever did this horrible thing. Since neither Agent Bosk nor I knew Mr. Brown, we have no basis for what is or isn’t normal in his life or at his job. We are relying on people who knew him to find out what happened.

  “We do not believe that Mr. Brown is guilty of any crime. In fact, we believe quite the opposite. But if we don’t ask these questions, then there will be no justice for him. So I’ll ask again. Was there anything unusual in the past few weeks, especially pertaining to Mr. Brown?”

  Raymer steepled his fingers together and thought deeply for several minutes. Finally, he said, “There was one gentleman. I can’t say why, but something about him was…off. He had come in to see about opening an account with us. Jeremy was the one who discussed it wit
h him, but in the end, he decided against opening it. Name was Edmund. Edmund Druery.”

  Aletta stood, knowing that they wouldn’t get anything else from him. She gave him her card just in case he remembered anything but didn’t hold out much hope that he would. After a few meaningless social pleasantries, she and Lirim were finally able to leave the bank. She stalked to the car and yanked open the door, aware of the eyes from the bank watching her. This kept her from yelling like she wanted to. Instead, she fished her cell from her pocket and plopped down into the passenger seat. She heard Lirim chuckle as she slammed her door shut.

  He entered the car much more gracefully than she had and it irked her. She fumed silently, trying to keep a neutral face for their watchers. Starting the car, he said quietly, “Well, at least we got a name, right?”

  She growled quietly. “It’s a fake. No way that our murderer would be so stupid as to give his real name. Still, have to check it out.” She grumbled under her breath as she called the department and relayed the information to the techs. She hung up and shoved the phone in her bag before turning and staring out the window.

  She allowed several streets to pass in silence before turning and facing Lirim. “What was that?”

  Not taking his eyes off the road, he asked, “What was what?”

  “Your whole,” she waved her hand around in frustration. “Attitude, demeanor, what have you. You were downright curt. And I thought that you were taking lead on this?”

  “We were interviewing a suspect in a murder case, not having tea with the Ladies’ Auxiliary. I had no reason to be friendly. Besides, I could say the same about you. Why were you so…false?”

  “I wasn’t being false, I was being discreet. If I had approached him like an interrogator, he would’ve clammed up. This way we at least got a little information. Also, why aren’t you taking lead?” That was really bothering her for some reason.

  He sighed, his expression betraying the fact that he knew that she wouldn’t stop until he answered her. “Like I told you earlier, you have a special gift, a way of seeing the situation. I’m not going to interfere with that and cause you to miss something because you’re trying to figure out where I’m going with something. Unless someone is actively trying to harm us, you’re in charge. But if someone’s trying to run from, hurt, or kill us, then you do as I say without question. Understand?”

  Feeling fatigue start to creep up on her, she settled back into the seat. She nodded her agreement. “I understand. Just give me some warning next time, okay?”

  He shrugged his acquiescence and Aletta knew that that was the best she was going to get. The rest of the ride back to the office was quiet, neither one bothering to break the silence. When they reached the department, they agreed to meet in the morning to review the file, then she headed to her car while he headed inside to report their findings from that day.

  * . * . *

  Aletta sighed as she unlocked the door to her apartment, feeling weariness weigh down her shoulders. Turning on the light, she smiled when she felt something brush her ankles. Hanging up her bag, she crouched and petted the black cat twining around her ankles. “Hey Pen, miss me?” The cat just blinked at her and purred, causing her to giggle. Straightening, she made her way to the kitchen, Penelope meowing at her the whole way.

  She grumbled, “Hold on, hold on, it’s coming.” Digging through the cupboard, she fished out a can of cat food and dumped it into Penelope’s bowl. The cat immediately abandoned her for the food. She laughed, “You think you’ve had a rough day? You have no idea. They finally managed to make me partner up, a Fae. Lirim. He seems nice enough, but time will tell.

  Then they sent me to a murder scene. There was a dead body, ick. Whoever did this was a very, very bad man. Then we had lunch, nothing to your standards of course, but it was a good little café. Then we went to the bank and I had to deal with Mr. Raymer, sigh. He’s every bit as stuffy as I remember. And you know what the worst part of it all is? We learned nothing. We’re not any closer to catching the murderer than we were this morning.”

  She leaned against the counter and worked her curly, black hair free of its braid. Closing her eyes, she ran her fingers through it, easing the tension headache that had been brewing. Her stomach grumbled, startling her from her reverie. Putting the case out of her mind for the moment, she started her evening routine, determined to relax for a little while.

  * . * . *

  Lirim entered his apartment and dumped his keys on the table. He scanned the room absently, noting that everything was as he’d left it that morning. His apartment was spartan, but the lack of clutter was comforting to him. Sometimes he missed having others around him, but tonight, the lack of people was soothing. He had a lot on his mind and he needed solitude to process it.

  Absently putting together a meal, he reflected on the day. Aletta was not at all what he was expecting. He and his last partner had parted ways two months earlier, so he’d known that he was due for another soon. He wasn’t surprised when the captain had summoned him to his office. However, he was surprised to learn that he was being paired with the rookie. Usually, they didn’t pair him with the delicate ones; they preferred veteran agents because of his history. He’d seen her once or twice around the office, but he’d been gone for most of her time with the department, off on various cases. She seemed to be reserved but determined. He really hadn’t given her anything more than a fleeting thought.

  He had heard about the ogre incident through office gossip, but never put two and two together and realized that she was the one who’d been attacked. He’d been too busy hunting down whoever had brought the ogre to the city to really associate names and faces.

  So imagine his surprise when he found out that it was his new partner who’d been attacked and Jones was partnering them up because someone obviously wanted her dead. Jones thought that there was something fishy about the ogre incident and Lirim was inclined to agree. Ogres never went single-mindedly after someone while moon mad unless they were specifically being controlled. However, whoever it was that was controlling the ogre had disappeared, forcing Lirim into yet another dead end.

  He’d agreed to the partnership on a provisional basis and Jones sent for Aletta. Now that was a surprise. She’d been visibly upset to find out that she’d been partnered with him. He thought that she’d heard about his past and that was why she didn’t want to be partnered with him. He had sighed internally, expecting this to be the shortest partnership yet, beating the one that had only lasted for twelve hours. Capt. Jones had to basically order her to be his partner or be fired. He’d confronted the captain about why she wasn’t being told everything, fearing that she was someone that had to be coddled. However, he’d only gotten a vague answer about not wanting to disturb the way that Aletta saw things.

  That had made absolutely no sense to him, but he decided to roll with it. He was disappointed to learn she hadn’t even bothered to read the case file, but her reasoning had made sense when she’d explained. Picking up on her nervousness, he tried to put her at ease; the last thing he needed was a nervous rookie at a murder scene. When she had greeted the police officer, he’d braced himself for her complaints about HSI. Instead she’d been very professional, even going so far as to use his name as he’d requested. He’d been angry when she’d asked if he would be all right, thinking that she was insinuating that he couldn’t handle a simple crime scene. Her bluntness surprised Lirim, but it pleased him at the same time. He was pleased by her consideration of his enhanced senses, something that none of his other partners had even bothered to consider.

  When they entered the house, the captain’s cryptic words suddenly made sense. He’d never seen anyone analyze and take apart a crime scene like she had. He would almost swear that it was magical, despite knowing the fact that she was human. It seemed too much like a gift to discount. He was shocked to discover that this was her first murder, but she seemed to hold it together well. He’d had to pull her back to the present a cou
ple of times, but when she spoke, he could almost see the events play out before his eyes. After talking with the other officers stationed throughout the house, Lirim was satisfied that her interpretation of events was the correct one. Nothing else in the house had been touched besides the office, lending credence to her belief that the murderer had come to get the victim to do something for him.

  When he exited the house, she’d been leaning on the car, her face paler than normal. Still, she’d been admirably calm, merely asking that they stop for lunch. He was surprised that she had an appetite after the crime scene. It was one of the more disturbing ones that he had seen, he had to admit. Lunch had been a fun, lighthearted affair, reminding him somewhat nostalgically of spending time with his friends in the Glade. He was disgruntled when she told him that they needed to talk but respected her for putting it right out in the open. It had given him some startling insights into her that he was grateful for as well as a few things to look out for. There was nothing more dangerous than someone out to prove themselves. They would take foolish risks and put everyone in jeopardy. Still, he was satisfied with how their talk turned out and how she had seemed to accept his past without hesitation. He knew that they still had a lot to work out, but it was a promising start.

  Lirim thought about that for a moment. They’d been very honest with each other, which lead him to wonder if that’s why he’d felt so uneasy at the bank. Seeing her slip into that persona – mask, whatever it was – had been deeply unsettling to him. It was like she had transformed into a completely different person, one that put his guard up. She’d been closed off and distant, making him suddenly irked that the bank manager had caused her to behave that way. And they had learned nothing of value anyway, other than Brown’s morals were probably what got him killed in the first place. Not exactly front-page news there. He sighed, frustrated with the amount of cases that were running into dead ends lately. It just seemed like every time he was getting close to figuring something out, everything would disappear, causing the trail to go cold again.