“No,” Tallow said. So she had been in Gaiana, but she had been brought back. Maybe they had brought her back after her father threatened the company, but before Erl sent the basilisk to kill him. If that was true, then it was likely they were indeed planning to send her back now that he was no longer a threat. “I’m going to let you out of there.”
“Oh,” she said with a slight sigh of relief. “Good.”
Tallow pointed his cane at the lock on the cage door and unlocked it. He swung the door open. Polly didn’t move right away. The old emotions he had felt for her when he had been a teen welled up within him and he wanted to embrace her. But he pushed that impulse away. He was a stranger to her.
He held out his hand instead. Polly didn’t take it, but stood and walked out of the cage. She took two steps and stood still. Douglas and Ross walked towards them.
“Brenda says that SWAT is coming down the street as we speak,” Ross said.
“This is Polly,” said Tallow, but for some reason he couldn’t manage a smile.
Douglas nodded. “Hello, Polly. You may not remember me, but I’m Asher’s father. I know your friend Aarin who lives across the street from you. Would you like me to give her a call?”
Tears began to form in her eyes and she nodded.
“Come with me,” Douglas said and he held out his hand. She grasped it and he led her away.
Tallow watched them worriedly. “I hope she’ll be okay.”
“Yeah,” said Ross. “I’m sure she’ll pull through. Probably lots of therapy in her future though. Especially when she learns what happened to her dad.”
Tallow winced. After sixty years of searching he hadn’t imagined that finding her would have such a sad and unsatisfying result.
“What about that?” Ross asked, pointing towards the mirror. It still stood there unchanged. No mist. No blue light.
“We have to destroy it,” Tallow said.
Ross frowned. “Wait. But we could try to go through and mount a rescue mission. From what Pell told us, there are lots more people that were brought through before.”
“Yeah?” said Tallow. “Who? The three of us? You want to march into a dwarf smuggler camp and mount a rescue while your guns dissolve away? Besides, the last group of prisoners are long gone. I was there, remember? They don’t hold onto them for long. Even if I went alone, spells a blazing, and managed to get out of the camp alive, it is sixty years ago for me over there, remember? What if I screwed something up?”
Ross sighed. “Okay. So we put the mirror in storage until we have a way to use it safely.”
“And what stops the dwarves from mounting an assault on us from the other side?” Tallow said. “That’s the problem with the portal mirrors. If one mirror is in the hands of the enemy then both of them are compromised. It’s the reason why the Mage School never made more.”
He walked over to the nearest Reginald boulder and placed his hand on it. Reginald, he said mentally. It’s time for all your forms to leave now, but there’s one last thing I need you to do.
“What are you doing, Tallow?” Ross said.
“I have no choice,” Tallow said.
The boulder rolled towards the mirror, gaining in speed and growing in size. Reginald was ten feet in diameter when he smashed it.
Chapter 28: Going Forward
Tallow sat outside the chief’s office while Ross and Douglas met with her inside. They were telling her everything, from the existence of the other world and the magic that inhabited it to Tallow’s true identity. He felt more anxiety than he thought he would.
It wasn’t that he feared she wouldn’t believe them. The evidence they had compiled should be enough to turn the hardest skeptic. She had seen much of it firsthand herself the day before when she had gone down to the warehouse to see the destruction. The thing that Tallow feared was what she would decide once she did believe. He had a new life to build in Atlanta and he didn’t like that any part of it hinged on the decision of a third party.
After a while he stood and stretched, a groan escaping his lips. He was sore all over. It was a good sore though. The moment he had arrived back at his hotel room, he had taken his last elf potion. The worst of the aches had gone away and he had awoken with his energies replenished. What was left was just his body’s memory of the pain.
Too bad everyone else wasn’t getting off as easy. The eighty-three abductees that they had rescued weren’t plagued so much by physical pain. Each of them had deep psychological wounds from their experiences that would take a long time to heal. And Polly . . . Poor Polly had the worst of it.
She was unresponsive to most things. The only time she cried was when Aarin had first held her. She had spent the night in the room with Aarin and Agatha. Douglas had offered to continue to let her stay at the Jones’ house until her proper relatives could be found. Contacts had been made, but no one had stepped forward to take her so far.
As for the bad guys, twelve of the fifteen mercenaries had been hospitalized with broken bones and major contusions. Erl Hillstomper, tough dwarf that he was, survived his four story fall. He had a fractured skull, broken collar bone, and a bevy of deep gashes that needed to be sewn up. He had complained a lot and demanded his lawyer, but Tallow and Douglas were comfortable that the case against him was iron clad. Eighty-three witnesses would back the evidence with their testimony.
There was one thing that still unsettled Tallow. The destruction of the mirror had come a bit too easy. It was real, he had made sure of that. All the pieces tested out the way they should. But it bothered him that the mirror had never switched on. No one had even tried to come out to help Erl and his men.
And then there was what Jeline had said about Master Flynn . . .
The door to the chief’s office opened and the two detectives filed out. They gave him encouraging looks, but neither of them gave him the impression that this was going to be a slam dunk. Tallow sighed and then stepped inside.
Chief Susan Johnson was sitting at her desk and looking down at a pile of reports and photos on her desk. She had picked one of them up, a photo of Saocarlo’s legs poking out from under the rubble on the street. She dropped it and gave him a bleary stare.
“So . . . Detectives Ross and Jones seem convinced that you are a real life wizard,” she said.
“As much as I wish it weren’t true, alas, it is,” Tallow said with a sympathetic grin.
“It’s completely ridiculous is what it is,” she said bitterly. “There are a few things I have learned on the force and two of them are that DNA evidence can be tampered with and magic shows are always fake. The only reason I’m talking to you right now is because of the things I saw at that warehouse.”
She folded her arms and glared at him. “Those two boneheads seem to think you’ll be able to convince me that you are what you say you are.”
Tallow’s smile fell to half mast. “Proving to you that I am Asher Jones will be a little difficult if you won’t accept a DNA test. My fingerprints should prove it too, but I would think that the best evidence I could give you is that Douglas and Agatha are convinced,” Tallow replied. “They know me better than anyone else.”
“That is a valid point,” she admitted. “But even if some bizarre circumstance happened and you really are Asher Jones, back to us through some miraculous form of time travel, that still doesn’t make you a wizard.”
She was giving him an opening. Now he just had to pour on the charm. He hoped that he wouldn’t overreach himself and offend her. He had been known to do that once in a while.
“I will endeavor to prove that to you in a moment,” he promised. “But first I have a question for you. I know that it won’t seem relevant right away, but please bear with me.” He looked her in the eyes. “Why do you keep yourself so desk bound?”
The chief blinked at him. “Excuse me?”
“You used to be so vivacious and full of energy. I remember when we moved to Atlanta. My father told me how excited the force was to have you i
n the job,” Tallow said. “But that’s changed. Do you know what they think of you now?”
She gave him a cold glare. “I hear things. Do you really think that bringing this up is going to help your case?”
“I mean no offense,” Tallow assured her. He smiled again. “I’m going to tell you what I’ve heard in my short time here and then I’m going to tell you why they have you all wrong.”
“Somehow I think you’re just going to dig yourself a deeper hole,” she said.
“They say that you’ve lost passion for the job. They say that you have grown into that most disgusting of creatures, a politician. They say that you only keep the FIU around to make yourself feel better about the fact that you have lost your touch.”
Susan’s jaw dropped. “I am really looking forward to watching you try to turn this wreck around.”
“I don’t think you lost touch. I think you’ve adapted. You see the way that the city council and mayor treats the police department and you realize you need to fight fire with fire. Politics is part of policing, whether we want to admit it or not. The FIU is your way to make sure you don’t lose your grip on the reason you wanted this job.”
Susan snorted, “Listen to you mansplaining my actions to me. Am I supposed to find that cute?”
Tallow realized that he had hit a nerve. He raised a finger. “I’m not familiar with that term, but I promise you that I am not trying to be patronizing. This is just my theory from what I have observed since returning to Atlanta this past week. I say it out of complete respect.”
Susan grunted, her gaze a bit less fearsome. “Here I thought you were planning to mention the nickname they gave me.”
“That of a certain Star Wars villain?” Tallow said with an apologetic smile. Her eyes narrowed and he added. “I think they have that wrong too. I watched you last night when you came down to the warehouse. I saw the way you moved and I figure you have a bad knee, probably a bad hip too.”
She pursed her lips at him. “Right hip. Left knee. They’re from old injuries I had when I was on the beat. They started seizing up not long after I became chief. I used to run three miles a day. Can’t do that anymore.” She sighed. “And the old cop diet I’ve been eating for 28 years caught up to me. Is that what you wanted me to admit? What’s your play here? Trying to seem all understanding and then charm me into believing your crazy story?”
“No,” Tallow assured her. “Though I am a bit curious why you haven’t optioned for surgery. It seems like a fairly routine procedure would-.”
“They want to do a knee replacement and a hip replacement!” she said “That would have me down for weeks, with months of rehabilitation after that. What do they think I am? An old lady? I’m 48, not 60! Can you imagine the names the rank and file would come up for me then?”
“Robo Cop?” Tallow suggested, then winced, immediately regretting the quip. Detective Ross was having a bad influence on him.
To his relief, a short laugh passed through her lips. “I doubt it would be that cool.”
Tallow clasped his hands in front of him. “The reason I brought it up is that I thought that one way I might prove myself is by fixing your problems myself. Would that prove to you that I’m on the level?”
Susan didn’t respond for a few long moments, her eyes searching his for a sign that he was leading her on. “You want to fix my hip and knee with your ‘magic’?”
“Healing is not my specialty,” he admitted. “But I was able to help Detective Ross with his infection and keep Officer Clayton alive until he could get to surgery.”
“Detective Ross and Detective Jones told me about that,” she said doubtfully. “The doctors said that Officer Clayton’s survival was a miracle.”
“Arthritis and worn out joints are much easier things to deal with in comparison to the damage I repaired in him,” Tallow said. “If you’d allow me. I could do it right now. It would only take a few minutes”
“What would it entail?” Chief Johnson wondered, and Tallow saw a flash of hope in her eyes. “I’m not getting naked for you, I’ll tell you that much.”
Tallow chuckled. “That won’t be necessary. I’ll barely have to touch you.”
Twenty minutes later, the chief’s door opened once more and she called Douglas and Ross in. They stepped inside and were surprised to see her standing at the window, looking out over the cityscape. Douglas shot Tallow a look and received an encouraging nod in return.
“Okay, I’m convinced. And Detective Jones, I’m glad you have your boy back.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “What are you planning to do about that by the way.”
“I . . . I think we are happy to let things continue as they have been,” Douglas replied. “It is a load off my shoulders to have him back, but I’ve come to face the fact that he isn’t the same Asher I knew anymore. His name is Tallow now and sixty years have made him a new man. Aggie and I are glad we have the opportunity to get to know him.”
Tallow blinked at his father in surprise and Ross said. “Wow, Doug. I didn’t know you to be so sentimental.”
“It’s good that you accept him that way because as far as the department is concerned he is going to need to continue to take on the role of Errand Jones with a name change. We can hire a P.I. from Idaho, but we can’t hire a 78-year-old with a 17-year-old social security number,” she said.
“So, you’re keeping him on?” Ross said.
“Is that okay with you, Detective Ross.”
Ross chuckled. “I think we’re gonna need him. Even with the portal gone, we still have a year’s worth of weird critters and contraband that we have to find. We still don’t know much about the organization beyond Erl Investments.”
“They’re just the tip of the iceberg,” Tallow said.
Susan turned away from the window to face them. “Yes, we were just talking about that. Detective Jones. Detective Ross. I want you and Sergeant Brenda Petersen to start going over personnel. I want a list of everyone in the department you think might be able to handle the truth,” she said.
“I think it’s about time the FIU underwent a change.”
Thus ends Tallow Jones: Wizard Detective
The story of Tallow will continue soon.
In the meantime, if you are new to Trevor H. Cooley’s writing and would like to learn more about the world of Gaiana where Tallow learned his craft, read the Bowl of Souls series. It is as follows:
THE MOONRAT SAGA
Book One: Eye of the Moonrat
Book 1.5: Hilt's Pride
Book Two: Messenger of the Dark Prophet
Book Three: Hunt of the Bandham
Book Four: The War of Stardeon
Book Five: Mother of the Moonrat
THE JHARRO GROVE SAGA
Book Six: Tarah Woodblade
Book Seven: Protector of the Grove
Book Eight: The Ogre Apprentice
Book Nine: The Troll King
Book Ten: Priestess of War
Book Eleven: Behemoth
THE DARK PROPHET SAGA
12. Sir Edge (Upcoming)
Like Trevor H. Cooley on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EyeOfTheMoonrat
Follow him on Twitter @Edgewriter
Or on his website http://trevorhcooley.com/
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: A Toothy Grin
Chapter 2: Mist and Light
Chapter 3: Uncle Tallow
Chapter 4: Asher’s Room
Chapter 5: That Aarin Girl
Chapter 6: A Squeaky Chair
Chapter 7: Mr. Niceman
Chapter 8: The Loading Dock
Chapter 9: Evidence
Chapter 10: Dumpster Diving
Chapter 11: Peanut Butter and Pickles
Chapter 12: 945 Edgewood Drive
Chapter 13: Tangled Cases
Chapter 14: Ross
Chapter 15: The Chief
Chapter 16: Arr
angements
Chapter 17: Untangling Cases
Chapter 18: Reginald
Chapter 19: Tallow's Tale
Chapter 20: Apples and Accusations
Chapter 21: Erl
Chapter 22: The Farmhouse
Chapter 23: Asher
Chapter 24: Contaminating a Crime Scene
Chapter 25: A Crown of Magic
Chapter 26: Warehouse G
Chapter 27: Surprises
Chapter 28: Going Forward
Tallow Jones: Wizard Detective (The Tallow Novels Book 1) Page 33
