by Gin Hollan
"We're close enough to walk."
"It will take an hour to walk there … and I'd like to talk unheard by outside ears."
"Arabeth...." He started a thought but stopped.
"They have families to feed, too." She shrugged.
A driver pulled up, lining the carriage up with Arabeth. Hicks gave their destination and was about to climb in when Marble zipped up the step and jumped on the seat next to Arabeth. Hicks sat on the opposite bench, frowning at Marble.
"Does she go everywhere with you?"
"If she wants. Most of the time, yes."
"Interesting. I'm still surprised she's so attached to you. Most foxes hold humans in low regard, even those said to be domesticated."
Arabeth smiled and gave Marble a rub under her chin. "Maybe she stays for the fun. We do get into some interesting situations."
Hicks frowned. "Right. Interesting. Do you remember the time I had to send a rope down to pull you out of the olive oil vat? Or when you wound up hanging from the third floor of the Crystal Moon Hotel upside down, wrapped in a bed sheet and rope cocoon?"
"I'm undamaged," she scoffed. "That was all part of my learning the tricks of the job."
"What about when you got your arm caught in the steering mechanism of Hanson's dirigible? I bet that twinges when it's cold out." He was serious now.
"That was not work related."
"Your accuracy when assessing risk is relevant."
"I'm fine. And I'll be fine. I have a long life ahead of me, and I don't want it dull before it has to be." Hicks was being overly protective, she thought. How much of the conversation with her mother had he overheard? Had he heard her say he was the only one she'd consider marrying?
He didn't respond.
"Hicks, there's something I need to ask." She felt the blood rush to her face as she considered her question. "The conversation with my mother and Maralise…. How much did you hear?"
He looked a little startled. "Nothing, really. I knocked as soon as I realized you had company."
She hoped that was the truth. Thankfully, the carriage stopped. She hopped out and paid the horseman before Hicks even had a chance, then took a moment to look around.
Now where? she wondered. Perhaps a walk to see how the area lay, first. It was a dirty part of the city, with short, ancient buildings. Not even houses, she realized. Within the same small area there was a laundry, a cobbler, a bakeshop, and a fishmonger. She turned a full circle, realizing this was a town within a town.
She'd heard of that—when enough people from a separate, diverse region or country moved in, they tended to congregate and build centralized homes and shops. Judging by the architecture, this place would be ... Germanic. How interesting!
Hicks cleared his throat behind her. "Got your bearings?"
"Um, yes." She pointed west, noting the sun was a bit higher than she expected now that they weren't surrounded by trees. "That way, I believe. But...." She dropped to one knee and pulled out a wax bag that held the drawing Dawson had passed her via Matty, then signalled to Marble. "Come here, my dear."
Holding the paper out, she let Marble sniff it. "See if you can find any of the smells on here."
Marble yipped once and turned away, nose high at first then progressively lower. They followed as she went, slowly. Arabeth would be surprised if they found anything in this area. More likely, it was a fringe place and didn't quite fit in.
She couldn't decide which way to go—they all looked about the same. Marble didn't have that problem, thankfully. As she suspected, they continued west a few blocks when Marble suddenly picked up her pace. They hurried to follow, Arabeth hoping it wasn't simple fox distractibility. They had enough to do without getting sidetracked.
An extra set of footsteps fell in behind them, walking about twenty feet back. She recognized the sound of that particular boot.
"Hello, Larry," she said loud enough for him to hear.
"Hello, Mrs. Dane. Hello, Detective Hicks. What brings you to this part of town?" he replied in a heavy Spanish accent as he hurried to catch up.
"A curious fox," Arabeth stalled.
"There are several mysteries right now, I'll say. Did you hear about the arrests they've been making all over town this week? Some are calling it a crime epidemic," Larry said as he walked next to Arabeth.
She felt something rub her hand and glanced down. A folded piece of paper. What was Larry up to this time? He was a kid reporter, always out and about. When he slept was something she couldn't guess. She took the paper and slipped it into a pocket. He loved these cloak-and-dagger games.
"It was busy in the central police station this afternoon," Arabeth said, leading. "What's your take on it?"
"Hicks." Larry looked past her. "Could give me some direction on this? It's pure chaos. Is that why you're here?" He was nervous talking to Hicks, it seemed. Maybe that was the other reason he had Arabeth between them.
"It's too soon to say. You know the station stance on reporting before the facts come in."
"Facts... here's a few: three people were killed in a two-block radius today, by three different people, and no one knows the trigger. Two men and a woman. They all seem unrelated, except by timing."
Arabeth's stomach knotted as he talked. Three murders? Arabeth wasn't even sure how to start thinking on that. They walked on in silence.
"What aren't you telling us, kid?" Arabeth said softly.
"It's too soon to report anything, but I'll keep in touch." With a tip of his hat, he veered off to the left and out of sight.
The hand holding the note itched but she couldn't look at it yet. Opening her satchel, she tucked it inside.
"What's on the note?" Hicks asked.
"Oh, come on, Hicks," Arabeth said, a bit exasperated. He was far too observant. "You know he can't write English. And neither of us read Spanish." She felt a twinge of guilt as she said it, not sure why. Maybe she ought to find Larry a teacher.
Hicks didn't respond, instead looking ahead to where Marble had stopped.
Arabeth looked, noting a strange blue glow coming from the top floor of a four-storey walk-up. There was no way she wanted to go up there. It wasn't about the glow. The fact that Marble had stopped and stared was her cue. Should Hicks get backup? Would the constables who regularly patrol the area know what was happening?
"It's a curious thing, but not a sign of illegal activity. Let's keep moving," Hicks suggested.
"Who patrols this area?" she asked.
"I don't know. They run out of a different detachment." He shrugged.
Arabeth glanced around to see if Larry was still nearby. He tried to stay informed about every interesting thing. There was no sign of him, but maybe he was just good at shadowing.
She walked up to Marble and gave her a scratch on the head. "Let's move on," she said.
Marble gave a huff, then started walking again.
A man came running out the door of the building, toward them.
"Wait, wait." He blocked their path. "Can you help me? I need...." He paused as he got a good look at Hicks. "Well, I need someone to act as a witness. I'm about to have a breakthrough and I'm sure you'll agree it's extraordinary."
Arabeth hid a snicker. Inventors were all the same, in the end. Big plans, equally big failures. Few succeeded. But that was the game, after all. She probably shouldn't laugh. She'd had her share of disasters.
"I think I'll pass," she said. "We really haven't got the time to stop right now."
A flicker of annoyance crossed his face before he covered it with disappointment.
"I'll keep looking, then." He tipped his hat and turned away.
Something about his demeanour bothered Arabeth, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She made a mental note to remember his face. Was that good enough?
"Excuse me, sir. Can I ask your name?" she called after him. "I'd like to recognize you to my friends when your picture is in the newspaper."
He turned, smiling. "Master Frederik Baltos
h, at your service." He bowed deeply, then turned and walked away.
"What was that about?" Hicks said softly.
"I wanted Larry to get a shot of him. That guy is up to something."
"You have his name."
"He lied," she said. "But it's a glimpse into who he wants to be. Also, I think I recognize him."
"Hey, are you going to need a bodyguard?"
"You're too much." She laughed lightly. "Let's get back on track." She pointed to where Marble sat waiting.
It wasn't long until they reached the spot she had in mind. The entire city block was like a checkboard, with grey and white quares spaced at even intervals. The house colours alternated accordingly. Black and white. It was the pattern that caught her eye, on the map. Now, seeing it in person, it was ... manicured. Matching shrubs and walkways. Stone instead of lawn. Houses all facing the same way, one row looking at the backyard of the one in front of it. Who had designed this area? It was ... curious. Funny how Marble thought the same thing.
The Checkerboard. That's what she'd call it.
"Tell me again why we're here?"
"It's the only crime-free zone. I wanted to see why."
She stepped off the sidewalk onto the gravel lawn of the home in front of them. Tall lights flooded the area, looking like search beacons. One thing was sure—no one lived here. If they were even houses.
Shading her eyes, Arabeth moved to look through a window. She heard Hicks close behind her. That did not help her nerves, but she appreciated his thoughtfulness. The glass on the window was odd; she couldn't actually see through it. It was as though there was another sheet of glass inside that, with a grey surface completely obscuring the interior.
"What do you make of this?" she asked.
"I've never seen anything like it." Hicks knocked on the pane. The resulting echo was metallic.
Arabeth wiped her hand lightly over the surface. It was glass. The metal would be the pane on the other side. What was the purpose of that?
Arabeth found herself backing up, dragging her feet backward until she stumbled back onto the road. What was this place? Who owned it? How long had it been here?
Hicks waved a hand in front of her face. "What is it?"
She frowned. "I'm not sure. I have a memory of this ... like hearing a story. I had forgotten it."
"In what context?"
She shook her head. "I must have been young, or.... No, I was working on something. A man was talking with my husband, in the kitchen, but the workshop door was ajar."
Hicks would have closed it unless he wanted her to hear. He was binary that way. All in, or not at all.
"What do you remember?"
She shook her head and started walking down the narrow cement path that encompassed the block. Marble scooted ahead of her, nose down and tail puffed out. What purpose did this area serve? It was quiet. Really quiet. They weren't even between the buildings and the sound was just dead. Peaceful, and if she closed her eyes, restful. She tried humming. The sound didn't travel far, so she whistled a soft, short note. Then a longer one. Muted. The sound was muffled. How interesting!
"What are you thinking?" Hicks asked her.
Suddenly Marble cringed back, whining and shaking her head, pawing at her ears.
"Marble, what's wrong?" Arabeth went and scooped her up. She glanced back at Hicks, who moved to stand close, looking at Marble. The little fox pushed her head into Arabeth's coat, as if to cover her ears. Arabeth used her free hand to cover the ear that was away from her body. It didn't seem to help much. "We have to get out of here," she said, then started jogging away from the houses, away from the Checkerboard. It was a full block before she felt Marble relax.
"Is it better here?" she asked, lifting Marble's chin to look at her. The kit heaved another sigh.
She looked for a secluded spot to set Marble down. Hicks hadn't come with them. Hopefully he hadn't spotted something and run off to investigate it alone. A small indent in a shop wall looked about the right size to hide Marble.
"Don't follow me." She rubbed the top of Marble's head a few times, gently. Her slightly large ears were sensitive. What had they detected out around those houses? "Stay safe. I'll come back for you as soon as I can."
Marble didn't so much as glance when Arabeth stood. The pang in Arabeth's chest threatened to take her breath away. She had to finish quickly and get back here. There needed to be doctors for foxes.
And where was Hicks? She really didn't want to leave Marble when she wasn't well. She unslung her satchel and set it down, pulling out only her tracker. "Stay with my bag, Marble." She rubbed the fox under the chin. Marble curled up and dropped her chin onto her front paws, closing her eyes. "Wait here."
Standing again, Arabeth looked around to see if anyone was in the area. It was clear. With a sigh, she turned and started jogging back to where she’d left Hicks. She didn't expect him to be there, but it was a place to start. He was nowhere to be seen, so she looked for an anomaly but everything, right down to the glass, seemed like an exact copy, including imperfections.
She wandered a bit, wondering how a person got a city permit to build an area like this. Was it actually one giant patch of private property disguised as homes but actually being used for an experiment? It seemed that way. It was time to start observing in detail. She preferred daylight. She wanted to move fast on this. Marble was waiting. That was motivation enough, but the area was creepy, too.
The checkerboard pattern was distracting. In an era of revolutionary ideas and progress, this seemed … an odd direction to go. She started looking for subtler patterns, larger brush strokes, as it were. The things her husband had said about this place were irritatingly foggy in her memory. She rubbed the back of her head, wondering at the growing irritation she felt. It wasn't quite a headache.
She turned and hurried back to Marble. Tomorrow she'd come back without her. Maybe some reacted like Marble, and others turned violent. This could explain how otherwise peaceful people were being turned violent, but why did it only give her a headache?
// Chapter 7 //
Early the next morning Arabeth awoke with two thoughts: what had caused Marble to freak out the way she had, and was that sound also responsible for driving people crazy? There was a page and a half in the most recent Investigative Science journal that suggested people's cognitive ability could be altered by sound waves. By extension, it was possible there could be other effects. Sound waves weren’t something she understood a lot about. She’d need to find an expert.
Then, or concurrently, she wanted to find that pesky reporter kid, Larry. He would have photos from when he tailed them last night. He might even have images of some of the people coming and going from that area of town. She wanted to commission him to stay and watch the strange neighbourhood, taking pictures of anyone going in there and writing down how long they stayed. And he could tell her in English, what his note said in Spanish.
That was the start of her list, now that she'd had a night to rest. She also wanted to find out where Hicks had gone yesterday, what clue he'd chased. Sure, he took off like that now and then. They both did. Usually it made sense, though.
"Arabeth." Her mother’s voice broke through her thoughts. "Focus here."
Her sister, Maralise, sat on a large, stuffed beige floral chair in the sitting room. Carol fiddled with a small hand purse she held in her lap. Her sister stood and paced along the far wall, wearing her favourite lavender dress—the one she wore when she needed courage. Arabeth wasn't sure if she should be nervous or happy. When the two came in focused on their own problems, they usually required money to fix them. Arabeth had that.
"Take a husband," Carol said.
"What?" She whispered the word, moving from irritated to angry in a flash. "You want me to do what?"
"Hear her out." Maralise held up one perfectly manicured nail.
"I'm sorry about Matthew, but think of this as a second chance. I've set up a formal dinner with the region's most eligible
bachelors, not just men from this city. I have, of course, invited ladies of powerful families as well."
Arabeth closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her mother had an angle, always. Politics stood at her core. Reopening her eyes, she looked directly at Maralise. The two sisters weren't close, and things like this didn't help.
"I'm not interested. And I wouldn't marry a stranger anyway."
"But, you are open to the idea of marrying again. That's hopeful," Maralise responded.
Her heart clenched. Was she walking into one of her mother's traps? She'd better just go along with plan one. The other stages of the trap inevitably got worse as she tried to wiggle free, having her own words used against her.
"Fine. Have a dinner party, invite them all and I'll attend. Then we drop the subject. Forever." She stood up and took her mother's teacup to the sink. "Please excuse me. I have things that need my attention and this pointless conversation is over," Arabeth said, trying to keep her anger out of her voice. "I will meet these men, but I will not pick from amongst them at the end of the meal like an auction. This is dinner only. If anyone strikes my fancy, I'll let you know."
"Remember what is at stake," her mother scolded.
It was time for Arabeth to nail this coffin shut. "And if you try this again, I'll marry Hicks or join the military."
She should have said that at the start, she thought, even if using Hicks this way did feel a little distasteful. Hopefully he'd be willing to play along until her family gave up. She knew he wasn't interested in her that way, but he was a good friend.
The military was only a half-threat. It was her back-up plan, if everything in her life took a turn for the desperate.
A flash of anger crossed both her mother and sister's faces. Her mother's expression she understood, but what was up with Maralise?
"You're always with that man. Samuel Hicks. What makes him so worthy of your time? Looks are not everything, sister," Maralise snapped. "And if he was interested, wouldn't he have said so by now?"
"What's it to you? Is someone paying you to marry me off?" Arabeth countered.