The Academy--The Bird and the Beetle

by C. L. Stone

  Mr. Coaltar straightened his stance. “We were just talking about whether or not Kate should change her research focus from biology to forensics.”

  “Really?” The gentleman said in a bored tone. He turned his back in a way that effectively cut me off from Mr. Coaltar. “I don’t mean to interrupt, of course, but I wanted you to meet my new wife.”

  I almost snarled until I realized he was giving me an out from talking to him. Did he think he was saving me? No, the back turn was deliberate. He either needed to talk with Mr. Coaltar himself, or he didn’t like me. Did he think I was too poor to be here? A bumbling girl flirt? Not that I should have cared, but what an insult!

  And then the man glanced back at me over his shoulder and his eyes were no longer friendly. They were cold, calculating, and inquisitive. That told me too much about him in a single look. He was an older man, I would have guessed at least late forties. New wife? Married quickly over the last few months? Clearly he wasn’t exactly a best friend of Mr. Coaltar or he would have met the new wife before then. So the urgency to get Mr. Coaltar to meet her was a distraction. That meant business. Business that was urgent enough to interrupt Mr. Coaltar at a social event and have to talk to him in secret about. Who was he?

  I scanned the locals, pinpointing a black shirt and sun-kissed hair. I almost ran smack into him in my hurry to get away.

  “Finally,” I said, touching him on the shoulder. “You might be wrong about Mr. Coaltar.”

  “Wrong about what?” He turned, and I found myself looking at Corey instead of Brandon. His blue eyes lit at seeing me.

  “Oh,” I said. “Where did—”

  He put a finger to his own lips, his eyebrows going up.

  “Oh. Yeah. Well, remember when you were telling me about your hunch about Mr. Coaltar?”

  “Fill me in later,” he said, his eyes darting over my head.

  “Are we good?” I asked. “Is something wrong?”

  “The one that walked away with Mr. Coaltar is watching you.”

  I resisted the urge to turn around. “Who is it? He walked up and basically cut me off.”

  “I don’t know,” he said, frowning. “It may be nothing, but we’re going to have to stay here in view of everyone here for a while. If we run off anywhere, it’ll look suspicious.”

  I sighed. It didn’t matter. We were done here. “I’m tired of this party.”

  “We’ve got to stay until we can return the wallet. It’s not the worst job I’ve had,” he said. “The band is pretty good. I wonder if I could put in a request. I wonder if they know any of the theme music from The Lord of the Rings.”

  “Oh I loved those movies.”

  Corey brightened. “Really? Did you read the books?”

  “The first one. Meant to pick up book two but ... I don’t remember. I think I got busy.”

  Corey’s lips parted and his head tilted. “You read?”

  I choked on a laugh. “Is that surprising?”

  He pushed his palm across his cheek. “I suppose it shouldn’t be. You just don’t seem like ... I mean you’re ...” He smiled. “My brother doesn’t read, you know? I mean he can, he just doesn’t like to for fun.”

  “So you thought I was like your brother?” I smirked.

  His cheeks tinted. “I thought you were more his type.”

  “You mean moody and antagonizing?”

  He laughed, shaking his head. “I don’t know. If I had to picture you in high school, there would be the jock and cheerleader tables and then there’s my table.”

  “You think I’m a cheerleader? Or was one in school?”

  “More like popular, yeah. Not now though. I guess. Unless you were. It was just that first glance, you know?” He grinned. “You were pretty. I mean you still are.” He rubbed at the back of his neck, and darted his eyes as he tried to save himself. Adorable.

  I harrumphed. “Yeah, well, I guess I’m as bad. I thought you were a nerdling.”

  “A what?”

  “A cute geek,” I said. “ I mean you are still, and not in a bad way. I didn’t realize you were athletic.”

  He blushed deeply, all the way up to his ears. “You thought I was cute?”

  I smiled instead of answering him. The truth was, he was more than cute. His strong, wide shoulders and fit body stood out among the others around us. Dressed up, I thought he resembled a few country music stars I’d seen on billboards, with the down home look — in a hot way. His brother had the same look, obviously, Corey’s was just much friendlier and open.

  The corner of his mouth lifted high, revealing his even teeth in a lopsided smile. He combed his fingers through the shorter strands of the hair at the nape of his neck. “So you’re into sports?”

  “Not necessarily all the time.” I shifted on my feet, daring him to meet my eyes. “But I like to get outdoors every once in a while.”

  He stared at me for a moment, as if he wanted to ask me another question, but was wondering how to put it together.

  “Are we allowed to eat?” I asked, suddenly feeling a pang of hunger, and catching an eyeful of someone carrying a plate of food. I leaned around him, checking out the buffet table. “Please tell me we can have some.”

  Corey chuckled. “I suppose.”

  I grabbed his arm, dragging him along. He caught up, and while heading to the table, he gathered my hand, holding it.

  It made me giddy inside for some reason. I felt like the hard part was over. I’d gotten away with replacing wallets. I did it once. All I had to do now was wait and replace it again and run away. I’d won. I deserved a snack.

  The buffet was a mountain of finger food: fruit tarts and finger sandwiches, tiny chocolate cakes and some fresh homemade crackers. I think the crackers were for the caviar in the goblet bowls but even I had my limits. Too squishy a thing to want to put it in my mouth.

  I piled a plate and made Corey hold one, too. At first I was trying to sample a bit of everything, except for the fish eggs, but I ended up with a third plate of what I liked best: the fruit tarts and tiny barbeque meatballs speared on frilly toothpicks.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were hungry before we left?” Corey asked. “Didn’t we just eat pizza? Did you not get enough?”

  “Look at all this food,” I said. I wasn’t going to waste a moment when I could eat free rich people food. Now that I was somewhat satisfied, I scanned the other people at the party feeling completely different about it now. Most of the others were absorbed in each other. Their gazes flew from dress to tie, to who was sitting with who. Heads turned. Lips flapped. It was a lot like high school. “Is this what rich people do with their time?”

  “Some of them still work,” Corey said.

  “Why?”

  He shrugged. “What would you do if you had enough money not to worry about working? Would you throw parties?”

  “Never thought that far ahead,” I said. Never believed it would ever happen so didn’t worry about that. Surviving pretty much took up all my time.

  A pair of deeply sunken eyes caught my attention as I was scanning the people. It struck me, because usually people who caught my gaze were quick to look bored and glance away. He simply held my attention longer than most. It was a younger guy ... no, he dressed younger, with a polo shirt and tan slacks instead of a shirt and tie like everyone else. He was maybe late twenties. It was hard to determine. His face was stern and lean so he could have been thirty and just appeared younger. He broke his gaze, caught Corey standing next to me, and then seemed disinterested. His attention moved on, and I followed his line of sight to Mr. Coaltar, who had taken up a position closer to the band.

  “Do you know who all these people are?” I asked Corey. “I mean if Mr. Coaltar was doing what you thought he was doing, could he be considering distributing with people at his parties?” My brain wanted to start working now. I wanted to figure out this new riddle, because their prior assumptions of Mr. Coaltar didn’t fit with who I’d met.

  “A contact
for the wealthy?” he asked. “I want to say yes, because maybe it would be a simple answer. But the rich generally tend to be more careful than to work with petty street dealers. It’s too easy to get caught, and they either mask a habit with a prescription, or they fly off to Amsterdam or anywhere that it’s legal to do what they want.” He took up the empty plate in my hands. “Did you want more?”

  I smiled. I didn’t think I could stuff myself with another bite, but his offer made my heart melt. I shook my head. “I’m going to end up with a gut,” I said.

  “You could use one,” he said, holding out the plates for an attendant to take as he passed by. “You’re a stick.”

  An arm cut through between us. I glanced up to find the man who had interrupted me with Mr. Coaltar earlier. He stared at me. “Pardon me for interrupting you again,” he said. “You’re Miss Kate, aren’t you?”

  It was my turn for my cheeks to heat up. “Oh ... yes.”

  “Mr. Coaltar has mentioned you did research. Biology, wasn’t it?”

  I nodded slowly, glancing only once at Corey. He didn’t react like he was surprised to hear this, only curious about who this man was. I was, too. “I’m afraid Mr. Coaltar didn’t introduce us.”

  “My name is Mr. Fitzgerald.” He turned, nodding his head at Corey. “And you must be...” His question trailed off with a hint of expectation.

  “Brandon Henshaw,” Corey replied casually. He stuck out a hand in offering at Mr. Fitzgerald.

  “Henshaw? Yes. I see. I hope you don’t mind, Mr. Henshaw, but I wonder if I could steal Miss Kate from you for a moment. Mr. Coaltar was asking about her.”

  Corey’s eyes widened. “Was he?” He glanced at me, keeping his eyes big, asking me silently if I was comfortable with this. “Would you like for me to join you?”

  Yes! Did he find out about the wallet in his pocket being replaced? I thought if that were the case, Mr. Fitzgerald wouldn’t be asking me to see Mr. Coaltar. It would be a policeman. “I’ll be fine,” I said, lying my lips off. “He was telling me about how he previously did chemical research. Forensics. Really interesting ideas.”

  Corey nodded. “I’ll come find you later,” he said. His eyes told me a different story. He’d stay back, but he’d be watching.

  With Mr. Fitzgerald walking so close beside me as I turned, I couldn’t look back at Corey and send him pleading looks that he come find me soon and maybe plan to hightail it.

  Stealing wallets wasn’t my original objective when I’d started picking pockets when I was in school. Instead, I lifted all sorts of objects. Most of it was for fun, and I’d usually put it back in or around someone’s book bag after a successful pull. I wouldn’t know what the object was before I lifted it and I’d take a guess at what I’d find just looking at the pockets. Sometimes I was spot on. Sometimes I was completely wrong. The challenge to me was trying to guess the item. That carried with me as I spent a lot of time observing people trying to find my next target when picking pockets for actual money. I wanted to make sure I lifted a wallet and not something useless. And I’d gotten very good at it.

  What I was certain about as I glanced again at Mr. Fitzgerald was that he carried a holster underneath his sport coat. Probably common since it was the South, but this was a fancy party and I didn’t think there were many civilized snobs that toted guns to a scene like this.

  To me, it wasn’t the biggest gun I’d seen. I guessed it to be a .38, or close to it. It made sense to have a small caliber at a social event, no need to go overboard.

  The fact that he had it though, made me wonder again about his relationship to Mr. Coaltar. Was he a bodyguard? I hadn’t exactly walked in the same circles as Mr. Coaltar by any means, but I didn’t think many kept a bodyguard around just like that. Unless he was up to something dangerous and felt he needed protecting.

  As Mr. Fitzgerald escorted me to Mr. Coaltar, I suddenly realized this could mean he had noticed the missing wallet.

  A JOB OFFER IS A JOB OFFER

  Mr. Coaltar sat on one of the white folding chairs on the wide back porch that overlooked the partygoers in the yard. These had been placed on the porch under wide wicker ceiling fans casting a cool breeze on some of the more elderly people who had gathered there. Some held buffet plates. Others simply chatted.

  More chairs surrounded Mr. Coaltar as he talked to a couple of other men. One chortled and the other nodded his head, amused.

  As we approached, Mr. Coaltar looked up and directed his attention to me. “Oh good. You haven’t left.”

  “Nope. Still here. Did you need something?”

  “Yes, actually.” He nodded to the two gentlemen and then excused himself. He stood, captured my elbow, and directed me to another group of chairs. “I was thinking.” His eyes zeroed in on me, and then lowered again to my body and back up. “Were you serious about making a transition from biology research to a real science?”

  Uh oh. “Well, it is a lot to consider. Very tempting but I’m not sure how and...”

  “You see, your studies had me thinking about that project from a number of years ago. Your research might not be too far off of where I was going with it. You did mention Sea Sparkle, didn’t you sweetie?”

  “Right,” I said. “The self defense mechanism when disturbed...”

  “Causes those pretty lights under the water. Yes, I know.” He turned, and patted the chair. “Would you care to sit down? I don’t mean to be rude.”

  “Ah well, my boyfriend—”

  “Oh. Right. You mentioned him.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Not going well though?”

  My lips parted. “What?”

  “Oh, Mr. Fitzgerald said he noticed your little spat earlier. Seems you resolved it but you were a bit upset.”

  I stuffed my hands behind my back to hide my fists clenching. He rattled off the comment as if it wasn’t invasive. This was some rich tycoon I was talking to! And why was he interested in who my boyfriend was? “It was nothing, really. Mostly a misunderstanding of what he was saying.”

  He patted the chair again. “This will only be a moment. I have a job proposal for you.”

  “A job?” I couldn’t help it as the words slipped out of my mouth. My mind raced with ideas of what he could mean. Was he serious? “Oh, I don’t know,” I said, absently sitting in the chair. “I have to admit, I wouldn’t know where to start with such a project.”

  He turned toward me, his knee grazing mine though he seemed not to notice as he focused on my face. “Most of the research is already done. It’s just in the testing phase.”

  I resisted the urge to flinch. He was considering me based on one accidental bump with him? “Were you reconsidering the government contract?”

  “I’ve grown beyond government grants. They want to oversee the experiments, and are never satisfied with the results, plus they’ll pay you the same rate as a college intern for all the work. Usually worse. It’s a free world market. I can dabble in a few of my own ideas as long as I’m not killing anyone, right?”

  Maybe the guys were wrong. Maybe he’s just looking at commercial work. And he was offering me a job! He was offering Kate a job, and I had no real experience in science. I don’t know why I was entertaining the idea. Probably because he said job and I’d been looking for one for so long. I wanted to see how much he was serious. “You mean you’d want me to test the brightness levels or something?”

  “If you’d like.”

  That wasn’t much to go on. Did he expect me to guess? “Is everything you do about weapons?” I asked. “About working with things that kill people?”

  He cocked a smile. “Hardly. I’m more interested in solving puzzles rather making it easier for people to create new ones. And the occasional human equation is usually the most stimulating.” His hand went out, and caught the strap on my dress that I hadn’t noticed had slid off my shoulder. His fingers grazed my skin as he adjusted the strap back into place. His touch sent my heart into a dizzying spin. “Are you interested in hearing more?
This is probably an inappropriate time, given that we’re at a party. Perhaps we should talk more in depth later.”

  My breathing quickened and my heart raced. The golden flecks in his eyes were distracting. His touch and invitation were clouding my judgment. Temptation swept over me, intimidating and precise.

  He was testing me, I knew. He wanted to see if I was willing to play his game. Something about him made me want to step up to this shrewd challenge he was putting across to me. I wanted to figure out how far he was going to take this. “Do you mean an interview?” I asked quietly, pretending to be naïve to his seduction.

  His sly fox smile broadened. “If you’d like to call it that. Personally, I’m not fond of a hiring process that’s so formal. I like working with people who I connect with, which is hard to do from across a desk.”

  I lowered my eyes prettily, hoping to appear modest. Not usually my style, but this game was fun, albeit dangerous. And maybe that was the exciting part. “I just feel a bit underqualified.”

  “We all start out underqualified, Miss Kate. I just have a good feeling about you.” He rose from the chair, and stretched out a hand toward me. “I’ll let you return to your date, but you should call me.”

  Cat and mouse. He was putting the ball in my court. It was a coy move. That alone was something I didn’t expect. I had believed he’d try to win me over tonight. Most guys wanted to get to the goal right away. I had imagined he’d try to corner me and even try to sweep me up to his bedroom. Instead, he was deepening the challenge by giving me a tease and then sending me on my way like a pet. If I wanted to play with him, I’d have to step it up and show him I was willing to play.

  I put my hand in his to allow him to help me to stand and then my heart stopped. He said to call him. He’d give me his card. His card would be in his wallet.

  His real wallet wasn’t here.

  “I’ll do that,” I said, grasping at his hand to still it before I could think about it. My other hand went up, grasping his second hand. It was very forward, but I needed to immobilize his hands and make him know I didn’t need his card. “I’m sure Brandon has your number,” I said.