“Well, the Vencap curse had already dispatched our lawyer, Morag, at the point she left the Ferris wheel car.” Eclipse observed between washing his belly.
Jet’s head bobbed up and down in a rapid blur. “So, yeah, so like the only thing that stepped out of the Ferris wheel car was an animated corpse. Yep, yep. Assuming Morag hadn’t expired before you cast the Chimera Charm, that is, right? Right. Yep, yep.”
“Bu-but it looked like Morag knew something like this would happen,” Fraidy added. “She had something important tha-that she needed to hide, and Infirma already told us that her sister had been l-l-ooking over her shoulder the last little while.” Friday cowered lower under the tea shelf. “Poor woman, I know how she feels,” my timid cat empathized.
“Well, all the digging you guys have done hasn’t yet uncovered whatever this mystery item is,” Gloom judged. “Nor have you even figured out what said item is.” Her face pursed in pure disgust.
Onyx cleared his throat. “I think it best that we adhere to only the known fa—“
“Oh, Goddess, he’s off again. Let’s all listen to ‘Pride & Prejudice’ here. I’m sure he’ll be finished by Midnight.” This time Gloom used both of her paws for a full face-plant.
“Well, I agree with O on this one, sis. We can work on the ‘unknown’s’ in due course. But, for now, let’s deal with the stuff we know.” Midnight chipped in. Onyx gave his brother a formal nod for his sibling’s support.
“Yeah, well, here’s a big ‘known’ we’re skipping, dudes and dudettes,” Shade chimed: “Apparently our late lady lawyer was part of a cabal of some shady Warlock legal-types. Oh, and this cabal?” Shade strutted before us; his enjoyment of sharing his valuable intel was evident. “Yep, this cabal just so happens to take their marching orders from one Governor Gideon Shields of Cathedral.”
“Shields sounds like a prime suspect to me. I neither like, nor trust that idiot” Gloom sneered.
For once, there was no arguing with my morose cat’s acidic observation. We all nodded, and Gloom’s brothers offered a few supportive meows. “Well, what about that Puppeteer Charm I found in Infirma’s bedroom, yep? Wouldn’t that piece of evidence, you know, make her a suspect in all this?” Jet sputtered hopefully.
“Yeah, but, the Puppeteer is one of the most common Warlock spells out there,” Eclipse countered, surveying us all down the length of his belly, his head cocked at a cute angle. “We’ve no reason to assume this one was the one used on Morag.”
“Oh, so we believe in coincidence all of a sudden?” Gloom piped up. “That’s solid, brother. Really solid. “
“It DOES look suspicious,” I admitted. “But we don’t know the whole story yet. So let’s hold off on any hard conclusions until we do. Besides, you all saw Infirma holding on to Morag’s pant-leg as Morag was about to jump. Infirma darn well nearly came out of the car herself.”
“Speaking of not knowing the whole story and coincidence, what’s up with Mayor Jones and Shields’ right-hand man Kramp?” Millie asked in one of her ‘what does she see in him?’ looks. “That’s definitely a weird connection, no?”
“Yeah,” Midnight said. I noticed my night-stalking cat’s head nodding toward his chest.
“Hey, Midnight Hour,” I said gently, stroking my kitty from his head down the length of his back. “If you want to take a nap, I’ll understand.”
“No, no,” Midnight said with a hard shake of his head. “When I had that insomnia last month … you know, on the Aurel Nugget case? Well, it showed me how much I miss by sleeping the day away.” Midnight turned his face up to me. “I promise I’ll sleep when people stop getting murdered, deal?”
I was about to tell him to have a cat-nap anyway when there was a knock on the back door. Our heads swiveled toward the door, but we could see no one there. We stood, ears pricked, eyes alert, waiting for someone or something to appear. Gloom suddenly hissed and sprinted under the giant kitchen table toward the door. We watched as she pinned a tiny figure to the floor. Seamus. From out of the brownie’s strong grasp, a black book went skittering across the kitchen floor to come to rest under the table. The volume looked to be about three times Seamus’ size.
“Ye gods, kitty!” The pixie protested. “This is a friendly call, like. Can ye not get off me sos I can tell ye why I’m here?”
“C’mon, Gloom,” I said. “Let him up.”
Gloom took her haughty paw from Seamus’ chest and then slowly lifted her ample behind from the brownie’s match-stick sized legs. She backed away, fur on end, silently shaking her head. Seamus coughed as he picked himself up. Straightening out his clothes, he said, “I’m beginning to see why, Midnight, me lad, why you tol’ me ne’er to come by yer home.”
Midnight trotted across to the brownie, all traces of his previous sleepiness gone. “Well, you’re here now, Seamus. I’m gonna bet it’s for a good reason.”
“Yeah, yeah…I wouldna waste yer time with a trifle, no sir.”
“Aww, he’s cute,” Millie said, leaning down to face the little brownie with a smile. My assistant tickled the brownie’s chin with a careful finger.
Seamus blushed and gave her a bow. “And you, milady, are a most welcome sight.”
Midnight tapped his claw a couple of inches from our visitor. “Getting back to business…”
“Oh, yeah, yeah,” Seamus said, turning around to grab the book.
Once again, the little man surprised me by hoisting the tome with less effort than I would have expected. He gave it to me, and I cracked open the cover straight away. The first page had an elaborate string of numbers, punctuated by dashes in between some of the numerals. Just below that, a series of dates and money amounts were carefully recorded. The next several pages had more of the same: dates and Sols and lunes payments.
“Looks like a ledger for some kind of weekly payment plan,” Millie said, looking over my shoulder.
Flipping to the first page, I noted, “This goes back to last year.”
I went all the way to the end and found that the last payment noted had taken place two days before Morag’s murder.
“So, sir, where did you locate this pecuniary ledger?” Onyx asked from atop the table.
“According to me boyos, it were in the library,” Seamus explained. “Got all excited ‘bout it, which I did not understand. Then they tol’ me how it were stuck twixt a volume a’ Jane Austen and another book by Ms. Emily Bronte. They accidentally knocked it off while they was dustin’ an’ there were all the numbers that ye see now, and I thinks to meself: ‘Seamus, if this here ledger ain’t worth lookin’ at, then I’ll eat me ‘at.'”
“And, if it turns out that it isn’t worth looking at, I’ll eat YOU.” Gloom’s eyes dilated to black saucers.
I ignored my cat’s threat and said. “Hiding it in plain sight, then.”
“Which novel?” Onyx asked. Everyone looked at him. “Which Jane Austen novel, dear little friend?”
“Uh, I’s afraid I dunno which book, Mister Kitty,” Seamus looked confused.
“Oh, brother,” Gloom butted her head into the table leg in a drama of dismay.
Seamus shook his head and answered my question. “Aye, indeed it was in plain sight, milady. Promised me boyos I’d get it ta Ms. Infirma ta ask on it. But I figure ya might want to know ‘bout it yerself, yeah?”
“So…you still haven’t found that missing artifact,” Gloom said with a savage grin, her coal colored eyes sparkling. She looked like she was about to pounce on the wee man again.
Seamus spread his arms in exasperation. “Faith, kitty cat, how could I ‘ave found it? Been spending most of me time since by Ms. Infirma’s side. Since she had the ‘attack,' you knows? Not a lot a’ opportunity ta go snoopin’ round, ya know?”
Midnight nodded his head thoughtfully. “Point taken, brother.”
A hopeful smile came over Seamus’ face. “So…on account a’ me givin’ ya this, I can call off me search ta—“
“Call that search off, ro
dent, and I’m going to be calling on you,” Gloom whisper-hissed with an even more hideous smile than before.
Seamus’ face collapsed. “Ah, well…worth a try, yeah?”
“We’ll get this to Infirma a little later. After we’ve looked over it.” I promised. “Is she doing okay?”
“Yeah, glad to say so. Doctors say they wanna keep ‘er a couple a’ days longer to be sure. But they say she’s outta the woods.”
Gloom started crowding Seamus’ personal space. “Fine…now get out of my house before—“
“Gloom!” I admonished my miserable moggie.
“Tis alright, milady,” Seamus said with another bow. “I’d actually best be getting back. Me and me boyos will stay out of sight while you’re visiting Ms. Infirma. But if ya need us, we’ll be ‘round. Ta.”
With that, he ran, in a sprinting blur and dived under the bottom of the back door.
“I wonder what roast brownie tastes like,” Carbon mused.
“A question for another time,” Onyx asserted, giving his brother a disapproving look. “For the moment, I’d like to take up the matter of how so many Fae connections keep popping up in this case.”
Shade chortled. “Well, hey, bro, that makes it just another typical day on the hunt for our human. Name me one recent case that DIDN’T have a massive Fae connect somewhere.”
“Onyx still has a point,” I said. “The fake apothecary…the communications rune I just unlocked…all those riddles Ankou was spouting…”
“Hold on,” Gloom said, one eye narrowed on us. “What riddles?”
“Oh, you know our Sidhe cousins,” Eclipse said. “Big on hints, low on clarity, all wrapped up in one confusing poetic package.”
Clearing his throat, he recited, “Through the darkened gate, black currency flows. Straight from our stony heart, the dragon’s fire grows.”
“That was something Anjou said?” Gloom asked, sitting up straight and pricking her ears.
Eclipse, with a look of regret in his eyes, nodded.
“Duh! Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner? Obvi, he was talking about the portal we found in the Glimmer Mountains.” She looked at us. “The sacred rock grumlin site, guys.”
I felt the sharp shards of lightbulb shatter in my head. “And the ‘black currency’ is the black diamond being mined there.” I raced over to my grumpy cat and kissed her on the forehead. She took all my love like a trooper, but giving nothing away, standing rock-still.
“And, so, by my observations, that would make the ‘stony heart’ none other than the Tiamat Stone,” Onyx concluded.
“The heart of the Dragon,” Eclipse confirmed with an awed murmur.
Gloom tapped her paw on the ground a couple of times. “Alright, I know there’s more. What else did he say?”
Fraidy swallowed, but he kept his voice fairly steady.
“When-when Hattie asked about the b-black currency and where it was coming from, Ankou said… ‘Is there hope? Maybe a glimmer…as the fire grows, iron shimmers. A clever lad can make, from many parts, a shield for the witching arts.’”
“There’s a direct reference to the Glimmer Mountains, you donuts,” Gloom said, gritting her teeth. “Amazing that you all missed it. That bit about a shield? Not sure about this, but maybe it’s an inference to our smarmy Governor Shields?”
Onyx meowed in appreciation. “You always were the best at solving these riddles, dear sister.”
“So I’m no longer a biatch?” Gloom asked, not ready to let the earlier insults go.
“Well, actually…” Carbon said, stoking the fires.
“It still feels like we’re missing something,” Millie lamented. My assistant was propped up on one elbow, holding her chin in her hand, her face screwed up in puzzlement. “How does any of this tie into Morag’s death? This Ankou dude’s riddle all seems to be dragon lore stuff again. And, yeah, why does this dragon thing keep cropping up? It’s freaky.” Millie stood and rubbed her bare arms as if a ghost had just passed through her.
Onyx rapped his claws on the table top. Wow, the gravel’s are really coming out today. “I can think of one person who might be able to furnish us with a definitive answer. Infirma.”
“Well, we did say we were going to pass this ledger onto her,” I said, closing the book. “I’ll go to Howling Mercy after closing time,” I said, making my decision.
“Might I suggest—“
I gave Onyx a stern look. “You may not, Professor. I want you all to make your own way to Gaunt Manor this evening while I’m taking care of things at the hospital.”
This provoked a full chorus of howls and kitty protests. “You’re going a-lone?” Fraidy asked, yelling with wide-eyed horror, just loud enough to be heard over the din of his siblings. “That’s anything b-b-ut safe.”
“Not to mention that you’ve as good as sentenced us to WALK through that hideous swampland,” Gloom added, gravely disturbed by the thought of getting her paws muddy. “I call animal cruelty.”
I waved away her remark. “Well, at least this time, you’re welcome guests at Gaunt Manor,” I pointed out, remembering our prior break-in during the last case. Portia hadn’t been a happy camper to find me, David and my cats, uninvited, in her hallway.
“Even so,” Onyx said, rubbing against my arm. “I’m going to have to go from suggesting to insisting that you have a suitable escort, Hattie. Should trouble come knocking again for Infirma, you may well be caught in the crosshairs.”
“And that is way uncool,” Shade said, nudging his brother aside slightly to join in the arm rubbing. “So, I’m volunteering for bodyguard duty too.”
“And I’m sure that the idea of dirtying up your paws in the muck has NOTHING to do with that,” Gloom snapped.
“Well, why don’t you catch a ride with David?” Millie suggested. “I mean, he’s going there too, right?”
Midnight stifled a yawn. “But how will we even know if he’s there by the time we head to the station?”
Millie gestured toward the shop phone in a manner that would have done credit to Vanna White. “By way of a fantastically magical device called the telephone.” My friend turned to me. “How about it, Hattie? Maybe call and reserve David’s broom for the kitties?”
I sighed. “He probably isn’t going to be thrilled about that. But once I explain why…”
“What can it hurt?” Millie asked. “Also, you might finally get a date out of the deal too.”
My hand reached for the phone, but I knew that using David as a kitty airliner would do nothing for my chances of dating him.
I called him anyway.
CHAPTER 15
Shade and Onyx trotted behind me as we approached Infirma’s hospital room at Howling Mercy. I was about to push the door when Onyx held up a paw against my shin. He put a furry hand to his lips in a ‘shushing’ gesture. Voices from inside Infirma’s room. I wished now I’d taken up David’s offer of him joining me here. It never hurts to be with a tall guy who has your back, you know? Still, I was thankful to my two moggies for their company. We pressed our ears against the door to better hear the conversation inside when we heard a noise at our feet.
“Psst!” a small, familiar voice hissed from under the door. “Glad ya’re here, milady!”
Onyx looked at the brownie. “What is going on in there and why aren’t you doing something about it?” My knowledgeable cat whispered urgently.
“I’s about to get the nurse’s attention when you stepped up, Fancy Pants,” Seamus said. “That geezer t’ain’t done more than talk. But me boyos are ready to pounce if’n he goes O'er the line.”
The voices in the room resumed, and I put a finger to my lips. I knew that gruff voice. Barnabus Kramp.
“Think you can open the door without it making a sound?” I suggested in a hushed tone to the little guy.
Seamus barked a short laugh and crawled back into the room. The door quietly slid open with no more sound still air makes. Onyx and Shade slipped in, thankfully m
aking just as little noise.
The bedridden Infirma was talking, her face flushed in an angry shade of red. “For all I know, Shields is the reason I nearly joined my sister yesterday!”
“You’re straying very close to libel and slander territory, Ms. Devlin,” Barnabus countered, his face a frozen mask of politeness. “Make those unfounded accusations to anyone else, and I guarantee that you will be dealing with a lawsuit shortly.”
“You wouldn’t be nearly so smug if you had to explain all this to the Chief Warlock.”
I really should have held my tongue, but indignation got the better of me. “Just be grateful that you’re not explaining harassment and intimidation of a bereaved relative to CPI Trew at the moment, Mr. Kramp.”
Barnabus whirled. And, by the look on Infirma’s face, she was just as surprised to see me. I watched as recognition, and then relief washed over the woman.
Kramp got his mouth to work. “It was…unfortunate that you listened to that exchange.”
“Especially for you,” I said, livid at this guy’s bullying tactics. “So why don’t you leave before you say something you regret?”
He was either a good lawyer or a coward, but Kramp knew when to call it quits. “Good day to both of you,” he growled and strode out of the room.
Seamus jumped onto the foot of the bed and bowed. “I do cry yer pardon, milady, for allowing that dastardly barrister in ta—“
Infirma chuckled. “Nothing to forgive, my brave little brownie. You opened the door to our dear friends here, so for that, I’m grateful.”
Seamus offered her a warm smile and jumped down to the floor. Infirma tried to sit up. “I’m guessing there is at least one kitty with you right now?”
The shadows in the corner next to her bed unveiled a pair of yellow eyes. Shade jumped up and gave Infirma a lick on the forehead. It proved to be good medicine for the sickly lady; I could see some color return to her cheeks as she giggled at Shade’s ministrations.
“I do hope Ms. Poof is willing to forgive your kissing another woman, Shade,” Onyx said, hopping up onto Infirm’s bed too.
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