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  “I can be civil, I promise!” Feigning hurt feelings, I placed a hand to my chest, a put-upon glimmer in my eyes. “I won’t even glare.”

  Cadence turned forward again, tapping her foot. She dropped her hands to her sides. “Fine. You’ll stand. Far away. In a corner. Being non-threatening.”

  I walked behind her and dipped my fingers under her hair, caressing the nape of her neck, my lips twisting into an indelicate smirk. “I love it when you’re authoritative with me.”

  16

  Chapter 16

  Desdemona was downstairs in the study, curled up on the long couch at the back of the room. Her bare feet tucked under her, she clutched a brown leather pillow to her chest, watching television on the main screen behind my father’s desk. A commercial for pheromone spray oozed out of the speakers at a murmur while we entered, Cadence leading the way.

  “Hello, Desdemona.”

  Desdemona pulled her attention away from the screen. “Oh, hello, Ca–” She winced, squeezing the cushion to her as she squirmed. “I mean, Miss Turing.”

  Cadence lifted her hand, waving it in time with her shaking head. “Please, Cadence is quite enough for me.” She sat on the other end of the couch, mimicking the woman’s posture as much as she could, sans cushion. “To be honest, I find all the miss-ing and mister-ing around here a bit strange.”

  Desdemona’s lips twitched upward for a moment. “I thought so too, at first. But you get used to it.” She turned her gaze to me, eyes wide as ever, the edges pink from crying. “Hello, Chance.”

  “Hello.” I shifted where I stood, uncomfortable standing but too awkward to sit down. “How are you?”

  “Alright, I suppose, considering.” Desdemona shrugged, turning back to the screen. “You don’t need to worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

  “It’s all been a terrible tragedy for everyone here.” Cadence took a deep breath in and sighed, resting her elbow against the arm of the couch. “I feel like such an interloper in all this. I wish I had known Mr. Hale better.”

  The name roused Desdemona out of whatever pit of self-pity she had been wallowing in, straightening as she stole a glance at Cadence. “I wish so too. Felix–”

  She pressed her thin lips into a wavering line, but instead of crying, Desdemona reached down and muted the TV with a firm jerk, throwing the remote across the sofa cushions and turning towards Cadence. “Felix was just the nicest man I’ve ever met,” she said. “He could be stubborn and pushy sometimes, I guess, but he was really always looking out for people. He was very loving and bright, and I admired him more than any man I’ve ever known.”

  I watched Desdemona with renewed interest. She looked older sitting there, her formless blonde hair pulled away from her face in a tight ponytail, a plain brown and olive dress draped over her. It was an astonishing revelation, to think that she believed everything that she had just said about my father; that she may have truly liked the man.

  “How did you two meet?”

  “I got a job at the Halcyon Enterprises offices in Römer as a secretary for one of the production managers.” Desdemona tilted her head to one side, staring at the cushion in her grasp with a smile, squishing the fat corners between her fingers. “We were in a few meetings together. Felix was always very encouraging and friendly, especially for the head of a big company. He really made me feel important.”

  I sat in the chair kitty corner to her. “What were you doing before?”

  “Nothing, really.” Desdemona didn’t look up, crossing her arms over the cushion and gripping the inside of her elbows. “I was just sort of drifting. Didn’t know what I wanted to do, until I met Felix.”

  That was one way to describe my father: a huge boulder in the stream of life. You couldn’t take him head on; he would force you to pick a direction, one way or the other.

  Desdemona relaxed into the cushions behind her, head lolling back. “I made some mistakes when I was a kid.” She began rubbing her arms, pale lips trembling. “Made some bad decisions, you know? But Felix never cared about any of that. He understood.”

  “We’ve all made mistakes,” Cadence nodded. “They’re easier to forgive when we remember that. I’m sure even a man as…” She twisted towards me, eyes widening as she blanked on an appropriate descriptor. I shrugged, at a loss myself and she blinked a few times before turning back. “…as wonderful as Mr. Hale made mistakes, right?”

  “Felix? Mistakes?” Desdemona sat up, smiling and sniffling back those tears which had threatened to fall. “Oh no, he wasn’t like that. Sure, he had some regrets, but–”

  “What regrets?”

  It was bizarre, bordering on humorous, to hear Cadence’s and my own voice in concert like that. Desdemona started, nails jabbing into the defenseless cushion. “W-well, you know, just…just things! Like…” She met my eyes and looked away. “He talked a lot about Verity… how much he wished his first marriage hadn’t ended so badly.”

  “What on Arrhidaeus do you mean by that?”

  “Who’s–”

  “My mother, her name was Verity,” I snapped at Cadence, my fingers digging into the arms of my chair as I waited for Desdemona’s answer.

  Desdemona licked her lips as she shrugged, voice shallow. “I don’t know, that’s all he’d ever say – that it had ended badly.”

  Cadence looked between us. She straightened, steepling her fingers in front of her. “It’s very hard to lose someone, isn’t it?”

  To her credit, Desdemona held my gaze as we both nodded at the platitude.

  “Death is always a ‘bad end’ to a relationship,” Cadence continued, folding her hands over her knees. “Especially premature death, as was the case with both Felix and Verity.”

  I turned away from Desdemona and she sighed in relief. Cadence cleared her throat and leaned back in her seat, attempting nonchalance. “I hope Inspector Brisbois makes an arrest soon. I wish I could have been more helpful to him, but I’m afraid I was asleep through everything; I didn’t see anything or hear anything, makes me feel very useless.”

  “Oh, you shouldn’t,” Desdemona reached over and squeezed Cadence’s arm. “It’s not your fault.”

  “I’m sure you’re right.” Cadence smiled, patting Desdemona’s hand. “Were you able to tell the inspector anything important?”

  “No, I wasn’t either. Just that I saw Felix going to bed at around eleven.”

  “You actually saw him?” I jumped on the fact, eager to turn up something concrete, while Cadence shot a glare in my direction.

  Desdemona nodded, settling back into the cushions. “I have trouble sleeping, so I usually sit-up quite late, reading, browsing the vertex, sometimes even drawing. Felix stayed up late too; well after eleven, anyway; I don’t think I’ve ever seen him go to bed before fifteen or one. Anyway, I heard some noises out in the hall – some grumbling and talking – and I poked my head out and saw Felix going into his room.”

  Shaking her head, Desdemona pulled at her lower lip as she spoke. “He looked so tired, so I didn’t call out to him. I figured he needed his rest after being so sick. Now I wish I’d said something.”

  “What makes you say he looked tired?” Now it was my turn to scowl at Cadence, whose excitement was hard to miss. “Did he turn around; did you see his face?”

  “Well, no, it was just…” Desdemona moved her butterfly-like hand across her forehead, eyes fluttering shut. “I don’t know why I said that. I just remember thinking that he must be tired. But he didn’t turn to me or anything; he just shuffled into his room. Perhaps that was it; Felix didn’t usually shuffle.”

  Cadence frowned, turning to look out the window. A long minute passed in silence, and with no more questions forthcoming, Desdemona’s attention was soon recaptured by the television. She lifted the remote and unmuted the sound, gesturing to me. “Have you ever seen this one? The animation’s pretty silly, but it’s always been one of my favorite flickers.”

  Blocky figures waddled across the screen. A fro
wning frog in a tweed waistcoat sat in a prison cell, bemoaning his fate to a mole and rat on the other side of the bars, who were holding bowlers in their hands, looking mournful.

  The scene struck my memory and I edged forward in my seat. “This is The Wind in the Willows, isn’t it?”

  “Yes!” Desdemona’s face broke out in a smile and she scooted closer to me. “We’ve just gotten to the part where the weasels have taken over Toad Hall and made a mess of everything!”

  Cadence turned back to us, brow furrowed. “Weasels?”

  “Little furry rodents that bite, dear,” I answered, not bothering to look at her, entranced by the animal drama on the screen. “My fa–” I swallowed the formality, casting a glance towards Desdemona’s eager face, “–Dad, he used to read me this story when I was little. Every time I had a nightmare, I’d get to hear about Rat and Mole and Mr. Toad.”

  On the screen, Rat and Mole had just reached Badger’s house, the fussy Wiseman character of the piece, who refused to be disturbed by Toad’s troubles any longer. “I always wanted to be Mr. Toad, even though he gets into all that trouble; at least he was having fun.”

  Cadence rose from her seat, crossing in front of the screen as quick as she could. “I’ll leave you two to it then!”

  “No, you don’t,” I grabbed her wrist as it swung by and tugged. Cadence allowed the motion to pull her down onto my lap, her blue eyes staring into mine, a curious tilt to her head. Slinging an arm around her hip, I leaned back in my chair, jutting my chin towards the screen with a smile. “Stay and watch; it’ll be educational.”

  The three of us passed a charming hour in my father’s study, the story bringing to mind some of the good moments I had shared with my dad and allowing me the luxury of forgetting a few of the things I had learned about him of late.

  The front door chimed, which we elected to ignore, not curious in the least who might be coming to interrupt our blithe times with Mr. Toad. There was a knock on the study door as the credits ran, and after a customary ‘yes?’ my father’s manservant, Bernard, bowed into the room.

  “So sorry to bother you, sir. But Inspector Oliver Brisbois has just arrived, sir, and insists on speaking with you. I did try to impress upon him the unsuitability of the hour, sir.”

  I glanced up at the clock on the wall and was surprised to see that it was nearing dinner time. Cadence and I shared a glance, but I put on a brave face. As I thanked Bernard and asked him to tell the inspector I would be right out, Cadence slid off my lap, giving a small wave to Desdemona before following me out of the room.

  Pushing through my dread, I approached Brisbois in the entryway, a stalwart EO officer his sole companion, and managed a broad smile. “Inspector Brisbois! How nice to see you again.”

  Brisbois gave a curt nod, twisting his face into a scowl. “Mr. Hale, I did say I would be back for some follow-up interviews, and I’d like to conduct those now, if you don’t mind.”

  I made a great show of checking the clock above the door and wincing. “It is rather late, old boy; wouldn’t you prefer to wait until tomorrow?”

  Brisbois took a deep breath, probing the inside of his cheek with his tongue. “Clearly not, seeing how I have come all the way out here now.”

  I shrugged, gesturing back into the house. “Well, I think everyone is pretty scattered about, but I’ll do my best to wrangle them together. Miss Eydis is in the study–”

  “That’s fine, I’ll start with her.” He strode past, brushing my elbow with his arm. “Please gather everyone else in the sitting room.”

  Deeming it unwise to antagonize a man with a taser gun, I did as he requested. Brisbois interviewed me second this time, asking the most banal questions about what my father had had to eat the night of the party, how long he had known Desdemona, even if I knew whether he liked to sleep in pajamas, all his previous threats of putting me away having vanished.

  While the majority of those whom he had finished with decided to go in for dinner, I opted to wait until Cadence had her turn. We sat side by side on a small love seat while the others filed in and out, one after the other. Brisbois, it seemed, had decided to save her for last.

  Minerva, second to last, stalked back into the sitting room, ruffled and annoyed, with Brisbois following close behind.

  “Miss Turing?”

  Cadence rose to her feet, smiling at Minerva as their paths crossed. Minerva threw herself into the vacated seat next to me with considerable force, looking back at Brisbois with narrowed eyes. “What that man needs are three days with a fast woman.”

  I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and squeezed, taking a long drag of my nix as we watched the inspector usher Cadence out the door, the two of them conversing at the threshold before disappearing down the hall. Minerva patted my chest. “It’s too bad Cadence has already become so attached to you; they make a pretty pair. But you’ve got your hooks in her, haven’t you?”

  I chuckled, smoke curling away from my face. “To be perfectly honest with you, Min, I’m not sure who has their hooks in whom.”

  Minerva cackled, wiggling her finger at me. “Good, good! You need someone who can knock you off balance now and again. Keeps things exciting; certainly works for Solomon and me.” She leaned back with a sigh, fiddling with her wedding necklace. “I only wish Henry could find someone like that. Someone to shake up his life and leave it in beautiful shambles; it’s what he really needs.”

  “Is that love, then?”

  “Of course! If love doesn’t ruin all the ideas you’ve ever had, then it’s not a very good love at that.”

  I considered the statement, nodding. “Min, can I ask you a question?”

  “Of course, my dear, anything.”

  “Were my father and mother in love?”

  Her fingers stuttered over her collarbone. She stared at me for a minute, more curious than surprised, and folded her hands in her lap. “I’ll give you an answer; but first I need to know: are you looking for comfort or honesty? Sometimes they’re the same thing, but where matters of the heart are concerned…” She finished the thought with a shrug.

  “I’ll take honesty, if it’s all the same to you.”

  “Good choice.” Minerva cleared her throat, turning to face me with squared shoulders and a thoughtful frown. “Your father and mother married because it was a good, sensible match. They were both from well-respected families, both young and ambitious; they had a lot of similarities and I do think, for a while anyway, they were at least very good friends.” Her gaze fell, moving over the patterns in the carpet. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather ask Belinda about all this? After all, she knew them better than I did.”

  “Yes, but you’ll tell me the truth.” I threw my arm over the back of the couch. “Belinda’s always looked through rose-colored glasses where Dad’s concerned.”

  “I don’t think they ever loved each other.” Minerva’s body relaxed back as if a great weight had been lifted off her. “They had a chance, a real chance, but I don’t think they ever quite,” she snapped her fingers, “sparked.”

  Leaning forward, she rested her elbows on her knees. “When your mother came to live here, I remember thinking how beautiful she was, beautiful inside and out. She was so…” She grunted and shook her head. “It’s hard to describe. Verity was like…like the sun. She was so alive, so warm. I think that brightness butted heads with your father’s more somber attitude towards life. They were never quite on the same page. But still, they could have learned to complement each other.”

  “What got in the way of them sparking?”

  “Well,” Minerva crossed her legs, reluctant but committed to telling the story. “A few years after they were married, just after you were born, Halcyon Enterprises ran into some serious financial troubles. To this day, Solomon won’t tell me why or how, but I’m certain your father made some ill-advised investments that never paid off. He wasn’t the type to cut his losses, so he just kept throwing good money after bad and it all spiraled out o
f control.”

  I made a mental note to go back through my father’s financial records and try to find evidence of this spiral for myself. Minerva continued, drawing her hand back through her flaxen hair. “Financial strains can be hard on the best of marriages. Coming from a wealthy family, your mother still had a sizeable fortune of her own, under her own name. When Felix asked her to use it to bail out the company, she refused. He pushed.” Minerva clucked, grimacing. “You know how your father pushed.” Shrugging, her hands flopped into her lap. “Things were never the same after that. And then, of course, she became ill – rather sad.”

  “Do you know of anyone else my father might have…?” I cleared my throat, squirming, and tried again. “Is it possible there was another woman at some point?”

  Minerva jerked upright, scoffing. “Where did you get an idea like that?” One corner of her mouth tugged down into a frown, her hand at her stomach. “To be honest, I never saw your father as the type of man romantic enough to have an affair. But…” She placed her hand over mine as she thought, giving it a hard squeeze. “No, there’s no one I can think of at that time; no one new in his life. Just the same old group of friends.”

  We were interrupted by the reappearance of Cadence and Brisbois at the door, the latter shaking her hand, smiling. “Thank you very much for your time, Miss Turing. It’s been a pleasure, as always.”

  “Of course; I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful, Inspector.”

  “Not at all,” he waved her concern away and took her by the shoulders in a show of familiarity that I resented. “You have a keen mind and a good eye for detail. We could use more people like you in the Enforcement Office.”

  Cadence swung her hips from side to side, holding her hands together in front of her. “Well, I don’t think those shiny blue uniforms would suit me very much, Inspector; but I appreciate the compliment.”

  Brisbois allowed himself a delighted laugh before turning to me, his smile fading into a concealed grimace as he gave me a lazy salute. “Mr. Hale, I’ll keep you informed of any developments as they arise.” He bowed to Cadence, the sparkle in his eyes returning, before heading back out to the front door.