“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Lisson said. “I gotta admit, I felt that disdain you mentioned pretty damned hard when you first came to talk t’me. Gladja could see our side’a things.”
Chamblin added, “And glad you could find the murderer. Still say Cook was always a piece of shit.”
“Oh, cut that out, Chamblin,” Lisson said.
Rodolfo guided Torin and Danthres toward the mess hall entrance. “Let us depart before the pair of them come to blows. I will return you to the docks on our dinghy personally. That will give the pair of them a chance to finish arguing and figure out how they’ll tell the crew about me.”
Torin chuckled. “I doubt those two will ever finish arguing. They’re like to retire to the same place so that they may continue the fights until one of them dies.”
Danthres waited until they were on the dinghy and bound for Cliff’s End before asking the question she needed to ask the son of the Pirate Queen. “Are you sure this is what you want, Rodolfo?”
“I’m a sailor, Thressa. Even when I was a boy in Sorlin, I was always gazing out at the reefs. A life of sitting in a castle would, I suspect, bore me to tears. The sea is where I’m meant to be, and besides—what better way to carry on the Captain’s legacy?”
“The bards are going to have a field day with this,” Torin said with a grin.
“Definitely.” Danthres chuckled.
~*~
“I still can’t believe she was the queen’s sister.”
Aleta sighed. Captain Dru had been saying that about once an hour since Torin and her partner had returned from Velessa that morning with confirmation that the Pirate Queen’s cook’s allegations about her parentage was correct. He said it now in response to the two lieutenants returning from the pirate ship.
“She really was,” Tresyllione said with a smile. “But there are no new claimants to the Silver Thrones. Rodolfo will be remaining aboard the Rising Jewel.”
“Good,” Dru said emphatically. “I don’t think I could handle another attempt on the king and queen.”
Dannee, who was standing behind Aleta observing her filling out the report on their case, said, “Wow, that’s amazing.”
“What’s amazing?” Aleta asked.
“Well, Lieutenant Tresyllione and Lieutenant ban Wyvald have solved the murders of Gan Brightblade and the Pirate Queen! That’s amazing!”
“First of all,” Torin said, “it’s Danthres and Torin, Dannee. You need no longer refer to us by rank.”
“Oh! But you’re senior detectives! So you outrank us!”
“No,” Tresyllione said, “it just means we get paid more.”
Dru chuckled. “Mostly ’cause they do stuff like solve the murders of Gan Brightblade an’ the Pirate Queen. Not t’mention the first time anybody committed homicide on a wizard.”
“Someone killed a wizard?” Dannee asked, shocked.
Aleta rolled her eyes. The last thing she wanted to hear was a litany of the halfbreed’s accomplishments. But that was her lot in life, as Dru said, “No, someone killed three wizards. It was their first case together. I was still a guard back then, an’ everyone all over town was talkin’ about it. An’ then they took down Quanto—”
“Please stop.” Tresyllione looked pained. Aleta was pleased to see that she was just as uncomfortable with the approbation.
“Hey, I’m captain now, I can say what I want. For now, though, I’m just gonna say good job closin’ it fast and gettin’ that boat the hell out.” He turned to Aleta. “You two done with your report yet?”
“Ah,” Torin said, “in all the dashing back and forth, I never did find out—you tracked down the killer from the Seagull?”
“We did!” Dannee said enthusiastically. “It actually went very smoothly! After Boneen did the peel-back, we showed the image to the victim’s brother, he recognized the face, and pointed us at someone who might know where to find him.”
“Palnitt,” Aleta added helpfully.
Tresyllione got a gleeful look on her face. “Oh, please tell me he resisted and you had to intimidate him?”
“Aleta did, yes,” Dannee said.
“Of course. Excellent. Wish I’d been there to see it. Well done.”
That got Aleta to squirm a bit in her seat. Praise from the halfbreed was—unusual to say the least.
“She was very good at it,” Dannee said. “Anyhow, he claimed he killed the victim because he didn’t like refugees from Barlin—except it turns out he was from Barlin originally, too! Not a refugee, though, he moved here a while ago.”
“Lord and lady, this is getting ridiculous,” Tresyllione muttered.
“Agreed,” Torin said. “Let’s hope opening the new precinct will make a difference.”
Dru nodded. “Well, the first few days of Phoenix Precinct have been pretty quiet. Lot less stuff reported in New Barlin to Phoenix than Dragon and Goblin were gettin’ before, but that’s prob’ly just ’cause they’re all scared’a the new set’a guards in town. We’ll see if it sticks. Anyhow, four’a you’re all back in rotation—’less the magistrate needs you two?”
Torin shrugged. “We’ll find out in the morning, but I doubt it.”
“Unless he makes a deal,” Tresyllione added. “But I’m with Torin, I doubt it. Voran doesn’t strike me as self-centered enough to make that deal. I mean, he’s an Iaron noble, and he gave that up to be a cook on a pirate ship for a year—all for a cause. He won’t give in now, even to keep from being boiled in oil.”
“Perhaps.” Aleta rubbed her chin. “It’s my experience that people will do anything to avoid great pain.”
“People, yes. Fanatics, no. Voran’s a fanatic.”
Before Aleta could argue the point further—in her days with the Shranlaseth, fanatics were often the ones who broke first—Manfred and Kellan entered the squadroom looking incredibly dejected.
Dru stared at them. “I’d ask how it’s goin’, but the looks on your faces kinda tell me that already.”
Manfred held up his hands. “We give up. We have talked to every single person who may or may not have had a grudge against every single person who was vandalized. If any of them did it, they’re hiding it real good, and we can’t find a damn piece of evidence to support it. Nobody’s seen the graffiti being painted on, and nobody’s done any since we started investigating.”
“Personally,” Kellan said, “I think that the artist gave up soon as he saw we were on the case.”
“Or he couldn’t afford any more Invisibility Spells,” Manfred said.
“That’s his theory.” Kellan jerked a thumb at his partner.
Manfred put his hands on his hips. “Yeah, it’s my theory, you got a problem with that?”
“All right, stop!” Dru held up a hand. “You two satisfied that you pursued all the leads?”
“We got nothin’, Cap.” Manfred hung his head.
“Okay, unless somethin’ else comes up, you two’re back in the rotation.”
Tresyllione pumped a fist and looked at Torin. “Yes! You owe me a copper!”
Chuckling, Torin reached into the pouch on his belt and fished out a copper piece, flipping it to the halfbreed, who caught it unerringly.
Manfred looked annoyed. “You two were betting on our streak? That’s rude.”
“Nice try, partner,” Kellan said. “That’s two silvers.”
“Get me at payday.”
Aleta had never been able to understand the notion of wagering on police work—it was the one aspect of working for the Castle Guard she had never quite been able to wrap her mind around—but while she could at least understand Torin and his partner betting on Manfred and Kellan’s streak, the pair of them betting on it was a bit more confusing to her. “Wait, Kellan, you bet on your streak ending?”
Kellan grinned. “Not exactly. Manfred told me that he could feel it in his bones that the streak’d hit twenty, and he put two silvers on it. No way I wasn’t gonna take that action.”
“Smart man,” Tori
n said.
The timechimes rang signaling the end of the shift.
Dru looked up and said, “Damn, where’d the time go? All’a you, go home. You all did good today.”
“We did?” Dannee asked.
“Sure. You an’ Aleta put down a murderer, Torin and Danthres put down another murderer, an’ Manfred an’ Kellan reminded us that we ain’t perfect. Go home.”
Dannee said, “I already offered to buy drinks for Aleta and myself in honor of closing our first case together, and I’m happy to extend that to any of the rest of you who are coming along.”
“Actually,” Tresyllione said, “it seems to me that the two detectives who’ve spent the last several weeks going on at nauseating length about their oh-so-amazing streak, and whose aforementioned streak was unceremoniously broken today, should be the ones to pay for the drinks at the Chain.”
Aleta surprised herself with the words, “I agree!”
“As do I,” Torin said. “And if it’s a notion that both Aleta and Danthres agree upon, then it is a worthy notion, I would say.”
“Hell,” Dru said, “I was gonna stay and do paperwork, but if Kellan an’ Manfred are buyin’, I’m in, too.”
Aleta looked at the two detectives in question, who both looked completely stunned, mouths hanging open.
Kellan recovered first. “Whaddaya think, partner? Streak had to end eventually. And hey, at least we had the streak. That’s worth a few drinks, right?”
Manfred shook his head and laughed. “Yeah, I guess. Fine, drinks’re on us!”
“Excellent,” Aleta said. “Dannee and I will catch up to you, we just have to finish the report on the Lambit case.”
“Do it in the morning,” Dru said. “Magistrate’s gonna be dealin’ with Voran first thing, so he ain’t gonna get to Xeros for a while. ’Sides, you’re off the clock now. Nobody should be doin’ paperwork ’less they’re gettin’ paid for it.”
It went against all of Aleta’s training to leave a job half finished. But Dru was both her former partner and her boss, and she wasn’t about to argue with him. “Very well.”
“Wait,” Manfred said to Dru, “you said you were gonna stay and do paperwork.”
Dru scowled. “Yeah, that’s the downside’a bein’ a captain. I ain’t never off the clock. I get paid the same no matter how many hours I work.”
“That sucks.”
His scowl turning into a grin, Dru said, “Yeah, but I get paid more’n you. C’mon, let’s go drink.”
“I’m all for that,” Tresyllione said.
“I’m afraid I must pass,” Torin said. “I’m going to be seeing Jak.”
“Bring him along,” Dru said. “Let Manfred and Kellan buy his drinks, too.”
“Hey!” Kellan said.
Torin chuckled. “No, it’s fine. We need some time alone. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
As Torin left, Aleta watched as Tresyllione looked upon her partner’s departure with obvious concern.
She decided to actually talk to her. After she got up from her desk, leaving the paperwork half-finished, and retrieved her cloak, she approached the halfbreed. “Is he okay?”
Tresyllione sighed. “I’m honestly not sure. Ask me again tomorrow morning.”
“I suspect I won’t have to.” Aleta smiled. “Your partner wears his emotions on his sleeve.”
“True.” She indicated the door. “C’mon, Shranlaseth, let’s go get extremely drunk.”
Aleta’s eyes widened. “Extremely drunk? Why so much?”
Smiling, the halfbreed said, “Because Manfred and Kellan are paying for it, obviously. One should always drink as much free booze as one can.”
Dannee laughed. “That sounds like a fabulous philosophy, Lieutenant. Sorry! Danthres!”
Aleta walked out with Tresyllione on one side of her and her new partner on the other side, and she had to admit to kind of liking that.
~*~
“You mean to tell me she was the queen’s sister?”
Torin nodded at Jak’s question. They were seated on a bench in the dock extension, arms around each others’ shoulders, looking out at the darkened sea, flickering torchlight providing illumination. During the day, the bench was used by construction workers when they took their meal breaks. At night, the area was closed—especially now that the Rising Jewel had left—but the guard, an old Castle Guard lifer named Byron Mazz, let Torin and Jak in. It was probably the only place in all of Cliff’s End where one could truly be alone outdoors these days.
“Hope Medinn finds out about it when he finally shows up,” Jak said with a chuckle.
“I’m sure he’s already heard. Word of the Pirate Queen’s death had already reached Velessa by the time we arrived, and we teleported.”
“Well, this will certainly add to your legend, Lieutenant ban Wyvald.” Jak smiled and rested his head on Torin’s shoulder. “Obviously, you’re the person to go to when a legend is killed.”
“Personally, I’d rather close cases involving ordinary people—they’re less work. And require less teleporting and watching Danthres throw up.”
“I can’t imagine that’s very salubrious, no.” Jak raised his head. “Are you all right, Torin? You seem—out of sorts. Usually after you close a case, you’re relaxed.”
“This case has brought out some ugly emotions in me,” Torin said. “When we first boarded the Rising Jewel, I was harsh to the crew. I’d pre-judged them, assuming that their lifestyle meant they were reprobates. I was looking for excuses not to take the case.”
“You didn’t need to look for an excuse,” Jak said. “The Pirate Queen wasn’t murdered in Cliff’s End.”
“No, but they wanted Danthres to solve it as a favor. Because Danthres was her friend. And that should have been enough for me. I know how rare it is for Danthres to consider someone to be a friend.”
Jak grinned. “You being among that miniscule number.”
“Exactly.” Torin sighed. “I should have been happy for her. You should’ve seen her, Jak—I haven’t seen her so at ease with anyone besides myself in eleven years as she was with Lisson and Rodolfo. And the way she spoke of the Pirate Queen—she called her ‘the Captain,’ the same as the crew did—it was with a nostalgic reverence. More to the point, it was with love. Danthres has loved very little in her life, and taking on this case was obviously important to her.”
Torin pulled himself out of their mutual embrace and got to his feet, suddenly feeling the need to pace.
“It should have been more important to me. But I couldn’t get past my own disdain.” Torin sighed. “I saw so many horrible things done by pirates during the war.”
“Your reaction makes sense.”
Torin turned to face Jak. “But it doesn’t, don’t you see? I never encountered the Pirate Queen before this week. I made a judgment based solely on people who happen to be in the same profession. I had thought myself above such things.”
Jak scowled, looking up at Torin. “And you thought me above them, too?”
Torin sat back down and looked into Jak’s beautiful dark eyes. “That’s not what I’m talking about, Jak, I—”
Jak looked away. “Isn’t it? You’ve been out of sorts ever since I used that damn word. I can’t help it, I keep hearing it all over town. ‘Lousy bahrlans,’ ‘filthy bahrlans,’ ‘everything was fine until the bahrlans showed up.’ It starts to affect you.”
“I know it does. And that’s why I’m not talking about you here. I’m talking about my own instinctive reaction to treat the Rising Jewel crew with scorn, which is the same as your own instinctive reaction to using that term—and, more to the point, agreeing with the dismissive and reductive treatment of the refugees that that term implies.”
Jak rolled his eyes. “Oh, Wiate’s foot, there’s that Myverin education again.”
“I thought you liked it when I got all brilliant on you,” Torin said bitterly. Then he softened his tone. “And why Wiate’s foot?”
“Because I
hadn’t done his foot yet.” Now Jak got to his feet and started pacing. “Look, Torin, I’m sorry I’m not the paragon of virtue that you are. In my defense, neither is anyone else. Maybe the reason why you’ve been unable to sustain a relationship is because nobody can live up to your lofty standards.”
Torin stood up and put his hands on Jak’s shoulders. “I’m not asking you to. I’m sharing a moment of self-examination with someone I love. That’s all.”
Jak just stared at Torin for a moment. The breeze picked up off the Garamin and blew his hair into his face.
“So this wasn’t a veiled attempt to get me to apologize for what happened at the Dog and Duck?”
“I will never ‘get’ you to do anything, Jak. You’re a person with free will, and I love you for who you are, prejudices and all.”
“I guess I’m not used to falling for paragons of virtue.” Jak chuckled. “But I’d like to try to get used to it, if you’re willing.”
“What makes you think I wouldn’t be?”
“Well, honestly, I thought you took me out here to break up.”
Now it was Torin’s turn to stare at Jak uncomprehendingly. “Why would I do that?”
“In case I caused a scene, here it would be in private and not embarrass you.”
“If I ever do decide to break up with you, Jak, there will be no subterfuge or manipulation. I detest such things.”
Mermaid Precinct (ARC) Page 17