In the old days, Butch had made a decent deputy. Not great, but decent. I’d had similar hopes for Mickey. Surprisingly, Mickey cleaned up his act right away, and when he was done with that, he started cleaning up my act. He rearranged the office, requisitioned some shelves and storage cabinets, and even got himself a small secretary’s desk. He had cable installed, along with a TV, and upgraded our computers to something reasonably modern. And he did all of that in just the first few weeks.
As I stood next to Mickey, I stared up at the TV screen and saw an aerial shot of an undercity bank. A scrolling banner read: Breaking News! Elder suspected in robbery… I heard the sound of a gyrocopter’s wing beating in the background. The image shifted to the street outside the bank, and Black Frezion, the undercity’s famous goblin reporter, appeared. He was wearing a pinstriped suit and trilby hat and holding a large microphone. He smiled congenially, an unusual look for a goblin but something he did startlingly well, and began to speak:
“This is the scene today at Brannigan’s Old Town Bank in downtown undercity. Word is still trickling in about what exactly happened, but I thought it would be best if we went straight to the source…”
The camera panned back and an attractive young dryad appeared next to him. She wore leather pants with a studded belt, matching boots, and a very revealing top made of some sort of translucent green material. It was obvious that Black had chosen this particular witness for her screen appeal.
“This young lady is Narsi Finora. Tell me Narsi, what exactly did you see?”
“Well Mr. Frezion, I was making a withdrawal from the ATM machine when I heard a shout inside and saw flashing lights. I thought the power might have gone out, but when I looked inside, I saw everybody getting down on the floor. They had their hands on their heads.”
“So the bank was being robbed?”
“Yes. I could see the teller opening the safe and the robber standing there with big bags for the money.”
“Did you get a good look at the robber?”
“I sure did!”
“Can you describe him for us?”
“Describe him? I don’t need to. It was Magnus.”
Black Frezion blinked into the camera. “I’m sorry… did you say ‘Magnus?’ As in the great, powerful wizard? The Ascended Elder?”
“That’s him,” she said. “I could hardly believe it.”
Black turned to face the camera and Narsi disappeared.
“Well that’s one for the record, viewers. I don’t know how this could be possible, but there’s definitely a pattern to this story. It looks like Magnus really did rob a bank.”
The screen split to show an attractive young female wood-elf sitting behind a desk back in the television studio. She smiled warmly and said, “Do the police have an official theory yet, Black?”
“If they do, they’re not talking Emma. So far, we’ve heard rumor and innuendo, and now the corroborating stories of several witnesses. Either this is some kind of mass hysteria, or an Ascended Elder truly did just become a felon.”
“Shocking! Thanks, Black. We’ll check back with you on this story. In other news, a dragon trainer was mauled to death in a horrible accident at the undercity zoo this morning. Let’s go to the scene for a closer look…”
Mickey clicked the remote and the volume went dead on the TV. I drew my gaze away to stare at him. “What exactly is going on?”
“I don’t know, Boss. That’s all they’ve been saying for the last hour. Magnus walked into a bank, started throwing fireballs and lightning around the place, and demanded all the gems.”
I chewed on my lower lip, considering. “He didn’t ask for gold?”
“Not from what I’ve heard.”
“Then it must really be him. Anyone else would have asked for gold. Alchemy is a secret only the Elders know. That means he was looking for something of greater value; something he knew couldn’t be reproduced or traced.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Mickey said.
I leaned back against the desk, scratching the beard stubble on my chin. “Did he confess?”
“He got away. He is Magnus, after all.”
“So he is… I never would have figured Magnus to pull something like this.”
“I don’t get it either, Boss, but I got to be the first to say it: Congratulations!”
A smile played at the corners of my mouth. I couldn’t help it. After all the years of fighting with Magnus, of being on the receiving end of his snide comments and pretentious attitude, things had finally gone the other direction. I instantly recalled standing on the side of the road in the cold rain, watching him fly by with a grin on his face as the rain poured down my neck. It was about time he got his come-uppance. Still, the whole situation was just strange. Mickey stared up at me with a ridiculous grin on his face.
“Seems the mighty have fallen, eh Boss?”
“Indeed.”
“What now?”
“Now I go arrest the S.O.B.”
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Death in the Hallows (Hank Mossberg, Private Ogre Book 2) Page 22