by Crook, Amy
“It’s a different kind of magic, but it’s still magic to me,” said Julian appreciatively. “We’ll have to have another pizza night sometime, maybe we can get Murielle to come this time.”
“Not if we watch rugby again,” said Thomas with a wry laugh. “But if it’s for something else, maybe.”
“If you’re ready?” said Fischer grumpily, tapping his pen against the sheet.
“Oh, yes, of course, Agent,” said Julian, with a sharp little smile. “Now, what did you need me to clarify?”
“I’d like to go over the night before the murder with you more closely,” he said, vaguely attempting to sound like he wasn’t fishing for information on Alex. “When did you leave work?”
“I open, so I don’t close, and I left about three o’clock with Alex,” said Julian, thinking back to the day. The afternoon had been sunny and hot, and he’d been looking forward to their plans.
“Does he always pick you up from work?” asked Fischer.
“No, of course not,” said Julian. “We had plans for tea with friends, and my work was closer than home.”
“Which friends?” came the sharp retort.
Julian was glad he’d asked. “Our former Guardians, James and Jacques, and Father Stephen, at the Temple of Purification. We went early and did a purification before we ate.”
“Do you go through a purification before every meal with them?” asked Fischer, making notes.
“No, but it had been a while and we both agreed it would be nice,” said Julian. “Neither of us likes the cold pool to start, but the rest of it is very calming.”
“Cold pool?” said Fischer, distracted by whatever notes he was making.
Julian rolled his eyes, but this time Thomas took up the baton. “Haven’t you ever done a purification? You have to do this cold bath in mineral salts, and then a warm shower, but there’s more steps to the one at the Temple. I’ve only done that once, but I had to get purified down in the infirmary when I bumped into one of the knives during the Sheffield case.”
“Ooh, Alex told me about that, with the daggers that made people kill their neighbours?” Julian sipped his tea and gave his attention to Thomas.
“Yeah, it was really dumb, I literally bumped into one,” said Thomas. “Maybe I should go with you guys sometime to the Temple, if it’s nicer.”
“It really is, after the bath there’s a warm shower, and then a steam room, and another shower, and then meditating in that room with the grass floor, then sometimes there’s a massage, and you get your hands and feet washed and blessed, and the kiss of peace with whatever potion is appropriate. I think last time Alex and I both got potions for clarity.”
“Why clarity?” interrupted Fisher.
Julian shrugged. “I wanted it to help with my studies, I assume Alex wanted it for his work. It’s one of the cheaper potions for the Temple, too, not that we donate any less.”
“You don’t have to, though. I had a purification when I was a kid; my granddad wanted me to go before I went into university, and they didn’t ask for anything, though he did donate a little, I think,” said Thomas.
“The Temple uses donations from people like me and Alex to pay for people who can’t afford it,” said Julian. “Father Stephen says he thinks it’s good we come more often now, and not just for our own peace of mind.”
Fischer seemed annoyed that the conversation had gotten away from him again, which pleased Julian to no end. “How long were you there?” he snapped.
“I think we left the Temple around nine, we’d gotten to talking, and Jacques made dessert,” said Julian serenely. He was calling on his memory from that afternoon, the whole day really had been lovely, coaxing new shoots to grow strong, having lunch in amongst the plants, and then seeing Alex when it was time to leave the wonderful feeling of the nursery.
“Your Guardian made dessert,” said Fischer, his voice flat and dubious.
“Oh, was it another one of those cakes he does?” asked Thomas, then the turned to Fischer. “Jacques brought this wonderful layered cake to their housewarming party, it was like nine layers of cake in different colours, with jam between them, and the whole thing had been soaked in some liqueur and then coated in fresh whipped cream. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.”
“It wasn’t quite that elaborate, but yeah, he made these little individual petit gateau with summer berries in a chocolate mousse, and then this heavy chocolate cake on the bottom, and a really light, airy angel food cake on top, with honey whipped cream. I guess Victor’s been sending food over to the Temple as donations from the main house, so it was all Benedict honey and berries.”
“So, you left around nine,” said Fischer, visibly irritated with their tangents now.
“You did ask,” Julian pointed out sweetly. “I think it was about nine, it was dark but only just, and the night was starting to cool down properly. We took a cab home, and then Alex did a little work and I wrote to my sister, and then we went to bed.”
“And you’re certain Alex was still home at midnight? If you were asleep…” Fischer’s oily implications were enough to annoy Thomas, whose brows knit.
Before Thomas could muster a defence, Julian gave Fisher a very coy little look and said, “I didn’t say we were asleep, Agent Fischer, I just said we were in bed.”
Fischer made a face that confirmed for Julian that he either really didn’t like Alex, or didn’t like the idea of Alex in a relationship with Julian. “And you’re certain that… activity… lasted until after midnight?”
“Yes, I remember him teasing me in the shower after that I’d be tired the next day, because it was nearly 1am. But I always find our Temple visits very energising, and sleep was quite restful,” said Julian. “Alex even got up when I did, so he was awake when I left.”
“Properly awake, or Alex in the morning awake?” teased Thomas.
Julian decided right then he needed to do something nice for the agent for being so very determined to protect Julian from Fischer’s bad mood. “Mostly awake. Enough that he got to the crime scene pretty soon after Agent Lapointe, anyway,” said Julian with a grin. “He’s not so bad these days, because I know how to cheer him up.”
“I bet you do,” said Thomas, sounding envious, though Julian knew it wasn’t of him so much as what they had.
“So you woke at what time?” said Fischer, determined to finish as he’d begun.
“The alarm goes off at eight thirty, and then I have to leave by quarter past nine so I can walk the greenhouse before we open at ten,” said Julian. “We got up pretty much on time, from what I remember, and had tea and scones with cream and jam, and I had two runny eggs with toast soldiers while Alex has bacon and eggs with toast.”
“That’s not really necessary, but thank you,” said Fischer. “You cook?”
“Oh, no, we have house-brownies,” said Julian innocently. “There’d never be time to bake before I have to go, and I never learned, anyway.”
“So there’s no clean-up, either?” asked Fischer, starting to look a little envious.
“They get mad if we try,” assured Julian. “Alex got them a tablet computer, so they even do the grocery ordering.”
“All right, how do you get to work?” asked Fischer. “Do you have a car?”
“No, no, I never learned to drive, I’m afraid. It’s a common foible of my class,” Julian put on the airs of someone trying to be modest and failing. “I take cabs everywhere, unless we’ve got a car for the day, and so does Alex. My apprenticeship isn’t a paying one, anyway, so the cost doesn’t matter.”
“You work for free?” said Fischer, dubious all over again.
“I’m Apprenticed to Master Stone,” said Julian, putting the capitals into his speech this time. “Mary Margaret is a Master of the Grower’s Guild, and I petitioned to do a formal Apprenticeship. This way she spends a lot of extra time teaching me when it’s quiet at the nursery, and I work for free to repay her for her time and knowledge. It’s a very old s
ystem, though not many people can afford to do it properly.”
“Was that Alex’s idea?” asked Thomas, clearly curious.
“Nope, it was mine,” said Julian proudly. “I don’t think Alex even knew Mary Margaret was in the Guild until after I got tested and they referred me to the Guild for training.”
“When did you get tested, and why?” asked Fischer.
“I went back in February, after Alex observed that the plants I was keeping for him seemed more potent when he used them in potions.” Julian chuckled at the memory. “I was apparently responsible for two sets of twins, which fortunately made Alex’s customers really happy. I tended the plants for some Satyr’s Gift charms he made because he got a case after the plants were bought, but before the charms were made.”
“So the charms were especially potent because of your talent,” said Fischer, making notes.
“Right, so we went to the Temple for testing, because Father Stephen offered to arrange it, and then they sent me to the Grower’s Guild, where I found out we already knew a Master Grower. After that, we worked out the Apprenticeship, because I knew how busy Mary Margaret is, and I can afford not to be paid while I’m still learning,” said Julian. “I’m already a lot better than I was, Alex helps me with the magic parts and Master Stone teaches me all her wisdom and plant-lore.”
“All right, back to the morning, you arrived at what time?” asked Fischer, flipping pages so he was looking at the old report.
“Around half nine, I unlocked the door and went in, then locked up after myself and started the walk-through of the nursery. The lucky clover aren’t very far along the path, so it was only a few minutes before I found the, the body.” Julian didn’t have to fake his distress at that part of the memory, the poor victim slashed horribly and left there in the ruined bed. “I called emergency, then Agent Lapointe, then Alex, and that’s the order people showed up in.”
“Did you touch the body at all?” asked Fischer, his tone coaxing, like it would be okay to admit it this time.
Julian thought he was an idiot. “No, it was obvious that whoever it was, was dead, and even if they weren’t they’d be better off in the hands of the paramedics. I didn’t even step into the flower bed, I made my calls where I was standing, just around the edge of the hydrangeas.”
After that, it was just more of Fischer asking stupid questions and trying to see if he could slip Julian up, until Thomas actually chided him for wasting Julian’s time.
“Thanks,” said Julian after they closed the door on Fischer, who had stopped the recorder and commenced muttering at his notes. “I thought he was never going to let me leave.” Julian led Thomas straight to Lapointe’s office, much to the agent’s poorly-concealed delight.
“It wasn’t right, him treating you like a suspect after you did all the right things,” said Thomas sincerely.
“I see you got sprung,” said Lapointe, glancing up from a mountain of paperwork. She was doing something for a waiting lab tech involving a sealed evidence bag.
“Thanks to Agent MacLean,” said Julian. “He told Fischer to stuff it.”
MacLean blushed. “Not in so many words,” he prevaricated.
Julian giggled. “No, but you reminded Agent Fischer that I was a member of a prominent family, and still had enough clout to make his life difficult if I were to take offence,” he said, “So, thank you.”
Thomas ducked his head, looking adorably abashed at the praise.
Lapointe put her pen down and stood, handing the papers to the tech. “Here you go, call me if you need anything else. Have you two met?”
The tech shook his head, and Julian stepped forward and offered his hand. “Julian St. Albans, I’m Alex Benedict’s boyfriend, but I don’t work here even as a consultant.”
“Except to keep Lapointe’s plant alive,” said MacLean, pointing to the little potted African violets flourishing abundantly on one corner of Murielle’s desk.
“Arthur Fenway,” said the tech, shaking rather limply and retrieving his hand quickly. “It’s a nice plant.” He scurried out, clearly wanting nothing more than to get back to work.
“So, um, more tea?” asked MacLean with a teasing grin.
“Let’s go get something in the cafe, if you’ve got time still?” Lapointe said. “I’d like to ask you more about the magic you felt, you give a different kind of evidence than Alex, and our mage was a little baffled when we presented him with a wormwood seed.”
Julian lit up. “I’d love to, and I can thank Thomas with some decent coffee as well, if you’ll come?” Julian shot him a wink, then glanced over to Lapointe, making it clear he knew just why Thomas might want to accompany them.
Thomas grinned. “I’d love to, thanks.”
Fischer was just emerging from the interrogation room when they all trooped past, looking very cranky indeed. “Do call if you have any new questions,” said Julian sweetly as they passed.
“Now, that was just mean,” said Lapointe, once they were out of earshot.
“I don’t know what you’re referring to,” said Julian innocently. “I’m eager to help any officer of the law, you know that.”
Thomas snickered, but managed a straight face as he added, “Julian answered all of Agent Fischer’s questions.”
“I just didn’t give him the answers he was looking for,” said Julian wryly, getting on the elevator with them. “I don’t know why he’s got it in for Alex so much, Alex did solve his case for him.”
“I don’t think that’s a point in Alex’s favour,” said Lapointe wryly. “Fischer seems to resent anyone’s help, he’s certainly barrelling ahead on this case without stopping to ask questions or read reports.”
Julian hmphed. “He probably plays golf with Armistead or something.”
Thomas laughed. “Don’t even suggest that,” he teased. They were all grinning as they walked through the lobby, past Lapointe’s boss, and out the door.
“Maybe he’s mad his case had to take on some of the expense of Alex’s bill,” said Julian, after they got outside. “Smedley didn’t seem to mind, but if looks could kill your boss would be a very guilty man right now.”
Lapointe snorted. “I really don’t think that’s it, Alex is expensive, but he never bills unfairly, and we’ve been using him for years now.”
“Some guys just don’t like it when other people get to save the day,” said MacLean. “I always thought it was important that the day got saved, but you know,” he shrugged.
“That’s why we like you, you’re sensible,” said Julian. “Well, and you’ve got good taste in pizza.”
“Does he?” asked Lapointe, interested.
“Oh, yeah, we visited that one time and he ordered from this local place around the corner and it was so good, you have to come along next time we invade his flat,” said Julian.
“As I recall, last time there was rugby involved,” said Lapointe, making a face. “I’m not sure there’s any pizza worth that.”
“I was thinking maybe a movie, I’ve never seen a lot of popular things,” said Julian, feeling a bit shy. “Thomas had a lot of stuff at his house, I mean, if you’d be willing?”
Thomas grinned. “I’d love to, if you can get your anti-everything boyfriend to agree. I was surprised he consented to the rugby.”
They got settled in their usual booth, and the waitress came over. “You’re missing your mage,” she said cheerfully; she’d been disappointed to realise Alex was unavailable, but her service never wavered. Julian thought it helped that Jones kept trying to ask her out, even if she’d yet to say yes.
“He’s at home working,” said Julian, pulling out his phone, “though I ought to text him and see if he’s willing to be dragged over to Thomas’ flat sometime soon.”
“You’re welcome any time, though I don’t have any house-fairies, so the place is a bit of a mess right now,” said Thomas, his face saying that ‘a bit’ meant ‘really a lot so not right now please.’
Julian chuckled.
“I’ll just suggest we ought to do it soon,” he teased, finding he already had a text from Alex asking if he needed rescuing. He smiled fondly as he replied that Agent MacLean had done the honours and wanted them to drag Murielle over for movies, and also needed some lessons from Alex on how to actually ask out the person they liked. A few seconds later, Thomas’ phone pinged, and he blushed red when he read the text.
“From a girl?” asked Murielle teasingly.
“No,” said Thomas. “I’ll have a coffee and some of your banoffee pie, please.”
“Ah, an order!” said the waitress, writing it down. “Anyone else want actual food?”
“I’ll have tea and a cinnamon roll, please,” said Julian, and Murielle ordered her usual coffee and bagel.
Once she’d left, they managed between texts and all of them consulting their phone calendars to decide on Saturday afternoon for their movies and pizza, case willing, which gave Thomas two days to clean up enough to impress Murielle. Alex kept sending him texts that made him squirm, which got Murielle curious and made Julian determined to give Alex a proper reward when he got home. The handsome agent might be a little young for Lapointe, but he’d held onto his torch long enough it didn’t seem like it was just a crush anymore.
Even if Alex did liken him to a puppy.
“All right, now that you’ve forced Alex to have a life outside your flat,” said Murielle, amused, “I wanted to ask you again about what you felt when you walked the nursery with Alex.”
“We didn’t do the whole thing together, mostly just the, um, the site, and the special greenhouse where we kept the virgin-pure plants before sale,” said Julian, sitting back and sipping his tea, thinking of the things he’d felt. “The plants were all really sad, I would’ve expected angry but they were just hurt and sad and dying.”