by L. EE
Gail couldn’t quite make herself smile back.
Thankfully, Nia was distracted by her own disappointment. “Unfortunately, I don’t seem any closer to understanding why this particular part of Connery is so reluctant to be found.”
“I’m afraid I can’t help you there, but sometimes when I’m dealing with a tough case, the best thing for me is a night off.” That was a lie. When she was dealing with a tough case, Gail often fell asleep on the rickety old card table that served as her desk, head pillowed on a stack of notes and toppled coffee mugs, but she figured this lie was justified so long as it got Nia inside before the drizzle became a proper downpour.
“A night off?” Nia sounded incredulous, as though she doubted such things as “nights off” actually existed. “What did you have in mind?”
Good question. Gail was forced to think fast. “Dinner, maybe, or a picture show, though I guess there’s no reason we can’t do both.” Though, in truth, the downpours weren’t that bad. They were a lot of scary flash, but at least they were there and gone. It was the slow and steady rain you had to be afraid of – the kind that lasted.
“Detective?”
Realizing she was wandering again, Gail twisted her face into what she hoped passed for a grin. “It was just an idea.” Not exactly the most convincing finish, but she could tell by Nia’s pursed lips that she was considering it. And why not? She’d said that this was her first time alone in the city proper. Gail doubted she would be able to resist flexing her wings a little.
But maybe she had underestimated Nia’s sense of responsibility, because after a moment Nia’s shoulders slumped a little. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible. Clearly, I’m going about this search all wrong and I need to find out why.” She smiled apologetically. “Of course, you’re free to go out without me. I hope you have a nice time.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
The soul-deep misery in that one word was so over-the-top that Gail had to laugh.
“I’m not laughing at you, princess,” she said when Nia turned her large reproachful eyes on her. “But I can promise you, no one has ever sounded that sad about not finding Connery before.” That made Nia smile, so Gail pressed her advantage. “Look, you and Connery are clearly well matched. You beat him in the hotel even when everything had gone to hell.”
Nia shook her head. “Not without help.”
Dimly, like something out of a dream, Gail remembered a long twisting staircase and a sound rising up from the depths, a sound that had driven Nia to tears.
Is she ashamed of that? “Hey, we all had some trouble. I got trapped on the stairs for an hour, remember?” After running away from the water with Dad’s face.
Nia tried to smile, but it didn’t quite come off. “I suppose.”
On some instinct, Gail put her hand, wrapped in the poncho’s sleeve on Nia’s shoulder. In practice, she was just slapping wet plastic against wet plastic, but she hoped the spirit of the gesture came across. “Can I tell you how I see it?”
Watching her curiously, Nia nodded.
“Connery’s a piece of shit.”
That jarred a laugh out of Nia. “Yes, you’ve mentioned that before.”
“I wasn’t finished. He’s a piece of shit, but he’s a brilliant piece of shit, but we’ve beaten him twice and we’ll do it again. I mean, you’re not giving up, are you?”
Expression serious again, Nia shook her head.
“But even though I’m sure you’ll out-think Connery eventually, just now he’s got you stumped and I don’t know about you, but staring at the same problem over and over never helps me solve it. It only pisses me off and the more pissed I am, the less likely I am to work it out.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Nia. “Sometimes intense concentration is exactly what puzzles like this require. If a person is methodical in their process, they’re bound to eventually find the correct…” She stopped speaking as Gail breathed out a long sigh. “You and Arthur would really like a night off, wouldn’t you?”
“Personally, I just want to get out of the rain.”
Nia’s eyes widened. “Oh my goodness, Detective Lin, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to – I forgot that…”
“Forgot what?”
“That you don’t – well, don’t care for this weather.”
Gail blinked. “How do you –”
“In the illusion.” Nia looked down, hands clasped in front of her like she had just been caught snooping in Gail’s diary. “You asked me if it was actually raining and you seemed… troubled.”
Right. Gail’s memories of the illusion were muddled, but if she concentrated, she thought she could recall a conversation along those lines. “It’s fine, I just – look, it’s fine –” But Nia was already gathering her things. Arthur, still standing by the wall, looked impressed.
Gail bent to help, pushing back Nia’s hat when it threatened to slip out from under her poncho hood. When she straightened up, her umbrella slipped slightly and a stray raindrop struck her cheek. Cursing herself, Gail held absolutely still, knowing wiping her face with her poncho sleeve would only make things worse. She could dry her face when she got to the car.
But she could feel the raindrop sliding down her jaw like a burning tear – it’s not burning, you lunatic, it’s just one drop– just barely missing the corner of her mouth.
Don’t swallow it.
Wasn’t planning on it.
Neither was Dad.
“Detective?”
Gail turned sharply toward the sound of Nia’s voice and the raindrop fell from the edge of her jaw, leaving only a wet streak behind. She could see Nia watching her with concern. “I’m fine, I’m fine, really.” The last thing she wanted was Nia reporting back to the Academy – no matter how compassionately – that Private Detective Lin fell all to pieces when faced with a drizzle. They’d write her off as crazy and never hire her again.
But Nia wasn’t looking at her like she was crazy. Instead she took a step closer, folded back the sleeve of her poncho, and dabbed Gail’s wet cheek with the back of her dry hand. “Better?”
“Yeah,” Gail managed after a moment. “Thanks, princess.”
Nia smiled. “Let’s get under cover.”
As they followed Arthur back to the car, Nia remained uncharacteristically silent. Gail figured she was pondering the problem of Connery, but then she said, “Detective?”
“Yeah?”
“Would you – would you still like to take tonight off? The more I think of it, the nicer dinner and a picture show sounds.”
Gail laughed, for a second not minding the rain beating down on her umbrella. “It sounds pretty nice to me too, princess.”
27
Nia Graves
Nia knew Arthur was growing frustrated with her.
“Please just pick one,” he said from his chair by the door, turning the page of his newspaper with a dry snap. “Why did you bring so many formal dresses with you anyway?”
“I only brought four.”
Arthur just sighed and returned to his paper. He was dressed in a light gray suit and a rose-colored tie that Nia remembered buying for him several years earlier. One of Nia’s dresses was actually the same color, but for some reason, the soft pink gown she usually adored seemed flat and dull this evening. Then there was the blue dress, but that one went all the way to the floor which seemed a bit much for dinner and a picture show. The other was black and simple – too simple. The last one was red and accented with beads. A friend had bought it for her last time she had gone into the city, saying that it had made her think of Nia.
It was a beautiful dress, the sort of dress clever charming women wore in movies, the sort of dress Nia had always wanted, but would never dare buy for herself. For days after receiving it, she had periodically opened her closet just for the pleasure of looking at it.
But she had never worn it. She hadn’t had reason to. The Academy balls were always either too formal or not formal e
nough. It seemed that tonight would be the perfect opportunity, except that the dress was – well, the dress was red.
Nia’s last memory of her mother was red as well. The blood on her hands and the blood in the hole where her mother’s chest used to be.
“An unfortunate accident,” the head of the Academy said. “Eshe knew the risks, but tampering with unbound magic… Well, I suppose it was her choice. It was just too bad about the students.”
Her choice.
Seven magicians had died the day of her mother’s experiment. Nia’s mother had believed unbound magic could be safely harnessed by an accomplished magician. Her early experiments had gone well and she believed herself prepared to attempt more complicated magic. It was just supposed to be a small carving on a stone, proving that unbound magic could be precise.
It had ended in blood and broken bodies.
All of the students had died. Nia had tripped over the body of one girl as she burst through the door to reach her mother. The girl’s eyes had been open, blood running down her cheek like tears.
The magic had thrown Nia’s mother against the wall, caving in her chest. Nia had been soaked in her blood by the time she had been dragged from the room. She had been unable to speak until they had brought her to Arthur and even he had only managed to coax one word from her, one word about what she had seen.
“Blood.”
She had been six years old.
“Nia, please, if you value my life and my sanity at all, just pick a dress. Detective Lin has probably left without us.”
Still half-lost in her memories, Nia jerked around, the red dress clutched tightly in her hands. “What?”
Arthur looked at her exasperatedly. “I said Detective Lin has probably left without us. Also, I managed to read the entire newspaper.” He waved said paper at her for emphasis. “I don’t think any human being in history has ever been bored enough to read an entire newspaper.” Then his scowl softened a little, his eyes moving across her face. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, of course.” Nia turned back to the mirror, holding the red dress against her robe, watching how the gold and black beads caught the light, contrasting prettily with the deep crimson cloth. It really was a beautiful dress.
But red, red like –
No. It was just a beautiful dress. That was all. “I think I’ll wear this one,” she said, turning toward Arthur and holding out the skirt so he could see.
He didn’t even look up from shining his tie pin. “I’ll look at it when you’re wearing it.”
Nia stuck out her tongue at him – immature perhaps, but satisfying – and went into the bathroom to change. When the dress was on, she was happy to see that the color complimented her complexion nicely. She had always guessed that it would, but it was hard to tell without wearing it and it –
No time for that. If I don’t hurry, poor Arthur will probably have to start reading the newspaper a second time. The rest of her routine came more quickly and it took her only a few minutes to select matching jewelry. For once, she decided to forgo a hat, choosing instead to wear a hairpin in the shape of a red flower.
Finally, she smiled with into the mirror. There, now she looked ready for her night off.
“Nia, for the love of –”
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Giving her hair one last check in the mirror – and ignoring the way the red cloth of the dress sometimes caught the light and shone like… – she walked from the room, pulling on her elbow-length black gloves as she went.
Arthur had clearly been practicing his disapproving-face while she was in the bathroom, because it was firmly in place when she opened the door. “Well, you came prepared for a night on the town at least.”
“I was prepared for anything,” Nia replied primly, studying herself in the full-length mirror to make sure the beads at her waist all fell evenly. “I had no idea what kinds of social functions we might be expected to attend.”
“Right.” But then Arthur smiled at her. “You look lovely.”
“Thank you, you look quite handsome yourself. Now, let’s hurry. We don’t want to keep the good detective waiting!”
Arthur had the good grace to do no more than sigh as he followed her into the hallway.
As it turned out, Gail had indeed beaten them down to the lobby, but had apparently been entertaining herself by chatting with a tall, broad-shouldered gentleman.
Xavier Rivers, Nia reminded herself. Gail had introduced her and Arthur to him over breakfast a few days ago. He had been the one to carry her back to her room after the ordeal in Connery’s illusionary labyrinth. She hoped she had thanked him. She had been a bit distracted by her notes at the time of their introduction.
Mr. Rivers said something that made Gail laugh as she leaned casually against the arm of her chair. A few other loitering guests glanced over in response, their eyes seeming to linger on Gail for slightly longer than was strictly necessary.
And Nia could understand why. Even sunk in her shapeless coat with her hair pulled tightly back from her face, Detective Lin was striking in a hard, statuesque way, but now, dressed for an evening out in an elegant black dress and her hair down around her shoulders, she was – quite beautiful, actually. Rather effortlessly so too, which was admittedly a little frustrating for Nia given how long she had to spend fussing over her own appearance before she was satisfied.
But truthfully, Nia wouldn’t mind the unfairness of Detective Lin’s easy beauty as long as the other woman continued to smile at her the way she did when she finally noticed Nia and Arthur.
“There you are!” she said cheerfully, making her way over to them with Mr. Rivers in tow.
“I hope we didn’t keep you waiting for too long, detective,” said Nia as she hurriedly adjusted one of her gloves. She hoped they didn’t make her look like she was trying too hard.
“Nah, I was just talking Xavier’s ear off.”
Mr. Rivers smiled at her and Arthur. “Evening, Illuminator Graves. Doctor Graves.”
“Good evening,” said Arthur, tugging on his tie like he’d put it on too tightly and pushing his hair back from his forehead.
Perhaps you should have taken a little longer getting ready, brother. But Nia found it hard to hold on to her irritation while she was deliberately not noticing how the light from the lobby’s crystal chandelier caught in Gail’s black hair. “I was just asking Xavier if he wanted to come along,” Gail was saying as she shrugged into her tattered old coat. “I probably owe him about twelve dinners, so it seems only fair.”
When Gail turned her crooked smile on to Mr. Rivers, Nia felt a slight and very unreasonable twinge of jealousy.
Chuckling, Mr. Rivers shook his head. “Trust me, after what you did for me, I ought to be paying for every meal you ever eat for the rest of your life.”
“Do you exaggerate like that to your students?” said Gail with a wry grin. “I bet you teach them one plus one is eleven too.”
Mr. Rivers turned to Nia and Arthur, clearly expecting them to be a more sympathetic audience. “Gail here saved my life. If she hadn’t helped me out, I don’t know where I’d be right now.” He met Gail’s eyes dead on. “Not to mention that she almost died doing it.”
Nia and Arthur exchanged wide-eyed looks.
Gail rolled her eyes. “You’re exaggerating again, Rivers.” To Nia’s shock, she tugged down the collar of her dress, pulling the fabric aside just enough to reveal a long white scar on her chest, frighteningly close to her heart. “The guy had a knife on him and I was careless. It was a stupid mistake, not heroics.”
Nia pressed a hand to her own chest, trying to imagine how it would feel to have sharp metal driven into her flesh. “Did it hurt?”
“Nah.” Gail let her dress snap back into place. “Not much.”
Mr. Rivers rolled his eyes, but kept on smiling. “She’d take a bullet for you and tell you she just tripped in front of the gun.” He nudged Gail with his elbow, which she answered with a sharp jab of her own.
“All right, Rivers, are you coming or not? We’re taking the night off from the case, to rest our brains.”
“The Academy case?”
“Yep. It’s been an interesting one.”
Though Nia could see curiosity practically radiating from Mr. Rivers’ face, he didn’t ask any more questions. She was stunned by his lack of inquisitiveness - until she realized that he had probably noticed that Gail had not volunteered any details and therefore was probably not at liberty to discuss them. So he was in fact being thoughtful rather than apathetic. Nia felt a sting of guilt when she realized that she almost certainly would not have been as considerate.
“I’d love to come,” said Mr. Rivers. “But I’ve got another set coming up. I’m here for the night, most like.”
“Too bad. Maybe we can meet up with you later.” She turned back to Nia and Arthur. “Anyway, we’d better get going if we’re going to catch the early show. I was thinking we could come back here for –”
“Excuse me?” a voice interjected. The speaker was a plump harried-looking bellboy, wearing an expression that Nia knew well from her years at the Academy. It was the face of someone who had grown so used to being yelled at and pestered that he had accepted it as a fact of life. “But is one of you Gail Lin?”
“That would be me,” said Gail. “What is it?”
“There’s a phone call for you.”
“A phone call?” Gail’s brow furrowed then her eyes widened slightly and she said, “Let me guess, a grumpy bastard who told you that you had better get a hold of me or he’d keep calling back every five minutes until you did. Then he probably gave you a very unflattering description of me.”
How could there be any such thing? Nia smacked the thought away, embarrassed.
The bellboy smiled a little, a hairline crack in his professional mask. “Yes, ma’am.”
Gail’s answering smile was small and dry. “That’ll be one of my clients. He’s probably mad that I haven’t returned his calls even though I told him I was on assignment. He left me a message a few days ago. I meant to call him back, but I forgot after, you know.”