In Stone Vol. 1-6: The First Six Travis Eldritch Problems (A Travis Eldritch Problem)

by Jennifer Vandenberg

  ●●●

  A week later, we were sitting in the office enjoying our coffee. Jet and Anda were drinking iced and mine was scalding hot—I have sworn off iced coffee. We were in a lazy mood. Jet had enjoyed a relaxing day by himself in giant form. We had just finished a surveillance job that really was easy money. Crawlers were far in the back of our thoughts, although Anda was teasing me about the umbrella I bought.

  She laughed even harder when she opened it and saw that it had rubber quackers dancing around the edge. I shrugged. I was looking for protection not style. Besides, we weren’t exactly in the rainy season and not everyone was selling umbrellas. Still, it felt good to be able to laugh about crawlers, although I noticed Jet only smiled a little. It was time to set the crawler case aside. We hadn’t stopped the Battleboys, but if Jem wanted to make a venom weapon he was going to have a hard time since both his sources and his brain trust were dead or off-moon. I was willing to let it go. Glancing up when our door opened, I realized we might not be quite done.

  Jet stood up first and I thought I saw fear in his eyes. I looked at the two men in matching grey uniforms standing in our doorway and realized they were government men from Gregos. Had they come to take Jet away? There was no way I was letting that happen.

  “What can we do for you?” Anda asked. Always the polite one, but she didn’t know about Jet’s past.

  “We are with the Wildlife Division of Gregos. The venomous department.” I watched Jet deflate and his grin return. I guess he hadn’t broken any wildlife laws while he was living on Gregos.

  “Is this about crawlers?” I asked.

  They gave a curt nod. “We have been to the labs of Dr. Othen, Dr. Gravas, and Dr. Nun and removed the animals.”

  “That’s too bad, I never got to see the skinflyers.”

  The one on the left looked at Anda with no expression. “The collection licenses for these labs have been revoked. All the skinflyers and slithers have been accounted for and returned to their home moons.”

  I almost laughed. “Missing some crawlers?”

  They nodded again. “We interviewed people in the area and understand that you were the last people to see the lab before the unfortunate explosion. Have you seen any of the missing crawlers?”

  Jet went pale and I knew he was terrified at the idea that some might have escaped. I looked at Anda. She shook her head. “Travis, I wouldn’t. No matter how interesting I thought they were, I wouldn’t take one. They are deadly. Since seeing Jet almost killed by crawlers I have lost my interest in them.”

  The men looked at each of us. The one on the right stared longer and I wonder if one of his Problems was truth detection. Let him look, I had nothing to hide. And if Anda said she didn’t have any crawlers with her than I believed her.

  “How big a hole did the bomb create?”

  “It blew out the door, but didn’t affect the structure of the building.”

  “It blew out the door?” Boy was I glad we didn’t go back. “So the crawlers could be anywhere.”

  “We are checking on that.”

  I stood up. Jet was still pale and I felt we had disturbed him enough. “Well, I wish we could help you but when we saw the crawlers they were in jars. We want nothing to do with those jars, or their contents.”

  They nodded and turned to go but I had one more question before I could lay this case to rest. “How many bodies did you find in the building?”

  “Three, all male, right by the door.”

  I sat down hard and both Jet and Anda looked at me. “How could she have escaped?” Anda asked. “She was in the far back when we left.”

  I shook my head. “Obviously when the bomb went off she got smaller, not larger, and she was able to run around the crawlers without getting bit. At the height of a foot or smaller she could have used a piece of glass like a shield.”

  Jet shook his head. “I couldn’t do it at any height.”

  “Excuse me, but are you saying someone escaped?” The men came back into the room.

  “A Ms. Jasmin Nun. She can shrink herself at will. You said there were only three bodies, but when we left there were four people in the lab.” I thought a second. “She believed turning the venom into a weapon would make her rich. She wasn’t the brains of the operation so I don’t know if she could create the weapon for the Battleboys by herself but it wouldn’t surprise me if she took a few crawlers to find a new bidder.”

  “She would have to carry them somehow,” Jet said.

  “Did you find a to-go cup?” Anda asked. The men shook their head. Anda shrugged. “She did what I did. She used what she could find.”

  “She’s probably long gone now,” I said.

  Jet just shook his head. Before I could ask what he was thinking, the men opened the door and headed out. In front of them, aiming for our office was Ms. Nun. In her hand was a glass jar. One of the men grabbed her but before he could restrain her she screamed and tossed the contents of the jar into our office.

  Five large eight-legged crawlers flew through the air right to where Anda was sitting. She shrieked and huddled on the chair with her knees below her chin. I hollered for her to open the umbrella. Dancing quackers met raining crawlers and the crawlers fell harmlessly to the floor. In unison they started heading for our desks so I hopped up on my desk and yelled for Jet to do the same. Instead he did a really good impersonation of me in statue mode.

  Before I could jump from my desk to his the wildlife officer who wasn’t holding Ms. Nun took out a long stick and touched each of the crawlers as they scurried around. Each time he pushed a button a crawler was sucked up into the clear tube. When he held up the stick he had them enclosed inside the crawler-sucker. Anda ran around our desks and huddled with Jet. He still hadn’t moved and I let them tend to each other as I walked over to the door. The man who had sucked up the crawlers was placing the tube in a long box with a perforated lid. The other man had Ms. Nun in cuffs.

  “Are you missing any crawlers now?”

  The man grinned. “No, they are all accounted for.”

  “What are you going to do with her?”

  “She eventually will stand trial on Gregos, once she has been tried for any crimes on this moon.”

  “Well, if you want to speed the process up you should go see Inspector Hector Young. He is investigating the murder of the two doctors. It is safe to say she had something to do with their deaths.” I tugged on her cuffs. “Her Problem is that she can shrink at will. I’d make sure she doesn’t slip out of these.”

  The men thanked me and I figured Hector owed me one. I’d call him later and tell him about Jem Tun’s involvement. This wasn’t the first time the Battleboys had desired a super weapon and it wouldn’t be the last. Ms. Nun might give evidence against him but in my experience people willing to work for the Battleboys were really reluctant to turn against them. I briefly thought it was a shame Jem hadn’t been in the room with all the crawlers, but then changed my mind. No one deserved that kind of death.

  I went back into the office and scanned the floor for any missing crawlers. Nothing moved and I sat down behind my desk. Jet had his color back and he looked a little flushed. Anda looked a little guilty and I knew what she had done. Jet had gotten a look at gorgeous Anda. I shook my head.

  “He wasn’t talking. I didn’t expose myself too much.”

  “Are you okay, Jet?”

  Jet’s grin was at full wattage. “I’m fine now. The next time we have a female client I’ll let you know if I feel any insincerity at once.”

  “Thanks. We should all use our strengths.” I looked at Anda, who grinned. “But not too often.”

  Covered In Stone

  (A Fifth Travis Eldritch Problem)

  By Jennifer Vandenberg

  All Rights Reserved © 2013 Jennifer Vandenberg

  This books is dedicated to Lynda,

  one of Travis’s biggest fans.

  Thank you for your support.

  Life is full of unexpected e
vents. Some events, like hearing your favorite song on the radio, or receiving an inheritance from a relative you barely knew, can improve your day. However, I have found that most unexpected events are not positive. You’re walking along, minding your own business, and a suitcase full of clothes falls on your head. Or you go to work like you do every day and find out the boss’s daughter’s boyfriend now has your job. It’s not that I’m negative, I simply feel that if you assume bad things are lurking around the corner you can prepare for them. It doesn’t diminish the good things. If anything, it makes them even more special.

  I’ve never figured out how to prepare for the fact that I turn into a statue at random times. Rarely does it happen when I want it to. Of course, I never want it to so that might be why. I have often wondered if the gods who created us, unfondly known as They, thought we didn’t have enough unpleasant surprises in our lives so they felt the need to give each of us a Problem at birth. I know I should be grateful that my Problem hasn’t killed me, but it is hard to see the silver lining in being stuck in one place at random times. My cousin Trent has a Problem that tries to kill him daily. He chases cars. To control his Problem he moved into a Silate community on Menamish that lives without technology. It only helps a little bit because he still chases carts. Most of the time he never leaves his house so he can avoid any unexpected events, good or bad.

  I shouldn’t complain about any of this since I make my bread and butter investigating unexpected events. If everything in life ran smoothly, I would have no work. And I like my work. I like being busy. However, I still try to keep unexpected events out of my life as much as possible. But then they wouldn’t be unexpected, would they be?

  ●●●

  “Hey, Travis.”

  I looked up from the map I was marking to see Anda setting today’s paper on my desk. This wouldn’t be odd since she was one of my partners, but today we were closed. This was the one day of the month that my other partner, Jet Moored, turned from a four-foot half-pint to a twelve-foot giant. He likes to be secluded when that happens so we got in the habit of closing the office on the day he changed.

  “Hey, Anda. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  She sat in our visitor chair and frowned. “I think I have a problem.”

  It was obvious to me that she didn’t mean her Problem, which was the inability to answer questions. Jet and I were getting used to phrasing questions as statements. I was beginning to think the brain exercise was making me smarter, but Jet said he’d believe it when he saw it.

  “What is it? Did your case go wrong?” I shook my head. So much for getting smarter. I rearranged my thought. “Tell me about your case.”

  A few tears flows down Anda’s lovely face and I stood up, uncertain what to do. I have never understood women or tears. How much comfort should I give a business partner? Or a dame? Or a business partner who is also a dame? Too many questions.

  Anda must have seen my confusion because she gave a watery laugh. “Don’t worry about me. I just hate that my first solo case could go this wrong.”

  I sat down again and shook my head. “We agreed that even if we each investigated a case by ourselves we would all be responsible for the outcome. That’s how we work. Now tell me what happened.”

  Anda nodded and sat up straighter. “I went looking for Lauralee using the method you suggested. I asked her friends and co-workers if they had seen her. No one knew where she was but everyone was concerned. She seemed as nice as her sister said she was, but no one else had thought to look for her.”

  I nodded, encouraging her to go on. When Misty Lawes had come to us hoping we could find her missing sister I thought this would be a good first case for Anda. Jet had confirmed that Misty was sincere so it seemed safe enough. We usually work cases as a unit, but we had two other cases simmering and I didn’t want to take time away from them. I decided to split up the workload, and give Anda some experience doing the legwork by herself.

  Anda sighed. “I tried to think like you and realized I should find out what her favorite restaurants were.” She laughed lightly. “Even if you were in hiding I think you would hit Nell’s if you could.”

  “Probably true. And it worked.”

  Anda nodded and grabbed a tissue out of her bag as she started tearing up again. “She likes to eat at this soup place by the park. It’s one of those mobile restaurants. I tried some crying-layers soup as I talked to the cook. It was really good. Fresh tasting.”

  “I’ll have to try some once the weather cools. I take it he knew something about Lauralee.”

  “She’d been there the day before. She told him she had moved down the block so he could expect to see more of her. Then she walked away toward the river.”

  “That’s good. I imagine she wasn’t too far from her favorite food truck.”

  “Exactly. I headed toward the river. I might have missed her hideout among all the various apartments, but one of them was being guarded by a Battleboy.

  I stood again, came around the desk and leaned on it. “Misty didn’t mention her sister was connected to the Battleboys.”

  Anda shrugged. “It gets worse. I was around the corner from the entrance, trying to figure out how to get in without getting the third degree from this lowlife when Brian Handle came out the door with a dark man dressed all in black.”

  “Brian came out of the building you thought Lauralee was in.” I carefully made it a statement, even though I was incredulous.

  “I didn’t know Lauralee was in there. It just seemed like too large a coincidence.”

  “Yeah. And even if it was a coincidence Brian was up to no good.”

  “He was. They stood there on the sidewalk not ten feet from me. I was terrified they were going to stroll around and find me. I was as still as you in statue mode and they never came near me.”

  “You heard what they said.”

  She nodded. “They mentioned Lauralee. Called her a bird that won’t tweet anymore. Then Brian asked if the devices were ready. The other man counted on his fingers.” She held up three fingers on her left hand. “Day one. Day two. Day three.” She folded each finger down. “Brian laughed and said, ‘Rock, paper, scissor. It’s the same no matter the moon.’ Then he laughed again and added, ‘And I win it all. Boom. Boom. Boom.’”

  I thought about what she said. We knew Brian was breaking free of his job as handler for the various Battleboy factions. Since his Problem was that he could read the minds of the people he touched, we tried to stay away from him. Of course that made it hard to learn what he was planning.

  “I didn’t learn anything more because they got into a black car with the Battleboy driving and pulled away from the curb. Once I was sure they weren’t returning I hurried into the building. It wasn’t hard to find Lauralee since she was in the lobby propped up against the wall with blood pouring from her middle. Inspector Young figures a long knife, similar or the same as the one used by Brian in other suspected murders.”

  I turned and looked out the window. Brian was planning three events that would give him control of the city. What could they be? It wasn’t something he was executing himself so it wasn’t a face-to-face attack. That would be his style, like using a knife on Lauralee. He liked to get his hands dirty. Rock, paper, scissors. Like the game. But what was beating what? What did that have to do with three days? Boom. Boom. Boom. Was he planning to use a cannon? The weapons from a ship? A bomb? I turned back and looked at Anda.

  “We need to talk to Misty. Maybe she knows what Lauralee knew that got her killed.”

  “What could Lauralee have known?”

  I wished I was wrong, but I knew I wasn’t. “I think she knew where Brian is planning to place three bombs set to go off over the next three days.”

  Anda sniffed. “A lot of good I was. I didn’t find her in time.”

  “It’s not your fault. If Brian wants someone dead, only the best of luck can stop that from happening. He is the best that the Battleboys have and he can read the
minds of those he touches. He is really hard to stop.”

  “So you want me to contact Misty.”

  “Sure. We need to know what rock, paper, scissors means. It might be the type of bomb, or the results of the explosions or…”

  Anda frowned at me and I cursed. She wasn’t frowning because I cursed. She was frowning because I was standing before her unable to discuss the case any further since I had just become a statue. Just one more unexpected event in my life.

  “I know you can’t control it, but I didn’t need both you and Jet out of commission at the same time. If you are right then we don’t have much time before the first bomb goes off. If only we had an idea of what his targets might be.” She picked up her purse and leaned across the desk to pat my arm. I watched her do it but felt nothing. “I’ll go find Misty and if I need any more help I’ll stop by and see Jet. Just because he’s gigantic doesn’t mean his mind has shut down.”

  I watched her head for the door and wanted to break something, preferably my stone outer shell. Of all the days for my Problem to make an appearance. There is never a good time but there are certainly better ones. Just before she left Anda turned and shook her head. “I feel bad leaving you here, but I guess as long as you are in rock form you’ll be safe enough in the office.” I watched her face pale and her eyes grow big and I knew what she was thinking. Rock. Paper. Scissors. I was a rock.

  Anda started to rush back into the office as the world fell apart. The front part of the office including my beat-up metal disk, Grant’s ornate wooden desk that Jet now used, various chairs, equipment, the floor, and me crashed down to the sidewalk from two floors up. Ceiling panels, cement blocks and carpeting rained down on top of me. The only saving grace was that I was still a statue and could feel nothing. I worried about Anda and hoped she had not gone the way I had. Knowing nothing was making me very frustrated, as was having no visibility. I was facing up and it appeared I had about three feet of debris on top of me. The building I-beams I could see between the concrete rubble worried me the most. I didn’t think those were getting moved without some heavy machinery.