by Rik Hunik
"Berk, is that you? I thought I heard your voice."
I replaced the knife and turned to watch Silvina make her entrance through a door in the back wall. Her black dress seemed, to me, a bit much for everyday wear in a store, but I appreciated the way it displayed her slender body. She knew I was watching and slightly exaggerated her moves as she walked toward me. I kept watching.
"Welcome to my store. Do you see anything you like?" She stopped with one hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow.
"Plenty." I let my eyes linger on her before I glanced at the display cases.
"I'll handle this, Mimi, you can take a break."
The young woman nodded and went into the back. Silvina waited until she was gone before saying, "So you need a knife?"
I nodded.
"This is one of my best."
She hilt of the knife she handed me was wrapped in silver wire and fit right into place in my hand, the blade slid smoothly out of the sheath, a fancy pattern twined down the back of the blade, the edge was razor sharp and the superb balance made me feel like I had a claw that was part of me, not a piece of steel held in my hand. "It's beautiful and I'd love to own it, but I'm afraid it's a bit out of my price range, and not entirely practical. Carrying a knife like this would make me a target in some places I have to go to." Reluctantly I handed it back to her.
As she replaced it a small dagger near it caught my eye. It was rather plain, with no jewels and only a simple leaf-pattern engraved near the hilt, but what made me look was the color, the same shiny, silvery-white metal as the knife I had found in the Minotaur's Mansion. I pointed. "Where did you get that?"
She shrugged. "It was part of the stock when I purchased the store." She lifted it out of its resting spot. "It's made of platinum alloy and the hollow handle is filled with quicksilver."
I knew the only reason to do something like that would be for performing a spell, but I asked her, "Why would anybody do that?" Platinum has female energy and quicksilver is associated with transformation and shapeshifting. I wondered if the knife we found in the Minotaur's Mansion had a hollow handle filled with quicksilver.
Silvina shrugged and handed the knife to me. "Magic, I guess, but you would know more about that than I would, and it doesn't even matter. Collectors don't buy knives like that to perform magic, they just like knives, especially knives with stories."
"Do you have a lot of customers like that?" The dagger had a fine balance but the weight felt abnormal in my hand and I sensed a long-dormant spell that was almost entirely depleted, but not quite gone. It had not been a nice spell.
"Not a lot, but enough to keep my store going." She waved in the direction of the mundane shelves. "Selling everyday items doesn't bring in nearly enough, but it's a knife store and people come in here expecting to purchase a knife they can afford."
"You're right about that." I handed the platinum blade back to her and she returned it to the shelf. "I just came in to replace this." I showed her my knife with the broken tip.
She frowned with mock severity. "That didn't happen during normal use."
I ventured a smile but I'm afraid it came out more as a lopsided grin. "Absolutely true, but I still need to replace it."
She led me to the shelf I had been at when she came in and selected a knife in a plain leather sheath. "This would be your best buy, nothing fancy, but the price is reasonable and the blade is high-grade steel that holds an edge. And it's hard to break." She smiled meaningfully at me.
In return I smiled with only one side of my face. "That could be handy."
"During normal use." Her fingertips brushed mine as she passed the knife to me and she watched me closely as I pulled it out of the stiff leather sheath and examined it.
"I heard The Skinner killed another woman last night."
She always seemed to hear a lot. Maybe because she was good at getting people to talk to her. "Why does everybody call him that?"
"Nobody knows who he is and the News Bulletins had to call him something. You know how they like to sensationalize." She cocked a hip and put a hand on it, distracting me. "I saw you out with the police early this morning. So tell me, was it The Skinner?"
I nodded. "That's the bad news." The knife was just as she said, fitting comfortably in my hand, and when I slashed and stabbed at the air it had a nice balance. "The good news is that we caught the bastard."
"Was he taken alive?" Her eyes held mine, eager for an answer.
I returned the knife to its sheath. "He took a couple of crossbow bolts but he's still alive."
She reached out and touched my forearm. "Who is he?"
I shrugged. "Nobody knows. He's just a crazy derelict with a magic knife."
"A magic knife?" Her eyes lit up. "I wonder what that would be worth to a collector." She grabbed my arm. "What happened to the knife?"
"The police have it in the evidence locker. I don't think it's for sale."
She smiled and patted my arm. "Of course not. But I can't stop thinking of business, and I'm allowed to dream. Do you like that knife?"
I nodded. We discussed the price which, though reasonable for a knife of that quality, was more than I wanted to spend, but it fit in my old sheath and she bought my broken blade, so I ended up paying less than I expected for a new knife.
"Why don't you come into the back room for a glass of wine? Mimi can mind the store."
The smoldering gaze she directed at me made it clear she wanted to do more than just drink wine. I had been trying not to respond when she touched me but now the room got warmer. I was already thirsty so I was tempted, but I was going to get together with Tiona tonight. "Thanks for the offer, but I have work to do. Maybe another day."
"Make it soon."
I nodded noncommittally and got out of there. I didn't really have any pressing work, but I thought about Orfeo's advice last week and it still made sense, so I took the opportunity to get away to the university and check out the law courses available. There were a few that didn't look too difficult and only had three, one-hour classes a week.
I took some brochures and entrance forms back to my office but just as I was about to start filling them out a young man came in and I put them aside on my desk, where other stuff got piled on top of them and I forgot they were there.
I calmed the young man down and learned that he was a newlywed looking for his wife, who had not been home when he arrived after work yesterday. He paid me my minimum of twenty talents, I checked out her home, obtained an inexpensive earring set with beads of agate, and tried to get an impression, but all I felt was a chill.
I had to tell him there wasn't a lot I could do, and he wasn't much reassured to learn that four other women had vanished just as thoroughly. There was no way to be certain but it felt to me like these five cases were all connected. And some of the other missing women in the city, even though I hadn't been hired to find them, were probably connected as well.
Chapter 29
A couple of days later the ringing of my office bell roused me from a pleasant sleep long before I was ready to get up, but ignoring the bell wasn't making it go away so I climbed out of bed. Even through my curtains I could tell that the sun was up, but at this time of year it already rises way too early for anybody but a farmer.
In my mind I drew on my soldier's vocabulary and strung together a series of obscenities in three languages to direct at the miscreant who dared to disturb my well-earned rest. My hours of operation were clearly written on a small sign by the bell rope, but there are lots of illiterates in the city and, to be honest, not nearly enough clocks.
I pulled on some pants and cursed my way down the stairs. "Come back when I'm open," I said as I whipped open the door.
"Is that any way to talk to your mother?" my mother asked without flinching.
"I'm sorry, I thought..."
"I was somebody else?" She gave me one of her irritating, little, I-know-you smirks.
I took a couple of deep breaths to unfluster myself befor
e saying, "I thought you were somebody who was disturbing my sleep before office hours." I looked pointedly at the sign. "And I was right. Why can't you come by at a decent hour?" I reached up, untied the rope from the bell and retied it to the little metal frame the bell hung from. Let them pull on it until they got blisters. A yawn took me and the reach turned into a stretch.
She took the opportunity to slip past me into my office. "I wanted to make sure I got here before you took off somewhere."
"What did you lose this time?" I grabbed the last nectarine from the wooden bowl on my desk and bit into it. It was overripe and a bit mushy, but it changed the taste in my mouth.
"One of my diamond earrings. I lost it last night." She caught the look I couldn't stop from reaching my face. "No, it wasn't stolen. I'm sure of that."
While I ate the nectarine I made her give me exact details of every step she took on her way home. The earring could have fallen anywhere along her route, but this was exactly the sort of thing I was frequently hired to do. She gave me the twin of the missing earring, from which I got a good impression, but not good enough to locate it precisely without getting closer. I took it along on my search.
I followed her route on foot, with the earring in my hand. Traffic was still light this early so there wasn't a lot of interference and I was confident I could find the missing earring, even if it had been picked up from where it fell, or stolen.
I walked less than a block before I found the place where she had climbed into the carriage of her current beau, where the earring had fallen, landing in the dark, recessed doorway of a store that wasn't yet open this morning. The earring was gone but I could tell it hadn't gone far.
My talent guided me to a loading ramp in a nearby alley. I squatted to look into the cramped space under the ramp but saw nothing. I was about to crawl right in for a better look when something moved and I saw a skinny arm poke out from under a torn, filthy piece of canvas.
I took out my cudgel and rapped on the stairs. Canvas rustled as the kid under it awoke with a start, then froze.
"I know you're in there so you might as well come out."
A scruffy boy, just into his teens, started talking as he crawled out. "I didn't touch nothing. I just fell asleep. I won't come back."
"I don't care about that." He relaxed a bit but he still looked tense and ready to bolt and confusion was written all over his face. I stood in a relaxed stance, prepared to block him if he tried to run away. "I just want my mother's diamond earring."
His eyes widened in total surprise but he covered quickly with a typical street punk's automatic denial. "You're crazy. I don't have any diamonds."
"You'll have to learn how to lie better than that. I know that you do, six of them, set in a gold earring."
His high-pitched laughter was too loud and lasted a bit too long. "Where would I get something like that around here?"
I described the exact location where he had picked it up and that shook his resolve, though he tried not to show it. "So kid, the important question is, what do you intend to do with that earring?"
He realized the futility of further denial and switched to bravado, puffing up his chest and thrusting his face at me. "Alright, so I got it, but I found it fair and square. You can't make me give it to you."
That made me smile. I was nearly a head taller than him. I stared him down until we both knew I could make him give it to me, but I said, "Maybe I can't, but the question remains, what are you going to do with it?"
"I'll sell it."
"To who? Farris the Fence is a friend of mine and he knows the other fences. So tell me, who are you going to sell it to? Can you get rid of it before the police find you? We both know you found it honestly but will they believe a punk like you?" He glanced at the distant mouth of the alley like he might try to make a break for it so I eased off the pressure and gave him an out. I pulled out a couple of banknotes, probably more than he saw in a month. "Or you can turn it over to me from the goodness of your heart and I'll give you a cash reward for finding it."
He eyed the money for several seconds, weighing his options. "It's worth a lot more than that."
"You'll never get what it's worth. You might get more than this, or you might end up in jail, or dead if somebody decides to rob you. It's your choice." I rubbed the two banknotes together.
He scowled at me but said, "Alright, you can have it. Like you say, it would just get me into trouble anyway." He dug deep into the lumpy front pocket of his pants and extricated the earring. He passed it to me with one hand while he snatched the money with the other, then backed off a few steps.
It was my mother's missing earring and it appeared to be undamaged, but while I examined it he ran away before I could thank him. I found my way out of the alley into the fresh air and sunlight.
I went to Caracalla's and worked out in the gym for a couple of hours, soaked in a hot bath for a long while, then caught up on the latest stories on the News Bulletin boards. The arrest of The Skinner was still the big story, and though my name was mentioned only briefly, it was, I was pleased to note, in a favorable way.
After lunch the sun started me sweating before I got back to my office, where I found a woman waiting for me outside my door. "You are Berk?"
I nodded.
"You must find my petita."
"Your what?" I asked, trying in vain to imagine what it might look like.
"My daughter, my little Petita."
Oh, I thought, just a little bit disappointed. She had thoughtfully brought along a lock of her daughter's hair, thus saving me some travel time. I spent an hour or two doing what I usually do but little Petita had disappeared as completely as the other young women. If I hadn't just found my mother's earring with minimal effort I would be worrying that my talent was deserting me, but I didn't know what else it could be, and that worried me.
I returned to my office and spread out my city map on my desk. On it I marked Petita's home, where she worked, and where she was last seen, then I did the same for the five other missing women I had been hired to find. They all lived in Old City, they all worked near where they lived, and they usually disappeared on their way home after dark, all within a quarter-mile radius, but it was the most densely populated part of the city, containing an awful lot of buildings, most of them full of people.
Frustrated, I put the map away.
Chapter 30
"Did you hear what happened to Renzo?" Tiona asked me as I gazed across the restaurant table at her.
We hadn't seen each other for a couple of days, but today we had time for dinner, conversation, and sex afterward, although thinking about the sex ahead had distracted me from my dinner and the current topic of her conversation. "Who?"
"The Skinner. The killer with the magic knife." She patted the back of my hand. "The one who brought us together again."
"Oh, him. Did a fellow prisoner kill him? That would relieve the state of the cost of his trial, incarceration and execution."
"How very convenient that would be, but that's not how it happened."
I speared my last chunk of steak and chewed on it. She kept watching and waiting until I broke down and asked, "How did it happen?"
"Nobody knows."
I winced and she flashed me a smile that disappeared before she spoke. "His skin dissolved right off him and his flesh decayed at an accelerated rate."
"That doesn't sound like any kind of poison I've ever heard of so it must be some malignant magic, maybe the dark magic on that knife affecting his body as badly as it did his mind."
"That's quite possible, but it would take a Dark Wizard at the very least to produce an artifact with the potency of that knife. To protect himself that wizard might have done something to Renzo to prevent him from talking. We don't know what he was like before, but he was certainly a long way from sane when he was brought in. He had a week-old stab wound in one leg, apparently from his own knife."
"That could be a turning point, when the magic starting going
awry and he lost control. From there he went downhill fast."
Tiona nodded. "He confessed to killing a dozen women but his stories were disjointed, fragmented, sometimes even contradictory. The only thing we're sure of is that he did kill several women, but we never figured out how many, where they were, of how long ago. Scars on his head suggest he was severely beaten in the past, perhaps badly enough to cause brain damage. That may be what triggered his homicidal urges, but we'll never know where he got the knife or why he felt compelled to kill the way he did. He died before the interrogators even started the heavy questioning."
I didn't want to know what "heavy questioning" entailed. "So how do you know it was actually Renzo that skinned those women?"
"His last night was pieced together from the accounts of about twenty witnesses, though most of them didn't see much, and those who did were reluctant to talk because they didn't expect to be believed, but their stories, incredible as they were, corroborated each other. Several witnesses saw him holding a strange white knife, and a few saw him drag the victim into the alley where she was raped."
She leaned forward with a look so intent that I swallowed and leaned toward her. She looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to us before she continued in a low voice. "This is where it starts to get weird. Two independent witnesses happened to be awake at two o'clock in the morning, they both happened to look out and see Renzo raping the woman, and they both say the knife skinned her." She sat back. "Does that make sense to you?" She looked like she expected me to say no.
"Sure it does. It's exactly the vision I saw when I first touched Belita's corpse."
She leaned forward again. "This is the really weird part. They say the woman's skin wrapped around Renzo and he became a woman. They saw him, or her now, put on the victim's clothes and leave. Apparently he, now a she, went around having sex with a variety of unsavory street people for a couple of hours, then passed out in an alley, woke up and snuck home."