The Collected Christopher Connery (15 page)

“Yeah, well, you try living in an unprotected dwelling
for a while and see how much you care for it.”

“You lived in an unprotected dwelling?” Arthur looked at her
with honest surprise. “But I thought all residential districts were protected
now. The only place that isn’t it – oh.”

“Yeah.” Gracetown. That was the only place in the city
that wasn’t regularly waterproofed. The Academy’s excuse was that there were so
many hovels being put up and torn down every day that it would be a waste of
manpower to weather-proof every single one, but of course, there wouldn’t
be
such a dramatic turnover if people could actually trust their houses to keep the
rain out. But Gail guessed that would actually require doing something, which
was way harder than making excuses.

Another tap on her elbow. This time Arthur offered her
the thermos.

“It’s going to get cold before I finish it all myself,”
he said and Gail got the feeling he meant it as an apology.

“Thanks,” said Gail, accepting both the coffee and the
apology. She took a long swallow, not minding the slightly burned tongue as
heat spread through her chest and belly, driving off a bit of the cold the rain
had put there. Handing the thermos back, she said, “So do you think there’s any
way of tempting her away from here?”

“No.” Then Arthur’s brow wrinkled as he rolled his
thermos between his hands. “Well, maybe if we gave her something else to do. I
mean, she is very devoted to her work, but if she had something she wanted to
get back to…”

“Something fun, you mean? Are Academy magicians allowed
to have fun on the job? I mean, neither of you would come drinking with me and
Xavier.”

Arthur smiled at her. “I wanted too, but… you know, Nia
had to work. But after today, maybe even she’ll want a break. It would be good
for her.”

“And for us,” Gail added. “I’ll go ask. She’s less likely
to say no to me.”

Up went the old Arthur eyebrow. “Why’s that?”

“Because you’re her brother. Who can’t say no to their
brother?” Leaving Arthur waiting by the wall, Gail headed over to Nia, making
sure to keep a grip on her poncho hood so it didn’t get blown back by the wind.
“Hey, Nia,” she said when she reached the Illuminator, who was now wearing her
own poncho and peering under the decaying car. “I’ve got a proposition for
you.”

“Hm?” Nia looked up and Gail winced when a raindrop
splattered against her cheek.

“Careful, you’ll get water in your eye.” She took Nia by
the arm and helped her to her feet.

“Well, we wouldn’t want that,” Nia laughed. “I might have
to blink a few times.”

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.”  

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 enough. 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.”

The bellboy looked confused, but Nia knew what she was
talking about.
You know, when Connery’s terrifying illusion swallowed us for
an entire day and we all nearly died.
Nia folded her arms over her chest,
one hand twisting a bit of blood red fabric.

“I wonder how he knew I was here,” Gail continued. “He
must have pestered it out of the Academy. Now, that takes dedication.” She
looked over at Nia and Arthur. “I get the feeling this might take a while. This
jerk never takes a simple no for an answer, but I can’t just tell him to take a
hike. He pays well for a jerk. Why don’t you to go on ahead without me and I’ll
meet you at dinner?”

“You think you’ll be on the phone for the entire picture
show?” Arthur asked doubtfully.

“Well, no, but long enough that we’ll miss all the good
parts. I told you this guy doesn’t shut up. I’ll let him rant at me for half an
hour then tell him that if he’s angry about me being busy, he can take it up
with the Academy. Politely, of course.”

“We could wait for you,” Nia suggested. “This was your
idea, it wouldn’t feel right to go without you…”

“I won’t miss the whole evening, promise. Anyway, I see
too many movies as it is. There’s not much else to do in your time off when you
live alone.”

Nia didn’t get the impression that Gail took much time
off and she doubted even more that she spent that time off at picture shows,
but the detective was already turning away, closing the subject.

“Why don’t we have dinner here after the movie?” She
prodded Mr. Rivers with her elbow again. “We can listen to Xavier play and then
if we feel up to it we can go for walk or something.” She looked briefly at the
wide dark window. “If it doesn’t rain.”

Arthur snorted. “It always rains.”

“Maybe you’ll get lucky,” said Mr. Rivers with a smile.
“Sometimes the weather this time of year can surprise you.”

“Ah, yes, of course, maybe.” Arthur was fussing with his
tie again. Nia supposed he probably wasn’t used to speaking to laymen. She
wanted to glare at him for bringing up the rain, but then he would probably ask
why she was looking at him that way and then everything would just be awkward.

“That’s Xavier for you,” said Gail with a grin. “Always
an optimist. Anyway, I better go get the phone before he hangs up and calls the
Academy again. See you guys back here in around two hours?”