Days Until Rhian Returns: 4
Crew and Company Placement:
The estate ? Peter
The base ? Adeline, Michael, Strauss, Evelyn, Alex, Teeth, Everleigh, Jakob
The lair ? Rhian, Rhydian, Riz, Bells, Sebastian(?)
Man-cave ? Zack
Gander ? Quinn
It was nice having a kiss and a cuddle with Derek, and not because I reckoned it would make me feel better—frankly, I still wasn’t sure I’d ever feel better—but because it was nice to feel good without trying to feel better. I fell asleep quite quickly after we got comfy in Zack’s bed, and as was customary, I woke up to Zack staring down at me.
Derek was gone.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“A quarter past three in the afternoon.”
“Ugh—“
“Derek left not half an hour ago,” Zack explained. “This is for you.”
I opened the folded note, and I smiled because he’d typed it on the typewriter, and who could resist? But then I thought back to the time I wrote my letter to V.
Finally, I read the note:
Check this thing out, right?
Love,
Derek
I grinned and climbed out of bed. “Thanks, Zack.”
“Well, it’s your note. What would I have done with it?”
I collected my clothes and got dressed, chuckling. “No, I mean, for Derek. I reckon it’s just what I needed, actually.”
Zack tipped his cane. “You’re welcome, Feargus Finlay.”
I sat on the edge of the bed. “What did god get up to last night?”
“Excuse me?”
“According to Quinn, you’re god.”
“That’s absurd. But to answer your question: that’s what I did last night.”
“You did Quinn?”
“No, that’s even more absurd. I spied on her.”
“Did you, mate? How’s she doing?”
Zack had a sit on the bed beside me, leaning his cane against the frame.
I laid back, and then so did he.
“She’s settling into her role. I don’t sense regret or grief, though she may be in the midst of an existential crisis.”
“Aye, because of you.”
“It isn’t my fault if someone believes I’m God, Feargus Finlay.”
“I wonder if Sebastian’s god, too.”
Zack chuckled. “He would be.”
“That reminds me, he may have gone to the lair with Rhian and Rhydian. I forgot to mention.”
“I’ve come to the same conclusion. Did your sister say how long they would be gone?”
“She was thinking a day or two on top of travel, so—four, maybe five days left now.”
“And what do you have on the agenda?”
I groaned, reaching for a pillow and plopping it over my face. I held it there while I spoke, muffled. “Mate, I have so much to do.”
“Such as?”
“I have to intercept Quinn’s letter at the secret drop, and write a taunt to Councilwoman Blanchett by tomorrow. It’s a problem because I won’t have had time to wait for Faust’s reply to my warning that things are about to get complicated. I also have to find proof that Tag and Quinn are dead—say, what happened to Tag, anyhow?”
“First of all, please slow down. I can barely understand your verbal acrobatics as it is, let alone while being smothered by a pillow.”
I lifted the pillow from my face. “What’d you do with Tag?”
“Disintegrated, but—” Zack reached into his jacket. “Metal tends to persist.”
Zack handed me a steel bracelet. The charm hanging from it seemed to be music-related, but I couldn’t tell you exactly what it was. Zack could, though.
“An amalgamation of a treble and a bass clef,” he said.
“Everleigh uses a modified treble clef as her signature.”
“She would—Sebastian’s violin in the treble, my cello in the bass.”
I nodded as if that made sense, thumbing the charm on the bracelet before examining the rest. Engraved on the underside of the clasp were the letters T and L.
“Perhaps Quinn has one,” Zack suggested.
“That’s good thinking, mate, and actually, it’s just given me an idea. But that means I’ve gotta go—“ I sprung into a sitting position and hopped off the bed.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I gathered my things, including the note from Derek, and then Zack let me out.
I returned to the base with more than enough time to take Adeline to the city for her date. Not only had I told her I would, but I also needed to go to the Gander and have a chat with Quinn. When I arrived at the base, Adeline still hadn’t gotten ready yet, though she was scampering last minute trying to borrow some cinnamon from Strauss who’d been busy holding audience all afternoon. The cinnamon was for the dessert she was planning to make, something she’d learned from Vera.
“Oh!” Adeline leaned in conspiratorially. “Father Strauss has figured out that the Artist is Jakob’s mother.”
“Has he? Brilliant. That took practically no time.”
Adeline bobbed her head.
“Listen, mate, I need a favour,” I said.
Adeline barely contained a gasp. “How exciting. What can I do for you, Agent Finlay?”
“You’re good at technical drawing, so—” I opened my hand to reveal the bracelet. “Could you draw a pattern for this? For a jeweler.”
“Of course I can.”
“Do you have time before we have to leave?”
“Of course I do!”
Adeline tugged me by the sleeve of my jacket I hadn’t yet had the chance to remove, hurrying me into the bunk room. It wasn’t long before she was settled behind the desk with a sheet of parchment and a kit filled with writing utensils—a lot like the one I had.
After relinquishing the bracelet to her, I watched Adeline work from over her shoulder.
“What’s this about?” she asked.
“This was Tag’s, and if Quinn has one, too, I can use them as proof of their deaths. I wanted to copy the design before sending them off, though. I don’t know how or why, but if we’re right, having identification bracelets might come in handy.”
Adeline nodded along agreeably while she drew. Even under the low light, I could see her cheeks pinking up. “Fantastic forward thinking.”
“Aye, we’ll see. So, are you excited about tonight?”
Why did I even ask that? Well, because I wanted to know. But I didn’t. But I did. But I didn’t.
“A little nervous,” Adeline answered. “I’ve never been on a date before, and I’m not exactly sure how.”
“You said he’s making you dinner, so I reckon you just sit down and eat.”
She laughed. “That I can do, but I’m not certain what we’ll talk about.”
“Soup’s a safe bet,” I suggested.
Adeline laughed again, turning to regard me over her shoulder. I smiled winningly, and she hurried back to her drawing.
Five, five and a half, six, seven minutes and thirty-two seconds, and then she went through her kit for a ruler, using it to measure the links—width, length, thickness—and then she did the same for the clasp and the charm itself. She noted each measurement carefully.
“Say, Addie,” I said. “Kavelin really likes you. So, I’m sure whatever you say or do tonight, even if it’s the wrong thing, will be just right. I reckon he knows how lucky he is.”
Adeline glanced over her shoulder, but whatever she was planning to say, she interrupted with a full-dimple smile. “Thank you, Agent Finlay,” she said. “I’m finished with the plan now.”
I was no expert, but the pattern looked in order to me. I thanked her, folded it carefully so not to disrupt the drawing, and for now, I stashed it in V’s basket.
While Adeline was getting ready, I returned to the sitting room to find Evelyn and Alexander playing a game of Hidden Six at the bar. Strauss and Teeth were lounging on the couch. Poor chap. I knew well how he typically liked to spend his downtime, and that was by reading. Not something he could do anymore, could he? So he just… sat.
When I approached the couch, Teeth jumped down to make room.
“’Ey, Strauss.” I had a sit. “How you been, mate?”
Strauss turned in toward me. “Well enough, Finlay.”
“Missing Rhian?”
“Terribly, but it seems separation is part of our equation.”
Over at the bar, Evelyn celebrated her win against Alexander who conceded with his hands held up and a smile. The two laughed and dealt another game.
“Starting to feel that way myself,” I said. “How’s Jakob settling in?”
Strauss replied with a so-so motion. “Did Adeline tell you we have reason to believe his mother is the Artist?”
“Aye, she did.”
“An added layer of complication if the Artist is not only Jakob’s mother, but Zacharias Vonsinfonie’s wife.”
“Right, I can see why that might be. I suppose you’re waiting for Rhian now?”
Strauss nodded slowly. “And how about you, Finlay? How are you?”
“So tired,” I said. “But good.”
“What have you been doing that has you so tired?”
“I’m looking into a lead at the moment, but I’m not sure it’s going anywhere. I’ll have more information for you lot soon, either way.”
“Do you require anything from us to help?”
“Mate, knowing you’re all here having a nice time together is all I need to keep going. Actually—where’s Everleigh?”
Teeth plopped her head on Strauss’s lap, and he gave her a good scratch behind the ears.
“She’s busy planning a concert.”
“Here?” I asked.
“No, she intends to have us all attend at the old theatre north of Verena.”
“When?”
“She said whenever Sebastian returns.”
“Right, well that could be fun. How’s she planning to get us all there?”
Strauss shrugged. “She claims to have it handled.”
Well, I didn’t doubt that. “And where’s Michael?”
“I believe he’s with Everleigh; she’s toting him to see his sister in Oskari.”
“We really need better transportation,” I mused.
“We’ll have to make do. A horse stable and a buggy parked outside wouldn’t do much for concealing our location, unfortunately.”
I thought back to my time in Leberecht, when I’d witnessed the night festival taking place near the Studio. You may recall there was that fellow riding around on a one-wheeled contraption, and I wondered how we could get our hands on one of those for the springtime. Then again, I was really hoping we’d be long gone from Amalia by then.
“Mate, before I forget,” I said, “there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”
“What, that you’ve been spying on us from inside the walls all week?”
I chuckled. “I deserved that. But no. Guess who knows your middle name?”
“You do,” Strauss answered. “Wait—do you?”
“I sure do, and I’ll give you three guesses.”
“Finlay, there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of possibilities.”
“Aye, and that’s why I’m giving you three guesses and not two.”
Evelyn flashed me an amused smile over her shoulder.
Strauss smirked and leaned back on the couch, still idly petting Teeth. “Very well. What about Adrian?”
“Nope.”
“Does it begin with a vowel or a consonant?”
“Would you like to forfeit a guess for the answer to that question?”
“Yes.”
“Vowel.”
Ten, twenty, twenty-seven seconds while he thought about his second—and final—guess.
“Isaak,” he said. “With a ‘K’.”
“What? How?!”
“It’s an anagram of my mother’s name.”
Mates, I was struck momentarily speechless for the second time in two days. “Now we all know who the real genius in the room is, how am I stuck with this crappy gig and you get to stay home, lounging around in your jammies with your puppy dog?”
“My genius is precisely why I’m lounging around in my jammies with my puppy dog.”
I chuckled. “Fair play, though.”
Strauss cracked a small smile. “Thank you for finding out.”
Patting Strauss's hand in response, I excused myself to see if Adeline was ready yet. Not that I was rushing, but I was definitely rushing. I still had quite a bit to sort out with Quinn and our secret drop shenanigans, and time was ticking.