Naming Day (Jake Underwood Book 1) (10 page)

              I set the box on the table and thought about divining the password. I thought about all the work I had done for Kevin over the years and remembered a few odd phrases that had been associated with the jobs I had done. None of them had been especially secret. Secret. That triggered something deep in my memory. It couldn’t be that simple, could it? Maybe. I tried the one secret name that I knew for Kevin along with the passphrase that used to access the apartment. I was rewarded with a click and a burst of red that my vision told me was the box disconnecting from the apartment.

              I gingerly opened the box and found a lot of things I hadn’t expected. Inside the box were several passports with different names and glamours. There was also a fair amount of cash from various parts of the world. I could also see moneys from some pretty obscure realms. Obviously, I couldn’t be sure that these were all various identities that Kevin had used, but I wouldn’t have bet against it. There were also some small gemstones that were carrying a pretty heavy magical charge. I had seen these before. Couriers often carried them, hidden among other gems, because they could hold a tremendous amount of information. I shook my head. Kevin had been into something very heavy. I toyed with the idea of taking the contents of the box with me but decided against it. Too dangerous.

              I carefully put the box back into the niche and replaced the small piece of panel and the books that hid it. I was pretty exhausted by the time I got everything back into place. Using my vision to see past magic can be quite exhausting if it goes on for a while. I usually only do it to see beneath glamour and then only for the few seconds it takes to drop them. Doing it for a half hour gave me a pounding headache and damp clothing.

              One thing was certain; Kevin Unglunblasch hadn’t been just a goblin bartender. These were subtle magic that were incredibly complex and powerful. The kind of mage who do this kind of work was well trained and well paid. If Kevin did this, then why was he working a bar? If Kevin hired it done, then he had been wealthy beyond my dreams of avarice. This kind of craft took maintenance and reinforcing and keeping a mage of this caliber on the payroll was prohibitively expensive. Only people I knew who did this were Third Circle or higher, magical research firms or banks, nobody else but the rich could afford it.

              What the hell had Kevin been into and how was it tied to my troubles?

              My musings were interrupted by the chirp of my cell phone. I’m not a big fan of cell phones. I like be able to be cut off from all the crap that the modern world wants to load on top of me, but they are just too damn useful to get rid of.

              The caller ID told me that it was Lucinda. I connected the call.

              “Hello?”

              “This is Lucinda at the Silvertree. Can you talk?” She seemed nervous.

              “Go ahead. I’m alone.” I wondered what had gone wrong now.

              “Okay, you said to call you if anything weird happened or we needed your help with anything.” Her tone had an apologetic tint and she seemed to be trying to talk quietly.

              “Right. What’s the problem?” I didn’t want to sound impatient but the thought of being caught in Kevin’s apartment, with its deadly complement of magic was making me nervous.

              “Somebody’s here from the Court of Twilight asking for you.” She paused for a moment and then continued. “She asked for you by name and described you pretty well.”

              “Take her name and find out how to get in touch with her and I’ll deal with this later.”  I was a little annoyed. This wasn’t an emergency, this was just an annoyance. I was about to disconnect, when I heard Lucinda say something that shocked me into attention.

              “She says she’s your sister, Dalia Klaris and she needs to talk with you right away.”

              “Hello? Are you still there?” Lucinda sounded like she was getting a little anxious as I stared at the phone in shock.

“Yeah. I’m here.” I thought about what this could mean and decided that there were too many possibilities to ponder. “I don’t have a sister, Lucinda.”

“Bitch. Okay, I’ll kick her out. Better yet, I’ll have the Twins do it.” She had that smug sound that Fey get when they are about to stick it to someone.

“No! Play along with her. I need to talk to her; she could know something about Kevin’s death.” I thought quickly. I didn’t want to meet her at the Silver Tree. There was a good chance that there were undercover men from the Sheriff’s office there. I didn’t know if she was involved or not, but if they saw me talking to her, they would nab her before I could find out anything. I needed a direction that the cops weren’t already working and this could be it.

“Fine. I’ll stash her in one of the lounges until you get here.”

“There’s a fair to good chance that I’m under surveillance so the bar’s no good.” I considered my options and there weren’t many good ones. “Will you do me a huge favor? Take her back to your place and keep her there until I get there, will you?”

“That’s a big favor all right.” She was obviously considering it. I could tell by the time that it was taking her that she wasn’t really comfortable doing this. “All right,” she sighed, “Fine. I’ll do it. Do you need directions to my place?”

I told her that I did, even though I didn’t and she gave them to me. There had been a case of employee theft a few months ago and Kevin had asked me to discretely investigate the employees. It had only taken a few days to find the guilty party and only a few hours for the Twins to inform him of his error in judgment and extract contrition.

I returned Kevin’s apartment to as near a state as I had found it and reset the lock and the wards on the door.

***

              Lucinda lives in a relatively expensive area between Downtown and Midtown.  The houses are all older, having been built in the 30’s and 40’s. Because of where they are, they have gone from slightly frumpy, old-fashioned houses to desirable and expensive proprieties in the 80’s and the 90’s.

              Lucinda’s apartment is a one bedroom in a large house that was converted into a four bedroom apartment building. I had thought about buying into something like this, but I’m just too comfortable where I am right now to change.

              I rang the doorbell and I heard the intercom rasp to life. After a few moments of undefinable noise Lucinda identified me and released the door so I could get in. Lucinda lived on the second floor. When she answered the door the mildly annoyed face of a Fey lady greeted me.

              Her apartment was a little bit of a surprise. I had expected a sparse elegance, instead I got packrat clutter. There were piles of books and magazines just about everywhere. Amidst the printed material I could see odd souvenirs of the 20
th
century. There was a genuine lava lamp and hookah in one corner and poster advertising the beneficial health aspects of Haight-Asbury. The furniture was fashionable, if the year had been 1937. There was an art nouveau lamp that would have been at home in my grandfather’s house in Albany and an art deco radio that was softly playing I Ran from a Flock of Sea Gulls.

              “New wave? Lucy, I had you pegged as a gavotte girl.” I smiled to show her my good will.

              She almost laughed and caught herself. “Not hardly. Give me a little rock or maybe some jazz age swing and I’m happy.”  She motioned for me to follow her. “She’s in the kitchen.”

              The kitchen contained the same curious assortment of mementos and curios. There was a large stack of newspapers leaning against a cabinet which appeared to be full of china, artfully displayed. Inside I thought that I saw a Wedgwood black basalt vase modeled after the Etruscan originals, but I could be wrong. The Fey are so long lived that it could just as easily be an actual Etruscan vase.

              Dalia Klaris was a youngish looking Fey woman who was obviously undergoing some trying times. She looked haggard, for a Fey, and I could tell that she was on the edge of hysteria. I’ve seen that look before. As long as the goal is yet to be achieved you can keep it together, when you finally succeed, the wheels come off. But this didn’t stop her from being a looker, even by Fey standards.

              Her hair was a light, sandy blonde that picked up hints of light and flung them about the room. She had the kind of face that men dream of and woman envy. A guy would never feel it coming until the blade hit the bone. Her eyes were the kind that you could lose yourself in and not want to be found. Her skin had life and wasn’t the pale, porcelain look that so many Fey ladies acquired after centuries of existence. I suspected she was young, perhaps no more than 40 or 50 mortal years old, but it was hard to pen down because she had a tricky, slightly mysterious look that comes from living at the Court of Twilight. I concentrated and let my vision unfocus and saw that she wasn’t wearing a glamour.

              Her face was agitated as she turned to look at Lucinda. “Is this him? Is this my brother?” She stood up and I could see that her hands had a slight tremble.

              Lucinda nodded and redirected; “This is Jake Underwood. I’m going into the living room and listening to some Guided By Voices on my headphones. I don’t need, nor do I want to know what this is all about. I would be just as happy if you can both get out of here before anyone from the Sheriff’s office come calling or any of my neighbors see you here.” She picked up her tea and slunk off to the living room, obviously closing the door. Dalia almost didn’t wait for the door to shut.

              “You have to help me! They’re going to kill me and it will be your fault!” She sounded very close to a complete breakdown. I could see unshed tears starting to gather at the corner of eyes and I knew I had to take control of this mess immediately.

              “Calm down. Nobody’s killing anyone and nobody’s dying, at least not us for a very long time yet, so why don’t we sit down and calmly talk this over.” She hesitated and looked her in the eyes and locked her eyes to mine. “Sit down. Sit down and we’ll talk.”

              I took the chair opposite and wished the Darjeeling in front of me was a good cup of something stonger. No such luck.

              “Now first I want to lay out a few ground rules for our little discussion. Whatever we talk about is likely to prove upsetting to either one of us so it will important that we stay calm and talk about this is in a clear, relaxed tone of voice. Also, consider the time element. I’m in the middle of a juggling act and you seem to be one of the things I may need to juggle. At any time, the rest of the balls could come raining down and I don’t want to be under them when that happens. To sum up, we don’t have a lot of time, so let’s not waste any of it. Okay?”

              Dalia nodded and seemed to calm down and she took a deep breath. “Who should start?” she asked.

              “Why don’t you tell me how and why you came to be here? Until I know what’s going on, I won’t know how or if you fit into all the other problems that have recently been plaguing me.”

              She took a sip of her tea and nodded. The cup she placed on the saucer and her hands she placed on the table.

              “I suppose the proper place to start this story is at my father’s house.  Lord Cabor Klaris is my father. Have you heard of him? I’m sure you have. I suppose they brief you on all that kind of thing before they send you off on missions or quests or whatever they call them.”

              “No. I can’t say I know much about your father other than his name and his relationship with you.”

              “Well, he’s an important man at the court. He’s Fourth circle and highly regarded. If this terrible misunderstanding can be resolved, I am sure he will be invited into the Third Circle in the next 20 years or so. It will be so exciting! Just imagine it, me standing as a Queen’s lady in waiting and without a formal name yet! I’ll be one of the youngest in court history, quite a victory for me I suppose, but really, a triumph for my father.” I nodded.

              The story she told was all like that, filled with flourishes and references to courtly life that convinced me that she had seldom been anywhere else but the Court of Twilight and that despite whatever was going on right now, she believed that it was only a matter of time before she was back in the high life, her place at court assured. I let her rattle for a few moments about the victories to come.

“It was about the time that the Orb of Distress disappeared that the problem started. Oh, that was so daring by the way, even those that were offended by the audacity of such a theft were equally admiring of the cleverness of the thief! It was then that I had a conversation with Jeryn Callisandra about the thief. Jeryn Callisandra is an aide of my father’s-“

I halted her. “Tall, dark and tedious? Immaculate dresser, officious and smarmy?”

She laughed. “You know him! Yes, those all fit him quite well. I have to say that I do not like him very much. I know I should not feel that way, after all, he is very helpful to my father and he will go far at Court, but I know that he does not care for me and I am sure that he is jealous of me in some twisted way. It does not pay to make enemies unnecessarily, but I suspect that we shall never agree on anything except in regard to my father.”

“I think you may be right.” I said. Holy crap! That was an understatement. Jeryn Callisandra wanted her back at the Court of Twilight for reasons other than saving his own ass. The bad blood between them was a lot worse than I first thought. Just how bad became clearer as she told her story.

“I’m sure you know more about court intrigue than I do, “she continued, “Everyone knows that Count Trellsor is a devastating wit and much in demand at the salons, and although I have never seen you before without a glamour, I can see that you have a rugged handsomeness that would appeal to many ladies and not a few of the men at court. He’s an ambassador’s aide, from the Court of Dawn. I was completely taken aback to discover that you were not only a gadfly of the court but also the mysterious thief and agent provocateur who had set the court alight with gossip.”

Count Trellsor huh? That was a new name to conjure with. Funny how Jeryn Callisandra never mentioned it. But maybe it wasn’t so funny after all, I suspect there were many things that might have he neglected to mention in his venomous screed.

“Lady Klaris, before you continue, you should know that I’m not this Count Trellsor. I’ve never heard of him and haven’t been to the Court of Twilight in more years than I care to remember.”

“Well, of course you would say that. You cannot break cover and all that sort of thing. But I did see you there, but you looked taller.” She smiled triumphantly as if by denying her claim I had made her all the more certain that it was true. “The court was abuzz with the theft and rumors of what the audacious thief would try next when I had occasion to meet with Jeryn Callisandra on a matter regarding an advance on my quarterly allowance that would allow me to acquire a few new dresses to match a sudden swing in fashion at the court. I suppose it must seem silly to someone in your line of work with your resources, but fashion is very important at the court and I have began to stand in for my father in certain ceremonies and rituals and it is important that I represent him well.”

“I can understand it, even if I don’t spend too much time on my wardrobe. The Court of Dawn has similar demands on fashion. I haven’t been there in 15 years either and this kind of thing is exactly why.” I wanted to urge her along, but at the same time I was afraid that if I pushed, she’d dry up. She smiled, happy at having her point confirmed and continued.

“As I said, the court was talking about your work, although at the time I didn’t know it was you specifically, when the rumor started making the rounds that the agent who was cause célébrité was none other than the half breed son of Stavros Melliscant, Lord of Kareen’s Blight! I was shocked! My own family, on my mother’s side, had become the subject of much talk and respect. Naturally, this raised my own stock at the court and garnered many invitations to salons that otherwise would not be open to one as young as myself. I do wish my father had been here. I feel that I may have mishandled things and missed important opportunities without his guidance. Still, one must strike when the moment is nigh.”

“A few questions about you only piqued the interest of the court. You had no formal name; you did not live at court or anywhere in the Bright Kingdom instead choosing to live in the mortal world! It was so romantic, the bastard son of a lord, trying to win a name and the good graces of his father! Your glamour as Count Trellsor was just impenetrable unless you choose to drop it and of course while there was no direct evidence that he was the agent. It is an open secret that an ambassador’s staff always has spies about them, so it made perfect sense that a man with a past such as yours would hide his identity until he could safely reveal it.”

“Uh huh,” I mummered. Every time I thought I’d hit bottom of this nutty mess, I discover that there is a sinkhole right below it. I didn’t want to interrupt her, so I merely nodded and urged her to continue.

“It was at that point that I made a mistake with Jeryn. As I said, I asked for an advance on my allowance and when he asked why I told him of all the invitations that I had received and how it could only help my father and now was the time to use my connection with Count Trellsor to make inroads. He…He laughed at me! It was foolish to take his painful words to heart, but he hurt me. He made light of me and called me a stupid girl and told me to go back to my little parties and stop bothering him.”