Mark Del Franco - Uncertain Allies

I looked at Meryl. “He knows where it is now.”

Heydan lowered his gaze to me. “You know what was sought?”

I gestured at the swinging body. “Veinseeker hid a stone of power. A terrorist named Bergin Vize wants it to take down the Seelie Court.”

Heydan stepped to the edge of the roof, peering off into the night sky above the harbor. Seeing such a large person one step from the six-story drop made me a little queasy. He remained silent and unmoving for so long that I wondered if he had forgotten we were there. “It is the nature of power to invite its own destruction. Shadows grow and ebb against the future as ever. I listen and wait.”

“Do you know where Vize is?” I asked.

He didn’t answer for another few minutes, then stepped back from the edge. “I do not know this man. It matters not who he is.”

“It matters to me, maybe a lot of other people. I would appreciate the help,” I said.

Heydan’s deep eyes gleamed beneath his shadowed brow. “I watch and listen. I heard a shadow move like to the one within you. The Wheel of the World turns, and I hear the sighing of Its passage. What say you to a hanging man?”

“I warned him this would happen. He didn’t listen,” I said.

“No one ever does,” he said.

The sky over the alley outside Yggy’s bled gray into black. Police lights flashed on Old Northern, rubberneckers pressing against crime-scene tape. Gerry Murdock leaned against a squad car, indifference in his stance though he threw the occasional glower in my direction. Meryl wrapped her arms around me inside my jacket to keep warm in the cool morning air.

Next to the entrance to the bar, another door stood open leading to the building stairwell. Heydan wouldn’t let the police in the bar and disappeared after he opened the access door. Murdock came down the alley, all pressed shirt and clean shoes. He didn’t stop to talk to his brother. He glanced at the medical-examiner staff car. “Is Janey here yet?” he asked.

“No, OCME sent someone else,” I said.

He slid his hands into his pants pockets, standing back to let a beat officer enter the building. “Looks like we have the same case again.”

“Yeah, but this time we know who the killer is,” I said.

“Vize?” he asked.

I nodded. “He knows where the stone is now. It’s only a matter of time before he finds it.”

“Can we use the vitniri to track him?” Murdock asked.

“They’re not dogs, ya know. You can’t point, and say, ‘fetch.’ They need a reason,” said Meryl.

“I wasn’t under the impression that reason and half wolves went together all that well,” Murdock said.

A tinge of red flushed across Meryl’s cheeks. “They’re still people,” she said.

Murdock smirked and nudged her. “You’re so easy sometimes.”

“Not in my experience,” I said. They both turned to look at me like I had no business interrupting. The look, in fact, reminded me that I didn’t. “I want to get ahead of Vize. We’ve been chasing him. We’ve been everywhere he’s been. Even if he had to kill Nar to get the answer, there’s a method to his search that we’re not seeing. We’re missing the pattern.”

“Old dwarves and stone,” Murdock said.

Meryl nodded in feigned amazement. “I would never have noticed that.”

Down on the avenue, a murmur ran through the crowd. People had turned their attention from the alley to the sky. Above us, three Guild agents swept across the alley and over the roofline of the building. “That’s interesting. The Guild hasn’t touched a crime scene down here in ages,” Murdock said.

“Veinseeker popped up on the alert database,” Meryl said.

“Why didn’t you tell us he was in the Guild database?” Murdock said.

She cocked an eye at him. “Um . . . because I’m not a field agent on your case, and no one asked me to? And that I picked up the alert from a security sending about a minute ago? And did I mention I’ve been in a coma?”

Amused, Murdock grunted. “That coma’s going to get a lot of mileage, isn’t it?”

With a small smile, Meryl tilted her head down. “Would you like to try one?”

More Guild agents landed at either end of the alley and began clearing everyone out. Instead of waiting to be tossed, we walked to the avenue. At the sidewalk, the Boston police were moving their crime-scene perimeter farther out, pushing the crowd back.

Murdock leaned against his car. “Why is it I’m annoyed when the Guild won’t take a case in the Weird and pissed off when they do?”

“Because it speaks to your ineffectual nature,” Meryl said. They made faces at each other.

“The Guild knows where the faith stone is. That’s why they’re here,” I said.

Meryl nodded. “Veinseeker is flagged in the system for a reason. If you guys haven’t connected him to anything else, the stone’s as good a reason as any for the Guild to watch for him.”

I gave Meryl a playful look. “Can I ask you a favor?”

She sighed. “Yes, I will hack into the system, Grey.”

I hugged her. “See? Not everything involves major interdimensional meltdowns.”

“Yet,” said Murdock. We got in his car and drove past the growing line of Guild agents. At the Boylston Street T station, Meryl remained in the car as I stood on the curb. “Do you need change for the fare?” she asked.

“You’re not coming with me?”

She poked me in the chest. “I’m allowed in the front door. If I’m going to be hacking security and someone catches me, I’m not raising questions about how I got in without my building pass registering.”

I tapped her nose. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

I entered the station and paid the fare. This early in the morning, the platform was empty and the token-booth agent half-asleep. I walked into the tunnel unseen. The glamour covering the access door to the escape tunnel had an odd resistance but let me through. I was down the stairs and through the passageway in minutes.

Meryl was at her desk before I reached her office. The room was back in some semblance of order, at least by her standards. The piles of papers and folders that had been knocked over were back in their precarious piles, the chair was unsittable with boxes, and the trashed computer components on her credenza had been replaced and reconnected. “I will get this done with less annoyance if you stop reading over my shoulder,” she said.

I perched at the far end of the credenza. “You don’t want me to see how you get in.”

She smirked. “If you can’t figure it out yourself, you don’t deserve to know.”

She sorted through screens, leaning back now and then as she waited for something to run. “Okay, here’s a problem. Veinseeker’s alert was assigned by Manny.”

“Eagan? The Guildmaster never put stuff in the system himself,” I said.

“Maybe not these days. The alert goes back decades. There are even scans of old paper memos in here that predate computers,” she said.

I read over her shoulder. “No reason given for the flag.”

Another screen popped open. “Here’s something: Veinseeker worked on the Guildhouse,” she said.

“When? As far as I know, dwarves never worked here,” I said.

She shook her head. “Not like that. He helped build the place, Grey. Looks like he used to own a quarry.”

“His brother Thekk owned the quarry,” I said.

Meryl pointed to an old contract scan. “Not according to this. They both did.”

I pointed to the screen. “This doesn’t make sense. Thekk drops out of the contract work after major construction was completed, but Nar continues as a security consultant.”

“So?” she asked.