Adeline moved her things into the Murder House, which we know was Alexander’s childhood home, and I observed from my roost while she and Rhian went back and forth to the wagon to fetch the rest of her trunks. Once they were done, I watched them have a conversation through the window. The expression on Adeline’s face flipped from confusion, to shock, to disbelief. We know from The First One that Rhian was explaining the Anima.
By the time the conversation settled some, and they’d finished their tour, Adeline began setting up her workshop—on the kitchen table. Through the window, I watched her line everything up straight and then shift it all out of order. She then made some tea for herself and my sister, hers with honey, Rhian’s without, and she tapped her spoon against the mug three times before she took her first sip. Other than that, all I knew about Adeline Blanchett was what Rhian had told me: that she was a bit of an odd character, a skilled tinkerer, and that she was trustworthy. But she was a brand new variable, see, and I had to—
—wait, was she gluing a mirror to the wall?
Aye, she was. What was I saying? Right, I had to—
—wait, did she just make Rhian laugh?
Aye, she did. So, as I was saying—
—trusted tinkerer, and I—
Adeline was just what we needed for the mission, and—
—and as for me? No big deal, right? She was just quirky, right? That’s all it was, right? The racing heart and the flutter in my stomach? The fact that, much like myself, she had great hair? It didn’t mean anything. I rationalized: Strauss was a specimen, and that didn’t stop me from doing my job, did it? Granted, there was no flutter when I looked at Strauss. Or Michael. Or most people, with the recent exception of Derek and V, and even then—I could be objective, right? I could be non-creepy—right?
Nope, this felt very different, mates.
Spying on Adeline Blanchett wasn’t going to work for me.
Even I had boundaries.
While decidedly not spying on my sister and Adeline for the rest of the night, I checked in with V. But with all the village intrigue stirring up business for the inn, she didn’t have time to stick around and chat. I did get a hug, a kiss, and a heads-up that Zacharias was awake, though.
Certain bits of this story are more difficult than others to remember while putting them to paper, and those small, quiet moments with V are right up at the top of that list. What we had was a bit unconventional, but it was real, and I miss her every day.
I left the Peak and ran to the city.
I knew Captain Kavelin had essentially been living in his office, so it wasn’t unrealistic to expect he’d be available so late in the evening. The guard at the gate gave me some trouble, and he made me wait at a distance outside the Captain’s quarters while he ‘briefed’ him on my visit.
While I waited, Kavelin thanked the man sincerely for his diligence, and then I caught him chuckling to himself when the guard turned to leave. Not in a malicious way, I reckoned, but the new Captain had probably been experiencing a fair bit of boot-licking since taking over.
He waved me in, and we sat by the fire.
“So, Jack—what’s new?”
“I couldn’t even tell you the half of it,” I answered. “How’ve you been holding up, mate?”
“Same shit, different day, new murder. A belt strangulation this time.”
“Need my help?”
“Maybe, but not yet. I don’t think it’s related to the—you know. This one smells like good old fashioned murder to me. So far it’s isolated.”
“Well, let me know if anything changes, but for now, I’ve got a favour to ask you.”
“After everything—yeah, anything. What is it?”
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
“A couple of my ‘you know’ friends—“
“Wait, you have ‘you know’ friends?”
“Aye, see, they’re not all bad, mate. It’s complicated.”
Kavelin leaned back in his chair, slow nodding.
“Right, so—remember Johan, poor chap who jumped from the Three Drinks?”
The Captain nodded again.
“Well, I’ve got a well-to-do Anima couple—totally harmless—looking to adopt his younger siblings, but they’re having issues completing their paperwork without valid identity documents. I don’t reckon the ones from three hundred and fifty years ago would cut it.”
In many ways, not having an official identity worked out well for most Anima, but in the Tragers’ case, it was working against them. And knowing Derek and Della, they wouldn’t—or in Della’s case, couldn’t—do anything underhanded to get what they wanted.
“Identity documents are handled at the Registrar. I have a childhood friend in there, but—“
“No need to stick your neck out so far, mate, but can I see yours?”
Kavelin shrugged, fetching his ID from the top drawer of his desk and handed it over.
I had a quick look. “Paper looks quite similar to what you’ve got on your desk.”
“We use the same paper—ink, there’s only one supplier in the city, so…”
“Well, that makes it easy. Would you mind if I borrow some stationery with zero intent to commit criminal forgery in the privacy of my own personal space, Captain?”
Kavelin chuckled. “You lead an interesting life, Jack Finnegan. But, yeah—whatever you need.”
It was getting late, and I had to get home to Zack, but I wanted to have a quick conversation with Everleigh first. She wasn’t playing at the Gander that night, so the most logical place to look was the Jaskar, but I wasn’t dressed the part, and I didn’t want to see Derek yet.
There had to be another way.
Now, if I were Everleigh Gloom, would I have an office with exactly one entrance that forced me to walk through a busy lounge each time I wanted to come and go? I think not, mates. There had to be another way into her musty basement, and Zack would have to wait while I looked for it.
I found it.
Down a storm drain not too far around the corner from the Jaskar. It’d be a tight fit for most Amali to squeeze through, if not impossible, but just right for a Strachan-shaped person. The small underground was just a short, rounded corridor straight to a reinforced metal door with three locks on the outside and a visor at Strachan eye-height.
I knocked loudly.
One, three, seven—the visor opened.
The visor closed.
Click, click, click.
The door opened and I stepped into Everleigh Gloom’s office through a black, velvety curtain.
“Took you long enough,” she said.
“I only started looking two minutes and thirty five seconds before I knocked on the door.”
Everleigh blinked her enormous eyes.
“So—have you heard the news?” I asked.
“Obviously. Do you know where he is.”
“Yes,” I said.
“Where.”
“I’m not telling you.”
“Why not.”
“Because I’m gonna show you instead—come on.”
Everleigh Gloom had trusted me with her most prized possession, and frankly, folks, apart from withholding a few bits of information here and there—and who was I to judge that, really?—she hadn’t let me down. We exited through the storm drain, and she promptly went invisible, following me the rest of the way toward the cabin. I stopped her well before we were in Zacharias’s earshot.
I gestured forward, and she answered with a disembodied voice. “You’re telling me Zacharias Vonsinfonie is sitting in that gross, old cabin right now.”
“We’re roommates.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
“See for yourself. Stay invisible and be quick, though. The curtain on the right window always falls a bit weird, you might be able to sneak a peek.”
Two, three, four, six seconds, and then—
“He’s in there,” she said, as if she were the one telling me.
I nodded, the fuzzy ball on my hat bopping against my head. “So, what’s your plan now?”
“I’d tell you, but I’m not. Your plan is to keep that one under control, and make sure your friends take care of Lidia.”
“Oh, is that all?”
“For now.”
“All right,” I replied.
“Okay,” she answered.
Then we both went home.
A Night at Home With Zack - Entry Log #1
“You cannot sustain yourself appropriately on snack food alone.”
“Since when do I do anything appropriately?”
“True.” — “I’ve nearly perfected the lyrics to my new song. Would you like to see them?”
“Aye, I would, mate.” — “I really like what you did with this bit here.”
“Do you? I wasn’t certain. But Sebastian would have loved it, too. You know, Feargus Finlay, you remind me of him at times.”