And shed fooled him. Chess suspected that was what did itnot just that his daughter was dead, but that hed spent a week with her killer, taking her to dinner, chatting with her in his office, touching her, hugging her. And he hadnt known.
Hell, if he hadnt stepped down, Chess would have put decent odds on him being asked to. Not that she knew for sure he hadnt been. But she kept that thought to herself.
As am I. But his resignation leaves a spot open, which in turn leaves more spots open. There might be one for me, methinks.
You want a promotion? A trickle of cold she hadnt expected slid down her back, into her heart.
Shed lose him. On top of everything else she felt slipping away, everything pouring through her fingers no matter how tightly she tried to grasp them, Elder Griffin wanted to leave her.
Intellectually she knew it wasnt about her. Intellect didnt slow her panicky pulse.
I am considering it, yes. I do enjoy my position. I enjoy working with youall of you. His eyes lingered on her face just long enough to make her feel the emphasis on you. Just long enough to make her feel special. And just long enough for her to start mourning the loss of that feeling.
But I would also enjoy moving up. Perhaps to a position with a larger responsibility. And a higher income.
She gave him the best smile she could; her face felt like plastic. Sure, of course. That makes sense.
He sighed. I hoped you would think so, I very much hoped. I do not know how much support there would be for me in that endeavor. Many Elders are interested, of course. But I do not think of putting my name in to be the Grand Elder. I would never presume. I simply thought, perhaps a Resident Elder, or a High Elder perhaps a Master in the schools.
I think youd be great at any of those, she managed. He would be, too.
Thank you. You see, Cesaria, part of the process is to give the Elder Triumvirate the name of at least one departmental employee over whom I have direct authority, so they can question you and make sure I am effective in my position, that I uphold the Truth and the lawsI am sure thou knowst the sort of thing of which I speak.
Certainly of all the Debunkers your record is the most impressive, but I would also hope I believe thatI have always believed in your skills, Cesaria, and I believe you have always trusted me, and mine. Your recommendation would be meaningful to me.
He cleared his throat. Before she could respondbefore she could even think of a responsehe continued. You see, I have another person to concern myself with these days. I have met someone, and we plan to be married.
Wow, thatsCongratulations. This just kept getting better, didnt it. Well, no, that wasnt fair. She was happy for him, she honestly was. How the hell could she not be? She wasnt that selfish.
Shed just never thought of him as being a man with a personal life. A romance life. She couldnt picture him out on the town, having a few drinks and meeting people, or home with street clothes on instead of his Church suit and stockings, with sneakers or something instead of his formal buckle shoes. Elder Griffin Casual was just not an image she could conjure, no matter how hard she tried. She might as well try to picture him in a clown suit.
His blush showed faintly through the light everyday white powder he wore. Perhaps youll meet him? Methinks he would very much like that. Of course I would.
Yeah. Um, of course, Id love to.
Excellent. His eyes caught hers again, held them. I am glad you feel that way, Cesaria. I admit the thought of working in a different department, of not seeing all of you, is rather painful to me.
Sodont go, she wanted to say, but she couldnt. Not when he looked so happy, so excited about what his future might hold. That was the way normal people felt when they were trying to move up, when theyd found someone to love who loved them back. Not the way Chess felt, like she was trying to stem an arterial bleed with her fingertip.
But then, normal people didnt start their relationships by fucking people over, and normal people werent convinced that at any moment the person they were with was going to realize how completely worthless they were and run away as fast as they could. Normal people didnt deserve to have the person they were with run away as fast as they could. So that might make a difference.
My hope is that you will still feel free to visit me. Assuming I am promoted, which of course is not guaranteed.
Of course you will be. And, um, yes, Id love to visit you.
Excellent, he said again. He cleared his throat, sat up straighter in his chair. Chess could practically see an imaginary dial on his back turning from personal to business.
I have a case for you. He opened a drawer in his desk, pulled out a slim manila folder. Yes! Awesome, she could totally use a case. A real one, not chasing air for Bump.
A case would leave her less time for that, but shed still have enough. Wasnt like she was the only one looking for the rat, either. Bump and Terrible would probably suss him out within a day or so, and they could all move on. She hoped.
The decision was made this morning to give the case to you, and I concur with that decision. You know I have always had the deepest belief in your abilities, and your discretion.
I know. Yeah, he had. And now shed get some different Elder, who didnt know her, didnt care. Hed probably hate her; hed see through her to the filth inside, and hed know everything, and hed hate her for it.
Good. This case was previously given to Aros Burnett. He looked up at her gasp, the tiny sound she tried not to utter but which slipped out before she could stop it. Yes. Aros found it particularly difficult, and he gave it up. Gave up his post in Triumph City as well, as I see you remember.
Her neck practically creaked as she nodded. Of course she remembered. The halls had barely stopped buzzing about it; it had only been eight or nine days.
Aros was unable to give us a satisfactory solution. Youll see his notes in the file. They become ratherjumbled, near the end, Im afraid. But we feel strongly that you will be able to bring us an answer. We have seen the Fact and Truth of your skill many times. I look forward to seeing your resolution.
Thanks. The file hovered in his hand, just over his desk; she took it and started to open it. Where is it?
Well. That is another reason you were chosen, in truth. Tis not too far from your residence. You are familiar with Mercy Lewis Second School? In Downside, on
Twenty-second, she finished for him, barely noticing her own rudeness as she cut him off. Barely noticing anything except that address, staring at her from the original report in the file. Twenty-second and Foster.
Right in the middle of Slobags territory.
Chapter Five
The dead invaded the schools, hiding in the shadows inside to turn the students into soldiers of death themselves.
TheBookofTruth, Origins, Article 57
The parking lot outside Mercy Lewis Second School hardly looked like a parking lot at all. If not for the four or five battered cars parked at odd angles among the gravel and weeds, Chess would have thought it was just a vacant lot like any other.
The parking lot outside Mercy Lewis Second School hardly looked like a parking lot at all. If not for the four or five battered cars parked at odd angles among the gravel and weeds, Chess would have thought it was just a vacant lot like any other.
Four or five battered cars, and one sleek shiny coupe, gunmetal gray, the same color as Chesss new car, although hers wasnt as stylish. Or as expensive. As unobtrusively as possible she wandered over to where the car sat, pretending to be interested in the view on the other side of the rusty, torn chain-link fence, and committed the license plate number to her temporary memory. Shed write it down as soon as she got inside.
Despite everything elseand really, given its location and the fire the night before, this case couldnt have been worse for herher spirits lifted as she headed up the cracked concrete path to the large front doors. Working again. Something else to focus on, something she could actually do something about, something with actual procedures to follow and clues she was trained to understand. That felt good.
Mercy Lewis Second Schoolformerly an embassy for some South Pacific country, she thoughtwas clearly a product of that phase of architecture that had believed bland was better. It just sat there, dull and brown, staring out at the dirty streets and crumbling buildings with an air of resignation. Whatever had happened to it, whatever changed in the world, it would remain, glowering at them all, suffering the crowds of teenagers abusing it every day.
It could join the damn club. She made her way to the graffiti-covered entrance, pulled open a heavy door that gave a loud shriek of protest. Great. Well, good to know, anyway. When and if she came back at night with her Hand, this was not the entrance to use. She made a notewriting down the license number of the too-expensive car in the lot while she was at it so she could let it drop from her memoryand followed the faded signs to the office down the hall.
The itching started when shed made it about halfway down. Not withdrawalsnot even possible, shed dosed up right before she got out of the carbut something worse, something that told her three Cepts wasnt going to be enough and made her wish shed washed them down with a couple of shots, too.
Second school. Any school. She couldnt say the worst memories of her life came from schoolsfar, far from itbut the ones she did have werent fucking good, that was for sure. The memories she had of when shed gone; when shed been forced to go. All of her foster parents made her, because if her attendance dropped they wouldnt get paid anymore, but none of them gave a shit if she actually learned anything, and her teachers hadnt either.
Those voices still echoed with every step she took. Just the air in the building, that particular chalkboard-antiseptic-dust-and-despair smell of school, reminded her where she was, made her remember how it felt and how much shed hated it. The cold metal lockers lining the walls watched her, considered her, as her boots clicked on the polished concrete floors. She didnt care what they thought, or what anyone she was about to meet thought, but she still felt that invisible cloud of judgment that seemed to hover near the ceiling of every school, ready to descend on anyone unlucky enough to walk beneath it.
Whatever. Shed never gone to this school, and it wasnt her prison now. She was an adult, she was a fucking Churchwitch, and someone in this school was trying to scare people and scam some money out of the Church. So she would catch them. It was as simple as that, and she knew it and believed it as strongly and purely as she knew Facts were Truth.
Although who would get the money, if the Church ended up paying a settlement? The Church owned the school, of course, and ran it, at least ostensibly. The Church wouldnt pay a settlement to itself. So another note in her pad. Whoprofits?
The classroom doors she passed were closed. Through the narrow windows in each of them she caught glimpses of chalkboards and teaching Goodys standing before them, the occasional slice of backs bent over desks. Boredom and sadness seeped through the walls.
Finally she reached the end of the hall, another closed door. administration was written on it in peeling black letters, with Fuck the scratched into the glass above it. Heh. Without knocking she pushed it open, got a good visual snapshot of three women standing around chatting before they stopped to look at her.
The one behind the desk, an enormous womanshe had to be close to six feet tall, and solidly builtwith thin, frizzy brownish hair hanging limp from the top of her head, gave her the sort of disapproving smile Chess thought people with minor authority must practice in front of mirrors. Inexpertly applied red lipstick made her mouth look like a wound. Can I help you, Miss?
The other two stepped away from the desk, almost in a flanking motion. Had they been Downside kids and not school ladies Chess would have thought they were getting ready to jump her. Then again, maybe they were. Just not physically.
Im Cesaria Putnam. She didnt offer her hand. From the Church. Ive come about your haunting.
A moment of silence, as if none of them knew what to say. What the hell? They had to be aware of the procedure, theyd had another Debunker out there already. Then one of the women outside the desk, petite with red hair and a horrible baggy plaid dress, gave her a tentative smile. Of course, yes. Please come in and sit down. Can we get you anything? Coffee, tea?
No thanks. Like shed ever drink anything a subject gave her, at least in a situation like this. She did sit down, though, on the dingy couch that sank too far beneath her, so her ass hung lower than her knees. Getting out of that would be fun.
The third woman just looked at her, an odd sort of smile on her face. As if she knew something Chess didnt and was waiting for Chess to figure it out, or she was waiting for Chess to speak so she could belittle her. A smug look. Chess didnt like it, and she didnt think she liked the woman, although something in the way she stood, the tilt of her head and that smirk, reminded Chess for some absurd reason of Lex.
Yes, the woman was Asian, but that certainly wasnt it. She didnt know what it was. Shed seen other men who had some sort of Lex-like quality about them, but never a woman. Oh well. There was a first time for everything. Women could be smug bastards, too.
Then the woman shifted, and the resemblance disappeared, leaving just an attractive woman with straight, shiny dark hair in a casual knot at the base of her neck. Compared to the other two she looked especially gorgeous, in her black pencil skirt and loose white Oxford shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
We werent sure we would get someone else, she said, one graceful elbow propped on the counter. Aros left so abruptly, and we havent heard anything since.
Chess grabbed her notepad. He told you he wouldnt be back?
The women smiled at each other, as though Chess had just said something adorably naïve. Bitches.
We got that impression, Horrible Plaid said, when he screamed at us all that he was never stepping foot in this place again, broke a window, and ran off in the middle of the day.
Damn. What exactly had he encountered?
She didnt know Aros; hed been a recent transfer. So she had no idea how tough he was, or what kinds of cases hed handled wherever it was hed come from. She made a quick note to ask Elder Griffin about it, and pushed the tiny flash of sadness out of her head.