Part 9 (1/2)
”Pretend I don't know anything.” Which was way too right. ”Something happened to cause its appearance here. Rivers don't change course without a reason, even the metaphysical kind.”
”Yes, we're all aware of that. Those of us whocan see it have discussed nothing else.”
”The 'those' being a few people in high society. Why is that? What makes them different from the rest of the townspeople?”
”We're high-born and wealthy, I suppose.”
That couldn't be it. She was wealthy, but in my experience d.a.m.n-few high-born ladies go into oochie-coochie dancing for a living. I didn't mention that, of course. ”Do you all practice magic?”
”Not everyone. Just those with Talent, and not many of them.”
”None of the townspeople have any Talent?”
”Of course some of themdid , but they're not around anymore.”
”Hah?”
”When the river appeared they left.” ”Where'd they go?”
She looked unhappy. ”No one knows.”
Uh-huh. ”Someone must. They had relatives and friends, maybe a nice little job where they'd be missed.”
”They didn't leave in that sense. They just weren't around any more.”
”Like they vanished-poof?”
”Exactly.”
Not good. Maybe the river had sucked them in. The way it crept up the outside wall of the inn like a misty version of the Blob still gave me the heebies, though I realized now it probably hadn't sensed me at all, but had been sniffing for Terrin. That guy was a magical power station, broadcasting twenty-four/seven to anyone or anything geared to pick up his kind of signals. ”That's pretty serious,” I said. ”Didn't you try to find them?”
”Once we worked out what had happened, Overduke Anton had investigators running all over town looking for them. No one knows where they are. It's as though they'd all been forgotten by all their friends.”
”If they'd been forgotten, then how did you know they were missing?”
”Those of us with Talent who remained remembered them.”
Oh.
”But it took usdays to work that much out.” She snorted disgust, whether for her slowness or that of her friends was hard to judge.
”And n.o.body's upset about it? Like this overduke?”
”Of course he's upset, we all are, but he can't draw a lot of attention to it or there might be a panic.”
”If there was going to be a panic, it'd have happened by now. Maybe youshould have a panic, a real big one. It might stir up an answer.” I could use a few of those. ”The h.e.l.l-river appears, a few pract.i.tioners in the upper cla.s.ses can see it, but the rest of the town folk don't, and all the magic-types down there vanish, only no one else notices or misses them. A conspiracy or ma.s.s hypnosis?”
She shrugged.
”Aside from the river coming, what else happened a couple weeks ago?”
Behind me I heard Shankey s.h.i.+ft on his feet. I turned to glance at him. He seemed like a guy with something on the tip of his tongue and it wasn't an after-dinner mint.
”Yeah, Captain?” I said encouragingly.
Filima's turn to s.h.i.+ft. She added in some throat-clearing, too. I turned back to her. She had the same look as Shankey. ”Yeah, lady?”
”I don't seehow it could be connected . . .” she began. Her trailing off gave me to think otherwise.
”How what could be connected?”
”Well, it was about the time my husband died that the river appeared.”
I sensed major pay dirt here. ”Did he, by any chance, go in for magic?”
”Actually, yes. He did. Yes.”
”And no one's put together that theremight be a connection between the two?”
She lifted her chin, frowning a lot. She was still gorgeous. ”I have. But I don't know what it could be.
You do.”
Gawd, she was still playing that tune. I'd have to do some creative jamming to get past her chorus. I gave a deprecating shrug. ”Maybe so. If I do, I'm going to need your help.”
”What sort of help?”
”The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but. Accept no subst.i.tutes.”
The frown turned into a scowl. An adorable one.
I gave a bigger shrug. ”It's not really a lot to ask. Wouldn't you want the same?”
A quick thinker was this babe. She stopped making faces and nodded.
”Okay, then it's cards on the table time, Lady Filima. First: How did you know to find me?”
She shook her head, plump lips sealed shut. A quick thinker but with a really bad stubborn streak.
I kept a patient I-don't-care kind of tone. ”If you want my help, you need to tell me everything. It's in the rules.”
”What rules?”
”Myhr's Rules for Magical Investigation 101. You talk or I walk.”
Shankey s.h.i.+fted again, maybe getting ready to contest my challenge, but neither of us needed to worry about who was faster at the fifty-yard door dash. Filima made a capitulating sigh. She sounded like she meant it.
”Very well, I'll show you.”
It took some effort for me to lever myself and my meal out of our comfy chair and follow her to the ”retiring place.” Man, what a lunch. I hoped there was a bed in the pavilion so I could take a nap. Filima drew back a fold of black velvet just enough to allow us to slip inside, then let it fall into place again. Drat. No bed, just a simple stool and small table, lighted by a single candle on a st.u.r.dy floor stand. It was very dark and stuffy with the smell of old incense. Not a very fragrant brand, either. Flat on the table was a scrying mirror similar to the ones Terrin and I sold at his Dallas shop: round, about a foot across with a highly polished black surface. Terrin worked the things all the time; I prefer a big-screen TV with a remote and cable.