“You can.” Rule decided to step them all back from all this careful professionalism. “You look tired, Martin.”
Croft shrugged. “I’m hoping Ruben can come back soon. For his sake, of course, but also selfishly. I miss fieldwork.”
“You’re very much needed here.”
“I’m a decent administrator, but I was a damn good investigator. I want to get back to what I’m best at, but . . .”
“But if you weren’t doing this job, someone with less understanding of the Unit would be. Or one of the Gifted agents would be promoted to a desk, and they’re needed in the field.”
“Exactly.” He ran a hand over his hair. “With your people, Rhos face the same problem, don’t you? There has to be distance between the Rho and everyone else, plus they have to stay denned up at their clanhomes. Except that you don’t. Stay denned up, I mean. How do you pull that off?”
“Two clans,” Rule said. “Two sets of duties. And I can’t be the public face for my people if I never leave Clanhome.”
“Hmm. Rule, I won’t ask if Lily has told you anything about the investigation she’s been on. I do need to make it clear that the order for silence on this one came from the director himself.”
“I see.” That was a clear enough signal for him to stay out of it . . . which wasn’t what Lily had in mind. “If one of my people just happened to be in the park across the street from the senator’s house, would you be interested in hearing about any unusual smells that he notices?”
Martin shook his head. “You’re as stubborn as she is, but more diplomatic. Hypothetically speaking, yes, I would.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. I hope to see you again soon, Martin, when things are less difficult for all of us.”
Croft walked out with them, stopping at Ida’s desk to give her instructions for the form he needed to sign concerning Lily’s leave.
Rule and Lily started down the long hall. “That’s a good idea,” she said, “having someone sniff along that trail I followed.”
“I thought of it while we were headed here.” He glanced at her. “You look relieved. Glad to get that over with?”
“Oh, yes.” She lowered her voice so only he would be able to hear. There were others in the hall. “And damn glad Croft isn’t going to be too upset when he finds out what we’re about to get up to.”
“And yet he made a point of bringing up the order for silence.”
“He made a point of it being the director’s order. That means he doesn’t agree with it. He has to enforce it, but he doesn’t like it, and maybe he suspects I’m not going to spend the rest of the day in my sickbed.”
“Ah.” Was this convoluted, don’t-say-it method a purely human style of communication? One common to cops? Or one used by bureaucrats in any large organization? “How would he have signaled that he supported the director’s order wholeheartedly?”
“He’d have said it to me, not you. And he would have restated it as his order. If he . . . later,” she muttered. “We’ll talk about it later.”
They’d reached the elevator. Three others were waiting: a tall woman with rimless glasses, a short Asian man, and a bald, middle-aged man, possibly Pakistani. Lily greeted the bald man and pushed the down button. Quite unnecessarily, since it was already glowing, but if you provide humans with a button, they will push it.
The doors opened. A short blond woman in red-framed glasses and a severely tailored black suit got out. Her mouth was a perfect cupid’s bow. “Lily!” Anna Sjorensen’s delight was obvious. “I haven’t had a chance to thank you properly. I guess you don’t have time to chat now.”
“A minute or two, maybe. We need to make time later to grab coffee or something.” Lily smothered whatever impatience she felt and stepped aside, letting the others enter the elevator. It was a kind move, especially because Rule was sure she didn’t realize Sjorensen had a bad case of hero worship. “But no thanks are necessary. You needed training.”
“Which I would never have gotten if not for you.” Sjorensen paused and said civilly, if coolly, “Hello, Mr. Turner.”
“Make it Rule, please.” He doubted that she would, but that wouldn’t matter, because she didn’t want to talk to him anyway.
Sure enough, Sjorensen’s attention zipped right back to Lily. Rule listened as the two talked about the training the younger woman was receiving for her minor patterning Gift. He listened, but that wasn’t the only sense he used, and he had the satisfaction of solving a small puzzle.
The elevator came and went and another small crowd had gathered when Lily glanced at her watch. “It’s ten till eight. I’m going to have to take the next elevator. It was good running into you, Anna.”
“Oh, yes. And I do have to thank you, whether you like it or not. If you hadn’t gotten me here for training, I wouldn’t be part of the investigation.” She leaned closer to add softly, “We’ve got a lead on the dagger.”
“Oh?” Lily didn’t bat an eye. “Maybe you can tell me about it later.”
“Later would be best.” Sjorensen grimaced prettily. The poor woman did everything prettily, which was why she wore severe suits and kept her hair so short. “I have to go, too. I’m supposed to be in Croft’s office in ten. See you soon, I hope.”
Lily frowned as she got on the elevator with Rule and three others. “She’s not Unit.”
“Croft could transfer her now, if he wanted.”
“I know. And she’s bright enough, but . . .”
“Inexperienced.”
Lily nodded, her expression abstracted. They got off on the ground floor and turned left. There were four entrances to Headquarters; one for freight; two for Bureau personnel; and one for the public. Lily usually avoided the one the public used because it meant passing two checkpoints, but Rule had to turn in his visitor’s badge.
In a low voice he said, “You didn’t mention to Anna that you weren’t part of the team anymore.”
“If you’re thinking I should have—”
“I’m glad you’re being your usual inquisitive self. If Croft wants to be sure no one talks to you, he’ll tell them so. As for Sjorensen . . . she’s bi, you know.”
“What?”
“Bisexual.”
“What are you talking about? Why are you telling me this?”
“That’s why she doesn’t like me. Not because I’m lupus, as we had suspected. She has a major crush on you, so she’s jealous, not bigoted. Possibly she thinks of herself as lesbian, which would make her attraction to me both unwelcome and suspicious. She may think I’m putting out some mysterious, magical sexual juju on purpose.”
“I cannot imagine why you’re telling me this.”
“You need to understand the people who are your allies. If you . . . Lily?” He stopped, taking her arm. “Are you—”
“You don’t see it.” She was staring at the checkpoint where people were admitted to the secure area they were in. A guard made sure that everyone passing that point had an ID or visitor’s badge. The IDs were scanned; visitors had to sign in and out. “Of course you don’t see it.”
“What?”
“The ghost. He ran his ID through the scanner, nodded at the guard as he walked passed, and vanished.”
NINETEEN
“NONE?” Lily said. “Okay, okay. I’m not arguing, I just . . . yeah, go ahead. Might as well be sure. Thanks, Arjenie.” She disconnected and frowned at her phone.
“Arjenie couldn’t find anyone recently deceased who fits your ghost’s profile?” Rule asked.