“The Sierra listed computers and typing as some of her skills,” Elliot said. “Maybe she could—”
“No.”
The sharpness in her voice surprised her more than it surprised Elliot. But she’d had time to think about the prophecy cards Meg had drawn that morning. She didn’t know how someone else would interpret those cards, but she knew what she had deduced from them about her family. It made her angry, and it made her heart ache, to realize Sierra had lied to Crispin when the girl insisted that she had no way of contacting their brother, Cyrus. If she had been honest, Crispin still wouldn’t have paid for Cyrus’s train fare to Lakeside the way he had for his mother, sister, and two nieces, but he would have called his brother and warned him to leave Toland before the storm hit.
Twyla looked at Elliot. Not the actual leader, but he had a significant position in the Courtyard and among the Wolves. She couldn’t ask Crispin for help in confirming what she suspected. As a police officer, he had the means to find out, but it would create trouble between him and his little sister once he realized Sierra was in contact with Cyrus. “My Sierra is a good girl. She’s smart, she’s kind, she’s a hard worker, and she loves her children. And most days and about most things, she can be trusted. But we all have our weaknesses, Mr. Elliot, and Sierra’s weakness is her brother Cyrus. He twists her up and convinces her to do things she shouldn’t do—things she knows are wrong.” Twyla looked around the first floor of the consulate. “This is like a government office. Some things are everyday and don’t matter, and some things are no one’s business but yours. If Sierra worked here for you and Cyrus came by to pressure her into giving him information that would be worth selling, she might resist for a little while, but eventually she would give it to him and then try to justify why he should have it. That would cause trouble for her and for the rest of us.”
“But the Cyrus isn’t here,” Elliot said.
“I think he might be on his way here.” She went to one of the desks and wrote down the phone number for Howling Good Reads. She tore off the sheet and handed it to Elliot. “Sierra told me and Crispin that Cyrus hadn’t left a number where we could contact him. I think she lied. I think she’s called him a couple of times since we got here. Can’t say if she made calls on other phones without permission, but when I saw her using the phone near the cash register on a day when Mr. Simon and Mr. Vlad weren’t in the front of the store, she got flustered and claimed she was ordering pizza. I can tell you the children didn’t have pizza for lunch that day.” She hesitated. “The police have ways of checking calls made from a particular phone, but I can’t ask Crispin to check this. Even if I’m wrong about her calling Cyrus since we arrived in Lakeside, the lie she told before we left Toland will create tension between her and Crispin.”
Cyrus had always managed to create tension between his siblings, even when Crispin was standing up for Sierra.
“A lot of calls are made from the bookstore’s phone,” Elliot said.
“Most likely it would be a Toland phone number. One Mr. Simon and Mr. Vlad wouldn’t recognize.”
“All right.” Elliot folded the paper and put it in his pocket. “If your pup isn’t suitable, can you think of someone else who is?”
“Katherine Debany,” Twyla replied. “She worked as a personal assistant. Probably knows how to run an office like this better than the rest of us combined. I know Pete Denby was asking her about working for him a couple of afternoons a week.”
Elliot didn’t ask why a skilled worker would be available, and Twyla didn’t offer an explanation. Like her, Katherine had been dismissed because she wouldn’t join the Humans First and Last movement in order to keep her job.
“Tell the Katherine to see me.” Elliot headed for the stairs. His foot was on the first step when the phone rang. He looked back at her.
“You want me to answer that?” Twyla asked.
“Yes.” Elliot headed upstairs. “Thank you.”
Smiling, she picked up the phone. “Courtyard Consulate, Twyla speaking.”
CHAPTER 2
Windsday, Messis 1
Monty took a seat at the conference table and wondered if anyone else was baffled about his presence at a meeting that included Lakeside’s mayor and police commissioner, an ITF agent, and Captain Douglas Burke. He was just a lieutenant in charge of a two-man team.
He tried, unsuccessfully, to convince himself that the duties of that team had no relevance to his being there.
“Thank you for putting aside your important duties to speak with me.”
Walter Chen, the new acting mayor, smiled at each man in turn. It was a gentle smile in keeping with the man’s small stature and quiet voice. Deep lines spread from the corners of his brown eyes, and his black hair was carefully combed back from his face.
“We appreciate the opportunity to meet with you,” Greg O’Sullivan replied. Then he nodded at the other man Monty didn’t know.
“You know Police Commissioner Alvarez?” Chen asked, sounding a little surprised.
“We didn’t work in the same precinct in Hubb NE, but Agent O’Sullivan is related to Governor Hannigan, and I have the pleasure of being among the governor’s friends,” Alvarez replied. A handsome, robust man in his early fifties, he had flashing dark eyes and a headful of dark, wavy hair.
Monty glanced at Burke and wondered what his captain knew about the man.
“Please sit,” Chen said. “Would you like coffee? Tea? We have black and green tea available. The green tea has come all the way from Tokhar-Chin and is sold at a small market in my neighborhood.”
They all declined the offer of refreshments, took their seats, and waited for the mayor to begin.
But Chen seemed reluctant to begin. He gave them all another gentle smile.
Greg O’Sullivan leaned forward. “May I ask a question?”
“Please.” Chen sounded relieved.
“Why were you and Commissioner Alvarez appointed to these positions?”
Alvarez looked at Chen, then addressed the other men around the table. “I support the governor, and I’m fresh blood. That’s going to make every station chief in Lakeside unhappy since, under usual circumstances, one of them would have been selected to fill the position after Kurt Wallace’s involuntary resignation. But circumstances aren’t usual. This city is vital to the health of the entire Northeast Region, and the human government here can’t afford to make any more mistakes. I didn’t support the Humans First and Last movement. That’s on record. I’m hoping that will weigh in our favor in the weeks ahead.”
“Weigh in with whom?” Burke asked.
Alvarez smiled. “With the terra indigene in the Lakeside Courtyard—and beyond.”
“I, too, did not support the Humans First and Last movement,” Chen said. “Some businesses in my council district were damaged by HFL supporters, and there were a few physical altercations that convinced the merchants who participated in the open markets to stop bringing their carts.”
A new police commissioner who supported the governor and hadn’t supported the HFL, and a new acting mayor who had people in his neighborhood harassed and even hurt by the movement. Just like some of the businesses on Market Street. Nadine Fallacaro’s bakery and café had burned to the ground. If Meg Corbyn hadn’t felt a desperate need to make a cut and if her warning hadn’t been interpreted correctly, Nadine would have died in the fire.