CHAPTER 5
The sun had almost disappeared by the time they left the shop.
As he left the alley leading to it, Shim took his communication crystal from a pocket. He was going to call Owlfeather and ask him to check whether there were any traces of vampire ashes on or inside the homeless body. He still didn't know whether the two things were connected, but he was going to find out.
The sudden apparition of something big and dark at the edge of his vision made him abandon his purpose for the time needed and jump backward, a move that proved useless when two huge black horses stopped – in a sudden and quite unnatural way – about one centimeter before reaching the place in which he had been standing. Behind them there was a couch, steered by a burly men whose skin was as black as the incoming night, so that he almost melded into the background of the coach itself.
«I would not have run over you», he remarked, turning his head by a fraction of an inch.
Even though he had never seen the couch or its driver personally before, Shim already knew who the passenger was. There weren't many people who moved in a coach in the early twenty-first century. Actually he knew only of one, and that one was the first name on his list of probable necromancers: Vivienne Blanchard.
The door of the coach opened slightly and a charming voice came from within.
«Detective Stonehand, this is an unexpected and pleasurable coincidence.»
«Miss Blanchard I suppose», he replied.
«Madame Blanchard, please. Or even just Vivienne, if you deem it appropriated. Only please refrain from using miss or Mrs., gently.»
«As you wish. Your...» now, what was the word for someone who steered a coach? «... coach man should be more careful about where he's going.»
«Ashton is a very clever coachman detective, I am afraid I might have involuntarily diverted his attention when I saw you coming down the street, but I can assure you that you have never been in any danger from him.» She paused briefly, then added, «Do you not think that this is not a proper way of carrying on a conversation? Please, come on in.»
Shim looked at the coach, unsure. He wasn't expecting such an invitation, and wasn't sure about how to react.
«Do not be afraid, detective, for sure I have no intention to bite you», she urged him, with a vaguely lustful tilt in her voice.
Shim shrugged. For sure he wasn't about to be scared by a fake old-fashioned aristocrat, not when she was only one civilian and they were three armed police officers. He gestured for his men to follow and together they got into the coach, which seemed wide enough from the outside and proved to stand to the expectation from the inside.
He sat, one officer on each side, opposite the woman, looking at her a little bewildered. She wore an odd white shirt radiating from a metal ring at waist level and ending into two large sleeves, which narrowed around her wrists. A similar ring, just under the base of the neck, held in place what seemed to be a cloak, even though there was no way to be sure it was as long as she was sitting. Her legs where wrapped into a black skirt made from some glossy and heavy fabric, apparently made of several layers, under which her boots could be seen, these too black and with a heel that should have required a carry permit.
«It is a pleasure for me to meet you in person, detective», she welcomed him. «I have always heard people speaking of you in, I must admit, mixed terms.»
Shim didn't stop to wonder which was the meaning of that definition.
«I too have heard people talking about you mis... Madame Blanchard.»
«I can well imagine you have. And most likely most of the times it happened after you had explicitly requested those people to, am I right?»
«I don't know what you're talking about.»
«Do not be elusive detective, I know well what are the reasons for which you nourish interest in me. I am a necromancer and you are perfectly aware of this fact. In spite of this, I do not contravene to any low simply for being what I am, it is the practice of necromancy to be forbidden, not the simple knowledge of it. Neither I could have had any way to cease being what I am when your code was promulgated.»
«You don't seem old enough to have already been a necromancer back then», Shim remarked, examining the quite youthful features of that woman who had just asserted to be more than fifty years old.
«Neither you seem to be a centenarian, detective, which does not mean that you are not. Appearances can be misleading more often than not.»
«Do you always speak like this?»
«What are you referring to, pray tell?»
«I'll consider that a yes. You mentioned a coincidence before, what did you mean?»
«Oh, certainly.» She let go an odd sound which could have been a light laughter. «For sure it was a pleasurable coincidence to meet you, as I believe that it allowed both of us to save some time. I would have come to look for you myself, and I am more than sure that you had the intention to come and look for me in the near future.»
«Why should I?»
«I believe for the same reason for which you spent almost all of today interrogating well known practitioners of necromancy.»
«It seems you know a lot of things.»
«More than you imagine, detective.»
«Then I imagine you know the reason behind my investigations as well.»
«You are looking for a necromancer who supposedly used his knowledge of the art to commit a crime. A crime of some severity, otherwise you would not be leading the investigations in person.»
«Do you know any?»
«If your question refers to any individual who committed a crime, I have to give you a negative answer. If that were the case, it would have been an obligation for me to denounce him to the authorities, is it not so? Though, if what you desire to know is whether among the people I am acquainted with there is any necromancer who could possibly have committed a crime, my answer would have to be different. And this is exactly the reason for which I do believe that you could be in need of my assistance.»
«Meaning you would help me finding the one I'm looking for? Why should you?»
«Because I am a good citizen.» She smiled a quite disturbing smile.
«I'm glad to hear that, but...»
«Listen to me, detective, I know that you probably believe that it would not be appropriate to accept my help for your investigations, but I pray you reconsider it before you decline my proposal. I can lead you in places in which you would never be able to go alone, let you speak to people that would never accept to meet you otherwise, and be aware that I have as much interest as you do in ascertaining who is hiding behind these events, and the reason for which he is having this kind of behavior, so I have no reason to deceive you.»
«So you would help me, asking for nothing in return.»
«I do not believe I have said exactly this, detective. However, what I do ask you in return is simply to disregard what you will see, aside from, of course, whatever is related to your current investigations.»
«I'd never do that. If I should see a crime being...»
«You will not see any kind of crime. You will only meet people who maybe, one day, might commit one, but that so far are only sharing a common interest.»
«Necromancy is a dangerous interest.»
«But not illegal, as long as it is kept strictly theoretical.»
«Is it so?»
«You will be able to judge this by yourself if you do accept my proposal. But you will have to come alone.»
«That's impossible.»
«Then bring along one of your officers, but no more than one, and let him not wear any uniform, unless you want to waste the opportunity I am giving you completely.»
Shim reflected on that. He didn't truly trust that woman. In spite of this, many of the things she had said were undeniable, and he could easily believe that she knew people he wouldn't be able to reach. Nonetheless, he was not so naive as to disregard the fact that she could be trying to lead him into some kind of trap. Maybe she was herself the necroma
ncer he was looking for, and her offer was nothing more than a way to mislead him or, worse, seize the chance to get rid of him. Still, it was a risk worth running, and he could still take some precautions, as he had to go back to the central to pick an officer to bring along. Even if he had wanted to go with one of the two that were there, there was no way to have them change clothes. And, given the time of the day, a night-shift officer would have been more fitting anyway.
«Fine. Where and what time?» he finally asked.
«We can meet in this same place exactly one hour from now, then we will go together to our destination on foot.»
«An hour? It must be a bit later, I'll barely have time to go to the precinct and back.»
«I am sorry, detective, but I am afraid that I cannot give you any further time. Be it clear that it does not depend on my will; it is necessary that we depart from here exactly one hour from now if you really want to obtain the information you seek. Beginning our journey any later might result in a despicable failure of our mission.»
Shim sighed. He had to hurry.