Nancy finally caught sight of the sign that announced that she had arrived in the small town of Skipbrot. The driver had dropped her off too far from the gate, so she'd had to walk in the cold. "I should have brought a bigger coat," she said to herself. A woman nearby looked up and raised her eyebrows. Nancy blushed; it was always awkward when someone caught her in her habit of talking to herself. But, to her surprise, the woman beckoned her over, smiling.
"Hi there," Nancy said. The woman had a hat firmly tucked over her head, with only a few brown wisps of hair escaping, and looked rather unhappy with her situation. She was the only person out in this weather, Nancy supposed. Then it dawned on her; wasn't the woman who'd sent her the letter supposed to be waiting for her here, to give her the case briefing? "Are you Ms Silva?"
An odd look flickered through the woman's eyes: first recognition, and then a bit of disappointment. Nancy couldn't think why that would be; unless she'd read Ms Silva's face wrong.
"Finally, she arrives," she said sarcastically, leaving no doubt that she was, in fact, Ms Silva. "I think I'm half made of ice at this point! So you're Nancy, huh? I'm Dagny."
Dagny. For some reason, there was something a little foreign and a little poetic in the name.
"- the one who called you in," Dagny was saying. "You can call me boss-lady if you want. Or my queen." Something in her voice seemed to tease Nancy a little. "Or Dagny, whatevs."
Dagny was certainly the type to talk a lot, Nancy observed. Normally this would make her uncomfortable, since she was very formal and straightforward most of the time. But Dagny had something ... compelling to her. Maybe that was just because she was paying Nancy.
"Let's go with Dagny for now and we'll work our way up to the big stuff," Nancy said with a nervous chuckle. Dagny was watching her with an odd hunger in her eyes that made Nancy a little nervous. "Can I help?"
"Yes," Dagny said slowly. "Find my missing, skeeving, backstabbing partner, Magnus."
Whoa. This girl was angry.
"I'm sensing you're a little stressed out about this," Nancy tried.
Dagny groaned. "I'm so mad I've been an inch away from setting this town on fire."
Damn! Nancy would not put random fire-setting past this girl. "On fire?" she demanded. "Are you okay?"
"What?" Dagny said, completely straight-faced and unimpressed.
"Just ..." Nancy stuttered. "The fire comment ... I thought ..." Way to look like a bumbling idiot in front of the cool girl, Nancy. She had always envied people like Dagny, who could remain completely composed and never had these awkward moments.
"Metaphors, Nancy. Keep up with me here." It was proving to be hard to read Dagny's expressions, but she looked like she was holding back a smile. "So, listen. Right now, I'm focused on this town, Skipbrot. There's this ship in town that was being rebuilt. Real old. 18th century. I offered to sponsor the rebuilding project to get the ship floating again. Mostly because I'm really nice and cool like that. But also because there's a rumor about a treasure on board worth millions. Magnus, the man in charge of the project and my business partner, promised we'd find it and split the earnings."
"But he's gone missing now," Nancy guessed.
"Yep. And left me looking like a fool," Dagny sighed.
Nancy watched her as she explained that she knew he'd run away with the treasure, and that she needed Nancy to find him so Dagny would get her money. She had porcelain skin that was turned pink by the cold. She said funny things in a casual, nonchalant voice, but you got the idea that if you laughed, she'd punch you.
Nancy wondered why the hell she found that so fascinating.