Skulduggery – Crow
Anton – Bear
Ghastly – Panda
Dexter – Wolf
Saracen – Weasel
Erskine – Snake
Solomon – Raven
Chapter 52
Valkyrie made it through nearly six weeks without being critically hurt, mostly by getting Raven to join their cases. She had expected some resistance from Crow but he seemed happier about the situation than her.
"Solomon," Crow said warmly, shaking the man's hand in greeting. They'd seen each other less than twelve hours ago. "How are you today?"
"I am well," he said, shaking it back with a massive grin. His happiness warmed his face up considerably and she could see a handsome, young man beneath it all. "And yourself?"
"I'm the usual," Crow said, standing back a little. "Dead."
Raven laughed and bowed them into the coffee shop they were meeting a client of his in. It was a training situation for Valkyrie but also a genuine case for them. She merely needed to observe how a professional dealt with information and deciding if a case was, firstly, something they could handle, and secondly, technically legal to carry out.
The café was nice, a dark cubbyhole of a place with brick walls and vinyl's acting as art pieces covering the walls. The tables were reclaimed wood. The chairs mismatched. It was a nice place though nothing Valkyrie had expected a man like Solomon Wreath to pick. She decided the client must have chosen it.
"Here," Raven said, gesturing to a table for four. They sat down, Valkyrie making sure the men were sitting together so they wouldn't stare and chat the whole time like the last time they had gone out. She felt frustrated just thinking about it. They were annoying her. She kind of preferred when Crow hated Raven, at least she was listened to then. "Valkyrie, what would you like to drink?"
"Um, a coke?" She asked him.
"Anything to eat?"
She glanced over at the counter and picked a slice of a lemon drizzle cake she could see. He nodded and went to get it.
"You don't look happy," Crow observed when Raven was out of earshot.
"Don't I?" She said.
"You were happy earlier," he said mildly. "Talking to Nadia."
"Yes, well, Nadia is a happy person," she smiled to him. "You're just annoying."
He hesitated and sat forwards a little. "Am I upsetting you? I have been talking with Solomon a lot."
Valkyrie shook her head quickly. "No, no, of course not. I wanted you to resolve your issues."
"Exactly," Crow said. "Which is why I was confused when you looked upset when I started speaking to Solomon. You suggested doing another case with him after all."
"I did," Valkyrie nodded. "I did, and I'm glad I did. I didn't mean to look upset, don't worry about it. I'm sorry."
"Valkyrie–"
"Really, I'm fine," she said, and went quiet as Raven sat back at the table.
"Is everything okay?" Raven frowned, looking between Valkyrie and Crow. "What happened?"
"Nothing," Valkyrie said, pulling over her cake and drink. "And thank you."
"It's fine," he said, dismissing the conversation easily. "Our client should be here in the next few minutes. Have you been practising your necromancy?"
"I have," she nodded, fiddling with the little ring. "I think I want to get a properly sized ring to continue practising. Sometimes I feel like I can't use as much power as I have with this, it's like it's too small to squeeze it through."
He nodded. "That is just a practice or trainer ring. You need to get a proper item to pour your magic into. You mentioned your birthday coming up? Perhaps you could accompany me to the Temple and we could get you a ring."
Valkyrie watched Crow out the corner of her eye and was sure he would object but he didn't do anything, just picked a little lint off his suit. He truly didn't mind. A part of her was sort of hurt that just two or so months ago he never would have allowed that, but now she was allowed to go. Was it that he didn't mind and trusted Raven or that he just didn't care anymore? She didn't know but the feelings were there. He could be so protective that this sudden willingness for her to go places he hated was not particularly welcome.
"That would be nice," she said with a small smile. She took a quick bite of her cake and Raven saw the client come in the door.
"Mr Jakell," Raven said, standing and shaking the man's hand. "You have a case for us?"
"Yes yes," he said quickly, sitting down in a rushed way. "I haven't been able to find my brother – he went off on a hike in the country and never came back. I searched and looked and searched and I haven't found him, I don't know what to do. I heard Pleasant is working with you, and I knew I had to ask."
Raven nodded, not as offended as Valkyrie might have been. "We can look for him. When did he go on the hike, and when did you notice him missing?"
"He left for the hike on the second of August this month," he said. "And it was two days later I noticed him missing. I asked everyone. He went to get a coffee in a local café in a town he was hiking through, so I know he went hiking, but he wasn't seen after leaving that town. No one has heard of him and the bank says no one has accessed his accounts."
"What's his name?" Solomon asked.
"Copper Everlast," Jakell said. "His nephews birthday is soon, he'd never miss it! I know he must have been taken, you need to find him."
"We'll do our best. What was his route?" Raven asked.
When they knew where Everlast had been and potentially gone, they went for a drive to the last area he'd been seen and after they parked in silence – Valkyrie could feel the tension in the car and just got more frustrated knowing she had caused the uncertainty – and they got out a map of the area and put it on the bonnet. They waited a moment for Crow to sketch out the route Everlast should have taken.
"Okay," Valkyrie said, trying to sound neutral and get on with what she came for. "We know he left this place having only spoken to two people."
"Which we know about," Crow interjected.
"Two people that we know about," she agreed. "So we should have a catch up with them and then start walking the way he should have gone to retrace his steps. Maybe knock on a few doors and see if any people saw him that Jakell didn't speak to."
"I agree," Raven said and Crow nodded. They went to the café first, which looked more like a bar than its name, and spoke to a waitress. She pointed them to another, who pointed to another, who pointed to the owner and they trekked to her house. They knocked on the door.
"No one's home," Crow muttered. "Do we want to wait or move on?"
Valkyrie looked up in time to see a lace curtain flutter back into place. "Keep knocking. She's home."
Crow knocked again, louder, but they heard nothing. Valkyrie moved around the house to the window in time to see someone run past a window on the other side of the house, outside.
"She's running!" Valkyrie said and ran around the house and jumped the gate. The side alley was a tip, but with her protective boots, Valkyrie jumped over the rubbish and followed the woman over into her neighbour's house, and over the next fence and then the street. Valkyrie was just inches from the woman's back but Crow and Raven were even quicker and had run around all the houses and tackled the woman, making the woman shriek.
"Why were you running?" Crow asked, picking the woman up off the ground.
She shrieked in his face and Valkyrie stepped forwards and placed shackles on her quickly just encase she was a mage. "What are you doing?" She asked. "This is a public place!"
"Exactly," Crow said pleasantly from beneath his regular disguise. "So how about you come with us and we talk about this instead of fighting on the street?"
The woman huffed but looked around the street nervously and nodded. They walked back to her house and she led them in and sat on the sofa. Her hands remained cuffedb but she never asked for them to come off. Interesting.
"Can I ask your name?" Said Crow.
"No. I want you to leave," she said with an American accent. "Leave me alone."
"We just need to ask you some questions," Crow said, and shoved a picture of Copper Everlast in her face. "Do you recognise this man?"
She opened her eyes slightly before sneering at him. "No. Now leave me."
"You know him," Valkyrie said stubbornly.
"You are a child, you know nothing," she spat.
"I'm the Head of detectives," she said, glaring. "You will answer our questions or you'll be arrested for being uncooperative."
"You cannot!" She shrieked. "My sister will not allow you to – that is illegal! I want to speak to my lawyer!"
"You need to answer our questions. How do you know Everlast?" She asked.
The lady almost shouted, but then glared at Valkyrie and turned to Crow. "I will talk. But make her leave first."
Valkyrie looked at Crow and her mouth opened when she noticed he was considering it. "You agree you will cooperate?"
Valkyrie hmphed and shook her head. "Don't worry, I'm leaving," she said moodily, and let herself out. She didn't turn to look at them. She could see when she wasn't needed.
She regretted getting Crow to talk to Raven and settle their issues. Obviously, she was no longer needed now he had someone better in his life to work with.
She considered staying at the car and calming down but decided it wasn't worth it. Instead, she wandered away and took a bus going into town and then another going past her house and got off there. She sighed heavily and let herself in. She didn't see anyone but knew they were in. She just felt even more worked up than when she left two hours ago, and she couldn't even shout at Crow about it, or tell Nadia because she was at school. She sighed and went to the kitchen to make lunch.
Weasel was sitting there already and had made a sandwich sitting on the other side of the table for her already.
"Is that for me?" She asked.
"No one else around," he said, leaning back in his chair. "What are you doing back early and alone?"
She sighed again and tucked into her lunch. "I don't enjoy being brushed off because Crow has a new, better friend. He doesn't have to work with me if he doesn't want to, but I'd rather he said that before we went out instead of in the middle of a case."
Weasel smiled sadly. "That sucks."
Valkyrie nodded. "I'll just let him do what he wants. I don't have to work with him. I can work with someone else."
"Who?" Weasel asked curiously. "Tanith? I get the feeling she'll be too busy with Ghastly soon."
Valkyrie smiled. "Well, it's about time. Did he say something? Ask her out?"
"No," Weasel grinned. "But by the shorts, she's wearing, she'll attack him if he doesn't do something soon."
Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "I'll lock them in a room together if it doesn't happen in a week. It's painful to watch."
"I know," he said. "But it's also kind of funny. So tell me, what's your plan?"
Valkyrie took a bite of her sandwich and looked at the time. "Right now, it's to ignore him and get a nap. Then I'll think about it. I don't know. I want to be Crow's partner, but I don't want to be cast off as soon as he finds something more interesting. I'm not something he can do that too."
"Exactly," Weasel grinned. "You've been trained well."
Valkyrie rolled her eyes at him. "Maybe, but not by you."
He snored. "I've taught you for years."
"Yeah, as a bad influence, not a responsible teacher."
"True that. Have a nice nap."
"Thanks," she said and went upstairs to her room. Confronted with her bed, she actually ended up getting a shower, shaving her legs, doing her nails, painting her toes, sorting a laundry pile and staring at it for nearly five minutes trying to think up a really good excuse not to do it before growling and throwing herself on her bed. She drifted off to sleep ignoring the one and only text she got from Crow in all that time.
Stupid Crow being stupid again
