AN:
Hey guys. Sorry for the late update. I haven't been home for anything but sleep in two weeks and when I got on to do final edits on this chapter it had become encrypted and I had to start all over again. I know this one is shorter, but I hope you enjoy!
Two days later they step onto the beach of Durus Island at Gleam City. Karmen takes stock of the area as Pierce finishes waking. "Tell me we can get some food here," he says, stretching to his feet. He brushes sand from his arm and grows a pair of wings to help fan them dry as his stomach growls loudly.
"We should stay on our guard," she says. "We don't know much about this town." Her eyes scan the white plaster buildings and the clean windows and the perfectly pruned gardens. Everything is freshly washed and well-kept. She can't smell any garbage or filth beyond the smells of food cooking and floral perfumes. It's too perfect, and the sight of it twists her stomach into knots.
He stops fanning. "Do you sense something?" he asks, extending his ears in the direction she's looking.
"No," she admits. "But this place is too pristine. It unsettles me." She looks at the people again. They're well-dressed, but not wealthy. They all seem happy and friendly enough, but there's something off about the cadence of their speech and the rows of traffic up and down the streets. Most of the children were walking into a building that looked like an ornate temple through a door labeled School of Decorum. "This place reminds me of Mariejois for some reason. I don't trust it."
Pierce frowns. "Should we leave?"
"No," she says, shaking her head. "Law trusts this fence for a reason and I want to check them out."
"Do we have the clothing to fit in on the streets?" he asks.
"Winston helped me pack, so we have three outfits for any occasion and a whole sleeve of request forms to send back to the island if we need more," she comments.
If Pierce had eyes he would have rolled them. "That man."
"If anything, we can buy him more fabric so he stays occupied," Karmen says with a giggle. "I think not being allowed to work with silk frustrates him."
He raises an eyebrow, causing his visor to bob. "Are you reconsidering?"
She grins sweetly in a way that reflects in her voice. "Not on his life."
One of the rays ferries a trunk to the shore and Karmen opens it. The inside has been coated with pitch and tar to make it as waterproof as the hull of any ship with a cloth lining to protect the clothing inside.
Karmen selects two outfits and hands one to Pierce. It's a matching set with brown breeches, tall boots, and flowing white blouses trimmed with lace. The fabric of the shirts are loose and allow room for movement and, in Pierce's case, allows for quick removal. He changes behind a bush and she changes behind his wings. When they're dry and presentable, they move into the town.
People barely look at them as they step into the market district. Pierce crinkles his nose. "There's too much perfume here," he complains. "It burns."
Karmen digs in her bag and pulls out a thin scarf. "Here. Wrap this around your nose and mouth." He covers himself, wrapping the excess around his neck and his shoulders relax some. She thinks a moment and hooks her veil loops over her ears to hide her own face. It feels good. She almost feels like dropping an "ex-boyfriend" comment as a joke, but Pierce wouldn't understand it, so she doesn't. She doesn't think that any nobles or prominent world leaders live on this island, but it doesn't hurt to be cautious.
"Who are we meeting here?" he asks.
She digs the paper out of her pocket and reads the first name. "Castellanos Lexus," she reads. "They're supposed to be on the North side of town. We'll get food on the way."
They make it to the marketplace. Even the wares set out on the tables are pristine and polished and evenly spaced. Karmen wonders if hellfire would rain down from the sky if she littered. She has the strong urge, like deciding whether or not to push a big red button, but she resists, knowing that drawing any attention can jeopardize their mission.
They follow the smell of cooking food to a restaurant and place their orders. Karmen comes away with a club sandwich and Pierce comes away with a rack of meat that she's 98% sure was meant to be cut into gyro meat. She doesn't question it and they climb up to a quiet roof to eat.
"How are we supposed to find this person?" Pierce asks as he cleans meat grease from his cheeks.
Out of habit, Karmen raises a hand and points to a building a few streets down. "That looks like a post office over there. I've got a plan."
A few minutes later Karmen is rushing up to the desk. The clerk looks at her flustered nature as she pants a few times and bursts into her request. "Please, sir," she begs. "I'm a secretary and I was commissioned to write a very important letter to Castellanos Lexus, but the wind caught the address and before I could catch it, someone had already picked it up and disposed of it. Could you please write their address on this envelope for me? You'd save me a really nasty scolding from my boss." Karmen forces tears to well in her eyes and her hands to shake slightly. "Please. I really need this job."
"Well…" he scratches his head. "Do you have the letter? I can't really give out personal information like that, but I can send it for you. Surely your boss would be satisfied with that."
Karmen's eyes brighten. "You would do that for me? Oh, thank you!" She tucks a blank sheet of paper into the envelope and seals it, scrawling a bogus return address on the corner. "You're saving me so much trouble." She slides it across the counter with a coin for postage and bows. "Thank you again!" She turns and rushes from the room, cloaking herself and sliding back in the door before it can swing closed.
She watches the postman scratch his head again and examines the envelope. "Castellanos Lexus, huh? They sure are getting popular." The man turns around and fishes an address from a locking filing cabinet drawer. "Ah, here we are." Karmen deftly pulls out a piece of paper, synchronizing with the man. As he writes the address on the envelope, her hand mirrors his, copying it perfectly. Satisfied with his work, the man turns and slides the letter into a chute to send it to be sorted. Karmen rushes out the door to meet Pierce.
"You got it?" he asks, dropping from the roof beside her.
"Did you ever doubt me?" she asks, teasing note in her voice. "Come on. Let's go meet this fence."
The address leads them to a two-story business near the harbor. The sign in the front reads Luxury Trades and Acquisitions.
Karmen can only sense one person inside in an exterior room on the second floor. "Well, someone's home."
Pierce stands stiffly beside her. "Mistress…"
She had noticed it as well. There is a stillness to the air that seems out of place, even in this posh little town. It's like every living being in the area is holding its breath. "Let's go in as Ghost." Pierce takes off his shirt and climbs onto Karmen's back in bat form. He flies her up to the window and uses a spare set of wings to cling to the frame. Karmen jimmies the lock and pushes the double windows inward, settling herself on the sill.
Inside is an office with a large wooden desk and shelves filled with books and strange artifacts. It smells slightly of perfume and old paper. A door behind the desk open and a man steps into the office, cleaning his hands on a handkerchief. As the door swings shut, she catches a hint of a metallic smell, like money.
He is a tall man with broad shoulders and forehead and brown hair. He wears a silk suit that looks slightly baggy on him as if he'd recently lost weight or he leads an active lifestyle that required a wide range of movement. Karmen uncloaks herself and he gives a small start. "Are you Castellanos Lexus?" she asks.
He straightens and tucks the handkerchief into his pocket. "I am." Tha-thump. He leans back against the desk. "Who's asking?"
"Mistress," Pierce whispers, a warning in his tone. She strokes his side to say she'd sensed it too.
Karmen's head tilts towards the outside world. "Did you notice? The birds and cicadas in your garden have all gone silent. Do you know why that is?"
He shrugs and moves behind the desk. "Maybe they sense a threat," he suggests. "What is your business?"
"My business?" His hand moves under the desk, inching slowly towards something underneath. "My business is the dead."
Tha-thump. Tha-thump. Tha-thump.
The man's face twists with anger and his hand comes up with a silenced gun. Pierce throws up his wings as the man fires, bullet bouncing harmlessly off the black coating of haki and burying itself in the dirt outside. The wings unfold slowly from around Karmen, whose eyes had narrowed dangerously. "My business is the dead," she repeats. "Tell me, what will I find in the room you just eagressed?"
Thathumpthathumpthathumpthathum!
The man moves to pull the trigger again, but Karmen is suddenly gone. "You must be new to the occupation. Your heart betrays you," she whispers from behind his right shoulder. His hand shakes as he turns to look at her unwavering gaze.
"You should find a new occupation before our paths cross again." She quickly stabs him in the side with a quill, then draws it out harshly, painfully. "Sleeping Spindle." As he drops, she kicks the desk chair beneath him and he slumps into it.
Pierce climbs off her back and covers his nose with his hand, looking like he may be sick. "There's a lot. There's no way…"
Karmen nods. "I know. I only sensed one person." She steps forward slowly and pushes open the door to the back room. Inside are rows of records, piles of boxes and artifacts covered in sheets, and a pool of red stretches toward the door. Further in, lying face down, is the corpse of a woman, sightless eyes staring into nothingness. Karmen steps carefully around the blood and rolls the body onto her back. There is a wet, sticky sound accompanying the motion that makes them both cringe slightly. "Hello, Lexus," she says softly. "I'm sorry we had to meet this way."
Pierce steps up behind her, holding his wadded shirt to his nose. "Who do you think hired the hitman?" he asks.
She shrugs. "It could have been anyone," she says. "No matter the case, we're down one fence. I'll have to send word to Law and make sure he knows not to return." Karmen pulls a sheet off a nearby statue and bends down. She closes Lexus' eyes and covers the corpse. "Come on. We'd better leave before the local authorities arrive."
Later that evening, a marine officer finds an envelope on his desk. It has the name and address of one Castellanos Lexus with the word "Homicide" scrawled beneath it. When the Marines investigated the office, they found a sleeping man slumped over the desk with a gun in his hand and a covered corpse in a pool of her own blood.