Page 20 of Necromancers Don't Raise

He picked me up and carried me around the desk to the large chair that had been in the painting with the skeleton bird, and sat down with me on his knees. I was slightly shocked at being so close to someone who smelled as delicious as buttery parsnips, but then he opened his sleek, silver laptop with black markings etched into the lid and brought up the train station and the different cameras, and I almost forgot about our proximity. All the time signatures were marked at the places showing me and my friends, so excited, so nervous to have escaped our bodyguards for this day of freedom and indulgence. We stoppedto buy churros, and then, as shown by the camera outside, picked up a cab. The cab’s license plate was marked on a little post-it note.

“Do you see anything unusual?” he asked, shifting me so I was leaning more comfortably against him.

“The churro seems odd. We’re always watching our weight, and churros are empty calories, but we were living it up, so I guess it’s not impossible.”

“The churro is suspicious?” He sighed heavily. “Your entire class is creating unrealistic expectations for thousands of people, advertising a standard that isn’t achievable for anyone without a glamour.”

“Or extensive surgery.” I shrugged. “It’s all advertising, like you and your ominous mansion, preaching fear to keep intruders away.”

“Hmph.”

“Ooh lala.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s so attractive when you grumble like a French aristocrat. It makes me want to tie your cravat to a bedpost.”

“Such a shocking thought, particularly when I have no cravat or a bedpost.”

“No cravat? No bedpost? That is shocking.” I sighed and squeezed his hand. “I shouldn’t joke, but it helps me deal with stress.”

He squeezed my hand gently back. “And will keep your head clearer than a draught. Do you want to go over the feed again, or would you like to read the cabbie’s statement?”

“Statement, please. Also, would you like me to bring the chair around so your legs don’t fall asleep? It’s a bit odd that I’m sitting on your lap.” Odd, but so very pleasant.

“Do you know how many times you’ve fallen over lately? You’re sitting securely so that the next time you faint, you don’t fall to your death.”

I elbowed him. I was in the perfect position for it, and he oomphed satisfyingly, even though I didn’t elbow him nearly hard enough for that reaction. “I didn’t faint. I’m not some damsel who faints. Also, I would just come back to life.”

“But you’d be a tripping hazard in the meantime. Think of Bones.”

I sighed heavily. “Yes, we must think of the children.”

He cleared his throat. “Yes, well. The cabbie rambled on for a long time. I don’t think his dogs or last girlfriend are particularly relevant, but I could be wrong.”

I read the cabbie’s statement, and the gist of it was that he picked up the three girls from the station at nine a.m. and drove them to the hotel across the street from the conference center. Also, one of them gave him a churro and told him to keep the change from a hundred.

I nodded sagely. “You see? That churro keeps coming up.”

“Such a suspicious snack. The recordings for the conference center are gone, but the hotel security showed the gems leaving the hotel at one. What did you three do between ten and one?”

I stared at him. “Get murdered and be replaced by doppelgangers?”

“Not likely. One thing of note is that Philip Harrison the fourth was seen entering the hotel at ten twenty.”

I stared at him. He stared back.

“What was he doing at the hotel?”

“One presumes that he was meeting his fiancé.”

“Right. It’s just, I don’t think she was going to see him until later. In fact, I’m sure of it. She definitely wanted to go to the con without him knowing about it.”

“Did she? Are you sure?”

I wrinkled my forehead, trying to remember whether I’d met with Philip. “If only I could remember! I can’t see anything past the train.”

“Easy.” He stood with me and put me on my feet, and then there was a knock on the door. “Enter,” he said, still holding my shoulders, standing behind me as solid as a wall.

---