“In the meantime you’re Vicktor’s attack dog.” She folded her arms around herself and turned
away from him.
Les swallowed. Taking credit off people for “protection” was
despicable and he knew it. It was who he used to be. He had no defense against
her argument. He could tell her that Vicktor had threatened her life, and that
made it different this time. But he knew that would only make her angrier.
“I’m going out.” Adella announced in his silent.
“Let me go with.”
“No.” Her voice was flat. “If we are to stay here I need to
learn the lay of the place. And I shan’t need you to protect me.”
Les sighed, watching her open her meds bag to draw her
derringer out and then tuck it into the hidden pocket in her skirt. No. She
didn’t need him, he thought as she settled her hat onto her hair and drew a
shimmery silver shawl around her shoulders. Adella had never needed him. It was
him that needed her.
Adella made her way down the stairs of the clapboard
office/jail/living quarters that she would share with Leslie for as long as it
took. She stepped onto the passwalk that twisted through the warren of other
such shopfronts and dwellings that made up the Tembrous market. Would it shock
Leslie to know that this was far from her first trip into this place? She
smiled. He was so ashamed of his past that he never stopped to think that she
might also have one that she wasn’t proud of.
What would he think of her, if he knew the things she had
done in the name of medicine while she was at university? Back then, she’d been
young, and the only woman in a sea of men. She’d been eager to prove herself
equal.
She pushed the regret aside. With all of Leslie’s, there was
hardly room for Adella’s too. She turned off the main path onto a narrow
crowded row where the air was closer, filled with the calls of caged birds and
small animals. This was the heart of Tembrous. And Adella knew she was looking
or a shop with no cages at all.
It wasn’t hard to find. It hulked at the dead end of the
run, it was a full structure, like Leslie’s office. It was a somber black, with
curtained windows. There was no sign it indicate what went on within, but
Adella already knew.
Inside was shadowy as well. No surprise there. This was
surely the darkest part of the market. As Adella stepped over the threshold she
caught the faint sweet scent of copper pennies. She paused to let her eyes
adjust and found the front room empty. It looked like a parlor, or she thought,
a waiting room. There was thick carpet beneath her feet and wingback chairs
gathered around a little table.
She sunk one hand into her pocket to find the comforting
shape of her pistol and reached for the bell on the counter. Its chime cut the
silence and triggered movement in the room beyond.
“Hello.” She made her voice cheerful, but didn’t take her
hand off the grip of her pistol.
The curtain drew back and a young man stepped through. He
had a smooth, luminous face. As he drew closer she notices that his eyes were
red.
Not as young as he looked then, she corrected herself. It
also accounted for the faint smell of blood about the place. “Pardon, Missus.”
His voice was deep, velvety. “I was caught up in work.”
“Doctor.” She corrected him, lifting her chin to meet the
hellfire eyes. “Doctor Adella Fordham.” She did not offer her hand. “I’ve come
to inquire about the auction.”
He settled behind the counter and smiled, teeth white and
stark in the murk. “Forgive me, but I don’t know what auction you’re referring to.
This is simply a supply company.”
No comments:
Post a Comment