Ian

The doorhandle of my office turned and the door opened, not forcefully but not hesitantly either. Lachlan walked in without breaking stride, same white suit, same heels like jeweller's hammers on my floorboards, same perfect feline poise. He must have known I was in that evening, but if he could know that then what did he need me for?

I had half-surged upright as the door swung inwards, bracing for a fight, but thankfully I hadn't drunk so much that I couldn't halt the reflex. Or enough to make me stagger with the awkward balance. The door swung shut behind him as he arrived at the chair opposite me and pulled it back to sit. I sank back into my own seat, eyes flickering uneasily over the scattered, scrawled notepaper on my desk.

"Spector, what can you tell me?" he purred, the softness of it running down my spine like the point of a dagger.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to figure out what he was after. My investigation thus far hadn't even really identified the question he wanted me to answer, never mind gleaned any hint of the answer itself. "Uh… it's a strange one. I staked the place out a couple of days and all I saw was a delivery from a magic shop."

Lachlan's whole posture changed. "Tell me everything you know about the shop."

Sharp though his attention suddenly was, it was easier to deal with that question. "It's called Pure Darkness, it's out in Heimfeld. Big place, for a boutique, the building looked like it used to be an inn, maybe a big house, out in a suburban neighbourhood. Gloomy inside so I couldn't see much, and I don't know a lot about those sorts of wares, but the staff knew their stuff."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"The staff?"

"I met two, a sorcerer who did the deliveries and was behind the counter when I went in. Fancy-looking guy, white outfit, big blonde streak in his hair, purple flames around his head. Handsome." I threw that last word in to see how Ike would react, but he didn't, so I pressed on. "Didn't catch his name. The other, I think he called her Purity? Was a witch, looked about fourteen, big hat, blonde, blue eyes. I think she ran the place."

Ike looked like a statue of a war god, his face fixed in a mask of ferocity. His voice stayed flat, though. "Your evaluation of the staff?"

I knew when to keep things business. "I took in a shopping list to see what they'd make of it, the sort of thing an idiot would think to try after ten minutes on the internet." No space to crack wise about looking the part. "They were having none of it. If there's a criminal connection to your farmhouse, I don't think it goes through them."

At that, my client finally seemed to relax. I watched him as his eyes tracked over my desk. I'd thought, going into Pure Darkness, that maybe Lachlan was a magician of some sort himself, but while his clothing was distinctive, he gave off a very different aura. He had been worried by the potential magical involvement, though.

"You bought something there, I see." I blinked at him for a moment before realising the packets from the shop were still on my desk. "Is that leagram and lark's beasdale? Seeking a different kind of liquid courage?"

I shook my head, ears heating. "That was what she pushed on me instead of what was on my list." What did it mean that Ike recognised the herbs? I'd never heard of them.

"Well, there's no harm in them, I think I have a sense of what your witch is about at least." What was he? There was nothing more than a hint of humour in his face. He didn't even particularly seem to be enjoying teasing me, which was all the more unfair. He looked around the room again, for a long, slow moment, letting the topic fall away. Then he sat up, taking another wad of notes out of his jacket and tossing it onto the desk. "Get back on the mob connection. I think the farm's being used as a base for a dragon racing team. I want to know where they got the dragon."

The stack of money on the table was visibly twice the size of the first one he'd given me. I just stared at him as he stood and left.