In Plain Sight

“Well they’re not going to tell me, are they?” Alex said. He finished his pancakes and stood.

“Where are you going?” Danny asked, barely halfway through his breakfast.

“I’ve got to go give a lovely young woman some bad news.”

“Are you finally spoken for?” Danny asked with a smirk.

“No, this is the really bad news.” Alex explained about Thomas Rockwell and his sister.

“Oh,” Danny said. “Couldn’t find him with your fancy rune?”

Alex shook his head and Danny put his hand on Alex’s shoulder.

“You know your rune isn’t infallible, right?” he said. “The guy might be underground, or magically shielded, or maybe he just left Manhattan. That much flowing water would block even your runes.”

“I know,” Alex said with a sigh. “But I found a stash behind his bathroom mirror with his Lore book inside right next to a roll of cash. Had to be three hundred.”

“So he didn’t leave on his own,” Danny said, nodding. “He’d never leave those behind. Maybe someone grabbed him?”

“Unlikely,” Alex said. “His place was tossed. If whoever did that had my missing man, they’d just beat the location of whatever they were looking for out of him, like Pemberton.”

Danny whistled. “Sorry,” he said.

“I’ll manage,” Alex said, putting on his hat. “As soon as you get that manifest, call Leslie and give her the list, then I’ll check them out. Once we find out who got robbed, we’ll know the identity of our killer.”

“It occurs to me that if they killed Pemberton to get their property back, they aren’t likely to admit being robbed.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Alex said. “If they’ve got something to hide, I’ll sniff them out. You just make sure you get that manifest.”

“Will do,” Danny said, then turned back to his breakfast.

9 The Visitors

It was such a nice day that Alex decided he would walk all the way to his office. The fact that when he got there, he needed to tell the lovely and worried Evelyn Rockwell that her brother was, in all likelihood, dead, had nothing to do with it whatever. Danny had been right, of course — there was still a very slim chance that Thomas was alive, but that felt like false hope.

He had to tell Evelyn the truth.

Alex stuck out his arm to hail a cab, but the park was only a block away and that gave him an idea. Right by the entrance to the park stood a public phone booth, so he crossed the street to it and dialed Evelyn’s number.

“Hello,” she said after four rings.

“Evelyn, this is Alex Lockerby. I have some information about your brother. How soon can you meet me by the carousel in Central Park?”

“Um. About twenty minutes, I guess.”

“Fine. I’ll wait for you there.”

Evelyn promised to hurry and hung up. Alex strolled across the park to where the carousel stood. He bought a bag of hot peanuts from a vendor, then picked a bench a little way away. The ride was noisy enough that anyone walking by wouldn’t be able to overhear them.

Alex took out the pack of Bert’s cigarettes and checked them. Only five left. With a sigh, he lit one, then amused himself, pitching an occasional peanut to the squirrels while he waited. He had just got down to the bottom of the bag when Evelyn hurried up. She was dressed in a dark green skirt and matching jacket over a white blouse, and her makeup was perfect. She flashed him an earnest smile that made him a little lightheaded.

“I came as soon as I could,” she said, sitting down next to him. “What news do you have?”

Alex’s good mood evaporated and he wadded up what remained of the bag of nuts.

“I’m sorry, Evelyn,” he said in the gentlest voice he could muster. “I believe that Thomas is dead.”

He was expecting hysterics, but Evelyn simply pulled an embroidered handkerchief from her clutch and dabbed at her eyes.

“I knew it might be something like that,” she said, her voice full of emotion. Alex offered her a precious cigarette from Burt’s dwindling pack and she took one. Her hand trembled as she lit it. “Can you tell me what happened?” she asked, her voice weak.

“I don’t know,” Alex said. “My finding rune couldn’t locate him. Now that could just mean that he’s left the city. On the other hand, it’s clear that someone wanted something from him, that’s why they tore up his apartment. I think they were looking for this,” he said, taking the blue leather book out of his jacket pocket.

“What’s this?” Evelyn asked, taking the book and flipping through its pages.

“This is a runewright’s Lore book,” Alex explained. “If your brother had gone on the run, he’d have taken this with him.”

“I don’t understand,” Evelyn said, her voice breaking. “Why would anyone kill Thomas for this?”

Alex took the book back and flipped through to the six special runes in the back.

“Have you ever seen anything like these before?” he asked. Evelyn looked at the pages as Alex turned them, then shook her head.

“Is this what Thomas was working on?”

“I think so,” Alex said. “These rune constructs are more complex than anything I’ve ever seen.”