In Plain Sight

“I can’t help you, detective,” he said. “I have strict orders not to let anyone in.”

“Look, Agent…?”

“Meyers,” the man supplied.

“Agent Meyers,” Danny continued. “I promise not to touch anything. We just need to look at the table in the middle of the room. I’ll take the heat if anyone finds out.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying,” Meyers said, and chuckled. “The person who gave me those orders is way above your pay grade.”

Alex stepped up.

“About this high,” he said, holding up his hand. “Snappy dresser with platinum blond hair down to her shoulders?”

“How did …?” A look of disbelief crawled inexorably across Agent Meyers face.

“We’re acquainted,” Alex said. “Look, she already doesn’t like me, so if she gets mad, just tell her Alex Lockerby told you it was okay.”

“How does that make me look like anything but a dunce?” he asked with a laugh.

“Trust me, young man,” Iggy said. “The Sorceress is perfectly willing to believe the worst of my friend here.”

“All right,” Meyers said, standing up. “I’ll let you go in, but I have to watch you the whole time.” He took out a key and unlocked the door. “And don’t worry about touching anything. That won’t be a problem.”

He pushed the door open and turned on the light. The apartment was completely bare. Everything from the furniture to the carpets to the coffee pot was gone. The FBI had carted it all away, no doubt to some lab to go over every inch of it.

“Uh-oh,” Danny said, stepping in and looking around. “Is this a problem?”

Alex didn’t know, and he said so.

“I wanted to use the overturned chair as a starting point for a finding rune,” he said.

“If you can use a finding rune to track Beaumont’s movements,” Danny said, an incredulous look on his face, “why didn’t you do that yesterday?”

“The success of a finding rune depends on how much information the caster has,” Iggy said in the manner of a university professor lecturing to a class.

“The magic needs something to latch onto,” Alex continued. “I knew where Beaumont lived and what he did for a living, but I didn’t suspect he’d gone anywhere but the mission. A finding rune wouldn’t have shown me anything yesterday.”

“So,” Danny said. “The fact that you believe he went somewhere is going to make the rune work?”

“No,” Alex said, crouching down to stare at the floor. There was a faint outline of chalk where the plague jar’s contents had spilled, but the area of floor inside it was scratched and clouded. “We need something that will physically tie Beaumont to wherever he went.”

“That’s why you needed his shoe,” Danny said, putting it together. “Because wherever he went, his shoe was there too.”

“Very good, detective,” Iggy said. “Now all we have to do is tie that shoe to the place where Beaumont began his journey and the rune should lead us to where he went.”

“Didn’t you say he started this trip right here in this apartment?” Agent Meyers asked.

“Yes,” Alex said, moving a short distance from the chalk outline toward the door. “But the more precisely I can tie the shoe to Beaumont’s flight, the more accurately the finding rune can follow his trail.”

“So, what are you looking for?” Meyers asked, still standing in the doorway. Danny laughed and stepped forward to a spot about two feet from where Alex was scrutinizing the floor.

“This,” he said, pointing to a spot where the finish on the floor was scratched and discolored. “Beaumont stepped in some of the liquid from the jar on his way out the door, remember? It left a footprint here.”

“I remember,” Alex said, squinting at the spot. “How can you tell it’s there?”

“Because it’s been sanded,” Danny said. “Look at the spot where the jar spilled. The FBI didn’t want to risk leaving any residue for future tenants to discover.”

“How did I miss that?” Alex wondered, moving over to the spot. “Thanks.”

“Why not break out your ghostlight and be sure?” Iggy suggested. Alex showed him a sheepish grin.

“I’m out of fuel for the ghostlight burner,” he said. “I used it up on that business with Evelyn Rockwell.”

“You didn’t tell me what happened with that,” Iggy reminded him.

“Later.” Alex didn’t want to revive those events just now, and he pushed the memory of Evelyn’s tortured scream out of his mind.

He took out a piece of chalk and began drawing a complex, geometric figure on the floor. It didn’t have to be made of special inks or even particularly straight as it was just a physical link between the rune he’d drawn in his rune book and the floor.

“I think this is going a bit beyond not touching anything,” Agent Meyers said, concern in his voice.

“Don’t worry,” Iggy said, pulling out his folded handkerchief. “We’ll clean up after ourselves.”

When Alex finished, he dropped the chalk back into his pocket and then tore a finding rune out of his book. Placing the shoe in the exact center of the chalked figure, Alex tucked the rune into the shoe and then lit it. As the paper vanished, the energy of the rune filled his mind.

“Follow the path of Charles Beaumont,” he said, willing the magic into form.