Chapter sixteen: Running headfirst into danger

Trigger warnings for those who need them

No trigger warnings.

I rub the sleep from my eyes as I make my way to the parlour.
There’s so much left to do.
With the Melanie mixup resolved I need to put my attentions back to Tashi and Valentine.
But time is not in my favour.
Tomorrow, Dana and I will be going to the Charalian mainland and I won’t be back for four days.
Meaning today really has to count for something.
I should look for Tashi at the steampowered envelope.
But that’s not gonna be open right no-
I spot some white on the welcome mat.
I stride up to it and find with delight the magnolia crest stamped in the upper right corner.
I rush to the parlour, letter clutched in my hand.
“Envelope knife, envelope knife.” I mutter to myself.
Then curiosity wins from etiquette and I pull the envelope open with my hands.
It reads;

— Good day Miss Castella,

I hope I’m doing right by my people by giving you this.
Please be aware I do not think mister Garcia is a murderer.
He is a great many things, but not that.
However, I want the killer of Donna and Darren to be found just as much as any other reasonable man.
And I hope this will aid in that.
Valentine’s address is as follows:

South side past the clocktower at Hay’s square and then up the blue building by ladder, fourth floor window to the left.

—
Finally!
I need to put on my shoes and grab my coat and get to this man as soon as possible.
I rush out into the corridor to dive into my room.
I emerge wrangling my coat and shoes and bag and notebook and then the door to the kitchen opens up.
“Where are you going so early in the morning?” Xuiyo asks.
“Uhhh.” I look at my note “South side past the clocktower at Hay’s square and then up the blue building by ladder, fourth floor window to the left.”
“What’s there?”
“My murderer, hopefully.”
Xuiyo raises an eyebrow “Can’t you at least stay for breakfast? I made suhu”
“Delightful as that sounds I wanna intercept him before the day starts. Make sure he’s not off to work or something.”
“Will you be back for lunch?”
“Yes, yes definitely. I promise.” I bow apologetically to my friend “Sorry for missing breakfast.”
“Just be sure you don’t get murdered.”
I chuckle “Will do.”

I climb up the ladders and find, to my surprise there’s no door to this home.
Or a window to climb through.
It’s supposed to be here right?
I look at the window next to it.
I tap the glass gently.
“Hello? Good morning?” I call out but try to not raise my voice too much.
A man with black hair, brown skin and a very tired look on his face opens the window to a crack “What is it?”
“I’m looking for Valentine Garcia.”
“He’s not in.”
“But he lives here?”
The man sighs “Sorta, but don’t expect him to be in any time soon.”
“How come?”
“Because he hasn’t been in for eight days and I have no clue where he went.”
“I see…so are you his partner or his friend-“
He scoffs “Just the landlord.”
“Could I maybe come in and ask some questions?”
“Why?”
“Right, I completely glossed over my reason to be here. My apologies. My name is Alice Castella and I’m investigating the murder of Donna Gerris and Darren Johnasson.”
His eyes grow big. “Oh, well uh, yeah, sure come in.” he opens up the window further to me and I clamber through with as much grace as I can muster at eight in the morning.
“I apologise for the hour. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss mister Garcia if he were home.”
He just asks. “What do you need to know?”
“You said he hasn’t been home in over a week. Do you have any idea why?”
The man sits down on the sofa and shrugs “We didn’t talk much. The guy wasn’t really social and even if he were he’s also a bit of a prick.”
“A prick?”
“Yeah just…I don’t know, self centred, self righteous. He had an ego from here to Karadonbu. He was a ballet dancer so it might just come with the territory of being a performer or famous or something but he always looked down on people.”
“I see. And where did he live?”
The man points at a door.
I walk towards it and open it. There’s no lock or anything to even suggest this place is a different home.
Inside I find a bed, a trunk and a whole lot of mess scattered along the floor. I find a knob to turn on the gaslight and find among the detritus a lot of dirty clothes and some food packaging that’s starting to smell very sour by now.
I look back, I expected the man to follow me but he’s still there on the couch, drinking his morning tea “The place has no windows.” I call to him.
He turns to face me “I know, that’s why he needs to come in through mine every day.”
“Is that allowed?”
“What? A room without windows? This is Venusia. There are rooms without walls being rented out. I’m not breaking any laws and he never complained about it.”
“How much was rent?”
“Ten coppers a week.”
I write down the number to remind myself to ask Hamala if that’s a high or low price for rent.
My foot knocks against something as I step inside. There’s an overflowing ash tray by the door.
“Heavy smoker?”
“Very, after he got fired that’s basically all he did all day.”
“When did he get fired?” I ask
“Back in November.”
“Do you know why?”
“He never said so in words. But I’m pretty sure it’s because he kept showing up to work rara out of his mind.”
“Rara?”
“Yeah like, drugged up. Those cigarette he smoked weren’t normal, they were laced with something that made him basically turn into a potted plant for a couple hours.”
“Like opium?”
He raises his hands in innocence “Hey, I don’t use it myself. I’m just an office worker who does the landlording thing as a pension plan.”
“Right. So since tenantry is this cutthroat. How come you haven’t cleared the room out and took on a new tenant? It’s only getting smellier in there.”
He grunts “I wish I could. But the guy is technically still paying for the room and I can’t evict him until he reneges.”
“What do you mean?”
He sighs, walk to his desk and pulls out a ledger “One morning he came in and paid me a goldie, which has been steadily paying for his room. And because one goldie is worth a thousand coppers I still have to keep the room on for another year.”
“He paid a thousand coppers in one go? Was this before or after he got fired.”
“After, and he was seriously struggling to keep up rent before that so he must have done something shady to get it.”
“I see.” So maybe Selena’s rumours about him dealing weren’t unfounded after all.
“Did you ask him where he got the money?”
“Of course, but he’s not stupid and wouldn’t tell me.”
“So where does one buy these laced cigarettes? Is there an opium den or something.”
“This isn’t Jaobai miss. The only way to get drugs out here is know the right people on the right street corner.”
“And of course you don’t know which street corner that would be.”
“Well…look, again. I wouldn’t touch the stuff. But I do know where to find Valentine’s dealer. His name is Raoul and he’s down in the little nameless cul de sac behind the marketplace.”
“Really? Thank you that’s very useful information.”
“If anyone asks you who told you, you can’t tell them my name okay?”
“I can’t indeed. Because you haven’t even given your name yet.”
“Oh… well maybe that’s for the best.”
“A first name would help in my note taking if you’re willing to part with it. Otherwise I’ll just put you down as ‘landlord’.”
“Landlord works for me. Is that all? I’m trying to enjoy one of my rare days off work.”
“Yes, thank you for you cooperation.” I put my notebook and pencil away.
Clamber through the window again, wish him a good day and I head towards the marketplace.

Inside this bustling city, I never expected to find a place this quiet.
But not in a peaceful or way.
In an ‘keep to yourself and don’t stand out’ sort of way.
The windows out here are shuttered and the streets are nigh abandoned.
A lone man with a pipe stands on the street corner playing with his watch as he opens and closes it over and over.
“Are you Raoul?”
The man casts his eyes down to me with a grimace on his face “No.”
Considering he’s been hanging around here for the last ten minutes, and is the only one here I find that unlikely. “Do you know where I can find him.”
He scoffs “Why do you wanna know?”
“Oh yes, my apologies. Alice Castella, I’m a detective.”
“I don’t talk to cops.”
“Well I’m not really a cop I’m a…P.I. You see, two people got murdered at the Magnolia theatre and I’m trying to find out who did it. And I want to talk to mister Garcia because he used to work there and-“
The man bends down to me. “Are you deaf, little girl?”
Keep it cool Alice. Do like Antoinette would do. “I’m not a little girl.” I sigh “Do you need money? Do I need to buy the information from you? Is that it?”
“You need to get lost before I lose my temper.”
“Look, we both know you’re dealing cigs, you can either give me the information I need or I can tell the police all I know about your little business and where to look for you.” I keep my hand close to my hol-
A big hand grabs the front of my coat and slams me back-first into the wall. Knocking the wind straight from my lungs.
I pull out my gun but the hand that isn’t holding mine grabs hold of it. “Look kid, I’m not a violent man. I don’t want blood on my hands, don’t want trouble. But you just threatened me. And I can’t let that slide.”
I try to wrestle the gun from him but his hand is like a vice. He yanks it from my fingers and tosses it to the ground before pulling a knife from his belt.
I cough and gasp “I don’t want trouble either. I apologize, I’ll leave I-“
“I wonder how you plan to tell the cops about me without a tongue.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” the voice is unmistakable.
“The hell!?” the man looks behind him but finds nothing.
Then the sound of wood clattering down the street makes him look back the other way, straight into the barrel of a gun. “I apologize for the lady’s brashness. She’s delusional. Thinks she’s a detective half the time and a princess for the other.” Xuiyo explains matter-of-factly “Unfortunately, she escaped my care and her parents are very worried about her.”
I’m not quite sure if I need to feel insulted or impressed by his performance.
The princess thing is a bit much, right?
“Your mouth tells one story, your gun tells another. If you’re just here to pick her up then why are you carrying heat?” The dealer asks suspiciously.
“Because, this isn’t the first time she walked head first into situations like these.” his eyes narrow towards me “And I doubt it’ll be the last.”
I huff “No! I was so close to solving it! You can’t take me back now, I need to solve it first!” I protest.
The man looks back at me, huffs, then lets go of my coat “You need to keep a better eye on this kid. If she comes to stick her nose into my business again she won’t walk out again.”
Xuiyo nods, puts the gun away and bows deeply at the man. “I understand, my deepest apologies once more.”
The man snorts. “Just scram already.”
“Right away sir.” Xuiyo steps down from the fruit crate he used to gain some height. Then picks my gun off the street, grabs my arm and drags me along out the cul de sac.
I chuckle awkwardly as I try to keep up with his pace

“Hey Xuiyo, thanks a lot.” I tell him with ragged breath as we should be far out of the man’s earshot by now.
“What the hell were you thinking?” his voice is cold.
“Look, I didn’t know he was gonna grab a knife-“
“What else was he supposed to do? Just rat out his customer base to a nosy teenager who threatens to go the police?” He’s still trying to keep his voice down but from the tone of his voice it’s clear I royally screwed up.
“Right, sorry I- it worked in ‘a snuffbox full of lies’ and I really need to know where mister Garcia went. And he’s my only lead and now I can’t solve the case-“
“To hell with your case!” He stops in the middle of a small alleyway. I bump into him accidentally.
He turns to me with burning eyes. His voice is hoarse as he roars “And you hell with your stupid books, you stupid girl you-!” he gasps for breath as tears leak from his face “You DON’T mess with criminals.” And accusing finger pokes into my chest “You wanna end like Yobu?”
“Of course not-“
“Then why act this recklessly?” He’s not even shouting anymore his voice has just turned into a whimper. He throws his hands up in the sky, then drops down on a little wooden bench and buries his head in his hands.
“I’m sorry Xuiyo. Truly I-“ I feel my stomach sink like a rock.
He’s right, of course.
But I was so close! If only that guy just told me where t find Valentine, if only…
I sit down next to him. My hand caressing his back as I try feverishly to find the words that could convey to him how sorry I am for making him worry.
How grateful I am of him to come and find me.
“You could have died.” his voice is tear-stained and exhausted.
“I’m sorry.”
“We came here to outrun our enemies, not to make a whole lot of new ones.”
“I should have been more careful.”
He pulls himself upright just enough to hug me “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
And just like that I can’t help but cry myself. “Me too”

We walk home after that.
Feeling marginally calmer and exceptionally tired for the hour.
“Can I ask a question?”
Xuiyo just grumbles in response.
“How did you find me?”
He sighs “You were late for lunch. I meant to pick you up at that address you told me, but you weren’t there. I asked the grumpy businessman there where you were and he told me you were most likely heading straight here.”
“I see…and the fruit crate?”
Xuiyo grunts “I hate tall people.” He sighs “But I couldn’t stick the gun in his back because then he could just dare me to shoot and risk hurting you as well.”
I chuckle “Sound logical, and where did you find it?”
“You expect me to remember the street name?”
“Guess not. How long were you-?”
“Alice, enough with the questions, please.”
“Right, sorry.”

Once in the Griffin again I walk straight to my room.
So that’s it then?
A whole lot of suspicions but no suspect to interrogate.
I toss some clothes onto the bed, followed by a book.
Another book.
Oh and the script I got from Tonya.
Maybe I can solve this case while heading to the mainland?
Even if it takes longer, I still wanna finish it.
For Donna and Darren and Melanie and Tonya and Barnaby and anyone else who might miss them.
Xuiyo was right about me being reckless.
I have to be more careful. Make sure my own loved ones don’t have to come to my funeral.
Do I need to take a hairbrush to the mainland?
I look in the mirror. some of my hairs have already given up on my morning styling and are jumping out looking for sweet, sweet freedom.
Yeah, yeah I should.
Fine.
But one day I’m cutting my hair short and then I don’t have to bother about hairbrushes anymore.
I toss the brush onto the bed, add a tooth brush and a little jar on tooth powder on top.
That should do it right?
I top off the little pile with my wonderful pilot’s cap.
Then spend a good twenty minutes after trying to fit it all into a leather satchel.

“My bag’s packed.” I announce as I come into the parlour.
“Well done.” Dana lets me know from the sofa. She’s holding a book in her hand.
“What are you reading?”
“I found this magazine on current day mechanics on my way back to the Griffin. It’s interesting.”
“There’s a magazine that’s that specific?”
“Yes, it surprised me too, but it’s good reading. There’s a whole article just on what fuels work best for which machines, it’s fascinating.”
“That sounds…like your sort of article.” I smile, then sit down next to her with my notebook trying to push down the feeling that I’m wasting time.

Unsuccessfully.
I make it till dinner but by the time that’s over with the moment would be just cut out to go to the steampowered envelope.
Talk to Tashi.
Get some answers.
This is the race against time right?
The big build up before the finale?
I can’t just sit here and do nothing while that moment passes me by.
But I can’t do it alone.
Can’t risk it.
I’m gonna need some help.