“Ah, well, I’m free now,” Hallie said. “I’ve just delivered a skip and there are no more warrants out right now.”
“Excellent. Can you meet me at the Sunrise Café in, say, an hour?” he asked, naming a well-known spot in midtown. The café had a stellar reputation, catering for the expensive tastes ofhochlenand the wealthiestkarlen. Hallie had never set foot inside and had never expected to.
“I can,” Hallie said, curiosity spiking. She couldn’t imagine what the director wanted with her. But she definitely wanted to find out. She changed direction, turning towards the nearest bus stop instead. It would take her longer than an hour to walk the distance, but the cross-city bus would get her there in plenty of time.
“If you need more time, just let me know, otherwise I will see you there,” he said.
“I will, thank you,” Hallie said. It was only when she ended the call that she wondered if she should have asked why he wanted to see her or if there was anything she should bring to their meeting. She briefly thought about calling him back, but decided against it. If he’d wanted her to have more information, he would have let her know.
It wasn’t until she was on the bus, with no time to go home and change, that she glanced down at herself and saw the stain spreading across one knee and up her thigh. She’d had to wrestle the fugitive through the abandoned garage and she was quite sure the stain was some kind of oil that most likely wouldn’t come out. Irritation spiked. The jeans were old and faded, but they were superbly comfortable and replacing them was going to be difficult. Not only that, but she’d have preferred to at least look clean and tidy for meeting the director. There was nothing to be done now. It was a small comfort that Peredur Roth had seen her in a far worse state before. She was reasonably sure he’d forgive a little wear and tear.
The bus got her to a midtown stop in plenty of time and she headed up the hill to the café. As she pushed open the door, thebright sound of a bell let everyone inside know that someone had just entered the building. One glance around and she almost turned and left, back out into the biting winter cold. This wasn’t her normal haunt. This was midtown, where the residents mostly considered themselves far superior to the common folk that lived and worked in low city. The Sunrise Café, famous for its coffee and baking, was less than half-full, but everyone in there was wearing far better clothing than she was, all of them in finer fabrics. No one else was wearing oil stains, she was quite sure. She didn’t normally think about her appearance, not in low city, where she was used to blending in with the wide variety of people, human and non-human.
Before she could give in to her discomfort, she spotted Director Roth getting to his feet, half-raising a hand to make sure she had seen him. Before Hallie could move towards him, one of the waiting staff approached her, her bright blue uniform pristine, expression on her face an almost comical mix of curiosity and horror.
“Can I help you?” the waitress said, voice sharp-edged.
Hallie wasn’t sure if she should be offended or amused by the younger woman’s obvious attempt to imply that she was in the wrong place. Hallie couldn’t argue with that.
“No need, the person I’m meeting is already here,” Hallie said, choosing to be amused, keeping her voice light. She stepped around the waitress and made her way through the café to where Peredur Roth was still standing, a slight crease between his brows as he looked between Hallie and back at the waitress.
“Everything alright?” the director asked.
“Perfectly fine,” Hallie said. She glanced down at her jeans and grimaced again. “I doubt they get many people in here wearing engine oil, but I came straight from work. Skip tried to hide in an old garage.”
Peredur gestured for her to sit and settled in his chair as Hallie took the one opposite. “Hazards of working,” he said, amusement in his face and voice. “I remember turning up late to a dinner at my parents’ house covered in mud from head to toe. I’d been out with the dogs and one of them had slipped down a hill into a river, so, naturally, I went down to rescue her. Only she managed to get out on her own and I was left to scramble up the river bank. My parents were not impressed.”
Hallie laughed, somehow able to imagine a much younger Peredur. His now-greying blond hair would have been vivid, streaked with mud, and the lean and serious face that he now wore would have been a little rounder and far more earnest.
She glanced up in surprise when a mug of coffee was placed in front of her along with a plate of small, fancy cakes that filled the air with the scent of warm berries.
“I took the liberty of ordering for you,” Peredur said. “Black coffee, no milk or sugar. And the cakes are the house special here, definitely not to be missed.”
“Thank you,” Hallie said, avoiding his eyes for a moment. She hadn’t realised he’d been paying attention to her coffee preferences. Then she saw he had the same order and relaxed. It felt less like scrutiny and more that he’d noticed a commonality between them.
“You must be wondering why I asked to meet,” Peredur said.
Hallie nodded and sat back, eyes on his face, a nervous knot tied in her stomach, wishing now that she had called him back and asked for more information about why he’d wanted to meet. On the bus journey she’d managed to imagine a dozen scenarios, none of them good. She’d worked alongside the Conclave Investigators a few times now. The last case had taken her out of the city, along with Special Investigator Girard Abbott, the investigators’ medical examiner and team of forensic technicians, to Lady Cotovatre’s home. They’d solved that case,but in the course of it, Lady Cotovatre had acknowledged Hallie as her descendant and heir. As much as it warmed Hallie to her core to know that her ancestor valued her and welcomed her presence, the termheirhad very definite meaning forhochlen, one that Hallie was still puzzling through.
The director himself hadn’t been present at Lady Cotovatre’s house, thanks to another ongoing investigation concerning disruptions, protests and violence around recent Conclave meetings. Although the world’s ruling council had a main base of operations, it also held meetings in different countries and cities from time to time. The most recent meeting had been held in Hallie’s city and there had been explosions on container ships at the city’s port timed to coincide with the Conclave meeting - shocking violence that Hallie could not remember ever happening in low city. With the trouble growing, and the security of the Conclave in question, the director’s personal attention had been required. He’d sent Girard to Cotovatre’s house to head up the investigation there. And although Girard and the others hadn’t treated her any differently after the revelations, Hallie found herself bracing for a reaction from Peredur Roth.
Despite being acknowledged as Cotovatre’s heir, Hallie had gone back to her normal life and her normal job when she’d returned to low city. Now, sitting in a place she’d never been to before, not sure what she was about to face from Peredur Roth, she had to admit, even very quietly in the dark corners of her own mind, that she was restless. The life she’d built for herself, with a job she was good at and a place that was hers she could call home, felt limited and small after spending time in Cotovatre’s presence and getting a glimpse of the remarkable freedom enjoyed by members of the elite. Among other things, they were able to travel on a whim, go to other countries, other cities, which she’d never been able to do. She didn’t expect to getthat same level of freedom - she never had - but she did want to see more of the world. In her limited free time she’d finally made a start on the seemingly endless paperwork that was needed for her to get travel permits to leave the city.
“When we set up the investigators’ unit, we weren’t sure what work we’d be doing,” Peredur said, snapping Hallie’s attention back to him. He must have a reason for giving her the background. She didn’t know the full history of the Conclave Investigators, only that it was a relatively new team. She did know, however, that it was the only investigative branch that had authority to look intohochlenmatters and to cross country boundaries. Until the investigators had been set up,hochlenhad been seen as above any scrutiny by local law enforcement and had tended to deal with matters within their own families. At least that was the way it had worked in Hallie’s city, and she suspected it was the same elsewhere. “We weren’t sure if we’d have enough work to sustain a few investigators, let alone a full forensic team.” He gave a rueful laugh. “As it turns out, we’ve been flat-out with one thing after another. And we’re looking for more good people to join us.”
Hallie’s brows were somewhere up near her hairline, shock holding her quiet and still. She thought that the director of the Conclave Investigators was in the process of offering her a job. It seemed highly unlikely. From what she’d seen, the investigators themselves, and every member of the technical teams supporting them, werehochlenthrough and through. While Lady Cotovatre had recently revealed that Hallie was actuallyhochlen, that didn’t change Hallie’s history which was a skip tracer from low city with none of the formal training or manner that seemed to be considered necessary among the elite.
“I realise it’s a big ask,” the director went on, his serious expression catching Hallie’s full attention again. “You already do a tough job, and do it well. Working among the elite is somethingaltogether different. We are used to settling our own disputes, and there’s still a lot of resistance to having an outside agency do that.”
Hallie opened her mouth to speak and nothing came out. She cleared her throat. “You want me to come and work for you?” she asked, pleased that her voice was calm.
“Yes,” he confirmed.
She realised he was also too still, a bit of tension showing in his shoulders and that, more than any of his words, convinced her that he was entirely serious. And that her decision mattered to him.
“Girard has brought me up to date on your circumstances,” he went on, speaking a little stiffly, as if he was uncomfortable with the subject. “I mean, your connection with Lady Cotovatre. I realise that you have many other options as to how you spend your time.”
“I wasn’t thinking about that. I’d just never realised that working for the investigators was even a possibility,” she said candidly, her mind spinning. Then a chill came over her, wondering if her new-found status was playing a part. “Would you be speaking to me now if I was still just a skip tracer from low city?” She couldn’t help the slightly hard edge to her voice that came with that question.
