Even the Alfar-halfling looked contrite, and both women mumbled their apologies for their behavior and for my loss. After we’d been introduced and exchanged pleasantries, Capitola shooed the other two to continue their cleaning before turning back toward us.
“Ready to talk?” she asked me.
I thought about that for a second. On the one hand, I felt almost mesmerized by the sight of the laboratory and all its gore before me. But another part of me felt unmoved. I didn’t associate this terrible place with my mother, even though I knew it was where she died. I felt anger at knowing that last fact, but it was still a strangely disjointed feeling, like I wasn’t really making any emotional connection to the place. So I stood and stared at where my mother had spent her final moments, and part of me still felt… nothing.
When Capitola interrupted my reverie by giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze, I nodded, and she led the way to the doors.
Peering over my shoulder, I took a last look at the now cavernous lab space. A fierce sense of satisfaction washed through me as Moo let rip with another blast of Alfar power. This time all the various instruments of torture, in their medical disguises, were collected into another compact ball of twisted metal and plastic. It felt right to me that these three women would expunge all signs that this evil place had ever existed.
Julian stayed in the main room to help the women clean up, a strangely vexed expression blanketing his normally sedate features, as the rest of us returned to the relatively clean reception area. Anyan, Ryu, Capitola, and I pulled four chairs together and sat down. After a moment in which we all shuffled about trying to get comfortable, Cappie turned toward me.
“First of all, Jane, is there anything you want to ask me about what was… found? Here in the lab?”
She meant did I want to know how my mother had died. But I’d seen the blood, and I’d seen the instruments. I knew for what purposes this place had been built. The questions one normally asked when a loved one died suddenly—“Did he feel any pain?”; “Did she suffer?”—were moot.
“No. I don’t think that’s necessary. But thank you.”
“Okay. If you change your mind, I can talk whenever,” Cap replied, and she meant it. I realized that behind that strong body lay a very warm heart.
“Our people have already done a thorough investigation of the premises,” she said, moving on. “We were brought in to clean, but don’t worry, we won’t be destroying any evidence.”
“That’s great,” Ryu said, giving Capitola his most winning smile. “We really appreciate all your help. I hope you’re getting something for all of your hard work.”
Cap laughed. “Thanks, Ryu. But we’re still not telling you who’s signing our paychecks, so you can stop right now.”
Ryu frowned even as Capitola breezed along. “Speaking of who we work for, TPTB want to see you tonight, Anyan. And they want to meet Jane and Julian.”
The barghest nodded, and Ryu’s frown grew deeper. The Powers That Be must not trust Ryu, which made sense. Anyan was obviously Capitola’s friend, even though he was technically working for the Alfar, and she obviously trusted him not to share everything he saw with the Alfar. I was a little surprised at their including Julian, but from what I was seeing, there was obviously a lot of Halfling Power going on in the Borderlands. But as for Ryu, there wasn’t anything “technical” about his loyalties—he was definitely his monarchs’ man. For the first time I realized how odd this whole situation was, and questioned why the hell the baobhan sith was even here. I hadn’t thought about how weird it was till now, as it had seemed natural he’d be with us: When things went kablooey in my life, Ryu was always around. But Anyan and Ryu didn’t like each other, and Ryu was clearly the odd man out here in the Borderlands.
So why was he here?
I stored that question away for when we were alone and focused back on Cap.
“We’ve found two other abandoned labs in the area. Both have evidence of body disposal in the vicinity, but neither had the sort of wholesale slaughter that went down in this one. One seems to have been abandoned quite awhile ago, the other more recently. We’re finished with the one; we’re still working on the other, gathering evidence. But you’re more than welcome to go check them out tomorrow. I’ll text you the addresses, Anyan.
“We’ve also got a few leads we’re working on now. I don’t want to say too much”—at this, Cap glanced at Ryu—“but one looks really promising. We want to find a working lab, not only so that we can liberate the subjects but also because we really want to capture some of the staff.”
As she said the last bit, her smile became distinctly predatory and I shivered. Despite her size and strength, Capitola had been as warm and fuzzy as a teddy bear up until that moment. Then I saw her mettle, and I went back to being in awe.
I wondered if it would be inappropriate to start up a Capitola fan club.
Just as Anyan started to ask Cap a question, there was an enormous bang from the other room. Suddenly, Shar came flying—and I mean flying—through the doorway from the lab. She whacked against the wall opposite us, her shields absorbing most of the impact, but she still collapsed with an audible groan.
Capitola shook her head as the succubus drew in a few ragged breaths. Finally, Shar peered up at us. Giving Ryu a bawdy wink, which he instinctively returned with his own side of sauce, she smiled sweetly at Cap.
“I’m fucking killing her this time, Cappie. I don’t care what you say. I’m killing her. After I shave off her eyebrows…”
The “her” in question strode through the doorway at that moment. Moo looked elegant and unruffled, although I saw her lips twitch at the sight of Shar still sitting, propped against the wall.
“Capitola, you did instruct me to take out the trash,” the halfling’s chilly Alfar voice said as Shar began sputtering in rage.
Capitola hung her head, visibly gathering her patience. “For the love of Pete, can’t you two stop fighting for fifteen seconds? Seriously?”
“I can stop fighting,” Shar said, standing up. “As long as I have the proper motivation.” She took a long, lascivious look at me, then Ryu, and finally the barghest.
“Can I call you Uncle Anyan?” the succubus-halfling queried as she did a little shimmy that was supposed to be about brushing herself off, but was really about feeling herself up.
Anyan laughed. “Nope. Sorry, Shar.”
“Damn.” With that she strode forward and put an affectionate arm around Moo, who, moments before, Shar had genuinely appeared to want to murder.
“C’mon, Moo-Cow. You get the fire hose, I’ll get the bleach. Julian, you gonna help us?”
For the first time, I realized that Julian was, once again, watching from the doorway. I was beginning to think we needed to put a bell on him to know where he was at all times.
He nodded, breaking into that sweet smile I adored, as Shar slung an arm around his waist and pulled him back into the other room. He peered down at her, his face glowing, like he’d just been asked to the birthday party of the coolest girl in school.
Moo followed, her Alfar-calm expression betraying just a hint of pleasure at the sight of Shar with their newest halfling friend. When they were gone, Capitola shook her head, smiling at us ruefully.
“I love them, but they’re nuts. Sorry about that,” she said, checking her watch and rising from her chair. “It’s nearly three-thirty. You guys go get some rest and you can check out the other labs tomorrow. And Anyan, see you, Julian, and Jane at the house tomorrow night, around eight?”
We all stood as Anyan nodded, Ryu grumbled, and I waved good-bye at Capitola. She came over to give Anyan an affectionate hug. I enviously watched their ease with each other, before Capitola suddenly turned to sweep me up in her arms. Her hug was hard and generous and warm.
“You’ll find who did it, Jane. I promise,” she whispered fiercely in my ear before letting me go. For the first time since arriving at the place my mother had died, I blinked back tears.
“Thank you,” I told her as Anyan put a hand on my shoulder to steer me toward the door.
Hearing Capitola say those words made me believe it. We were going to find my mother’s killer. And this time, Jarl wasn’t going to worm his way out of the justice he was due.
CHAPTER EIGHT
You all right?” Anyan asked. He must have seen me shiver.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s just…”
When I trailed off he let me be for a minute, then cocked his head.
“It’s nothing,” I finished finally.
We were in Plano, a little town outside Borealis. It was home to a big plastics factory and little else. Except for the small fertility lab, tucked into the corner of an abandoned strip mall. Behind the tiny waiting room, it had once held five halfling women in plastic cages. Those women were now dead, their bodies returned to their families if there was family; or burned, and their ashes scattered, if there wasn’t. The people responsible for their deaths had murdered them and disappeared, leaving the local halfling community to clean up the mess.