Free The Collected Christopher Connery by L. EE Page A

seems off.”
    Talk about an understatement, everything about
this case seemed off. It was like she was trying to do a puzzle in the dark.
She could sort of feel how things fit together, but just because she could find
two pieces that matched up didn’t mean that she understood the big picture.
    Nia sat down in one of the stiff hotel armchairs,
apparently forgetting Gail’s earlier comment about wanting a shower. “If you’re
feeling up to it, perhaps we should sit down and discuss our next move.
Obviously, we were taken by surprise today, but now that we have an idea of the
sort of magic we can expect, we can take proper precautions.”
    What sort of precautions could you take against walking
dead people and homicidal houses? Still, Gail guessed planning would be better
than sitting around. “I feel up to just about anything so long as it doesn’t
involve fighting dressers. Let me get showered and changed and we can go down
to dinner together.”
    “Wonderful!” Nia beamed so brightly that Gail suspected
she had been more disappointed than she had let on about not being able to eat
out on her first night in the city. She was almost out the door when she turned
back with a sharp, “Oh!”
    Gail, halfway through rolling up her sleeves so she could
examine the perfectly smooth but still aggravatingly itchy skin on her
forearms, looked back at her. “Yeah?”
    “Would you mind terribly if Arthur joins us?” Nia’s voice
dropped to a near-whisper, as though she feared her colleagues had their ears
pressed against the walls of the adjoining rooms. “Technically, he’s only
supposed to be given case information on a need to know basis, but I would feel
awful asking him to sit in our room while –”
    “We got attacked by corpses. I think preventing that from
happening again counts as something he needs to know.”
    A relieved smile lit up Nia’s face and Gail was suddenly
certain she had expected to be told no. Why had they even sent Arthur along if
he was supposed to be kept away from everything up to and including meals?Anyway,
was Gail even allowed to say no to the Illuminator? She would call the Academy
to ask, but that would probably just result in a full list of dos-and-don’ts
and she really didn’t have time for any more bullshit.
    “We’ll meet you downstairs in half an hour then?” When
Gail nodded, Nia finally turned to go, murmuring something under her breath
about changing her dress.
    Shaking her head to knock away the haze left by her
surprise nap, Gail went to the bathroom, shucked off her bloodstained clothes
and took a quick shower. When she returned to the bedroom wrapped in a
bathrobe, she stood in front of her suitcase, wondering what she should wear.
The clothes she had been wearing today were probably a loss unless Nia knew
some sort of laundry spell that removed set-in bloodstains.
    Actually judging by the way Nia ran headlong into danger,
she probably knew five. But that wasn’t the point. The point was that if the
magicians were dressing up for a night on the town, should she do the same?
    She took a moment to ponder then promptly decided, fuck
that, I’ll dress up tomorrow, and grabbed something comfortable.

11
Nia Graves
    Despite the best of intentions and – according to Arthur
– all laws of time and logic, Nia and Arthur arrived in the hotel dining room a
few minutes after Gail. The detective was dressed much the same as she had been
before, the only difference Nia could spot was the color of her suspenders. She
was reading the newspaper when they came in, an unlit cigarette in her mouth.
    “Do you smoke?” Nia asked before realizing it was perhaps
none of her business.
    Gail pulled the cigarette from between her lips and
tucked it into a pocket on the inside of her jacket. “Used to. I quit last
year. Holding one sometimes helps me think, though.” She got to her feet,
tossing the paper into the empty chair beside her. “All right, let’s eat. I got
us a table near the