The People v. Eleanor Warwick
Perfectly Clear

Towles scans the collection of books in House Warwick’s study.

“Has she read all these?”

Henry doesn’t look up from the piano. “Have you listened to all those records of yours?”

“Yes.”

“Then what do you think?”

Typical, Towles thinks. Never a straight answer from him.

“Are they going to be back soon?” he checks his watch. “It’s nearly two o’clock.”

“Keeping you from something?”

“Yeah. Sleep.”

“You have all day for that.” Rising from the Steinway, Henry moves to pour himself a drink. “So level with me, Marvin. Why did you change your mind?”

The wizard pours a second glass and offers it up. Marvin turns away from the books and joins him. “It’s a lot of money. Isn’t that enough?”

“In most cases, yes. But you were ready to have a stroke when the girl mentioned the name Blackwell. The sum of money was already declared. No, no. I think something else changed your tune.”

Towles stops mid-drink as Henry glares at him. “Well...that was it...the money, I mean.”

“I see. And your night with Jessie had nothing to do with it?”

Setting his glass down, Towles glances around the room as though someone is watching them. “You know about that?”

“Of course.”

“Well, it...it might have something to do with it.”

“I figured as much. Your hope is that this job will allow you to maintain a connection to House Warwick and through it, Jessie. Yes?”

“Yes. I know,” Towles takes a drink and shakes his head, “a waste of time. I mean, why would she be interested in me? I’m fat, broke, a good ten years older than her.”

“Romance knows no age, Marvin.”

“Maybe not, but there’s still those other two. It’s just...once I got past the scary exterior, I found out she’s pretty cool.”

“And the fact that she has a violent temper and a terrible attitude, both likely chased away by the alcohol that I will assume was flowing, don’t give you pause?”

“Yeah. A little.”

“And what of her family connections?”

Towles shifts uneasily. “I...I, uh, hadn’t really considered it.”

“Perhaps you should.”

“I know. I know. You think I should just cut my losses.” Henry shrugs as he takes a sip of scotch. “I mean we had a fun night. Got stupid drunk, had some laughs, listened to some music, and the sex was great. Maybe that’s enough.”

Henry slowly lowers his glass. “The what was great?”

Towles raises an eyebrow. “The sex.”

“Sex? You had sex with Jessie?”

“I...I thought...you said you knew.”

“About you two spending all night drinking. Not fornicating.”

Again, Towles looks around cautiously. “I wasn’t being one of those guys. I swear. I wasn’t, you know, bragging about my latest conquest. I thought you knew. That’s different, right?”

Henry puts up a hand to halt his rambling. “First of all, I doubt you did any conquering. Secondly, calm down. How exactly did this happen?”

“Well, there was a lot of booze involved.”

“Obviously.”

“We listened to some music, talked a bit and then...it just kind of happened.”

“And her reaction afterward?”

“She, uh, wasn’t thrilled. She probably won’t be happy I’m here.”

“And yet you risk her fury in order to see her again. How romantic of you.”

Towles smiles. “Thanks, Mr. Willard. You think she’ll see it that way?”

“No.”

The smile disappears. “Oh.”

House Warwick’s front door opens, allowing the chill of the Carmadie autumn to flow in. Jessie pulls the hood of her jacket down as she enters and shakes off the cold. The chirps and beeps of Beck’s GPS continue as Eleanor follows behind. The wizard fumbles through the various menus of the device in frustration.

“I hate these things.”

Ignoring her, Jessie heads for the study. She wants a drink in the worst way. Halting at the doorway, her demonic blood boils.

Towles leaps off his stool and nervously adjusts his appearance. “Oh! Uh, hi.”

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

“I...uh...”

Eleanor enters the study after her. “Mr. Towles. Something I can do for you?”

Towles stares at Jessie. He expected angry, but she is more than angry. She’s mortified.

His being there is not just an annoyance, an irritating reminder of a big mistake she made. His presence is putting her personal affairs on display, and she doesn’t like it one bit.

After a few moments of silence, Henry jumps in and answers the question. “He has reconsidered your job offer.”

“Oh. That’s great.” Eleanor smiles. “The first thing you can do is figure out how to work this stupid thing.”

Trying to offer the GPS to Towles, he leaves Eleanor hanging as the investigator continues to stare at Jessie. He searches for something to say to her, but nothing comes. She breathes heavily and slowly, struggling to control her temper. The last thing he wants to do is say the wrong thing and cause her to lose that battle.

The wizards glance at each other. The look on Henry’s face tells Eleanor he has something to say, probably falling under the category of snark. Eleanor responds with a look that strongly encourages him to remain silent. She should have known it’s pointless.

“My, my. Such sexual tension. You two should get a room.” Jessie looks at him and practically snarls. “Again, I mean,” he adds with a smirk.

Almost shaking with fury, the hellblood seems ready to blow. Yet, instead of erupting, she spins on her heels and storms out. She hits the stairs at a speed just short of a full run. Taking the steps two at a time, she quickly disappears around the corner. An awkward silence takes the study until Eleanor clears her throat.

“So, anyway.”

Towles blinks and looks at her as though he forgot she’s there. “Uh, yes. You need what now?”

“Can you work this thing?”

Taking the touch screen device, Towles looks it over. “A GPS? Sure. Where do you need to go?”

“Yeah, that’s the thing. I don’t know. It’s not leading me to a place so much as to an object.”

Towles raises an eyebrow. “Okay. I guess I can try the history or bookmarks or something.”

“Good man.” Eleanor gives the investigator an encouraging pat on the back. “While you’re doing that, Henry and I have to discuss something. Wizard stuff, you wouldn’t understand any of it. Help yourself to a drink and we’ll be right back.”

With a nod, Towles toys with the GPS as he takes a seat at the table. Eleanor steps out into the foyer and Henry follows behind.

“Enchanted electronic device, eh? Sounds like technomancy. Not too many of those in the city. I could make a few calls and...” the elder wizard’s trails off as his protégé glares at him, “but it occurs to me that’s not what you want to discuss.”

“Why did you say that?”

Henry shrugs. “I suppose you found it inappropriate.”

“To say the least.”

“I don’t see why. She took it much better than I expected. She didn’t even curse.”

“That’s because she swears when she’s angry...and also not angry, but she was worse than that. She was humiliated. This has been a terrible night for her. I’m willing to bet the only reason she didn’t kill you is because she’s too tired.”

Beginning a defense but quickly abandoning it, Henry concedes the point. “Very well. What exactly are you expecting me to do?”

“Apologize.”

Henry chuckles before realizing he’s the only one. “Oh. You’re serious.”

“Yeah.”

With a heavy sigh, the wizard nods. “All right, girl. I will heal the wounds.”

“Thank you. Now would be great.” Eleanor steps past him and back into the study. Towles stares at the GPS with a slightly bewildered look. Taking off her coat, Eleanor takes a seat across from him. “Looks like that thing is befuddling you even more than me.”

Towles looked up. “Actually, no. There was one location bookmarked. The thing that’s got me confused is that it’s moving.”

Taking the offered device, Eleanor watches the directions recalculate as the waypoint moves along a street on the other side of town. “The Stone’s on the move.”

“Stone?”

“Yeah. Something Jessie and I are trying to track down.”

“Well, there it is.”

Eleanor checks her watch. “We still have a little more than two days. We’ll wait until it stops somewhere. Better than chasing it around. Besides, I think Jessie needs some rest.”

“Is...uh...is she okay?”

“She’ll be fine. She’s tougher than she looks.” Looking at the investigator, Eleanor sees genuine concern in his eyes.

It bothers her slightly. Jessie doesn’t need a distraction right now. Their current mission is too important. The stakes are too high.

Dismissing the thought, she offers Towles a slight smile. “Nice work, Mr. Towles. Now let’s discuss Boston.” Eleanor stops as she realizes Towles is staring at her a little too intently. “Something wrong?”

“Are you alright?”

“I believe so. Why?”

“You’re sweating an awful lot.”

Eleanor reaches up to her brow and her hand returns damp with perspiration. Closer examination finds her hair wet and a stain forming on her shirt. Looking over her shoulder, the wizard stares at the fireplace and the deviant power beyond.

“I’m fine,” she finally answers. “Why don’t we take this conversation elsewhere?”

Jessie ignores the knocking on her door.

Regardless of who it was, she isn’t interested in talking to them. Lying on her bed, she stares at the ceiling. Try as she might she can’t push what just happened out of her mind.

How dare that fat loser show up here like this, she thinks. She was perfectly clear what happened between them was a mistake. Warwick already threw that mistake in her face. Saying she never ever wanted Henry to find out about it is an understatement. The smug bastard will be a pig in shit.

The knock comes again, but again she ignores it. After a moment, the door opens anyway. Turning her head, she glares at Henry as he saunters in. The wizard glances about her room. Clothes are scattered here and there. “What a delightful mess.”

“Do you always just walk into a woman’s room?”

“Once or twice,” he answers with a shrug. “Ended badly a few times. Ended wonderfully other times.”

“Well, this’ll be the first one if you don’t get the fuck outta here.”

“Just as soon as you hear me out.”

Jessie rubs her eyes in aggravation. “Fine. Talk and get the hell out.”

“I wanted to apologize.” Sitting up, she stares at him with an incredulous eyebrow cocked. “The girl wanted me to apologize.”

“Uh huh,” Jessie says as she plops back down. “If I accept, will you leave?”

“Possibly, but I haven’t actually done it yet.” Henry casually strolls through her quarters. “You know, Jessie, I’ve known Marvin quite some time. He doesn’t get much attention from the fairer sex. When he does, he falls pretty easily.”

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“So you aren’t going to get rid of him by simply running out of his apartment like your hair’s on fire.”

Jessie rises to her elbows. “Will you just get out of here before I get out of this bed.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t already.” The wizard heads for the door. “I guess the girl was right; you are tired.”

“Exhausted.”

“Well, if I were you, I’d take this opportunity to sit Marvin down while he’s here and make it perfectly clear to him that you and he are not you and he.”

“He’ll get it when I put my foot up his ass if I ever see him again.”

“Do what you will, but you should know that he’s about to do something very dangerous, something he really doesn’t want to do, because he thinks it will keep him close to you.”

Jessie considers his words.

“And with that, I will leave you.”

“You know, you never apologized.”

“You don’t say,” he says as he slips out the door.

The early morning air is cutting like a knife.

Towles shivers as he stands just off the stoop in front of House Warwick. Eleanor paces back and forth as she speaks. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt doing this. All I need is some kind of idea as to whether the Blackwells are looking for Jessie.”

“C-can’t we do this inside?”

“Fresh air helps me think. It shouldn’t be too hard to determine. If people seem abnormally afraid or certain Shadow Siders have completely left town then House Blackwell is on the warpath.”

“Got it. Can we please go back inside now?”

The door of House Warwick swings open and Jessie steps out, pulling her jacket on. “Get lost, Warwick.”

“Excuse me?”

“You deaf? Beat it.”

Towles stops shivering and looks back and forth between the two as they glare at each other. With a sardonic chuckle, Eleanor throws her hands up and heads back inside. “Whatever you want.”

Jessie’s gaze follows her in before snapping over to Towles. The investigator nearly flinches. “Sit down.”

“Okay.” After he follows her command, Jessie joins him on the steps. “Let me say first that I am really sorry if showing up here upset you.”

“Well, you should be, cause it did.” She isn’t sorry for the anger in her voice, but a little regret creeps in when Towles hangs his head. “Look, whatever you think is going to come out of this, it isn’t. Okay? I meant what I said this morning. It was a mistake. Now, I don’t blame you for it, I’m a big girl. I make my own mistakes, but a mistake is exactly what it was. Nothing is going to happen again between the two of us. Are we clear on that?”

Towles slowly nods. “Completely.”

“Are you sure? You’re not going to Boston out of some dumb-ass notion that it’s going to get you closer to me?”

“What? That’s crazy.” The hellblood’s eyes bore through him. “Well. May-Maybe a little.”

“Well, don’t be an idiot. If your gut told you to turn the job down, then do that. If you go and get fucked up it’s not going to change anything between us.”

“I get it.”

“Good.” Jessie comes to her feet and Towles quickly followed. “Well maybe I’ll see you around, Towles.”

He smiles weakly. “I hope so.”

With a nod, Jessie climbs the stoop, but stops short of the door. Glancing over her shoulder, she watches Towles sit back down on the steps and lower his head in disappointment. Every fiber of Jessie’s being yells at her to keep walking. With a slight sigh, she turns.

“Hey.” Towles twists around to look at her. “For what it’s worth, the things I can remember about the other night were pretty fun.”

“Yeah. They were,” he answers with a smile.

After Jessie returned to the House, Towles rises from the steps. He walks toward his car with a broad smile.

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