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I wondered what the visiting dragons had told the brothel matron. “It’s probably nowhere near as exciting as you might think. I work Fridays to get a little extra money, and I guess they thought I would make a good caretaker for little Garnet.”
Garnet squeaked and abandoned the string on a stick to pounce on my foot and beg to be picked up. Obeying the carbunclo, I picked her up, gave her a kiss on her nose, and smiled. “I wasn’t expecting Friday to involve a pet. I should have notified you, though.”
Cecilia waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “Your lease allows for a cat. Technically, she isn’t really a cat, but she’ll be good for you. You’ll take good care of her, and that’s all I care about. I will use your kitten against you—for your benefit, of course. That little yellow dragon likes cats, and when he finds out you’re doting all over your kitten, he’ll start sniffing at your trail. I’ll make sure that’s done this week.”
Goodness. Would I survive an entire brothel of women trying to match me with a yellow dragon? “I had a fiancé, and I left him to come here. I have more emotional baggage than any dragon can handle.”
“Well, if your fiancé wasn’t willing to chase after you, you did the right thing dumping him to the curb. And if he does come chasing after you, may the best man win. A little competition is good for a woman’s heart. You’re not the kind to leave someone without a good reason.”
I shrugged. “I didn’t leave him at the curb, precisely. I told him I was going straight to his face.”
“Well, that’s just the right thing to do. Do you miss this fiancé of yours?”
As I doubted I could keep a straight face confessing I missed him every day, I shrugged.
“Ah. I see. I’ll warn that sweet yellow that you are pining and that he will have more than a few challenges ahead of him.”
I foresaw a disaster. “Don’t yell at me if he emerges from this heartbroken.”
“He has enough steel in his spine to deserve the reward should he be willing to take the risk,” my landlady assured me. “I did talk to him about the nature of investigations.”
“They take a long time, and many cases go unsolved.” Magic played a role in that, although the police had tricks that helped counter magic’s nefarious influence. “I’m starting with some basic undercover work. I’ve isolated commonalities in where your women go before and after work, so I’m taking photographs of who is around. After three weeks, I’ll be able to evaluate who the regulars are and if anyone is behaving strangely. If I get lucky, the attacker will think I’m one of your brothel women and come at me with his little knife.”
“Are you capable of defending yourself?”
I shrugged. “I won’t make it easy on him, that’s for certain. If he does attack me, it’ll make my work easier. None of the brothel women have been killed. Frightened, yes. Scarred, yes.” There’d been one hospitalization I’d found, but the fear remained my top suspicion for motivation. And while a woman had been killed a month ago, additional reading had exposed an unrelated cause of death.
Had she been healthy, she wouldn’t have died, just like the woman who’d been hospitalized had suffered from an underlying invisible condition.
But why scare the brothel women? That was what I didn’t understand.
“Yes, our sweet yellow had pointed out that it seemed unusual that while there were numerous attacks, none of the women had been severely injured.”
“One was hospitalized. I did find that out in the news. There was one death, but it was deemed unrelated to the attack.”
Cecilia nodded. “She was hospitalized due to something unrelated. Had she not had a preexisting condition, she would have received a few stitches and gone home, ready and able to work the following day.” The woman paced around my apartment, and I followed after her with Garnet cradled in my arms. She considered my new desk and chair, nodding her approval. “Are you one of those people who needs to be doing something while you think?”
I laughed, as I defined what it meant to be one of those people. “I am. I used to walk around when I needed to think out a problem. It sometimes offered a new perspective. Why?”
“I’ve been thinking.”
I restrained myself from wincing, and rather than betray my general feelings on the matter, I forced a neutral expression. My uncertainty about the situation factored in.
The last thing I wanted was pity. I had put myself in my position, and I meant to earn my way out of it. Some would call me a fool for my stance, but I saved the acts of charity for those who couldn’t handle their misfortunes without assistance.
If I fell further than I could handle, help was a call away. The call would summon a pair of angry dragon parents, but they would save me from anything they could—even myself. No, especially myself.
“I want to open more apartments like this for those without as much money. I’ve seen how much it has helped you. I want to do more like that, but with the current situation, I’m not sure who to trust to do the work.”
Maintenance I could do. I could even do it well, as I’d been determined to handle as much on my own as possible in Miami. “I can work on some parts of maintaining and restoring the other apartments when I need to think. What work do you want done?”
“All the faucets, the showers, and things like that need to be done. I think I need to hire for the flooring, but I’m expecting the apartments to be trashed. You’re exceptional. I’ve found the people I want to help are where they are at for a reason. And sometimes, that reason is destroying where they live because their circumstances crush them. But if I build the units strong with an awareness they will be trashed, it’s not too bad for me.”
If she needed durable, I could do durable. Then, aware of the dragons who tried to teach their children how to perform acts of service, I suggested, “You should talk with your dragon contacts, especially the ones with younger children. That might be a good way to get free but quality labor.”
“But will they help?” Cecilia muttered, and she headed to my table, dropping onto one of the chairs with a low groan.
“Ones like that yellow dragon-kin cop might. How many yellow dragons and dragon-kin serve in the force?”