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a ground-glass screen.
But the sorce-and-rescue man shook his head. "Nobody's going to run a
spellchecker on that spirit any time soon. Any sorcerous nudge right now,
before it has a chance to regain some strength, and it'll be gone for good.
I'm not kidding a sorcerous nudge right now
Will destroy, uh, Erasmus, and I'll set that down on parchment. The same goes
for interrogation. If that spirit were a material being, it would've gotten
last rites. Because it's not material, it has a better chance of recovering
than thee or me, but I warn you: you'll lose it if you push."
"I shall pray for Erasmus' recovery along with the recovery of my brethren who
took hurt in the fire,"
Brother Vahan said, "and for the souls of the brethren who lost their lives."
He spoke slowly and with great dignity, partly because he was that kind of man
and partly to hold the tears back from his voice.
Judy stepped up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He twitched a little;
you could see how unused he was to having a woman touch him. But after a
couple of seconds, he realized she meant only to comfort him. He eased, as
much as you can when everything that matters to you is gone.
I wished I'd thought to make the gesture Judy had. I suspect the trouble is
that I think too much. Judy felt what she ought to do and she did it I'm not
saving she doesn't think oh my, no. But it's nice to be in touch with This
Side and the Other Side of yourself, so to speak.
I turned to Legate Kawaguchi. "Do you need us for anything more here, sir?"
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He shook his head. "No, you may go, Inspector Fisher. Thank you for your
statement I expect we will be in touch with each other about aspects of this
matter of mutual concern." I expected that, too. Then
Kawaguchi unbent a little; maybe a human being really did lurk behind the
constabulary uniform. "A
pleasure also to meet your fiancée, Inspector. A pity to drag you out of doors
at such an unholy hour, Mistress Adler, especially on dark, grim business like
this."
"I asked David to let me come along," Judy said "And you're right this
business is dark and grim. If I
can do anything to help you catch whoever did it let me know. I'm no mage, but
I'm an expert on sorcerous applications."
"I shall bear that in mind," Kawaguchi said, and sounded as if he meant it.
Judy and I ducked under the tape the constabulary had put around the Thomas
Brothers monastery and walked back toward my carpet The sun was just starting
to paint the sky above the hills to the east with pink. I asked my watch what
time it was and found out it was heading toward six. By my body, it could have
been anywhere from midmorning to midnight.
We fastened our safety belts and headed back toward the freeway. A couple of
minutes before we got there, Judy said, "I didn't know I was your fiancée."
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"Huh?" I answered brilliantly.
"The way you introduced me to Legate Kawaguchi," she said.
"Oh. That." I'd just done it because it seemed the easiest way to explain what
she was doing over at my place at two-something of a morning. I thought about
it for a few seconds, then said, "Well, do you want to be?"
"Do I want to be what?" Now Judy was confused.
"My fiancee."
"Sure!" she said, and her smile was brighter than the sun which just that
moment poked itself into the sky. It wasn't the traditional way to answer a
proposal of marriage, but then I hadn't proposed the way
I'd intended to, either. I really had intended to get around to it, but I
didn't know just when. Now seemed as good a time as any.
We held hands on St. James' Freeway all the way back to my block of flats.
After a black night, morning sun felt very fine indeed.
Chapter Three
When I got to work Monday morning, somebody ambushed me in the parking lot.
No, it's not what you think; this fellow standing outside the entrance to my
building called out "Are you EPA Inspector David
Fisher?" When I said I was, he came trotting over to me, stuck a glass globe
in front of my face, and said, I'm Joe Forbes, Angels
City
Ethernet Station One News. I want to ask you some questions about the tragic
Thomas Brothers fire Friday night."
"Go ahead," I said, peering cross-eyed into the globe. The imp inside had
enormous ears, mournful little
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eyes, and a mouth that stretched all the way across its face. I'd never seen
an ethernet imp before.
Forbes shifted the globe back toward his own mouth. "How are you involved with
the Thomas Brothers, and why were you called to the scene of the fire shortly
after it occurred?" He held the globe out to me again.
I'd been using some Thomas Brothers records in an ongoing EPA investigation,
and the constabulary were trying to find out if there was any connection
between that investigation and the fire," I answered, truthful enough but not
what you'd call forthcoming.
As I talked, I watched the little imp in the globe. Its ears twitched with
every syllable I spoke. Its mouth moved in a rather exaggerated parody of
human speech. I've never had any reason to learn to read lips, but I didn't
need long to notice it was echoing what I said, about half a beat behind me.
It was transmitting my words back to Ethernet Station One, either to one of
its own clones that would relay what I said on to the master broadcasting imp
so all the master's clones in people's sets could hear, or else to a Listener
that would speak them in front of the master imp at a time more convenient for
the station crew.
Joe Forbes took back the globe. "Do I understand correctly, Inspector Fisher,
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