I ’d saved Sentinel Michael Aronson for last because he was the biggest debtor on my list and the one most likely to be able to make my life miserable if he didn’t like my questions. I’d half-hoped I’d never have to talk to him — that somebody else would stand out as the obvious culprit during all my questioning— but of course nobody did. I reached his mansion on The Hill just as the sun was setting. His butler sneered and tried to send me around to the servant’s entrance. I got pushy. We beat our chests at each other for a while until he relented with ill grace. He made me wait in the foyer while he went off to announce my presence.
I made myself comfortable, figuring he’d take a tour around the house before announcing me, just to prove who had the upper hand.
Aronson was a Nobilis whose family had been hard up until his father’s canny politics and smart investments had revived their accounts. He was popular enough around town, or at least that’s what I’d heard, and one of the wealthier nobs in the city. He also was the third-ranked beck in the Vigilance, which meant he was talented enough to brew himself a little nix if he liked, or feed me to a batch of transients if I annoyed him. He also had a collection of spectacularly ugly enamels on display in a glass case in the lobby. I cooled my heels in the front hall for half an hour staring at those enamels and wondering who the hell would buy something that hideous, much less start collecting them. At last the butler slid back in and allowed as how Noble Aronson might have a few minutes to spare for a down-at-the-heels dick. I curled my lip and followed him through the house to a back door. Just as I was wondering if I was about to get the bum’s rush after all, the butler opened the door to a huge glass house that was as warm as summer and filled with plants.
I froze as something moved. A scaly head poked out from the foliage. Dark eyes examined me, first from one side of its head, and then from the other. Deciding I looked unsavory through either eye, the lizard inflated its dewlap and began shaking its head threateningly.
“Noble Aronson?” I asked, keeping a watchful eye on the creature. Its head was only about as large as a cat’s, so I didn’t figure it could bite off too much before I stomped it to death, but there wasn’t any point in taking chances.
“Captain?” The Nobilis emerged from the underbrush, another lizard cradled in his arms. It was four and a half feet of ugly scale and tail, but Aronson cuddled it like a baby. He looked to be on the shallow side of his thirties, younger than me, with long dark hair and handsome features. Another pretty boy; I hadn’t been expecting that. “Good, you aren’t dressed too brightly. Belladonna takes exception to loud colors. Come in. Please don’t step on any hatchlings or tails.”
I followed the Nobilis deeper into the greenhouse, unbuttoning my coat and being careful where I set my feet. Gradually I started picking out the lizards from the foliage. The damn things were nearly invisible until they moved.
“What are they?” I asked as Aronson lifted one of the monsters off a chair and indicated that I should be seated. He settled down on a chair across from mine, propping his lizard against his chest. It crawled up his dark waistcoat until its front legs rested on his shoulder, and then it turned its head and stared at me.
“Iguanas. My ships bring me any interesting specimens they run across.” Michael stroked the long, scaly body with affection. His fingers were stained with ink. “Don’t worry; they eat fruits and vegetables, and they only bite if they feel threatened.”
“You’re …” He wouldn’t be raising them for food. Aristocrats don’t do that kind of thing. “Breeding them?”
“For a solid blue.” The iguana hissed, shifting. “Iguanas are fascinating and dignified, and much less messy than a dog or cat. The only thing they lack is an interesting color.”
Uh-huh. I forced a smile, knowing better than to argue with a man about his hobby.
“Go ahead and take off your coat, if you’re too hot,” he added. “I have to keep their habitat warm. It costs a small fortune in coal every winter, but I’d rather spend my money on iguanas than on most of the people I know.” He gave me a wry smile as I stripped out of my overcoat. Whatever he thought of the shabby clothes underneath, he kept hidden under a pleasant smile. “So … the rumor mill tells me that you and Ban Jaspin have been asking questions about Lily Liselle’s death. I was wondering if I’d be on the list. I suppose that as a sentinel, I’m an obvious suspect.”
“Wasn’t how I got your name, actually.”
“Really? Then why are you here?”
“You want me to be polite or frank?”
“Can you be both at once?”
“You’ve got the biggest gambling debt on my half of the list.”
He looked irritated. “Still? My bank was supposed to have settled that weeks ago.”
“Apparently it hasn’t gotten around to it yet.”
“It will. And if you have any doubt that I can cover the amount, you’re welcome to check. A bad run at cards certainly wouldn’t drive me to murder.”
“What would?”
His eyes widened and I had the sudden, crazy thought that I’d just found a murderer. Then he blinked and forced a smile.
“Maybe something political? But only if I thought I had a very good chance of getting away with it. I don’t think I’d care for jail.”
“So, you didn’t kill Lily Liselle?”
“I most certainly did not kill Lily Liselle. I always enjoyed my time in the Gilded Lily, and I hope you catch her murderer.”
“Yeah, me too.” I leaned back, disgusted. Sure, the Nobilis could be lying — that moment’s surprise sure meant something — but he seemed pretty confident about his bank coming through for him, and a sentinel of means could find plenty of safer ways to commit a murder than siccing a transient on someone. I wondered what Lily would say about our progress on her case. Something tough and unsympathetic, probably.
“Noble Aronson…” I began.
“Yes?”
“What do you know about nix?”
His affable expression melted away.
“More now than I did before the Watch began interrogating every high-ranking sentinel in the Vigilance. I trust you aren’t going to suggest I’m involved with drug smuggling in any way.”
“No, but maybe you know someone who might have made or sold it at the Gilded Lily? Miss Liselle said she would look into it, and then she got killed by a transient. It’s suspicious, at the least.”
The nobleman rested his cheek against the iguana’s flank. The lizard tasted his long hair before returning to its suspicious inspection of me.
“True. And there are a number of sentinels who gamble there, but none I’d suspect of making or selling nix. Although….”
“Yeah?”
He sighed.
“Have you checked Tegeus? Tegeus Droit?”
“Yeah. I know for a fact he didn’t call a razorbite on her. Not so sure about whether he deals in nix.” I pulled out my cigar case and fingered out a smoke, then looked at him questioningly.
“If you have one for me.”
I nodded, lit two with a beck, and handed him one. The iguana on his chest gave an irritable jerk of its head and slid off his shoulder and over his back. Aronson lifted a hand, fending off its carelessly whipping tail with the ease of long practice.
“You think Droit’s into drugs?”
“Tegeus has less conscience than one of my iguanas. Dealing in nix would be just the kind of thing he’d do without a second thought.”
Huh. Not what Lily had said.
“Sounds like you’ve had a run-in with him,” I prompted.
“Yes.”
“Know anything I don’t?”
“Nothing that would help your case.”
I took another look at Aronson’s pretty face and figured I could guess.
“Mind if I ask you a few more questions, then? Adjuration stuff?”
“Not at all.” Aronson sat back in his chair, coughing and giving the cigar in his hand a funny look. “I’m sure you’ll return the favor someday.”
“You ever heard of any kind of ritual magic using animal sacrifice and a hopscotch board?”
He stared. “That sounds … interesting. But perhaps more related to the religion that adjuration?”
I grunted. Maybe, although the Reverence had never gone in for animal sacrifice.
“Can you tell me more?” he asked.
“Not much to say. We’ve found a bird and a cat dead on the boards. And a man, though that killing seemed a little different.”
“Strange. What makes you think it’s associated with adjuration?”
I told him about the breach and the figure I saw. He looked intrigued.
“Well, if you learn more, please let me know. I’m a member of the Vigilance’s board of directors, so I have the right to represent the Vigilance in any official inquiry. Carel and Saint-Cloud may outrank me, but I’m usually more available.”
“You sure you want to get involved? I caught a glimpse of the breach when it crossed back over. Nearly had me puking on my boots.”
“Exactly why you’ll want another sentinel at your side.”
“Sure. Thanks.” I revised my opinion of the Nobilis upward a notch. He was still awful pretty, and he had reprehensible taste in pets and enamels, but not many high-ranked mages would volunteer to investigate a murder.
We talked a while longer. Then his butler announced dinner, and the Nobilis excused himself. I was escorted back out onto the street, a little more politely this time.
I swung past the Ministry to drop off my notes for Jaspin, then headed for the Hall of Records.
I caught Elliot just as he was locking the doors.
“Excuse me, Mister Chime, before you go, could you help me search through the last twenty years of the Vigilance’s tax records?” I sang out. He turned.
“Captain.” His face softened. It was almost clean today, except for a streak of ink on his brow where he must have wiped away a stray piece of hair. “I heard you were there when Lily Liselle was killed.”
“Yeah, sorry I didn’t drop by earlier. Things have been busy.”
“I’m sure.” He hesitated. “Are you here because you needed to look something up? I can stay a little longer, if you want.”
“No, no … I just wanted to stop by to say hello on my way home.” I ran a hand over my hair, self-consciously. “No reason. Not even an excuse, this time.”
“I see.” He cocked his head, studying me. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, fine. A little tired. Been pounding pavement all day; I’m ready to head home and get some sleep, honestly.”
“Have you had dinner yet?”
“I —” I shot him a quick look. “No, not yet.”
“There’s a place two blocks away that makes a good clam chowder.”
“You going there?”
“I could.”
I grinned.
“Great. Let’s go, and I’ll tell you all about Nobilis Aronson’s blue lizard.”
He laughed, and I shook off my exhaustion. It wasn’t much of a dinner, and Elliot was no rich and fancy Nobilis, but that was okay with me. I’d take a quiet librarian with ink smudges on his face over a lizard-loving pretty boy any day.