Crime and Violins #4: The Heart of Crown Royal
Posted by Arachne Jericho on Sunday, December 30th, 2007
Part of Crime and Violins/The Well-Tempered Clavier
previously: Crime and Violins #3: Wolf-tempered Klutter, First Prelude
“So, how is Arcady doing?” asked Hestia.
They had retired to a corner table with a bottle of Crown Royal, the contents of which Zene was drinking with more cultured relish than the amateur wine-tasters hovering about.
He carefully considered his next words, which might make the difference between one Crown Royal or two.
“Chipper. A bit too chipper. I can’t stand the man, he’s so fucking happy.”
Hestia held a glass of the whiskey in elegant fingers, but didn’t drink it. “If you feel that way, why are you staying with him?”
“I’ve got my own place. And I’m not the least bit attracted to men,” said Zene, his voice underlining the second part several times.
“Methinks thou doth protest too much. Arcady’s vain enough to only hire someone who would complement him. And I must say you two seem to go well together.” Her voice delicately leered at him.
Zene glared back, but she remained unafraid and, to him, viciously and unfairly amused. Suddenly she put down her glass and steepled her fingers, and her smile became friendlier, like a shark sensing blood in the water.
“Did he tell you about any of his cases?”
“Some,” said Zene, keeping his face deadpan.
“Which ones?”
Zene continued cautiously. “Just here and there. He doesn’t really tell me much.”
“Surely you can give me a short description of just one.”
“Right,” said Zene, relaxing a little, “the one where he recovered that emerald at 16.”
“How odd. I thought he would have regaled you at length with much more recent tales of grand deductive feats against the shadows of crime.”
Zene shrugged, poured himself more Crown Royal, and said nothing.
“He isn’t in active practice, is he.”
Zene shrugged again.
“That’s a good thing,” said Hestia. “His father will be happy to hear it.”
“He wants to be active. In fact, he wants me to be his partner.”
Hestia frowned. “Tell me you didn’t accept.”
“I hate getting shot at.”
“Good. We don’t want him to get the wrong idea. He just can’t accept that he was made to be a violinist, not a detective. All those Sherlock Holmes stories went to his head.”
“Seemed pretty good when he caught the emerald thieves,” said Zene.
“That was pure luck, much as I hate to say it. It was I who made it into a good story. Poor Arcady believes every word of it, and won’t listen to reason.”
Zene didn’t mention Arcady’s too-accurate deductions earlier.
“Can I count on you to dissuade him from that path? I can make it worth your while.”
“Another Crown Royal worth while?”
“At the very least.”
Zene finished off the last of the whiskey in his glass. “No.”
She paused. “We’re only looking out for him, to keep him from getting hurt. Surely you understand?”
“Too damn well. You don’t want him fucking up daddy’s campaign.” Zene stood, and bowed gravely. “Thanks for the Crown Royal. Going to go see about my job now.”
“Wait!”
Zene didn’t.
Part of Crime and Violins/The Well-Tempered Clavier previously: Crime and Violins #3: Wolf-tempered Klutter, First Prelude
Stormyon 04 Jan 2008 at 8:19 pm 1And this is totally not a reference to the Greek gods.
Hehe
“Chipper. A bit too chipper. I can’t stand the man, he’s so fucking happy.”
Boo Zene, boo. Don’t hate the happy people.
Ok, Zene redeemed himself at the end there. :)
Arachne Jerichoon 05 Jan 2008 at 11:34 am 2Zene doesn’t really hate happy people, even if he thinks he does.
Okay, yes, he does hate happy people, but he will make exceptions. Very, very rare exceptions.
He does indeed make up for that in other ways. ;)