Apollo's Ghost-Hunting Daughter

Chapter 19

Burr and I had a long conversation during which he caught me up on all the details of the investigations Sage Team had covered in my absence. They had been fairly successful, and AJ had risen up as a leader after a few bumps and missteps. That filled me with pride, although there was also a slight twinge of something else that accompanied the feeling. Impending dread, perhaps, because soon, I'd be leaving Sage Team. Leaving it in AJ's capable hands.

Bittersweet. That was the word.

"How was your time with--are you feeling well?"

My grimace had been quite convincing.

"Not particularly. My...it's a bit personal, but my cramps are a quite severe this month," I said out of the corner of my mouth.

"Oh, umm...is this the, er, sort of thing that would impede in your leadership duties?"

"Maybe just a little bit. I'll tough it out."

"Nonsense," Burr decided quickly, turning away. His face was flush and his hands twitched. "We're wrapping up a case tonight, so it would take a bit of time to bring you into the loop. We'll wrap up that, you take care...of you, and we'll, er, be back up and running once things are...done."

That was incredibly awkward for both parties, but I just nodded my head, popped my eyebrows up and down, and cracked my knuckles slowly.

"You're amazing," I said. "Anything else?"

"No, no. Well, actually there are some files for you to review, so if you just want to grab those from your desk on the way out."

"Fantastic. Thank you so much."

I rose and left before Burr could change his mind. There was a massive stack of files on my desk, so I scooped those up and beat a retreat back to the Lodging House.

I budgeted my time carefully, leaving so I could arrive at Scotland Yard just after the evening shift started at four. The briefing was still happening when I arrived, so I sat down at Ewing's desk, trying to dispel my nerves. Kipps was sitting in on the briefing. In a few moments, he'd swoop in to distract Barnes.

I unfurled my newspaper and waited, ankle crossed over knee, feeling quite smug.

"Kavanagh," Ewing said coolly from behind me.

"Ah, Inspector Ewing," I said, carefully folding my newspaper so the bit about Lighton's death was facing upward.

Ewing looked down and saw it. He tried to hide his reaction, but his face fell.

"Oh, shame this, isn't it?" I said, tapping the paper and playing it off. "I mean, his death and the whole secret relic dealer thing. Really proves that sometimes, you really don't know someone. Did you get my note?"

"Yes, and we actually discovered evidence connected to the museum break in at the black market raid," Ewing said.

"Wow, that's fantastic news." That did make me think that maybe Collin and James had been involved. "Say, you know this Lighton bloke? What about his business partner? Is he in custody? Because I swear I saw him down by the Thames when I was on my jog this afternoon, but he's got one of those faces, you know? Is he wanted?"

"We have been looking for him, but there are no formal charges," Ewing said tightly. "Listen, Kavanagh, I have a case to oversee."

Ewing shoved the chair I was sitting in aside. I twisted around to watch him gather up a few things from the desk before striding out of the bullpen. He left, unaccompanied by his team, which was quite interesting.

I rolled up my newspaper and wheeled myself closer to Barnes's desk, propping my boots up on the edge.

"Kavanagh!" Barnes shouted from behind me.