Monster Like You

Chapter 30

It was hard to call my idea a genius, and I was surprised that none of us thought about it before and did not check it. The probability of finding a new lead was small, but it could still be a clue.

"You said that North didn't break into you, but appeared very quietly. I even suspected the portal, but the magicians didn't find any traces of it," I explained excitedly, pacing Rea's kitchen. "I've never heard you break into me in the same way. And now I think: what if they entered through the window in the same way? They also used this spell, since it's so simple. The mages might not have noticed his trace."

"It's a good idea, but my house doesn't have a fire escape on the outside of the building," Nathaniel countered, frowning.

"But you have a balcony. They could have come down on top of him. There are two more floors above you. The tenants in the apartment above you were interviewed, they did not hear or see anything, but it did not occur to anyone to check who lives on the top floor. We didn't see any reason, they couldn't hear anything through the floor."

"North might as well have come down from the roof. But what does it give us?"

"No, those who tried to kidnap you should have settled in your house. Because no extraneous transport was recorded nearby," I smiled. "So how and where were they going to take you? Don't drag it on yourself, right? It's insanely audacious and so brazen that it didn't occur to us to check it out."

"I always knew you were a good analyst. When your head is not full of meaningless experiences."

I decided to take it as a compliment.

Rea lent us her car, saying that its "sudden malfunction" would be a good explanation for being late for work: unlike us, the laboratory staff had a fixed work schedule.

It didn't seem the most sensible thing for me to drag Nathaniel to his house, because they could have taken him under surveillance, but he said he wouldn't let me risk it alone. And, of course, I was glad to hear it. For some reason, the care he showed for the second day meant a lot to me. Although deep down I understood that it was caused by his feelings for Alyss. But I also helped him because of my feelings for his prototype. Everything was fair.

I called Kiaran from the car while Nathaniel was trying to break through the thickening morning traffic jams. I was even tacitly allowed to confess where I was going.

"This interview raises more questions than answers," I told Kiaran honestly.

"But you also thought that Elsdon was involved in Penn's story?"

"Let's not jump to conclusions, okay? I want to check something in Nathaniel's apartment, then we'll meet in Corps and talk."

I squinted at Nathaniel tensely. I was talking to Kiaran on speakerphone, so he heard our conversation. And now he just nodded, making it clear that it wouldn't hurt us.

"Yes, go alone," I replied, trying my best to keep my voice steady. "Make sure she's okay."

We didn't drive close to the house, parked in the next yard and looked around first. However, neither Nathaniel nor I noticed any suspicious cars, which, of course, did not mean that there was no surveillance. But we had no choice. Too much time has already passed, we might not have found anything, but it was worth trying.

However, only a nice elderly couple lived in the apartment on the top floor, who was noticeably worried when they saw my identification document, but was obviously completely innocent of the attack on Nathaniel. After asking a few general questions about the incident and predictably not getting interesting answers, I said goodbye, smiling diligently, and returned to Nathaniel, who was waiting for me at the exit to the landing.