The Licensed Mage

10 Harmony

        Raven yawned as he juggled his coffee and folders in one hand and grabbed his keys out to unlock the back door to the office. The door creaked and moan on its hinges and he made a mental note to fix it as he shuffled inside. He stifled another yawn as he flicked lights on, making his way to his desk. Booting his computer up, he crossed his feet on the desk waiting for it to start up, pulling open today’s newspaper. He flipped through the pages as his computer warmed up and finish his coffee. As he got to the sports section his coffee was gone and he got up to make his way to the break room, intending to make a pot.

        With his hand on the handle he stopped as he heard a noise. Wondering what it was he leaned his ear against the door and heard something that sounded like a lumber mill. Curious, he opened the door and could only stare at the spectacle before him. Lying on his couch, surrounded and buried in papers and files, was a sleeping, snoring Claire. Raven could only stare as her back heaved when another shattering snore yanked open her mouth, causing her to droll on the arm she used as a pillow. Raven wanted to yell and wake her for using his couch but he soon caught the whiff of the sweet nectar of the coffee gods.

        Keeping an eye on the sleeping mage and for some reason being careful not to wake her up, he quickly poured himself a cup of the freshly brewed coffee. Leaning against the counter, he turned to watch her as he sipped the coffee and wondered at what to do. Finally having enough of her infernal snoring, he walked over and shook her shoulder as he tried to wake her.

        “Hey. Hey get up.”

        Claire gasped as she shot up nearly knocking his coffee from his hands. She yawned into her hand and ran her fingers through her hair as she tried to clear her sleep covered eyes. Finally she began to focus on Raven who was guarding his coffee like it was gold.

        “Ra-Raven?” She yawned again as she tried to focus some more, “What are you doing here?”

        Raven raised an eyebrow as he took another sip, “I work here, remember?”

        “What?”

        Claire looked around and noticed she was in the break room. She moaned as she placed her face in her hands, horrified that Raven saw her in such a state.

        “How long have you been here?”

        “Huh?” She turned her hand and watched Raven as he bent down and started picking up papers. Claire quickly tried to straighten up the papers she was sitting on as she tried to think, “Uh, I don’t know. What time is it?”

        “7 am.”

        Raven watched as the time registered with Claire and she finally woke up, “Oh. Well in that case only a couple of hours.”

        She quickly got up and started putting files away in stacks as Raven sat on the now empty couch, “What are you doing here anyways?”

        “Oh, well,” with the last of the papers put away Claire stood with her hand in her hair as she thought, “I couldn’t sleep last night so I figured I’d come here to study or something.”

        Raven raised an eyebrow as he sipped his coffee, “Study?”

        “Well yeah,” Claire began to ring her hands together, wanting to run home for a quick shower, “I was trying to see if there were similar cases in the past. Maybe they could help shed some light or something.”

        He looked down at the coffee table and saw old case files spread out. Some had notes attached and Raven was surprised to see that many of the notes provided the final clue needed to solve the case.

        “You did this?”

        She came around and looked down at the notes he pointed at and sat as she nodded her head, “Yeah I was reading them and noticed that I could help. I don’t know if it’s major help but every detail counts right?”

        In one particular case a mom and pop store was robbed a few months ago. The culprit stole small items but there was no forensic evidence and the surveillance footage showed no one but the stolen goods disappearing out of thin air. Claire’s note suggested using specific programs that registers and finds magic signatures in films that even Raven hasn’t heard about. He knew that with this new info they’ll be able to pull not only a face but a usable body from the footage now. Raven looked up into Claire’s smiling eyes and bed head hair.

        “Yeah, every detail.”

        She smiled some more and said she was going to run home for a shower and change of clothes. She asked Raven if he could help get her notes to the detectives that needed them and he said he’ll take care of it. She left with a smile as he grabbed the files and headed back to him computer. The Captain and Henry came in 30 minutes later to find Raven clacking away at his computer. It was nothing they haven’t seen before and the Captain quickly made his way to his office where his phone was ringing, but as Henry walked by Raven’s desk he noticed the notes written in very feminine handwriting.

        “What’s this?”

        He picked a file up and read the note saying the witness was lying when they testified that they saw the magic attack for their eyes are unable to see magic. He read on as the note explained how to test the witnesses’ eyes as Raven snatched the file from his hands.

        “Claire’s notes. I’m writing the investigating detectives the new info.”

        “You?” Henry stared at Raven in astonishment. He leaned on the desk to look at the computer projection to verify, “You’re writing reports? Fer someone else?”

        Raven pushed Henry out the way in annoyance as he resumed typing, “Yes. Now go away, let me finish.”

        Henry couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The great Detective Raven Black was writing reports! For someone else! In all his years of knowing him, Henry has never heard of Raven doing such a thing for anyone. As Henry stood back and puzzled over this development an idea hit his head.

        He smiled as he plucked his straw from his shirt pocket and said with a smug look on his face, “It’s fer ‘er, ain’t it.”

        The look Raven gave him was murderous but Henry only slapped his knee and laughed, “Oh Lordy, t’is is ‘ust too gud!”

        Raven growled at him to shut up which caused Henry to laugh even harder. The Captain stuck his head out his office door yelling at Henry to get back to work. Henry wiped the tears from his eyes as he patted his friend’s shoulder.

        “Yer got it bad.”

        Raven refused to comment.

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