“I’m not exactly going anywhere.” Twilight pointed out, twanging her seatbelt and huffing, well aware that the doors on the back of the car were set so they could only be unlocked from the outside and the windows would not open.
“We need to know if you know of anyone...or anything, that could do this.” Ley asked, seeming awkward.
Twilight froze for a moment, then looked out the window. “I don’t know what you’re...”
“We know.” Ley interrupted, “We know about everything.”
Twilight had had a suspicion that they had but she still could not quite believe it. “How?”
“Did you know that you can record the voices of, I believe they call themselves Immortals?” Twi nodded, still stunned, “Immortals, even if you can’t see them. They turn up rather nicely on rapid exposure cameras too. Fae too.”
“So you have been spying on me.” Twilight growled, annoyed at having that suspicion confirmed.
“I’m sorry but you have to understand our concerns.” Ley did look apologetic at least, “When we have reports of someone who talks to them self, can locate missing people easily and acts oddly, especially during certain times of the year, we have to consider mental instability or being part of something illegal. Admittedly it took me several attempts to get my head around the fact that you are in contact with invisible beings who control our weather, but if this is related to immortals, rather than a much more normal thing, we will need to talk to some of your contacts.”
“I can’t.” Twilight shook her head, “And not because I don’t want to. It’s Handover. I can’t get ahold of anyone right now.” Her left hand went to her right wrist, where an ornamental silver bangle rested. She rubbed her fingers over the diamonds and engraved snowflakes as she continued, “None of the Crystal Compass would do something like this. Especially not right now. The Seasons are turning, they wouldn’t have time to pause and kidnap a child.”
“What about the other ones?” Ley asked her, “The ones that don’t answer to that compass thing?”
“If it’s one of them, I haven’t seen any signs of it. If I hear anything, I’ll let you know.” Twilight didn’t add, ‘after it’s been sorted.’ “But I want your bugs out of my house. It’s an invasion of privacy and I’ve done nothing wrong, this has to be illegal! How long have you been hacking my life?”
“Since just after your grandmother died.” Ley admitted, “I’m pretty sure that we could probably make a case for insanity if we tried hard enough off of what we’ve recorded. However you’re quite right in that you’ve done nothing wrong. If we could be guaranteed that you’d pass on information now you know we’re aware of the truth...”
“How? Just phone up the station and say ‘oh I need to talk to Detective Ley about the immortal who’s kidnapping children!’? They’ll laugh and put the phone down.” The young librarian demanded, still ticked, “That’ll work. Not.”
“I understand where you’re coming from but I can give you a number to call that’ll patch you straight through to me.” Ley informed her, smiling slightly. “You can call me on that number.”
“I want your word that your team, and god only knows how you’re going to convince enough people to get one together, won’t harm any immortals or fae or anything else if they pose no risk to mortals.” Twilight snapped back, “And I want all of your bugs out of my home!”
“We’re officers of the law, not hunters or poachers. I have no great urge to pick a fight with a creature that can freeze me solid or turn me into a plant.” Ley snorted, amused at Twilight’s audacity. “Your friends are at no risk from me or anyone else I select for my team.” Ley smiled at her, “Do we have a deal? If we do, we’ll remove the bugs while you’re at your revision session tomorrow.”
Twilight did not really consider herself to have a choice. If she did not agree there was no way she was ever getting her privacy back and she was still worried that without her to confirm which immortals were ‘good’ and which were ‘bad’ that the police would just go after any that they could catch.
“We have a deal.” Twilight nodded as they pulled up outside her house, just wanting to go to bed and worry about this in the morning. “But you could have come for a cup of tea and a chat. I have earl grey, breakfast, raspberry if you’re allergic to caffeine...”
“You’re babbling, Miss Rodgers. Go to bed.” Ley sounded far too amused as her companion got out of the car and opened the door for Twilight, “I’ll be in touch.”
“The code for the key box is 3112.” Twlight grumbled as she exited the vehicle, “So your guys don’t have to break into my house. Good night.” She stalked to her house, pausing just long enough to plug her phone in and turn on her alarm clock before collapsing in bed.
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