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Diamonds and Deviants

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Gideon was surprised. He looked at Celtica with obvious suspicion. “What are you saying?”

“I’ll help you Gideon. I liked Simeon. In my opinion, they killed the wrong brother.”

Gideon glared at the woman opposite; he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He stood up from his seat so fast that he knocked the chair over. It was fortunate that Celtica’s office was ostentatious and spacious, the chair didn’t hit anything except the floor.

“What the hell does that mean?” he yelled.

Celtica remained calm. She looked up at the furious Gideon and said, “Simply that if they had murdered you first, Simeon would have let it go when the murderer was convicted. And his own subsequent murder would have been seen as nothing more than an unfortunate coincidence, an utter tragedy.”

She held his glare unflinchingly and he was the one to back down.

“Plus,” she said. “It would already have been done. You, on the other hand, haven’t let it go. You are not so confident in the humans’ ability to serve justice, you’ve been proactive in trying to look behind the scenes and you’ve protected yourself. That’s why you’re here in my office and that’s why you’re still alive. That’s also why I’ve been looking into Simeon’s murder.”

She put her hand on the swath of papers in front of her and twisted them around so that Gideon could read the court transcripts.

He didn’t read the papers, he just glanced at them and Celtica twisted them back around to face her again.

“What? I only made the appointment yesterday.”

“Yes, but you were allowed to make an appointment. I don’t take on just any case, you know, especially not cases that involve preterdeviants.”

Gideon picked up the overturned chair and sat down. The wind had been taken from his sails and he slumped in his seat. The fifteen-thousand-dollar suit suddenly looked like it had cost a lot less than he had paid for it.

Celtica poured him a glass of water and pushed it across her desk towards him. He took a drink of it and muttered, “I don’t understand.”

“I know you don’t, but so far, I’m impressed that you’re still alive. Now, was this a clan thing? I’m presuming that you have no connections with Simeon’s murderer and it follows that neither did he.”

“Yeah, that’s right. I’d never seen him before the court appearances.”

“I’ll also go so far as to presume that the one that murdered Simeon got such a small percentage of the original bounty that it would have been laughable and insulting to your clan if there were any of your clan left and results weren’t so dire.”

Gideon looked at Celtica and straightened up in his seat. He was grasping the thread of her thoughts and he wasn’t liking what he was hearing.

She continued her explanation. “The original payment most likely went to someone that skimmed a percentage off the top and gave it to another to deal with. The contract on your brother was way too hot for any of the usual assassins to take on. The process of skimming from the top and passing it on went on until it got low enough down the food chain to be worthwhile to some scumbag or other. The scumbag that took it wouldn’t have had any idea who or what Simeon was and as far as he was concerned, the only other one involved in the transaction was the scumbag that sent the money, the directions and the method of killing. If we manage to get to the top of that particular chain, we’ll be very fortunate indeed.”

“Really? There’s no chance of finding him?”

“I didn’t actually say that, did I?”

Gideon looked at Celtica for a moment. He dropped his head down onto his hands and grasped it as tight as he could, as though he could press the information into his brain and better understand what she said.

“Just please tell me what you mean.”

“I thought I had. It’s going to be a very long investigation, I think it may lead back to your own species and it’s going to cost you a lot of money.”

“You’re taking the case?”

“You got an appointment, of course I’m taking the case.”

“Look, you know my position. Before Simeon was murdered, there were only two of us left. Our Clan have all died in mysterious and bizarre circumstances but each death was ruled as explainable in the inquests and inquiries. Simeon put his utmost trust in the humans and their laws. I never did. What would you do in my position, Celtica?”

“If I were you, I’d trust me to do what you’re paying me for. If I were in your position as myself, they’d already be regretting ever even thinking about it.”

Gideon looked into her dark brown eyes and saw what he needed to see. He nodded and offered her his hand.