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Adam took a long sip of wine, savoring the flavor before he leaned back in his chair. Most modern wines were too processed for his tastes, but every so often, he’d find a gem. He’d need to stockpile several bottles of this one, especially since it currently seemed to be the only thing that was going well for him at the moment. It wasn’t that things were going wrong, per se, it was more that nothing interesting was happening. Adam and boredom had never mixed well, and adding immortality to the equation just made it worse. The last time he’d had an extended case of boredom, he wound up starting a civil war. Not that that hadn’t had its moments, but he didn’t want to have to resort to something too extreme again; otherwise, that sort of thing might wind up losing its edge too.
He spun the wine glass in his fingers, watching the light bounce off the glass, and turned his attention to the one thing that promised some entertainment, one Henry Morgan. Finally running into a fellow immortal, and such an inexperienced one, had energized Adam immensely. He’d had a lot of fun taunting Henry from the shadows, and recently made the game more interesting by letting Henry get a good look at him. And after all, he’d stayed away from Henry for over two months now; it was probably time to remind him of Adam’s presence. The question was, where to go from here? He had a few more personal items and stories to goad Henry with, but he was saving those for special occasions. Just calling and leaving cryptic phone calls wouldn’t do it—Henry would most likely try to ignore them. Popping up in Henry’s peripheral vision and then vanishing out of sight was an entertaining thought, but he risked being noticed by Henry’s hangers-on and subsequently caught. No, the only proper way to mess with Henry at the moment was to do something relatively innocuous, leaving him even more unsure as to Adam’s intentions. A slight smile curled Adam’s lips, and he bent over his desk once more. Now that he’d started that train of thought, he was pretty sure he had just the thing…
***
“Abraham?” Henry said, entering the kitchen, “Are you planning on doing the laundry today?”
Abe looked up from his newspaper. “Hmm? Oh, no. I figured I’d do that tomorrow. Why?”
Henry pointed back in the direction of their bedrooms. “I just opened my closet to choose a scarf for today, and they’ve all disappeared. I thought maybe you were trying to be nice and clean them all at once.”
Abe looked as bewildered as Henry felt. “No, that wasn’t me. I know better than to touch your scarves without your permission. Besides, don’t some of those need to be dry cleaned?”
Henry nodded absently. “But if you didn’t do it…who did?”
Abe’s expression changed to one of horror, and he bolted out of his chair. “I need to check the store to make sure nothing’s missing! You might want to do the same thing upstairs!”
Henry promptly returned to his bedroom to check his other valuables. The small safe in his dresser hadn’t been tampered with, his wallet and pocketwatch were still on top of his bedside table, and as far as he could see, nothing else in his room was out of place. Still, it didn’t make a great deal of sense. Who would break into their place just to steal scarves? Even if some of them were made of expensive material, they probably didn’t have a great resale value.
He returned to his closet, looking at the fifteen empty hangers where his scarves had once been, hoping he could spot something. Sure enough, something finally caught his attention after a few seconds of examination. One of the hangers, in addition to the usual tag from the dry cleaners, had a small piece of lined paper attached to it. Henry removed the hanger and peered at the paper, his bewilderment changing to annoyance as he read;
I know you get naked on a semi-regular basis, but I thought it might be amusing to make you feel naked in an entirely different way. Don’t worry, I have no intention of destroying them. All you need to do is find them, and your collection will be restored. Think of it as a way to exercise your brain.
-A
Henry growled, crumpling the paper in his fist, and stalked out of the room. He knew he should be worried about how Adam had managed to enter his bedroom undetected and steal the scarves, but right now, he was more perturbed and irritated at Adam’s game. Whatever he was planning, it was likely to be at Henry’s expense, and waste a great deal of time. This “mysterious figure” angle of his was wearing thin incredibly fast.
He found Abe downstairs, peering suspiciously into cabinets. “I don’t think you’ll find anything missing,” he said dryly, holding out the note, “The theft was entirely personal.”
Abe’s brow furrowed as he skimmed the paper. “Talk to Jo about this, Henry. This qualifies as breaking and entering, not to mention stalking. The police may be able to do something about him.”
“Would that I could,” Henry sighed, “But they wouldn’t have much to go on. ‘Adam’ is clearly an alias, the note is incriminating but would also lead the police to ask questions I don’t have good answers to, and we won’t be able to get fingerprints off it now that both of us have handled it. Besides, he’s been around long enough that he probably knows how to evade the police, or make up an airtight alibi. All it would do is increase the chances that he’d actually turn violent. As much as I hate it, the only thing to do is to play along.”
Abe massaged his temples. “I know I won’t be able to talk you out of this. Just…be careful, ok? If this starts getting dangerous, promise you’ll call me, or get Jo involved.”
“You have my word,” Henry said, taking the note back and returning upstairs, “If there’s any way to spoil Adam’s fun even a little, you can be sure I’ll find a way to do so.”
***
While it was impossible to put Adam’s game completely out of his mind, Henry still had work to do, and thus planned to finish his shift at the morgue before really throwing himself into the task of tracking down his scarves. No doubt there was a clue in the note itself, and some careful examination would lead him to one or more of his scarves. Leaving the note down in his basement lab, Henry wished Abe well and left for work, not missing the glance Abe shot him. He understood his son’s concern, but wished he’d have a little more faith in Henry’s abilities. Yes, Adam had more life experience, but Henry had 200 years under his belt. That had to count for something.
Once he’d arrived at the morgue, Henry took a deep breath and put on a smile, hoping his irritation wouldn’t be obvious. The last thing he needed was anyone asking questions about what was wrong. It was too early in the morning to pass it off as “having a bad day”, and he was sure he looked too well-rested to claim that he hadn’t slept well last night. All he could do was pretend nothing was wrong, and rely on everyone else just taking his word for it.
“Good morning, Lucas,” he said as he pushed open the door, “Anything interesting I should know about?”
Lucas immediately looked up from his clipboard, a grin spreading across his face. It wasn’t his usual eager-to-please grin, either; that was the smile of the cat who ate the canary. “There is one thing, Doc, but it’s more personal than professional.”
Henry was immediately suspicious. If Lucas had good news to share, he would have blurted it out as soon as Henry had entered the room. He wasn’t very good at keeping things to himself…unless he was trying to make a grand reveal to show off his intelligence. “And what would that be, Lucas?” he said out loud, keeping his voice and his expression neutral.
“I’m guessing you must have been in a bit of a hurry last night, Doc,” Lucas said, opening up one of the cold chambers and pulling out the platform, “Because you left something behind.”
Henry knew what it was before he even stepped forward to take a look, and the irritation from earlier in the morning returned full force. Lying on the chest of Mr. Kohner, a pneumonia victim, was one of Henry’s scarves, a thick one made of icy blue wool. It was perfectly arranged to look like it had fallen there accidentally, but Henry knew better. He reached out and grabbed the scarf off Kohner’s chest with unnecessary force. “Yes, well, thank goodness we were finished with the autopsy on him,” he said curtly, “I wouldn’t want to have lost any vital evidence by such a careless act.”
“Your secret’s safe with me,” Lucas assured him with a wink, “Though I’m a little surprised you didn’t realize you’d lost it. Usually you and your scarves are inseparable. Speaking of which, why aren’t you wearing one today?”
Henry groaned internally. “I realized I’d left this behind by the time I got home,” he answered, “And figured I’d just pick it up and wear it home today, assuming it wasn’t too dirty. Fashionable they may be, but wearing two scarves at once is a bit much.”
A little of the satisfied look left Lucas’ face, and Henry felt a distinct bit of schadenfreude at that. “Give me a moment in my office, and then we can get started.” he said, sweeping past Lucas and closing his office door behind him before his assistant could even offer up a token protest. Once he was sure he was safely in private, he quickly examined the scarf for evidence of a note, then looked over his entire office for any sign of a second scarf. Although Adam had rooted through his personal belongings in the past, it seemed he’d tried to be a bit more discreet this time. Henry thanked heaven for small favors, took a moment to compose himself, then returned to Lucas, hoping there was a good number of bodies for him to lose himself in and take the edge off his frustration.
Things were relatively quiet for about two hours. There weren’t any particularly unusual or mysterious bodies to process, but even the simple routine was enough to calm Henry down a bit. He was just about to return to his office to write up the death certificates when the phone rang. Lucas, of course, got there first. “Morgue. Oh, hello, Detective, what’s up? Uh, yeah, he’s here. Sure.”
He turned to Henry and held out the phone. “It’s Detective Martinez for you. She sounds kinda baffled. Maybe she’s got a good case for us?”
“We’ll see,” Henry said, before putting the phone to his ear. “Good morning, Detective. What can I do for you?”
Jo hesitated for a moment before she said “Could you come upstairs for a moment, Henry? There’s…something you need to see.”
“I’ll be right up.” Henry said, hoping against hope it wasn’t for the reason he thought it was. Without a word of explanation, he hung up the phone and left the room, ignoring Lucas’ questioning glance. He tapped his foot impatiently as the elevator took him up to the main floors, hands curling and uncurling into fists. Please just let it be a new case, he begged, Lucas was bad enough, but to get Jo involved too…
Jo was standing at her desk when Henry approached, a mixed expression of bafflement and amusement on her face. “Good to see you, Henry. Sorry to pull you from your work, but I figured an in-person explanation would be best.”
“It’s not a problem,” Henry assured her, heart sinking, “What is it?”
Jo opened one of her desk drawers and withdrew another one of Henry’s scarves, the delicate dark yellow silk with silver curlicues. “Do you have any idea what this is doing in my desk?”
Henry put on his best smile and reached out for it. “So that’s where it’s been! I’ve been wondering about it for days!”
“I’m glad to reunite you two,” Jo said with a slight grin, “But that still doesn’t explain why it was in my desk. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t there last night.”
Henry shrugged, willing his voice into the authoritative tone he took whenever he was explaining things to someone. “I wish I could answer that. My best guess is that I lost this up here earlier this week, someone on the cleaning staff found it, and assumed, based on its pattern or the closeness to your desk, that it was yours, and put it inside a drawer so you wouldn’t miss it.”
Jo looked skeptical, but pushed the drawer closed and sat down again. “I guess…it was lucky that they managed to find it, though. You’ll have to send the janitorial staff a thank you note.”
“An excellent idea,” Henry said, “I’ll make sure to do so. But it can wait until later. While I’m here, is there anything else you need? Any issues with a case?”
Jo shook her head. “Things are going relatively smoothly here. In fact, I was going to ask you if there was anything of interest down in the morgue.”
“Not at the moment,” Henry said, “But if something comes up, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
With that, he made his goodbyes and returned to the morgue, careful to tuck the scarf under his shirt so Lucas wouldn’t spot it and ask what was going on. He just had to hope that Lucas and Jo wouldn’t compare notes, or at least that when one or both stories inevitably did come out, it would seem like it had happened on two separate days. The situation was hard enough to explain as it was; trying to make up something plausible could be well-nigh impossible.
Once Henry had returned to the morgue and hidden the second scarf in his desk, he returned to work, assuming that was the end of things for the time being. Had Adam hidden his scarves anywhere else in the station, they surely would have been found by now. There was always the chance that they’d been discovered and been disposed of by someone who wasn’t aware of Henry’s penchant for scarves, but that didn’t seem to be Adam’s intent. Not that he trusted Adam’s word, but this was starting to seem more and more like a prank rather than an unquestionably malicious act. All Henry could really do was try to track down his scarves as fast as possible, so Adam wouldn’t have long to gloat over his cleverness.
The afternoon passed without incident, and Henry was glad of it. Lucas kept shooting him sideways glances and slight grins, but he was refraining from actively teasing Henry, which gave Henry hope that he would let the incident drop relatively soon. Really, the sooner he could forget this whole thing, the better.
“I believe that’s it for the day, Lucas,” Henry said, removing his gloves, “All that’s left is the tidying up.”
“You got it!” Lucas said, writing down the last few notes before pushing the latest body back into the cold chamber, “But maybe I should be the one to check each chamber. Just to make sure nothing else gets misplaced.”
Henry gave him a look. “Be my guest. But if those doors aren’t properly secured, you’ll be taking full responsibility for it.”
Lucas’ grin faded a little, but he nodded anyway. “I’ll double and triple check them, just to be sure.”
While Lucas moved from chamber to chamber, Henry straightened up the morgue and cleaned the tools they’d used that afternoon. Once he’d set the final clamp aside, he peeled off his gloves and washed his hands, automatically pulling out three paper towels from the dispenser next to the sink to make sure he dried every inch of his hands. It was a technique he’d learned very early in his career as a doctor; take every precaution to prevent cross-contamination.
He was just starting to run the cloth over his hands when he felt the brush of something soft over his wrist. Taking a good look at his hands, he saw part of his grey scarf lying on top of the two white paper towels, the remaining segment of it still trapped inside the dispenser. Glancing over his shoulder to make sure Lucas hadn’t noticed, he quickly pulled the scarf out and hid it under his shirt, silently seething. Even if Adam was staying true to his word (this scarf wouldn’t be damaged by water), he was playing a dangerous game. What if it had been Lucas drying his hands instead of Henry? Trying to explain how the scarf wound up in there would be incredibly difficult, and could possibly lead to secrets coming out. It might fit with Adam’s twisted version of fun, but it still felt like a step too far.
“I’m finished here,” he said out loud, “I just have to gather things up from my office, and then I’ll be on my way.”
“Sounds good,” Lucas said, opening another chamber, “Just make sure you don’t forget your scarf.”
“I don’t think I could if I wanted to,” Henry said dryly, before striding to his office and firmly shutting the door behind him. After tidying up his desk, he changed into his coat and started stuffing his three scarves into his pockets, with the blue one deliberately sticking out over the edge so Lucas couldn’t make further comment. As he was pulling the grey scarf from his shirt, something rough brushed against his stomach, and he paused to look down. Another scrap of paper was pinned to the scarf. Snatching it up, Henry read;
You’ve probably found the three scarves I’ve hidden in the police station by now. I’ve got another three for you in a central location. One of them’s gone to the dogs, one provided me a bit of temptation, and one’s had the bloom taken off the rose. Best of luck.
-A
Henry had to scoff slightly; for someone trying to lead him on an elaborate scavenger hunt, Adam’s clues were far too simple. Hiding the scarf and the paper from sight, he left his office, said a cursory goodbye to Lucas, and made his way outside. Hailing the first taxi that passed, he directed the driver to Central Park, then leaned back in his seat to attempt to figure out exactly where Adam had put two of his scarves. The faster he could figure it out, the faster he could get back to Abe and enlist him in the chase.
***
The streetlights were just flickering on when Henry arrived. It would make his searching a little more difficult, but on the bright side, it would prevent others from finding and walking off with his scarves. Paying off the driver, Henry squared his shoulders and made a beeline for the statue of Balto. It only took a minute of squinting at the statue to find his black scarf tied into knots at the base of Balto’s tail. Three minutes and several nervous glances later, Henry had managed to work the scarf off the statue and get it securely in his pocket. With a grim smile of satisfaction, he turned his attention to the next, hardest clue.
Botany wasn’t one of Henry’s strong suits, and the fact that the trees hadn’t started blossoming yet made things even more difficult. As a result, he wound up having to walk up to each tree, peering at the branches for anything that looked out of place. He was about halfway across the park when he finally spotted his brown scarf arranged in the upper branches of a tree, pressed against the bark in just the right way to blend in. Henry sighed and climbed onto a nearby rock in order to make a grab for it. When he still wasn’t close enough, he kept one foot on the rock and moved the other to the trunk of the tree, which just got him close enough to touch the scarf. As his fingers closed around the cloth, his shoe slipped against the bark, and before Henry could do much more than swear, he lost his purchase and fell backwards. Fortunately, there was dirt and grass to break his fall, but it knocked the wind out of him, thoroughly stained his coat, and there were at least five witnesses to the whole thing. “You all right?” a man asked, starting to approach, “What on earth was that all about?”
“I’m fine,” Henry said, accepting the man’s hand and pulling himself up, “My scarf flew off with that last gust of wind, and I was just trying to get it back.”
The man nodded. “Looks like you succeeded. Next time, though, maybe you should ask someone to help you out. You might have broken your neck, and then where would you be?”
In the river, Henry thought, but out loud, he merely said “Your point is taken. Thank you for your help.”
Then, brushing off his shoulders, he hurried away, aware that people were whispering behind him. Since he hadn’t been naked, the odds were good that it wouldn’t get back to the police station, but you never knew how things would turn out. As if he hadn’t attracted enough attention over the past few months.
Growing even more exasperated at Adam, Henry made his way to the conservatory, trying to ignore the curious glances tossed his way as he walked briskly towards the roses. Finding a large collection of them in the far corner, he crouched down and peered at the blossoms, carefully pushing them aside with a finger to check the deepest sections of the bushes. Nevertheless, he managed to receive five pricks and two scratches on his hands before he finally located his red silk scarf, carefully intertwined with another rose to prevent it from being torn. Adam had gone all out with this one, carefully folding the scarf until it actually resembled a rose. Had it been in another circumstance, Henry might have been impressed. As it was, he picked it up carefully and hurried out of the conservatory before anyone could accuse him of stealing.
Once Henry was safe in another taxi, he fiddled with the “rose”, trying to disentangle it and find the clue that Adam had no doubt hidden in the center. The folds were more cleverly arranged than he’d realized, though, and he was still wrestling with it by the time the cab dropped him off at the antique store. He was so busy tugging at the cloth that he was only halfway focused on trying to get his key in the lock, and therefore jumped in surprise when the door was yanked open. “Where the hell have you been?” Abe demanded, “You’re over an hour late! I was worried that you’d had another run-in with Adam!”
Henry grimaced and held up the scarf. “I did, in a sense. Fortunately, he hasn’t shown his face yet, because otherwise I would be very tempted to kill him.”
Abe still didn’t seem happy. “You could have called, at least.”
“I didn’t think it would take this long,” Henry said honestly, “I figured it would only take half-an-hour at most. Besides, I didn’t want my scarves lost or damaged. Given where Adam put some of them, that was a very real possibility.”
“How many have you found?”
“Six,” Henry answered, heading upstairs, “And I’m hoping this one will point the way to a few more. If I’m lucky, I might be able to recover most of them tonight. That is, if I get a little help…”
Abe sighed. “Of course I’ll help. Maybe it’ll keep you out of trouble. Just let me know what exactly I might be getting myself into.”
Henry deposited the scarves on the kitchen table, telling Abe about each scarf’s hiding spot. By the time he’d finished, Abe’s eyes had widened. “I hate to say it, but he’s pretty good at this.”
“Well, he’s had centuries of practice,” Henry pointed out dryly, “And probably has plenty of things he’s had to hide. Though I doubt most of them have been this…inconsequential before.”
“Depends on your point of view,” Abe said, before rolling his eyes, “Give me that.”
He took the half-untied scarf out of Henry’s hands and started pulling. After about two minutes, he held out the scarf, another note pinned to the end of it. “All right, where to now?”
Henry blinked as he took the scarf back. “How did you…”
“You learn how to unfold and untie things carefully in my line of work,” Abe said, “Besides, you’re not in a position to fully concentrate on what you’re doing. Come on, what’s the note say?”
Henry unpinned the note and read;
I hope you’ve been enjoying this little search. If hiding these gave me a shot of adrenaline, surely it must be doing even more for you. Maybe it’s even bringing up some memories for you. To encourage that walk down memory lane, I’ve hidden another three scarves in some old haunts of ours. One is fairly easy, though you might have to do some research (not difficult for a Jack-of-all-trades like yourself; it’s quite comic, really). The second, I’ll admit, is a bridge too far, but I’ll try not to keep you hanging for long. And after all that, I made the last one easy for you. Just think about where you were stationed when we first became aware of each other. Once you find that one, you’ll also get the whereabouts of three more scarves. That is, if you’re smart enough to figure it out.
-A
“Any ideas what he means?” Abe asked as Henry set the note down.
“Yes,” Henry answered, “Get your keys. If we hurry, we can make it to the library before it closes.”
On the drive to the library, Henry explained. “He’s hidden these three in locations related to our past interactions. The library relates to the Jack the Ripper copycat case, I’m sure the second clue refers to the bridge where Vicky Hulquist was murdered, and unless I’m very much mistaken, my third scarf will be in the lost and found at the train station nearest where I had the accident that caught Adam’s attention.”
Abe whistled. “He really has thought of everything.”
“I wish you wouldn’t sound so impressed.”
“Look, I don’t like it any more than you do. But even when you don’t like something, sometimes you can’t help but admire the artistry.”
Henry opened his mouth to retort, then remembered that there had been a few times in his life where he’d seen bodies where murder had been expertly carried out. There had been a brief flash of respect for someone with that much skill and precision, even though he’d immediately hated himself for thinking it. Sinking down in his seat slightly, Henry merely jerked his thumb at the windscreen. “Drive.”
He refused to look in Abe’s direction, but he was sure his son was smirking. “You got it, Henry.”
***
Luck seemed to be on Henry’s side. Not only was the library still open, it was mostly empty, making it much easier for Henry and Abe to look up and make their way to the Graphic Novels section. Sure enough, slid throughout the pages of a collection of Soul Slasher was Henry’s white scarf. Henry opened each page to carefully extract the cloth, not wanting to damage either the scarf or the book, unsurprised when he saw that each page related to him in some way. One section of scarf was covering a doctor examining the body of Jack’s first victim, another featured the police investigating a murder scene. It culminated, of course, with a two page spread of Mary Kelly’s mutilated body, looking almost identical to the body Henry had seen one hundred and sixteen years ago. Abe made a noise of disgust, and Henry pulled the scarf from the book and snapped it closed, shoving it back into place. “Let’s get to the bridge.” he said curtly. He started to drape the scarf around his neck out of habit, then thought better of it and tucked it into his pocket. While it wouldn’t require cleaning the way the rest of his scarves would, he didn’t particularly want to put it around his neck at the moment, considering what it had been temporarily associated with.
The scarf on the bridge was a little more difficult. Despite Abe’s protests, Henry made him park the car near the bridge instead of blocking traffic, then went down the pedestrian walkway, peering over the edge for a glimpse of something fluttering in the wind. When he found it, he waited until there weren’t any cars around, then carefully climbed over the railing and inched his way to the scarf. Untying the scarf one-handed was a challenge, with Henry holding his breath the entire time at the fear that either it or him would wind up in the river, but somehow, he managed it. As he gingerly returned to the walkway, checking once again for approaching vehicles, the thought went through his mind that Adam had probably placed the scarf in the exact spot where Henry had found the carabiner during the Hulquist case. Shaking his head, he tucked the scarf into his pocket and made his way back to Abe once his heart rate had returned to normal.
“Got it?” Abe asked, as Henry entered the car.
Henry nodded. “And at least this time, I got back unscathed.”
“Not entirely,” Abe said, pointing to Henry’s trousers, which had been covered with still more grime from his kneeling against the metalwork, “Really, your whole outfit will probably need to be cleaned twice to deal with everything it’s accumulated today.”
“Maybe it’s easier just to burn it,” Henry said, “Who knows what else Adam has in store for me? Knowing my luck, they’ll wind up in tatters. It seems fitting, doesn’t it? I gain my scarves and lose all the rest of my clothes.”
“Don’t give him ideas.” Abe said, as he maneuvered the car back onto the road.
“I doubt he can hear me. He may be stalking me, but I don’t think he’d go so far as to plant a bug in your car.”
“I’m still going to check later tonight, you realize.”
“I know,” Henry said, “And in a way, I’m glad of it. But let’s not think about it at the moment. One thing at a time.”
When they arrived at the train station, Henry jumped out of the car as soon as Abe put on the brakes, hurrying towards the Lost and Found kiosk. As he did so, it occurred to him that reclaiming his “lost” property might be a little more difficult this time around. How was he going to prove that the scarf was his? It wasn’t as though his name was on it, and he doubted the attendant would just take his word for it. What would happen if he couldn’t get it back?
He shouldn’t have worried. As soon as he explained that he’d lost a scarf, the woman behind the stand grinned and nodded. “Oh, yeah, Tim mentioned that. You’ve got a great friend.”
“I beg your pardon?”
The woman ducked behind her counter. “Your friend was in a hurry himself, but he took the time to drop your scarf off, giving your name and everything. He said he knew you’d head back this way after work and reclaim it, so he didn’t feel bad about not being able to give it to you himself. I’d say you owe him big.”
Henry was glad she couldn’t see his mouth drop open. Shutting it quickly, he just made a humming noise that he hoped she’d interpret as agreement. The woman popped up again, laying a dark purple scarf and a folded note on the countertop. “There we are. If you’ll just show me your ID, Mr. Morgan, you can take this back.”
Henry did so, and after a quick glance at his name and photo, the woman nodded, pushed the scarf to him, and wished him a good evening. Pressing the scarf to his chest, Henry thanked her and turned away, spotting Abe waiting at a nearby bench. “So, what’s next?” Abe asked, “Something near the river?”
“I hope not,” Henry said, removing and unfolding the note, “I’d like to stop tempting fate today.”
Sitting down next to Abe, he read aloud;
Now that we’ve spent time reminiscing, it’s time to get you back into the modern world. But don’t worry, I’ll ease you into it. Go to a place where you can find practically everything you want and need under one roof, and seek out theater’s natural evolution. I even connected it to one of your contemporaries. After that, go down two floors, and you’ll find your next scarf sleeping with the fishes. Finally, things will really heat up, but without the use of fire or gas. You might want to hurry with that last one, though; even display products can sometimes be sold.
-A
Henry frowned at the note. “I can figure out the basics, but I’m afraid I’m a little confused as to where he actually wants me to go. I presume he means a shopping mall, but which shopping mall?”
“Give me a second…” Abe said, pulling out his phone and tapping on it. He nodded at the screen and stood up. “Got it. Let’s go.”
“How…” Henry began, immediately following Abe’s lead.
“It wasn’t that difficult. I just Googled to see what classic movies were being shown in New York today. The 1940 version of Pride and Prejudice is the last show of the night at a mall about five miles from here. It was the only one that fit the description of ‘contemporary’ for you, so…”
“All that from thirty seconds of playing with your phone?” Henry said, unable to keep the amazement out of his voice.
“Adam’s right about one thing, Henry,” Abe said, waving the phone in Henry’s face before returning it to his pocket, “You really should embrace certain modern technologies. It might make your job, your life, and your research that much easier.”
“We’ll see,” Henry said, not wanting to get into the old argument, “First, though, let’s get to that shopping mall. I think we’ve got about an hour before it closes.”
***
“But I just misplaced my scarf!” Henry protested, “Can’t I just pop in and take a quick look around?”
The teenager behind the glass shook his head. “Unless you can produce the ticket stub, you’re going to have to buy another ticket. Sorry, but those are the rules.”
Henry sighed and withdrew his wallet. “Fine. Two tickets to whatever movie is available.”
“That’d be the classic movie, Theater 2. If you’re actually interested in watching it, you’ve missed about a quarter of it.”
“I’m sure I’ll be able to pick up the basics,” Henry said dryly, accepting the tickets, “I presume there’s no way to get these refunded?”
“Sorry.”
“Fair enough, I suppose,” Henry said, “Come on, Abe.”
Despite the wording of Adam’s clue, they didn’t head straight for Theater 2. If he’d left the scarf there, it would probably have been noticed and picked up by the cleaning crew. It was much more likely that he’d hidden it somewhere in the main body of the theater. Therefore, Henry and Abe took opposite sides of the room, examining every inch of space and trying to ignore the confused looks of the workers at the concession stand. Finally, Abe spotted the scarf threaded through the back of a cutout advertising a modern period piece. “Why am I not surprised…” Henry muttered, before walking over to carefully dislodge the scarf. The two cashiers were openly staring now, and though Henry tried to assure them that it was a one-time prank that wouldn’t happen again, he suspected they were glad when he and Abe finally left.
“What now?” Abe asked as they headed for the escalator.
Henry looked over the note again. “We know it’s on the ground floor. I saw a fountain when we came in. I presume he’s being clever and weighted it down with a rock or wedged it under a cement block. I just hope it’s one of the more durable scarves…”
“He seems to be keeping his word that he wouldn’t deliberately destroy your scarves,” Abe reminded him, “I doubt he’d slip up now.”
“I almost wish he would,” Henry said, “It would give me more of a reason to press charges, even if they didn’t do any good. Depending on which scarf he ruined, it might count as Destruction of Property.”
Abe smirked. “Now there’s a thought…”
Once they’d reached the ground floor, Henry made a beeline for the fountain and sat at the edge of it, leaning over as far as he dared to peer into the water. The constantly moving water and reflections of the coins made it difficult to focus on the darker corners of the fountain, but he narrowed his eyes and kept searching.
“Henry…”
Henry ignored Abe, leaning his body to the side to examine a new area. Surely the scarf would eventually ripple, catching his attention…
“Henry!”
Abe’s hand on his shoulder was probably meant to be steadying, but the combination of the unexpected touch and the loud tone meant that Henry jumped in surprise, causing him to lose his balance and fall towards the water. Fortunately, Abe’s grip and a quick grab of the stone prevented Henry from getting completely drenched, although the arm he’d thrown out to break his fall was soaked up to the elbow. Shaking it out, he looked over at Abe. “What is it? Did you spot it?”
“No,” Abe said, pointing to something across the way, “But I think we might not have taken the clue literally enough.”
When Henry spotted the store Abe was indicating, he groaned and put his dry hand to his head. “Of course. I should have considered…”
“Berate yourself later. We’ve got another half-hour before the mall closes, so we’d better get moving.” Conceding the point, Henry gingerly got up off the fountain, wringing out his sleeve to the best of his ability, and followed Abe to the store labeled “Derek’s Pet Supplies.”
While Abe distracted the clerk with a conversation about air purifiers, Henry made his way to the section of the store where the fish were kept. The layout was actually rather nice, perfectly split between fully stocked aquariums and empty or decorative ones. Not wanting to make the same mistake twice, Henry looked at the empty ones first. It was a good choice; in the seventh aquarium he looked in, he spotted a familiar spotted pattern that almost, but not quite, blended in with the gravel at the bottom of the tank. A little careful maneuvering allowed him to remove the scarf without incident, though it did destroy the put-together look of the tank. Wincing apologetically, Henry brushed the gravel off the scarf and returned to the front.
To his slight surprise, Abe was actually purchasing an air purifier. “What’s this for?” he asked, greeting Abe’s inquisitive look with a slight nod.
“To keep the air in the store fresh,” Abe said with a shrug, “A slight musty smell is all well and good, but it’s better not to overdo it. Besides, it might keep some of my cooking experiments from making the whole store smell of garlic or onion.”
“Nice of you to think of the customers,” Henry said, dropping five dollars in the tip jar as an apology for the cleanup some confused employee would have to do in the tank, “But if you’re finished here, we should be on our way. We’ve got a bit more shopping to do.”
“Do we know where we’re going this time?” Abe asked as they left the store.
Henry nodded. “I don’t know where he found out about this particular peeve of mine, but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. If it’s a weakness, he’ll be sure to exploit it.”
“What is it? The clue mentioned heat; is it something to do with explosives?”
“No, thankfully. Besides, I don’t think they’d be allowed to sell anything like that here. No, we’re heading to an appliance store.”
Abe clapped a hand to his forehead. “Of course. Microwaves.”
“Microwaves,” Henry agreed with a disgusted shudder, just as he spotted the entrance to the most likely store. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
Abe rested a hand on Henry’s arm. “Let me do this one. If anyone asks why I keep opening the displays, I can put on a ‘confused old man’ act. They probably won’t question me after that.”
Henry wanted to protest, but he had to admit it would probably save time in the long run. “All right. I’ll stand at the edge of the microwave section to keep an eye out.”
“You’re just saying that so you don’t have to approach the things.” Abe teased.
“I don’t like them, Abraham, but that doesn’t mean I’m afraid of them.”
“I know. But other people might not see it that way. Give me a few minutes.”
With a quick pat on Henry’s shoulder, he entered the store, glancing at the overhead signs before heading off to the right. Henry followed a few steps behind, pretending to browse the refrigerators while watching Abe out of the corner of his eye. To his credit, Abe didn’t act remotely suspicious; he simply walked up to each microwave, examined the price tag, then opened the door to look inside. In some cases, he would merely glance at the tag and walk away, which surprised Henry, but he was sure Abe had his reasons.
Abe wound up going through two rows before he straightened up and quickly made his way over to Henry. “Here you go,” he said, passing over Henry’s dark green scarf, “That must not be a very popular model; Adam didn’t even try to hide this one.”
Henry unpinned the note at the bottom of the scarf, eager to get this over with. It read;
Down to the last three. I’m simultaneously going to make it easier and harder for you. Only one clue this time, but I believe it will be blatantly obvious. If you have any sort of nostalgia for your past, you must be fond of New York’s maintaining the practice of horse and carriage rides. But have you ever wondered where the horses stay? Figure that out, and you’ll find your scarf.
-A
“Abe? I’m going to need your phone again.” Henry said, passing over the note.
“Not a problem.” Abe said, pulling out his phone and tapping on it once more. After a moment, he nodded and put his phone away. “Clinton Park Stables. There are others, but that one’s near the Hudson River. Adam must have chosen that one.”
“All right,” Henry said, just as half of the lights in the store went out, “Let’s go. I don’t think the employees want us sticking around here, anyway.”
It was only when they were back in the car that Henry remembered to ask. “I noticed that you stopped checking each microwave after a while. What was all that about?”
“I figured that Adam would find any excuse to taunt you that he could, like with these stables. So I looked for brand names that would have some sort of extra meaning for you. When I saw the one labeled ‘Whirlpool,’ I figured that was where the scarf was hiding. And sure enough…”
Henry rolled his eyes. “How very subtle of him.”
“I think he’s going for personal amusement more than subtlety at the moment,” Abe pointed out, “After all, he’s got us running around the city like madmen just to find fifteen strips of cloth. That’s not exactly an everyday occurrence.”
Henry stuck his hand into his pocket, protectively guarding his scarves. “Well, we’ll try not to give him the last laugh.”
***
Surprisingly, the stables were still open when Abe pulled up in front of the building. Henry was just trying to decide the best way to look for his scarf when a man poked his head through the door. “Did you want a ride, gentlemen? It’s a nice night for it.”
Figuring it was the best chance they had, Henry nodded. “Yes, we would. Tell me, would it be possible for us to choose the horses and carriage we want?”
“The carriage, sure. The horses, not so much. Some of them need their beauty sleep after working all day.”
“Understandable,” Henry said, heart sinking, “If I could see the carriages, at least?”
“Sure. They’re in the back here.”
“You can pick,” Abe said, taking a step backwards, “I’m happy to just look at the décor.”
Grateful for Abe’s excuse, Henry followed the man into the stable, glancing at everything he passed for the slightest hint of his scarf. He hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary by the time they arrived at the “garage”. The man stepped aside and gestured to the carriages. “We’ve got three available at the moment. Take whichever one appeals to you.”
As Henry looked between the three options, Abe’s theory about Adam’s way of hiding the scarves came back to him, and he immediately started looking at the little details. None of them had any sort of water connection, from design to color. They were all old-fashioned, of course, but one was clearly modeled after the 1900 carriages, which hadn’t been an overly eventful decade for Henry. He walked around the other two carriages, trying to determine if there was anything special about them. As he glanced into the interior of the middle carriage, he saw a bit of yellow cloth poking out of the corner near the door, mostly blending in with the upholstery. “This one.” Henry declared, resting his hand on the frame.
“Good choice,” the man said, “How long did you want to ride for?”
“Actually, would it be possible to use it as a taxi to take me to one specific spot?”
“In most circumstances, I’d say no. But since this is a slow period for us, I’ll allow it. It’ll cost you fifty dollars for the first twenty minutes, and twenty dollars for every additional ten minutes. You ok with that?”
Henry nodded. “That’s fine. I do apologize if I’m making you go out of your way.”
“Hey, we like to make our customers happy. I’ll get the horses hitched up; why don’t you wait outside?”
Henry made a noise of agreement, then waited until the man started to return to the front before quickly reaching in and grabbing at the cloth he’d spotted. Sure enough, he picked it up easily, and he tucked it into his pocket before hurrying after the man. “Come on, Abraham,” he said as he reached the main room, “Let’s let the gentlemen do their work.”
“Did you get it?” Abe asked once they were outside again.
Henry withdrew the scarf, which he realized had been neatly folded into a square. As he started to unroll it, he felt something hard in the center, and gingerly put his hand underneath to catch whatever fell out. A key fell into his palm, and when he looked over the scarf, the attached note was nothing but the name of a twenty-four hour storage facility, along with directions and a set of numbers. “Maybe he was getting tired of making up clues.” Abe said, when Henry showed it to him.
“Or maybe he had something else planned. Listen, I’ll take the ride alone. You follow behind in the car. That way, you can go for help if something happens.”
“You got it. If something’s going wrong, stick a fist in the air. If you get there and everything seems ok, just give me a wave.”
As melodramatic as Abe’s suggestion was, it did have merit in this case. Therefore, Henry just nodded and leaned against the car, waiting for the carriage to emerge. Once it had, he jumped inside, saying that Abe didn’t want to leave his car behind to explain his absence, then gave the driver the address. The driver seemed a bit puzzled about the destination, but other than an odd look, he focused on the task at hand and urged the horses forward.
The facility, it turned out, was quite a distance away from the stables. In-between giving directions, Henry kept watching the areas, looking for any sort of trap. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Adam’s directions were keeping them to the main roads, where there were still people about, and nobody they passed gave them more than a casual glance. While Henry didn’t allow himself to relax, he did eventually conclude that, while Adam had wanted him to take a carriage ride, it hadn’t been for a sinister purpose.
All did become clear, however, when the carriage pulled up in front of the building. “Two hundred dollars, please.” the driver said as soon as Henry stepped down.
Of course, Henry thought, as he withdrew his wallet, I don’t know why I’m surprised. He handed over all the bills in his wallet (figuring the driver could keep the rest as a tip; given the unusual location and the late hour, he deserved it) and waved the driver off, waiting until he had gone before looking into the building. It was a little shabby, but it was clean and well-lit, and other than the bored desk clerk flipping through a magazine, there was no one else inside. It could still have been a trap, but there was no obvious indication of it. Looking over his shoulder and spotting a pair of headlights, he waved his hand, giving Abe the signal. The lights flicked off immediately, and Abe hurried over. “Do you want me to wait outside, just in case?”
Henry shook his head. “You can hover near the door while I talk to the clerk, but I want you close. Not only can you help me find the scarf, but I’d rather not leave you out here alone. Just in case.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Abe said, jerking his thumb towards the door, “Let’s go, then.”
The clerk barely glanced up at them as they pushed the door open. “What can I do for you?”
Henry held out the key. “I wanted to get something out of my storage unit.”
The clerk moved a hand under the desk, and a buzzing noise rang through the air. “Go on, then. I presume you don’t need any help?”
“I don’t think so. I’m hoping this won’t take long.”
“All right.” the girl said dismissively, before returning to her magazine. Trying to contain his huff of irritation, Henry turned to the door in the corner, Abe on his heels.
Behind the door was a hallway that looked simultaneously dingy and sterile, flanked on both sides by padlocked doors. Pulling out Adam’s note again, Henry took a good look at the number at the bottom. “I think we’re looking for Number Thirty-Four.”
“Well, we’ve got One and Two on either side of us. It’s probably on this floor,” Abe said, before leading the way down the hall, “I don’t know why he picked that particular number, though. I don’t think there’s anything significant about it.”
“Not that I can think of,” Henry admitted, “But it’s possible that this was the only room he could rent.”
“Or maybe it’s his own personal storage unit!” Abe said, a gleam coming into his eyes, “We could look around while we’re there and maybe learn more about him.”
“While that’s an excellent idea, I highly doubt Adam would be that careless. No, he probably rented it for this specific purpose, and the room will either be empty except for the scarf or full of random objects to make searching for it that much harder.”
Abe deflated. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I was just hoping…”
“We may still be able to get something out of it,” Henry said, “We’ve got to stay positive, after all. And here we are.” Stopping in front of the door with “34” written on it in faded black paint, Henry removed the padlock from the door and threw the door open.
The first thing Henry became aware of wasn’t the mound of boxes that could be seen from the light of the hall, but the very potent scent of dust. If it hadn’t been for the faint imprints of shoes that he could see on the ground, he would have assumed that this room hadn’t been touched in years, if not decades. He actually took a step backwards at the smell. “Good Lord,” Abe said, squinting into the room, “Unless my thought about this being his personal locker was accurate, I’m gonna have to assume that he brought dust in here on purpose. The stuff on the floor has to be at least an inch thick.”
Henry winced. “Nothing for it. If we want the scarf, we’re going to have to look for it. Are you up for it?”
Abe gave him a look. “I run an antique store. I can handle dust.”
“Sorry,” Henry said, “Let’s get started, then.” Taking one last breath of fresh air, he went to the far wall and grabbed the first box he could.
For about five minutes, the two of them worked in silence, taking down and opening boxes. They all appeared to be filled with miscellaneous items; one was full of books, another with toys, a third with various linens that Henry had to unfold one by one to make sure his scarf wasn’t hiding in the center. None of the items looked particularly old—one of the toys was one of those small stuffed animals that had been popular in the 1990’s—adding credence to Henry’s theory that Adam had just gathered up anything he could find to throw into these boxes. It still seemed like a lot of trouble for the sake of hiding one scarf, but if it had inconvenienced Adam in some way, Henry wasn’t going to complain.
Of course, that didn’t mean that this whole search wasn’t an inconvenience to him, too. Not only was looking through each and every box tiresome, more and more dust was filling the air with each box opened. Henry had always had a slight sensitivity to dust, and with the air currently filled with the greyish particles, a reaction was inevitable. It started with the occasional cough, then progressed to a sniffle every minute or so. At the ten minute mark, his body finally had enough, and Henry had to quickly toss the Christmas ornament he was holding aside so he could pull out his handkerchief. It wasn’t easy, since it was buried under his scarves, but he managed to hold the sneeze back until he got the handkerchief to his face. “Heh-ISSHH!”
“Bless you,” Abe said behind him, “Do you need a break?”
“Yes,” Henry said, “But I’m not taking one. If I keep my handkerchief over my nose and mouth, I should be fine.”
“I know better than to argue with you,” Abe said, sounding resigned, “But promise me you’ll leave if the sneezing becomes too much or if you start having trouble breathing.”
“I will,” Henry said, “How are you holding up?”
“Fine. I told you, I’m used to dust. My problem is trying to make out what’s in these boxes by the light of the hall. Keep looking; I don’t want you breathing in any more dust than is necessary.”
Henry wanted to tease Abe about his protective stance, but another itch in his nose proved the point. “Kchh!” Knowing better than to say anything, he returned to the boxes.
Keeping his handkerchief in place slowed Henry’s pace, but he wasn’t about to admit defeat. It might have been one small element of this hunt, but he didn’t want to give Adam the satisfaction. If that meant suffering with the dust for a little longer, he’d put up with it. Even when it reached the point where he was sneezing every thirty seconds and the handkerchief was utterly soaked, he kept going.
He was midway through the eleventh box, which had been filled with mismatched plates, when he looked up from yet another sneeze and realized that instead of tissue paper, his pale violet scarf had been laid between two plates. Grabbing it, he shoved the lid on the box and stood up. “F-found…ishh! Hishh!”
Abe’s hand was on his elbow, guiding him out of the room. “Good. Let’s get out of here.”
While Henry appreciated the breath of fresh air he inhaled as he stepped back into the hall, the change in scent set something off in his nose, forcing him to retreat to a corner, sneezing uncontrollably. “Keh-chht! Itchh! Hipshh! HESHHH!” Rude as it was to sneeze into the air, he knew better than to cover his face with his elbow; even through watery eyes, he could see the dust clinging to his sleeves. The best he could do was turn his head away from Abe and hope no one else was paying a late night visit to their storage unit.
Once the sneezing had calmed down, he turned back to find Abe watching him. “You going to be all right?”
“I highly doubt I’ll…eshh!…sneeze myself to death. This will…pshh!…pass.”
Abe’s hands were on his shoulders. “Well, let’s at least get this jacket off you. It’ll throw less dust in the air as you walk.”
Henry allowed Abe to pull the jacket off him, and dabbed at his nose with the cuff of his shirtsleeve. “Thank you, Abe. I don’t know how I would have done this without you.”
Abe waved a hand dismissively, but he seemed flattered by the praise nevertheless. “I’m sure you’d have managed. I’m glad to be of service, though. Now, I’ve locked up the unit so people won’t wonder what the hell happened in here. If you’re ready, we can get your last scarf and try to put this behind us.”
Henry nodded, sliding the scarf through his hand until he found the note. After another sneeze, he read;
Well done for making it this far. I never would have expected anything less of you, especially where your precious scarves are at stake, but it’s still gratifying that you’re smart enough to put the pieces together. As for the matter at hand, I figured the only way to end this chase would be for me to be there at the finish line to congratulate you personally. Maybe I can even buy you a drink. I’m happy to wait for you, no matter when you find this. After all, I can be quite the night hawk. If that’s not enough, I’ll offer one more clue; the finish line is close to the starting line.
-A
“So, what’s it mean?” Abe asked as Henry lowered the note.
“He’s waiting for me at a coffee shop. The only question is if it’s one of the ones near the police station or near home.”
“Do you want us to split…”
“No!” Henry said, more vehemently than he’d intended. Holding up an apologetic hand, he continued “You’ve already been dragged into this. I don’t want Adam finding ways to make it worse for you.”
“I don’t think he’s in the mood to do anything worse than taunt you in this particular instance, but I get your point. What are we going to do, then?”
“I believe the police station is closer. We can circle the station and try to spot him. If we don’t, then we return home, at which point you can get some well-deserved rest while I track Adam down.”
“Oh, no, I’ll go out with you. I’ll stay at a distance if you want, but I want to see this through. Besides, like you said, I don’t want things to get worse for you.”
Henry managed a smile at that. “I can’t imagine where you got your stubborn streak from. All right, but stay out of sight.”
With that settled, they made their way out of the facility (the clerk absent-mindedly waving them out) and returned to the car for the last time. Abe put Henry’s jacket in the trunk, but not before he and Henry counted to make sure all the scarves were present and accounted for. Everything was in order, but it did expose Henry to another wave of dust, causing him to sneeze sporadically all the way to the police station. Abe didn’t comment other than a few blessings, but Henry just knew his son was giving him semi-exasperated glances every now and then. Well, it wasn’t as if he could really blame him for that.
Canvassing the four blocks closest to the police station didn’t yield anything. While there were at least six coffee shops in the area, most of them were closed, and the two that weren’t were practically deserted. As soon as the front door of the station came into view, Abe turned around and started driving the familiar route back to the shop. Henry started drumming his fingers on his knee, both impatient and nervous to confront Adam. He had no idea what to expect, and he just hoped it would be quick. He’d had enough excitement for one day.
They were driving down the block directly behind the store, glancing at the storefronts, when Henry spotted him. He was sitting at one of the outdoor tables, reading by the light of a nearby streetlamp, several cups of coffee scattered across the table. But what really caught Henry’s eye was the fact that he had Henry’s orange scarf around his neck. Henry’s indignation boiled over. “That tosser!”
“Whoa, breaking out the British insults? Now I know you’re upset.” Abe noticed Henry’s hand reaching for the door handle and immediately stepped on the gas. “Not now. Let me park around the corner and let you walk up to him. Flying out of the car like a madman isn’t exactly the most dignified impression.”
“You’re right,” Henry admitted, curling his hand into a fist, “But how he could dare treat that scarf like it was his own…”
“He’s just trying to get a rise out of you. Don’t give him that satisfaction.”
“I make no promises.”
Abe parked the car. “I’ll be right behind you. I’ll duck into a doorway and watch. I promise to stay out of it, but if things turn violent, I’m going to get involved. Deal?”
“Deal,” Henry said, getting out of the car, “And I promise I’ll do my best not to let it come to that.”
He walked briskly down the street, hoping the short exercise would get rid of the worst of his anger. The calmer and politer he was, the less ammunition Adam would have to use against him. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to actually pull it off, but at least he’d do his best.
When Adam came into view, Henry slowed his pace, forced his hands to uncurl, and took a few deep breaths before walking up to stand over Adam, deliberately blocking his light. “Good evening. I believe you have something of mine.”
“So you managed it all in one day,” Adam said, calmly turning the page of his book, “Either you’re cleverer than I thought, or you really wanted your scarves back.”
“Can’t it be both?” Henry said, before holding his hand out. “My scarf, please.”
Adam tugged the scarf off and held it out, still not looking up from his book. “They’re actually quite comfortable. Maybe I should look into getting a few for myself.”
Somehow, Henry had the wit to respond with “Well, they do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I’d have thought it was beneath you to take fashion advice from someone eighteen hundred years your junior.”
“Why not?” Adam said with a shrug, “If I didn’t take someone’s advice, I’d still be wearing chitons. That would draw far too much attention.” He finally lowered his book and glanced up at Henry. “I’m going to guess you’ve drawn a bit of attention yourself, given your current disheveled state. What have you been up to?”
Henry didn’t even dignify that with a response. “I believe this is yours,” he said, holding out the key to the storage unit with one hand while he took his scarf with the other, “I’d call it a fair trade.”
“Oh, no, that’s your problem now,” Adam said with a smirk, “I paid for the first month, but I filled out the paperwork in your name. I’m not sure what all is in there—I was just grabbing anything that caught my eye at the various thrift stores around town—but maybe Abraham can find something to sell at the store, and you can donate the rest to charity. I’m sure those fundraisers the police always seem to have would appreciate it.”
Henry curled his hand around the key. Keep your cool, he reminded himself, don’t let him see he’s needled you. “Thank you,” he said aloud, trying to put genuine happiness in his voice, “I’m sure there’s plenty in there that could be useful.”
“I aim to please,” Adam answered, inclining his head before returning to his book, “Now, if that’s all, I’d like to get back to this. I’m getting up to the reveal of the murderer.”
“I’m sure it’ll be exactly who you think it is,” Henry said, before adding in the same tone, “Never touch my scarves again. I’m sure I won’t be able to get rid of you, but if you ever do something like this again, I will get the police involved. Is that understood?”
“Perfectly. And I assure you, it won’t happen again. It’s best not to repeat oneself, after all. Good night, Henry.”
Henry turned on his heel and walked away, trying to keep his head held high. While he hadn’t managed to ruffle Adam’s feathers, he’d at least managed to keep his anger in check. It wasn’t much of a victory, but he’d accept it.
Abe, who fell into step beside him as soon as Henry passed the doorway he’d been lurking in, waited until they were halfway down the block to ask “So, what happened? Obviously a fight didn’t break out, but I wasn’t sure what you were talking about.”
Henry held up the key. “We’re the new owners of Unit Thirty-Four.”
Abe whistled. “That’s going to take at least a day to clean up and go through. Think you’ll be up for that?”
“I’ll need to take the strongest allergy medication I can find, but yes. That can wait for at least a week, though. Right now, let’s just get home and get to bed. We’ve been up late enough as it is.”
“Agreed,” Abe said, “But I’m going to do one thing for you first.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m going to throw the scarves that are safe to wash in the machine. We can’t have you going into work without a scarf two days in a row; what will people think?”
That got Henry to laugh for the first time all day. “What would I do without you, Abraham?”
“Spend a lot more time naked and in jail, I’d imagine. Now come on; both you and your scarves could do with a bath.”