Elemental Thief

Chapter 9

Lawrence Madson is not my friend. That's what Archer told Ridley, so why was he here? Could he possibly be trying to do the right thing? Was he here to convince Lawrence to go to the police? Whatever the reason, Ridley couldn't help smiling at her luck. She might be stuck behind a couch and unable to use her magic without feeling ill, but the one person she needed Lawrence to talk to had just arrived. All the two of them needed to do now was take a seat in the living room, have a chat about last night, and not discover that she was hiding there.

"I'm glad I caught you at home," she heard Archer say. "I thought you might be out with your father."

"How fortunate for you that I'm not," Lawrence answered. His tone was civil, but Ridley wouldn't have described it as warm. It seemed Archer may have been telling the truth about them not being friends. They definitely knew each other though.

"I was surprised to hear you'd returned home," Lawrence said as the front door closed. "Enlightening trip?"

"Indeed. Most illuminating."

"I look forward to hearing more about it."

"I'm sure you do," Archer answered, his voice growing louder as the two of them moved closer to the living room. Ridley ducked down again behind the couch, but then Archer added, "Why don't we speak in your father's study?" and their footsteps moved past the lounge door.

Ridley rolled her eyes. She needed them to have their conversation here where the second listening device could pick up everything they said. She removed it from her pocket as Lawrence and Archer headed into the mayor's study through the other door rather than through the lounge. At least they weren't too far away. If she could get the bug closer to the door, perhaps it would be able to record everything they said.

She scooted forward a little and looked around the side of the couch, then pulled her head back immediately. The door connecting the lounge and study stood wide open, and Archer, sitting in a chair on one side of the mayor's desk, was in full view. Ridley clenched one fist and pressed it against her mouth as she considered her options. She could crawl unseen around the back of the couch, but if she tried to sneak out either side and Archer happened to look this way, he'd definitely see her. She couldn't get any closer to the study.

"You must have made some very good friends over there in France." Lawrence's voice reached Ridley's ears above the music as she pulled out her commscreen, switched on the voice recorder app, and placed it on the floor right at the edge of the couch beside the listening device. "So good," Lawrence continued, "that when one of those friends shows up in Lumina City, I find you huddling together with him in an alley."

"I'm not sure I'd use the word 'huddling,'" Archer said. "And believe me, I was as surprised to find him there as you were."

"Is that so? You didn't, perhaps, arrange to meet him there?"

"No. I was accompanying my sister to visit her friend nearby."

Ridley almost laughed out loud at that. Friend? It may have been true once upon a time, but that was many years ago.

"I find it most interesting that you were in the area too," Archer continued. "Perhaps you had arranged to meet him?"

Lawrence laughed. "I'm not sure why you find it interesting. I began following him as soon as we were alerted to his presence in the city. I wanted to see who he was looking for. In case it was someone like him."

"Well, as you know, I'm nothing like him. And I was about to relieve him of the information he was carrying—in as subtle a manner as possible—when you charged in and caused a scene."