The Crimson Chariot

04 | Silence and Secrets

"I'm sorry," he says, looking up at me. "I didn't mean to tip the glass on you. It was a mistake on my part." I've heard many apologies in my life, and by the way Aiden's eyes soften while he says his, and how his voice drops by a few decibels, I know he means it.

"It's okay," I say, wrapping his brown coat around me in a way that conceals the red on my shirt. His coat has his scent on it—sandalwood, musk, and undertones of lavender. "Also," I say, letting a smirk run on my lips, "you slipped up." Aiden furrows his eyebrows at that statement. "You called me Amara, and if I'm right, I think you were scared for m—"

"Rookie," he interjects, "I don't know what you're talking about." And like that, his demeanor shifts from the concerned Aiden to the taunting Detective Jackson.

"Of course you don't," I scoff just as his phone starts ringing.

He retrieves it from his pocket and looks over at his screen. It displays the name 'Ray' on it. In unison, he and I turn to the far corner of the room where Ray and Savannah are seated all alone at our table.

"I think we should—" Aiden starts but I cut him off, noticing how Ray is signaling at his cell phone.

"I think he wants you to pick it up," I say. Passing me a confused look, Aiden slides his finger across the glass screen and puts the phone to his ear.

"Put me on speaker!" Ray yells from the other end, loud enough for me to hear. Aiden silently does as he says.

"You're on speaker, Ray."

There's a long inhale on the other side, followed by another yell that is possibly heard by all the customers at the restaurant. "Kiss already!"

Aiden and I glare at each other, our eyes widening. His face turns red and by the feels of the inferno burning through me, I know my face is red too.

"Shut up!" Both he and I shout into the phone and Ray breaks out laughing.

"Alright," he says between his fits of laughter, "come down to the table, okay? The food's getting cold." The call disconnects as soon as Ray is done.

Aiden and I look around us for a bit, scratching the back of our necks sheepishly and trying our best to not look at each other.

"Should we—"

"Yes!" I answer before he can even ask the whole question. Grabbing my bag from the washroom, I head over to our table with Aiden, but a single thought still lingers in my mind.

I don't know who the blonde woman was, but it's clear someone sent her to me, and I'm not sure if it's the puppet I should be searching for or its master. As for Janet...I don't know what to believe either.

***

"Wait, so you're telling me your victim's murderer is sending you...tarot cards?" Sadie, my roommate and best friend, asks from the bed and I nod. She and I have known each other for seven years now and she is the one who convinced me to move in with her the moment I told her I was returning to Valenchester. 

Sadie is a tarot-reader and thanks to her, I know that the Six of Cups card hints at your past coming alive again, just like I predicted early on in this case.

"Sadie are you sure you didn't misplace your cards?" her boyfriend since the beginning of time, Javier, asks from the other end of the phone call. Both he and Sadie are like my personal cheerleaders, not only because we are good friends, but because they are lovers of everything mystery and crime. I'm their personal twentieth-century Sherlock Holmes.

"There's no way! Besides," Sadie pauses, twirling the Six of Cups card in between her fingers, "the cards aren't from my tarot deck. These are just...too dark for my taste."