Behind Gilded Masks

Chapter 27

When the hell would he get here? Eileen's fingers tapped impatiently on the wood of the table as she sank back into the plush of the seat. Her eyes wandered over the inhabitants of the pub. It wasn't very well known from what she had heard, but there was still a lot of people here.

She'd decided that the best way to stay under the radar was to come here as a Kiran. Lenora would have been more out of place, and as Ayla had so kindly mentioned, very few people would find it odd for a man to be alone at a pub rather than a woman. Seeing the logic behind the reasoning, she hadn't really protested the idea.

Eileen sighed as she moved to take a sip of the juice the waitress had gotten for her not long before. She still hadn't told Ayla the details of what she was doing back inTeodes, and Ayla knew better than to ask. A faint smile flickered over her lips. Anyone who knew them knew better than to dig too deep into what a Devencrux was doing.

It was more often than not, nothing but trouble.

Grandpa alone was a lot of trouble, as Dane often pointed out, there was no telling what two of him could do. Eileen was still a little annoyed at being compared to the old man, but she'd learnt to wave it off. If she ever admitted to their similarities aloud, it would be because someone was extorting her.

Thoughts of her grandpa made a small smile flicker over her lips as she gazed towards the entrance. His last letter had told her not to stress so much. He had also given her a name and a lead.

Joseph Ellis. If she remembered correctly, he was in charge of feeding the horses in the manor. Along with all the other livestock grandpa had brought home from his travels. Eileen took another sip of her drink, running her hand through her hair. She wouldn't have blamed him he'd wanted to quit after the fire-breathing panther grandpa had decided to bring home.

But he'd stayed. From her faint memories she could even remember the man having fun trying figure out how to get the hellcat its food. He had never missed a day of work. So, it was even more suspicious that the man's only day off in all the time he'd worked for them was the day of the accident.

And even more so that he was nowhere to be found after the day. It had taken her days to find his phone number, and even longer to get him to agree to meet her. If she was being fair, she supposed it would have been easier to get the man to talk to her if she had revealed who she was. But that would be a stupid move.

So instead she'd broken into the central record room and hacked into their database to find a man fitting his description. It was a little disconcerting how easy it was to do that. She hadn't even needed to use the driveArenhad sent her to weaken their defences. It had almost seemed too easy.

But two weeks without any sign anyone had noticed had done a lot to quell those fears. At least fears of someone suspecting something amiss. She still couldn't believe a city with rapidly growing technology had such weak defences on their database. However, it made things easier for her, so she couldn't be too mad about it.

As the final sips of her drink vanished, Eileen spotted her suspect lingering in the doorway. His greying black hair hidden under a cloak and brown eyes nervously glancing around the pub. She was amused to note that he still wore dark brown leather pants and silver armour over a white shirt even when he wasn't working.

She shook her head. The man may love his job a little too much, but it was a little endearing. Still. She needed answers.

Eileen lifted her hand and waved her fingers to the right, crisscrossing them thrice before tapping the handle of her drink twice. They had discussed this over the phone mere moments before she had decided to come here, but she was little worried he had forgotten. The worry was proven needless when Ellis immediately honed in on her position in the corner and nodded twice.