Deborah sighed as she sipped her coffee. She was currently sitting in her bedroom at her writing desk, her little ramshackle novel spread before her. She had been writing it on and off again, more out of boredom than genuine talent or intrigue. She was only three chapters in after working on it for four years, mostly because she had never had time to write due to her duties.
Well, that had certainly changed. She knew there would be consequences when word of her "unsanctioned" undercover operation reached Doyle's ears. She didn't know that eyes could bulge that far outside of their sockets nor that a man's Adam's apple could bulge out like an angry hop toad's. She was put on unpaid probation pending disciplinary measures. Nothing new for Deborah-ticking Doyle off was something of an unwanted hobby for her-but it did mean she couldn't officially investigate Laramie's case any further. Still, she wasn't giving up. In fact, she had a plan already in motion, though heaven knew she did not want it to come to this. Anything but this.
She was suddenly brought out of her thoughts at a sudden flash. Appearing from the ether was none other than Nina, the lumino sapien woman looking rather frantic.
"Nina?" Deborah gasped as she rose to her feet. "What're you doing here? Is Jacob here?"
"More like on the way." Nina said tensely as she pointed to the bedroom window.
Deborah rushed to the window, and she could make out a silver mass that was tumbling at an alarming speed towards her window. Sure enough, it was Jacob. Quick as a flash, Deborah ran back for her bed, and, with hysterical strength, she wrenched up the entire mattress and tossed it towards the far wall. With a crash, Jacob came smashing through her window, and he landed into the waiting cushion with an audible, "oof!"
"Jacob!" Deborah exclaimed as she raced over to his side. "Are you alright?"
Jacob was presently upside down, his eyes rolling around in his head. Slowly, his legs rolled forwards, and he flopped down onto his bottom, looking disheveled and sluggish.
"Pene-To." he grunted, and his armor dispelled in a swirl of starlight. "Ok, that I am definitely not doing again."
Deborah helped him to his feet and brought him to her desk chair before fetching him something to drink. Once Jacob had gotten his bearings, he explained his situation and what had happened just a few blocks over. Deborah was disheartened at the lack of response from the first responders, but she cocked her head at the mention of a sonic bomb and goo men. However, Jacob proved it by having Merrick remove some of the slime from the Sterling Star pocket dimension. In a conveniently present jar, to boot. Deborah studied the substance closely, and she shook her head.
"Danger Will Robinson," she said in a weak joke. "At least nobody was hurt."
"Not for lack of trying." Jacob huffed. "Lucky thing I was there when I was. But what the heck was going on with the police? Or, you know, the fire department?"
"Search me," Deborah said with a shrug. "I've not exactly been in the office on account of my probation."
"Probation?" Jacob asked.
"The Carnation Cougar fiasco," Deborah explained. "Like always, I decided to go off reservation, and like always my boss blew a few dozen blood vessels, doing his best impression of the mars scene from Total Recall."
Jacob's face fell. He recalled that Deborah had been there explicitly to find Vinny the Skinny and in turn where his uncle might be.
"I got you fired?" he asked with a frown.
Deborah's brows rose, and she offered a comforting smile.
"Nah, honey, it's no big thing. My boss and I do this dance all the time. We laugh, we cry, I do something off the books, he has a stroke, I laugh. Give it a couple of days to a week, and I'll be back on the job in no time."
Jacob didn't feel entirely reassured, and it made his earlier antagonism towards her feel even more unearned.
"So I guess you won't be investigating my uncle's disappearance for a little while, huh?" he asked.
Something new came over the detective's face. Something Jacob couldn't quite read. She looked...upset? Worried? Constipated?
"Well, not exactly," Deborah said, a small layer of ice over her words. "I've one last card to play, but it's one I really, really, reaaaaaaallly didn't want to do." She sighed. "This promises to be a very costly mission, and that's saying it goes well."
Jacob skewed his face.
"Meaning...what?"
Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door. Deborah turned white as a sheet, and she rocketed for her bedroom door, stopping at the threshold and looking back.
"Do not leave this room!" she said firmly. "No matter what you hear, do not, I cannot stress enough, do NOT come out!"
She then slammed the door shut, just as a flurry of knocks wrapped against the door again.
"I'm coming! I'm coming! Keep your shirt on!"
Jacob and Nina exchanged looks before Nina motioned for him to follow. She led him to the door, and she pointed to the large keyhole, perfect for peeping. Getting down on one knee, Jacob closed one eye and squinted the other as he peered through. What he saw made his heart stop. As the door opened, a pair of arms were wrapped around Deborah's neck. At first fearing for her life, Jacob realized she was being hugged, though Deborah clearly didn't return or even like the embrace. Not that Jacob could blame her as the rail-like frame of Velvet now hung from Deborah like an anchor over an undertow.
"Deborah darling!" Velvet cheered with wild glee. "How lovely it is to see you! It's been far too long!"
Deborah managed to muster up a smile, though it was the most agonized of expressions.
"I'm...happy...to see you too," Deborah grunted through gritted teeth. "Won't you please come in?"
Jacob watched as the dragon lady dismounted, and she followed Deborah inside followed by her two flunkies. Jacob's face itched at the sight of them, recalling the wild, savage abandon as that very woman clawed his face whilst her girls held his arms. Granted, the younger one-Rose wasn't it?-hadn't the best grip, and that was probably the only reason Jacob managed to get loose. Regardless, what in the name of all public decency were these crooks doing here?
"She wouldn't rat me out, would she?" he asked, turning to Nina.
"I'd certainly hope not." Nina whispered back. "But we might as well stay here. I can only imagine you're still being pursued on the street. For better or for worse, this is the safest place for you right now."
"Yippee," Jacob muttered under his breath.
He returned to the keyhole, watching as Deborah and Scarlett seated themselves. To Jacob's surprise, it wasn't Deborah serving tea but rather Velvet's girls courtesy of a gas powered hot plate and a very ornate looking kettle with likewise expensive looking china. Velvet was positively glowing, looking very pleased indeed. But even Jacob's inexperienced eye could see the predatory glint in her gaze. She was eyeing Deborah like a hawk would a mouse, just waiting for the moment to swoop in for the kill as she smoked her dragon shaped cigarette holder. Deborah, for her part, was perfectly rigid with a look of total focus on her face. Any and all emotion had been scrubbed away from her expression, and she was clearly there for business and business only.
"My, what a quaint little domicile you've acquired," Velvet said with mocking cheer. "What is this? Early poverty? I simply adore the patchwork drapes. Do those yourself? Oh, and that darling chandelier in the shape of a busted ceiling fan dangling from rat chewed wires. Talk about class. My, you've made quite the turn out ever since leaving mama's side."
Jacob spied a slight twitch in Deborah's eye at the word "mama", and she gripped her cup so hard that it cracked.
"Some of us do prefer the simple things," Deborah said coolly. "The neighbors are nice, the rent is cheap, and it's not a far jaunt over to my place of employ."
"Don't you mean former employ?" Velvet said with a playful sip of her tea. "I heard someone got the axe recently."
"Probation, actually," Deborah said curtly. "If your information is that bad, Velvet, then clearly this has been a waste of time. I'm sure you know where the door is."
Velvet quirked her brow, though her smile remained.
"Oh ho ho. There it is. That rapier wit mama loved so much. She was so disappointed in you, you know. Why'd you have to go and make her cry?"
Deborah rolled her eyes.
"That old mummy would turn to mud if she produced any water. Contrary to your little dialogue, though, I didn't call you up here for reminiscing old acquaintances."
"Oh, don't I know, darling," Velvet said with a wave of her hand. "Work work work, that's all you do. Really, you could set a clock by how boringly static your schedule is. You really should take some time out for yourself, darling. Probably be done with that little picture book you're working on."
"Are we doing business or not?!" Deborah finally snapped, though the better part of her rage stayed contained.
Velvet's eye narrowed to slits, and she leaned in like a cobra, Jacob almost certain he saw a forked tongue. Her prey was set, now she could move in.
"What a lovely thing, this business between us," Velvet jeered. "As I recall, you made it pointedly clear you never wanted to see my face again unless it was behind bars, on the defendant's stand, or in the morgue. Whatever this delightful bit of information you need is, surely you've exhausted a great deal of options prior. Desperation is a good look on you." She leaned back in her chair. "Of course, had you minded mama better, you would already have that information. Rather, you would have this entire city in the palm of your hand. Why, just to come and see you, I had to cancel meetings with the mayor, several of your coworkers, and even the governor of California. The Velvet Network is quite the commodity, and it certainly doesn't come cheap. Of course, you already know that, so what exactly are you offering in exchange?"
Deborah twisted her mouth to one side, gauging her response carefully.
"What would you like?" she asked. "You clearly pointed out how I'm not exactly liquid in my funds, unless you want this expired coupon to Whoopi World in my back pocket. So you've clearly come here with something, or perhaps several somethings, in mind. So give me an estimate, and I'll see what we can bargain."
Velvet lightly tapped a long, tailored nail painted blood red against her cheek.
"And I thought I did my homework," she mused fondly. "Well, Deborah darling, you are certainly right. You're frankly the most pathetic, desperate, and not to mention fashionably tasteless person I've seen. Seriously, dear, ditch the coat. We are no longer in the nineties. That said, you are indeed a good cop. Probably the last of your breed. An honest cop is hard to find in this day and age, especially in this town. Oh, the ways I could twist you. Convert you into my dark disciple of deviousness in the ultimate victory against the self righteous. Yes, that would be a delightful prize. Or, perhaps, I could just take the boy in the other room."
Deborah hadn't been paying attention, but now she saw that the older of the two backup girls had slunk over to her bedroom door, masterfully removed the hinge bolts, and then stepped away as the door fell forward, the peeping Jacob tumbling out. The boy squeaked as the thug girl glared down on him, but Nina quickly stood over him, likewise glaring and balling her fists. Deborah rose to her feet, reaching for the gun she kept taped to the underside of her table. To her dismay, it was gone and held firmly in the younger girl's grip. To the young girl's credit, she looked sick while holding the firearm and clearly didn't want to be there.
"I've not given you permission to leave the table yet, Deborah darling," Velvet said, her tone much more sinister. "Do please sit so that we may continue our conversation."
Deborah reluctantly sat, though she didn't relax. In one fell swoop, she lost any and all advantage. She was trapped in Velvet's game, which meant she made the rules. She still ground her teeth, though, and she glared icy daggers into Velvet's smirking face.
"What...do...you...want?" she growled out.
Velvet sniggered.
"A girl can want many things, my dear, and I am a girl that wants everything. Wealth, prestige, power, entertainment: just taking that boy would give me all of these things. You might have heard rumor that Andy and I were on the rocks. He got boring, don't you know, and I don't do boring."
She cut a glance towards Jacob.
"Enter this little cutie with his spiffy armor and cape, marching through a hail of bullets before mopping the floor with the Dock Boys. Not even Andy himself is that bold, and that's what riled him up. Suddenly, he's no longer the biggest fish in the pond, and with threats comes drama. Something I absolutely live for. He's put a tidy sum of one million dollars on the boy's head. Alive, of course, so that he could finish what he started. I do so love a man when he sweats while hiding behind bravado. It's like digging into a lobster after breaking its shell to get at the smushy insides."
"The boy is off limits!" Deborah hissed hotly.
"Here here!" Nina barked in agreement. "Take one step towards him, and you will know a terrible vengeance, you horrid woman!"
Velvet got a good laugh at that while regarding Nina more closely.
"And just who might you be?" she asked. "Kind of skinny for a bodyguard."
"I'm more than woman enough to take you!" Nina snarled as he rolled up one sleeve.
"Enough!" Deborah thundered, once again rising to her feet. "No more of this footsie; tell me what you want! Anything you want! Anything but that boy, and it's yours! I called you here for business, Velvet, so let's get to bartering!"
Velvet turned back to her, looking slightly annoyed by Deborah's ever present defiance. Nevertheless, she sat up straight, raised her hand, and held up one long, bony finger.
"One favor," she said, her voice low and cold. "That is my price to you, Deborah darling. At a time of my choosing, I shall call upon you to do one particular task. The details of this task could be anything from feeding my goldfish to strangling a man for my amusement. You will swear this to me upon your honor, the one thing you hold dearest. Along with any and all information you require, I'll even swear not to reveal the boy or your connection to him to anyone, though I will reserve the right to freely distribute that information should you try and back out. These are my terms. Do you accept?"
She extended her arm towards Deborah. The detective glared at it as her stomach churned like a maelstrom. She cut her gaze towards Jacob, and the boy met her gaze. She took a slow, careful breath to calm her heart, and then she looked back to Velvet's outstretched hand. Without hesitation, without fear, Deborah reached forward and clutched it firmly.
"Deal."
The two shook, and once more Deborah sat. Jacob rushed over to her side, shooting her a mournful look.
"You shouldn't have done that," he whispered to her. "You don't owe me anything. Especially not for this."
Deborah looked down at him, and she gently pat his shoulder.
"I'm a detective, kid," she assured him. "I'll be just fine."
She turned back to Velvet, the woman now adopting a more nonchalant, aloof expression as she passively observed her fingernails.
"Alright, you. I've got questions, and I know you have the answers. I expect them to come quickly and no more of your back sass. I'm looking for two men. Namely, Vinny the Skinny, and a man named Laramie..."
She looked to Jacob for confirmation, only to get a shrug.
"No last name. Just Laramie."
"No last name." Velvet mused. She turned to her girls. "Burgundy, you knew a man like that, right?"
The older of the two girls nodded.
"Yes, mama. Round bald guy. Kinda goofy, but he always opened the door for me and the other girls."
"Uh, that's what I thought." Velvet said before turning back to Deborah. "They're dead. Both of them."
The room fell into a suffocating silence. Deborah balked at the utter bluntness, and she dared to cast a side eye to Jacob. The boy's expression was of clear disbelief, but also fury. He slapped the table with both hands.
"You lie!" he roared, gripping the sterling star and preparing to transform. "You know where he is! Tell me, or so help me..."
"Jacob."
Nina's soft, somber voice caused the boy to spin on her. The embodiment of empathy wore an expression of utter despair, and she offered him a small nod.
"There are no falsehoods in her words," she said mournfully.
"It's bad policy in my business to lie," Velvet confirmed. "A tragedy, really. Though, from what I understand, he got off easier than poor Vinny. I'll spare you the more grisly details, but let's just say it involved a fishing boat and a shark cage with an open door policy. Poor sap didn't stand a chance. Larry was just beaten to death."
Jacob had fallen completely silent. His uncle Laramie...dead?
His grip on the Sterling Star went slack, and his hands fell numbly at his sides.
"Who did it?" Deborah demanded, finding her voice. "Tell me! Who killed them?"
Velvet shook her head.
"I'm afraid I don't know. I only know he was found in the morgue, and I only know that because Rose volunteers at the Rising Star Hospital. Poor thing couldn't speak for three days after the sight. But that's what she gets for getting lost on her first day."
Rose flinched, bile rising in her throat as if she were back in that morgue, the smell of formaldehyde still clinging to her nose.
Velvet then started to rise, and she motioned her girls to quickly gather up her tea set.
"I believe that is all you were looking for, yes? If so, I'll be taking my leave."
Deborah made a lunge and seized Velvet's arm.
"Oh no you don't!" she snapped. "Not yet! You must know something. There's no possible way two people died in this city, and you of all people don't have any clues. Knowing you, you're plotting to blackmail them."
Velvet regarded her seized limb, and then she looked to Deborah squarely.
"I'll forgive you touching my person. We are family, after all."
"We...are...not!" Deborah snarled rabidly.
"Keep telling yourself that. Regardless, if I did know, I would not say. Things are getting a bit more grimy here in Grummsdale, and a girl can't make a living if she's no longer living. So I'm gonna be keeping my head down for a little while till things start to blow over."
She wrenched her hand free.
"Besides, I really must get back. Andy's got himself a real live one of a recruit."
She looked to Jacob.
"Some friend of yours, or so he claimed. Course, I don't know how friendly you guys are if he's selling you out."
Jacob was still lost in his own thoughts. Uncle Laramie...dead? It was stuck on loop in his brain and refused to let him think no much else. But somewhere inside, Velvet's words had managed to seep in and take root. All at once, a flash of the people Jacob had met and truly interacted with since coming to this city flashed across the back of his eyes.
Someone had ratted him out to Andy, his inner voice said. But just who could it have been? He didn't know too many people.
His building super, perhaps? No, he only knew Jacob's normal appearance.
Deborah? Obviously not! She was right here signing her life away for him.
The crazy police commissioner with the ham hock hands? He almost could believe that, but still highly unlikely.
Lance? Definitely not, the boy was beyond pure.
Joe the mechanic? That felt more probable as Jacob only barely knew him, but the debt Uncle Laramie owed him had been settled.
Doctor Derrows? Big fat no there. Howard was a nicer guy than Lance to an almost cancerous degree.
So who else did that leave? Who had a real axe to grind that would want to...
A fresh jolt shot through Jacob's soul. He could see a flash of red, a deerstalker cap, an angry sneer, and a large fist aimed for his face before the memory faded. Suddenly, he was on his feet.
"Tolle-te!" he exclaimed in a dead panic, and he was out that door before his armor had even fully formed.
"Jacob!" Deborah called after him, snatching her gun back from Rose as she raced past.
Velvet simply watched them leave while grinning viciously, savoring their despair like cream from a saucer. Jacob was a silver streak running out the apartment building and onto the street. He moved as fast as the armor would allow him, his focus settled on a point before him as he raced back for Paradiso. He only prayed he made it back before it was too late, an image of a sneering Blazer remained burned in his mind.