Leopard Dreaming (19 page)

Mira guessed he meant shopping, but she heard them whispering and giggling something about him being a stallion as they trotted in high heels across the short ramp onto the pier. They shouldered roughly past Mira as if she didn’t exist in their universe.

Ironic, she thought, since in her world they were the invisibles.

After a brief moment, an engine roared to life in the parking lot, tyres screeched and they dissolved completely into the ephemeral haze of yester-week.

Mira stayed back from the access ramp until the very last moment, holding her stomach and waiting until she heard the two detectives step aboard first. The ghostly ramp had been folded down last week as an extension of the lowest deck, but even on a vessel that large, she noticed it bob slightly in time with the tide,
and could only hope that it had moored and docked in precisely the same place.

‘You like?’ Darkin asked, as if he enjoyed showing it off to visitors. ‘It’s one of a thousand anti-pirate design features, but also works well against feral fans and pesky paparazzi. This ramp folds and extends to any angle for disembarking onto practically anything, and folds up tighter than a duck’s butt with no handles or grip points for climbing.’

‘Duck’s butt?’ Mira asked.

‘No leaks.’

‘Oh, well, good. It’ll do then.’

‘It will?’ he chuckled. ‘Glad to hear it.’

Lockman steadied her by the elbow, and for once she didn’t complain. Seeing one world and feeling another seemed hard enough on dry land, but the broad gangway sank a little as she stepped onto it. Lower than she’d expected too, while a higher tide yesterday also gave it the ghostly appearance of a slightly steeper angle. So her next step seemed to pass through, almost as deep as her ankle.

‘I’m moving inland after this,’ she whispered to Lockman. ‘Somewhere dry, like the Simpson Desert.’ She edged across cautiously, closing her eyes to feel her way across to the more solid railing. It seemed much easier to make it across completely blind than yester-sighted.

At the end, she stumbled onto the deck where two men caught her, one by each arm. Lockman to her right and Darkin her left.

‘Whoa, there, little lady!’ Darkin reeked of smoke and alcohol.
On
him, but not on his breath. Lockman smelled clean in comparison, with his usual scent of mild soap and gun oil. ‘Watch that first step, or you’ll spend the rest of your time aboard with your feet up. Come to think of it, that sounds more enjoyable for us both.’

‘Stand down, Romeo.’ Lockman shifted to put Mira behind him. ‘She’s taken. And you’ve got a job at the helm.’ He released her, making his intentions clear without too many sounds of alpha-male posturing.

Sidestepping to grab the railing, Mira scowled at Lockman’s remark of ownership. ‘Hey, I may be blind, but I’m not helpless, you guys.’

Darkin choked. ‘You’re blind? So what’s the real show here, Detectives? She’s feisty, but she’s ten grand short of a million, and I don’t take payment in damaged girls, unless they come as twins or triplets.’

‘She’s not payment, she’s treasure,’ Moser barked. ‘Now back off before we turn our backs so her guard dog can bite you.’

Lockman took a single step, and Mira could well imagine their exchanges of body language now — although Lockman didn’t seem to tense as much as she’d expected.

‘Looks more like a seeing-eye dog,’ Darkin said, backing off anyway. ‘Or maybe he’s the missing ten grand. Know what I mean? If he’s not tapping that, he’s one track short of an album. Yeah?’

‘You’ll be one arm short of a corpse,’ Lockman warned, ‘if you don’t find your manners fast around this lady.’

‘Down boy!’ He laughed. ‘I was only relaxing from legalese to small talk. Hoping one of you might ’fess up to how she knew about Maybelline and her latest adventure into my bar safe. Or did you feed me that crock after a stakeout, knowing I’m a soft touch for a feisty femme?’

‘That’s classified,’ Symes replied. ‘As far as you’re concerned, she was never here, and I’m going to hold you to that, with a signed agreement. Right about now, actually.’

Mira heard the chime of a phone or other electronic device waking, and she cringed, preferring not to be
treated like a national secret. It made her feel like an object; a loaded gun, barely functioning under test conditions.

‘That had better not be making a departmental record I was here, either,’ she warned.

‘Oh, nice,’ Darkin chuckled. ‘Now we see who’s really wearing the panties. You go ahead and email that to my lawyer first, pal. Or else spill with some details. So speak, little muses. Inspire me.’

Mira opened her palm, revealing his lucky guitar pick. ‘I believe this may be yours?’

‘Holy mother of pearl!’ He snatched it like gold. ‘Where did you find her?’

‘On the pier. Maybelline referred to it as
him
.’

‘Yeah, she would. What’s your name, little lady? I’ll write a song just for you in —’

‘No!’ said all three men, stepping up together.

‘She’s the invisible woman,’ Symes explained. ‘Never here. Not negotiable.’

Darkin laughed at them. ‘Inspirational. There’s a song in that, right there.’

‘What part of
never here
did you not understand?’ Moser demanded. ‘It’s time to kick this fish.’

‘Oh, I’m kicking it … I haven’t written a respectable thing in a year, and now you show up and I’m bursting.’

‘You got somewhere to stow our helmets and leathers?’ Lockman asked.

‘Sure thing, pal. There’s a hidden compartment under that seat. Big enough for your bags too, until you leave.’

‘The backpack stays with me,’ Lockman said, and Mira realised he must have brought their survival kit.

‘Same here,’ she said, tightening her hold on the joey’s pouch. Inside, Pockets stirred and wriggled, as she often did at the sound of Lockman’s voice.

‘Suit yourselves. A friendly word of warning though; Maybelline’s got a viper’s temper and she’s paddling for
the parking lot. So if that slick little Blackbird is yours, mate, better fetch it aboard quick, or she’ll hotwire a car and crush it down to spare parts.’

‘It’s insured.’ Lockman helped Mira out of her boots, leaving her in bare feet on the roughened polymer deck — which also surprised her. The floor looked sleek like polished timber, but felt treated somehow and she guessed it to be a feature that ensured the deck stayed anti-slip in wet weather. ‘Just sail where the lady tells you.’

‘Do it for me, then. As insurance.’

‘You can claim against us,’ Symes argued. ‘Not that there’ll be any damages, but I’ve already guaranteed we’ll be reimbursing you for fuel and inconvenience.’

‘Oh, you can bet on that, little buddy. But I meant insurance for Lucky. This little lady brought her home to me and the universe will punish my arse, and how, if I don’t reciprocate.’

‘Oh, please let me shoot him,’ Moser begged. ‘Or choose a boat that’s less trouble?’

‘Tempting, but we’re here now,’ Symes argued. ‘I say we call in the drug squad.’

‘Oh, no you won’t!’ Mira cried. She couldn’t be sure if he was bluffing or not, but she didn’t care. ‘We need every second out there.’

‘Hey, I love sniffer dogs,’ Darkin challenged them. ‘I’m high on excitement, so break out the bow-wows. Only do me a favour and plant something first, because I’m clean and frankly I could do with more dirty publicity. The girls love it. Waste of time for
us
, though, if we’re all hunting inspiration. Me for mine, and yours for crime. See? Our song is writing itself already. A nice little spin aboard those wheels would be icing, and keep the universe happy that I’m watching your back before Maybelline gets to it.’

‘Oh, here, fetch the damn thing!’ Lockman whistled, just as Mira heard the chink of the electronic
key changing hands. ‘Get a move on. Ignition is the top button.’

‘Sweeeeet.’ Darkin chinked the keys as if tossing them up and recatching them. ‘Prepare to cast off, me hearties. I’ll be two secs or less.’ He jogged past Mira with long strides that left the gangway bouncing, while she peeled off her leathers, leaving only her sundress and bare feet, until she hoisted the joey’s pouch snugly back into place on her shoulder.

‘Cast off now,’ Moser said. ‘We’ll leave without him.’

‘Not happening, Clyde. He’s not as thick as he looks, so we do this to the letter of the book’s fine print.’ Symes’ footsteps took him back portside to the nearest ghostly mooring. ‘Unless you’ve been taking skipper lessons lately, the most we could handle legally is the lifeboat. And I’m not even sure about that. Have you seen it?’

Moser grunted a curse under his breath, and lumbered aft towards a sleek little contraption that looked to Mira like a ghostly kitchen tap and sink, but with a warning sign on how to operate the anchor hoist.

‘Where do you want to be?’ Lockman whispered, as Mira handed him her leathers.

‘Not here,’ she said honestly.

‘I meant, up one deck, or two? Fore or aft?’

‘Two, and I don’t know. Front, I suppose. Quickly.’ She noticed the other ship already pulling away from the neighbouring pier with the Volkswagen on deck, and in the front seats, the two familiar silhouettes of Maddy and Freddie.

As Mira checked on them again using Lockman’s binoculars briefly, Freddie seemed even more frightened now that they were moving. He glanced around like a pigeon surrounded by cats. Too wounded to fly.

She’ll still follow us,
he signed to Sanchez.
Not today, but soon.

You don’t know that, Freddie. You never predicted this trip to Straddie, for example.

I fear we won’t make it. The echoes here have abandoned me, and from the great halls of Serenity, I could hear only the future news and rumours that whispered back to me.

Or perhaps it’s because you’ve warned me of trouble coming in time to avoid it.

Freddie shook his head violently.
It’s too high up here, and too quiet. Engines starting and falling silent behind us. When trouble comes for you, it won’t be here.

If Sanchez said anything else, her hands were too low for Mira to see.

Windows up; water squirted to clean their windscreen, taking advantage of the rain for the wiper blades to stroke off a light splattering of bugs, which gave Mira a clearer view of them at the same time as serving them with a cleaner view of the savage weather they’d been sailing into that night. And all because Sanchez wanted to find Mira and make sure she was okay, despite the official memo from General Garland’s office, and Freddie’s manuscript, which foretold of her death.

‘Steps are this way,’ Lockman said, distracting her. ‘Let’s get you up to that better height you needed.’

Lockman followed Mira up the timber stairs, ready to catch her if she slipped, yet also giving her as much space as he could afford. The top deck was simply too open to snipers.

He hated the idea of sailing any closer to the memories aboard that wretched cargo ship, possibly as much as Mira, but he could tell from her grim expression how much worse it was for her already. Aside from the task and dangers ahead, he feared that her tendency for travel sickness would hamper her
visions as much as her regular pain from eyestrain. She’d be putting to sea in a ghost ship that would stay moored while the invisible now-version of it sailed away with her. From the care she took in boarding, and the way she had trouble finding the height of the first step, he could also tell the waves and tide were playing havoc with her coordination. But he wouldn’t wound her pride by helping her more than she really needed. Or asked for.

She found the top step soon enough, and the railing, and he couldn’t help but admire her as she made her own way up to the top deck.

She’s not yours,
he had to remind himself. So long as Bennet Chiron lived, she never could be.

A cool breeze toyed with her fine hair, and he noticed goose-bumps ripple across her bare shoulders. For spring, the whole week had been unseasonably temperamental.

He stepped closer behind her, shielding her without touching her, but she flared and spun around, grabbing him by the sleeve and tugging him against the rail beside her.

‘I’ll have words with you, Lieutenant.’

‘You’re too exposed up here. I don’t like it.’ He turned sideways to block as much of her as he could from view of the Drift Inn apartment block. Every window posed a potential roost for a sniper. Conveniently, he also managed to shield her from much of the wind.

‘Cut that out,’ she chided him. ‘That’s not why I’m mad at you, and you know it.’

He scratched his temple, confused. ‘Actually, I don’t think I do.’

‘Oh, really? “Stand down, Romeo, she’s taken?” I’m blind, not deaf, if you’ve forgotten.’

‘How could I? You’re still Ben’s, right? Lucky bastard. Not a lot of women as faithful as you, I can testify. So it’s you who made it worth mentioning.’

‘Oh.’ She slumped against the rail, making him feel like a jerk for deflating her that roughly. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I thought you meant you.’

‘If I’d meant me, Mr Music would still be picking his toenails out of his teeth. Forget I said anything. Stay focused on Maddy Sanchez and it’ll make it easier for everybody.’

‘Fine, be like that. I was only trying to apologise.’ Not an easy thing for her, he realised, considering how nervous she usually seemed about him.

Below them, Darkin raced aboard on the Blackbird and skidded to a halt. ‘Oh, I gotta get me one of these!’ he shouted up to them. A metallic clunk attracted his attention to the two feds at the stern. ‘Oiii,’ Darkin shouted to them. ‘Too much slop on that anchor spool, boys!’ Bare feet thudded onto the deck, as if he’d leapt off to fix it himself; and Lockman caught himself listening to the world around him as much as watching it. More of Mira’s world rubbing off on him.

Mira seemed distracted by them too, but only briefly.

Turning unexpectedly towards Lockman, she splayed her fingers against his chest and stepped closer to hide her intentions between them. Up close, like a nervous lover.

She made him feel more uncomfortable than ever, but if she needed to speak to him privately, they had little other choice. Kitching’s eyes could be anywhere.