Nov Bargain, Part the Third, Subpart G

[camwyn]

She gulped, feeling the heat of shame rising in her cheeks. Of course, he would be the first one I found, she mentally berated herself. This is what I get for concealing what I was doing from my father! “Yes, Inspector,” she managed. “I’m-“

Looking at the older man, something suddenly struck her. Every time she’d ever been in Inspector Harper’s presence before, there had been an almost palpable air of disapproval about him. Where it came from or why, she didn’t know, but it was very real. He didn’t like her; as far as she knew, he never had liked her, and it had only gotten worse since the Sergeant had started courting her. Perhaps it was only that Inspector Harper’s face was mostly hidden behind a mask as opaque as her own, but there was none of that feeling about him now. Puzzlement, yes, concern- but no dislike. He hadn’t recognised her.

“-I’m fine,” she said, almost dizzy with relief.

The Inspector nodded, frowning a little in what still looked like confusion to her. “Good, good. Can I help you find someone?”

Tell him no, something in the back of her mind urged her. Tell him you were just visiting someone and get out of here before he figures out who you are. The last thing you want is him sending you home.”

“As a matter of fact, sir,” she began very slowly.

That’s it. Tell him no, and you can be on your way with no one the wiser. You have to beat that storm. No one would know, would they? Not the Inspector, nor her father, nor Mr. Bernat, nor even that Patons man would know. If anything at all went wrong, she would only ever have herself to blame. If it went well, she or the Sergeant would inevitably have to tell Inspector Harper how a man who’d been on Arctic patrol for a full month knew about the epidemic in Dawson. . .

Fighting the urge to pull down her mask and show her full face, she contented herself with a deep breath and a step forward. “It’s me,” she said instead, speaking a little more clearly. “Louise Delaney.”

Above the mask the Inspector’s brown eyes widened a moment, then narrowed sharply. “I see,” he said in a low tone. “What are you doing here, miss?” His tone was clipped, impatient.

“I. . . wanted to help, sir,” she said uncertainly, watching the familiar irritation sink into what little of his face was visible. “And I needed to ask someone-”

“I’m sure you did,” the Inspector said, cutting her off with a jerk of one hand. “Your help’s not needed here, Miss Delaney. Go home.”

“Not that kind of help, sir!” The words came rushing out before she could stop herself. “This is important!”

“Important enough to come sneaking around my hospital?” he asked coldly.

“YES!” she all but shouted – and then fell silent, shocked at the sound of her voice.

Apparently, she wasn’t the only one. Louise was dimly aware that there were other people in the hallway, several of whom had turned in her direction. Only dimly, though; she was too shaken, and too busy staring up at the Inspector, to really care. There was no change in his expression that she could detect as he turned, glancing down the hallway. “Follow me,” he said curtly, and led her down the hall.

There was a room, a small one, not far from the door she’d come in by. Inspector Harper propped the door open and gestured for Louise to go ahead of him. Inside there wasn’t much: a desk with a chair on one side and a smaller chair on the other, a gas lamp, a few instruments Louise couldn’t identify. No more than that. Aware of a faint, faraway trembling sensation in her shoulders, Louise took the smaller of the chairs. The Inspector nodded once, dropping into the other with a distinct lack of grace. He leaned forward; the lamp cast bizarre shadows across his masked face as he steepled his fingers.

“Miss Delaney,” he said, voice muffled by the gauze, “I’d like to know, please – exactly what do you think you are doing here?”

There was a grimness in his eyes that didn’t bode well. Louise could feel the palms of her hands beginning to sweat.

“I’m waiting, Miss Delaney.”

She couldn’t avoid the urge to tremble. “Sorry, sir,” she murmured. He grunted, but said nothing. “It’s. . . I wanted to volunteer for something.”

“Volunteer.” He didn’t sound as if he believed it in the slightest.

“Well – yes, Inspector. Sort of. You see-”

“He’s not here, Miss Delaney.” Even through the mask she could tell he was scowling. “And even if he were, you still wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near him.”

“E- excuse me, sir?” She couldn’t believe what she thought she’d heard.

Patiently, as if explaining something to an exceptionally slow child, the Inspector continued. “There are two other hospitals in this city, Miss Delaney. Either one of them is closer to your father’s hotel. If you had solely wanted to volunteer to help the victims of this epidemic, one of them would have been a more sensible choice. Since you have no male relatives in the Mounties, I can only assume that you, like many, many women before you, are trying to catch Sergeant Preston by any angle that comes to hand. Allow me to congratulate you on choosing one that’s at least somewhat socially redeeming.”

Louise sat back in her chair, thunderstruck.

The Inspector went on. “You’re not the first woman to set her sights on Bill Preston, Miss Delaney. I very much doubt you’ll be the last. You’re more persistent than most of the others, and I think it’s just possible that you may be smarter than most of them, as well. What he sees in you I don’t know, but let me tell you this right now: the last thing, the absolute last thing, that he or the Mounted Police need is some lovestruck girl sniffing around side doors, trying to catch him off his guard- or lay in wait for him when he’s been in the field these past four weeks. If you think you can snare him that way-”

“You’re wrong, Inspector,” Louise suddenly said. Oh, she was trembling all right, but with rage now.

“Oh, really?” The dark-haired man leaned back, one eyebrow arching in the sudden shadows.

“Yes. Really.” She clutched the arms of her chair firmly; she’d be wiping her palms on her parka otherwise. “I am not ‘sniffing around your side doors’, thank you very much. I came here looking for someone who could tell me where I might find the Sergeant-”

“So you’re admitting it?’

“Yes,” Louise answered irritably, “I’m admitting it, if that’s how you like to think of such things. I’m admitting that I came here looking for a man you don’t think I should be chasing, a man I’ve known almost my entire life, who I’d gladly help at absolutely anything that I could in any way that I could. I’m admitting that I do intend to chase him down and catch him off his guard today – because if I don’t, he’s going to come riding into Dawson City tonight or tomorrow without any idea of what’s going on here. There’s quarantine signs at every house that has the flu, but there’s no signs on the trails, are there? He’ll see how busy the police hospital is and come right up to find out why. You know how easy it is to catch this ‘flu, Inspector Harper – all he has to do is talk to someone who’s got it, or someone who’s been around someone who’s got it, and he’ll be flat-on-his-back sick.”

The Inspector stared at her silently; Louise felt just confident enough to add, “And you know the Spanish Lady doesn’t care how strong you are, or how tough, or- or any of that. She’ll kill you just the same. . .”



Unrelated note: I just got invited to join the self_defense and krav_maga communities. I clicked on the authorization link before finding out that the moderators had picked up on 'self defense' or something similar in longbottom_nev's interests list, rather than my real-person journal. So Neville Longbottom is now a member of the Krav Maga community.

Well, I wanted to learn about the fighting style anyway.

Comments

[kyrielle]

I am reading these, and enjoying.

You do, however, have an italics tag that is not properly closed in this installment.

[camwyn]

Oh, smeg. Give me a minute and I'll go fix it.

!!!

[wheeker.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the '97 flick called 'Still Breathing' with BF? Wow

TPQ

[aethereal-girl.livejournal.com]

I'm reading them. Also, I didn't know you were keeping a journal for Neville Longbottom.

Re: !!!

[camwyn]

I can't say I have, no. Would I be able to rent it at Blockbuster?

[camwyn]

Part of the Harry Potter RPG beyond_hogwarts. Takes place after everyone graduates and the Voldemort War is over. Our Nev's just got the task of re-creating Dumbledore's Army...