Neon Stonehenge - Ch. 01

I took the tiny figure in my hand and started twisting it a little, holding it beneath my desk lamp to get as much visibility on the thing as I could. It was intricately carved and felt warm in my hands. There was definite magic lingering around inside of this thing, but what kind, that would take some work to get out. "You know the meaning of these?"

"They're traditionally guardian figures in Chinese architecture," Gao said. "My parents used to have a pair of them made of concrete outside of the front door of their house, before they moved down to southern California. When they moved, they took the shishi with them."

"What do you mean by vanish?" I asked, writing CHINESE GUARDIAN DOG FIGURINES - JADE/CHARGED in amongst my notes.

"This is the third one of these I've come across. I picked each one up and put it in my pocket, but by morning the next day, my pocket is empty."

"Could it be the same lion, just in different places?"

Gao shook his head. "Different sizes each time. Different shades as well. I think the shape doesn't change all that much, but if you're asking me if they're identical, there I cannot answer you, Mr. Sexton."

I wrote DISAPPEARING beneath the note about the figurines. "Anything else I should know about?"

"You'll think I'm crazy."

"Detective Gao. You are already way beyond the point of no return when it comes to Weirdsville, and I promise you, I am not going to judge you one way or another."

The man looked out my window, maybe envying my view, to which I couldn't blame him, then looked back at me. "I think I saw a fucking unicorn up in Pioneer Park this morning. I'm certain I saw one. Does... does that mean something specific to you? I was told that it might."

I sighed a little bit. "In Pioneer Park? You're sure that's where you were?"

"I know where I was, Mr. Sexton," Gao said to me. "And I think you're missing the forest for the trees here. It was a fucking unicorn."

"Yeah," I said, shaking my head. SEYMOUR I scribbled down next. The unicorn in question and I were acquainted. "Yeah, no, I definitely got that. Okay, Mr. Gao, I'll take your case. My rate is $250 per day with a minimum of one week's work guaranteed, not including additional expenses, although if I do not deliver a result, or at the very least demonstrably solid progress, within a month's time, I'll refund half of my entire fee back to you, so you don't feel like you're pouring money into an endless money pit. That said, I also can't have you following me around while I work, so while I'm happy to provide updates every few days, I mostly just need you to stay out of my hair and let me work, okay?"

"How confid--"

"I'm never confident about anything, Detective Gao, which why I generally get solid results. Now, I've got a questionnaire I need you to fill in with everything you know about Saoirse - where she worked, where she lived before she moved in with you, a list of any known friends and acquaintances - and I also need you to bring something to the office that she handled all the time. Hairbrush would be best, toothbrush is okay, nothing living or that a lot of other people touch regularly."

"What's that for?"

"Detective. You have your methods, I have mine. You'll get it back in the end. See, you're already peeking a little bit behind the veil, and the last thing you want is a deeper look at what's back here. Since you were referred to me, you know what my reputation is, and you know I don't fuck about. I'm going to get shit done, and I'm probably going to have to kick over a few hornet nests to do it, but lemme worry about the consequences for that. All you need to do is make sure people aren't getting in my way when I'm trying to work. Who told you to check out Pioneer Park? Dr. Shirow? Or someone else? You said a couple of people referred you over to me - who's the other one?"

"Guy who said he'd worked with you a few times before. Detective James Quintrell-Turner. Been on the force for ages. He said if I went up to Pioneer Park and saw something unusual, then came back and told him about it, he'd give me someone who might be able to help. That's how your name came up."

I scribbled in large, angry letters JQT before writing OBVIOUSLY beneath it in slightly less angry text. It was true, Jimmy and I had worked a number of cases together, and while there was no way I would be inviting him over for a barbeque, he was smart enough to know how to sort the punters from the real cases. Jimmy had something of a disdain for my world, simply because he knew there were too many rules for him to follow and understand, and he was a simple cop who liked simple cases - the husband shot his wife because she was cheating on him, the lady stole the jewels and killed the guard when he caught her breaking into the safe. Nice, easy shit like that. The first time he'd needed my help involved a necromancer and the use of zombies as murder weapons. All of that resulted in a case he couldn't prosecute, but he and I had made sure the necromancer in question wasn't going to be causing problems moving forward. So don't think that I don't like Jimmy, he can just tend to be a weight slowing me down, and he has a strong dislike of getting blood on his hands, whereas I'm rarely afforded that luxury.

The one true advantage of my work is that the bodies I would leave in my wake generally clean up after themselves. If they don't, well, we've got spells for that. And the coroner, Dr. Shirow, gives me a warning whenever she comes across one of those in their systems. The last thing I want is the modern world getting caught up in the sort of shit I deal with on a regular basis.

I'd sort of hoped that Detective Gao might have heard of me from somebody else working on the force, Officer Winnick or Captain Windsor, who might've softened the blow about what to expect in working with me, but I'd just have to stomach that this case came indirectly from JQT, which also meant he'd be butting his nose into it every chance he got. It meant someone doublechecking my work, which wasn't the worst, but I hated having people looking over my shoulder, and QT could be a smug one sometimes. It wasn't that he reveled in my misfortune; he just took great delight in seeing that I didn't always know what I was doing either.

"Alright, well, I'm going to come by your house and do a sweep there in the next few days. If you can give me a key and let me know when you're not going to be home, that'll make things easier. The less of my world you see the better. Once you bring me the personal item, I'll start running down a few options and we can see what turns up. The Bay Area is a huge place, and when you're dealing with things on this side of the veil, it can be easy for tourists to get lost or caught up somewhere in the mess."

"Tourists?"

I pursed my lips for a second, trying to decide the best way to tell him this that would run into the least resistance. "The supernatural world, Detective Gao, isn't the sort of thing you can just dip a toe into. Lots of people have tried to get a peek behind the veil and then go back to living normal lives again, but once you see what's over there, it can be remarkably hard to shake loose the hold it has on you. The woman I bring back to you may not be entirely the same woman who left you. That's completely beyond my control. You've gotten just a tiny taste of it these past few days, so you can probably walk away from all this now, if you're lucky. If you stop looking for her, I imagine all the weirdness will disappear quick enough. Now, I'm not saying you should stop looking for her, but I'm obligated to give you the option. If you want it."

"Have you ever been in love, Mr. Sexton?"

There was a much, much longer answer to that question, but I decided to keep it short and on-point. "Not reliably, sir, no."

"Well, let me tell you, when you are, you will stop at nothing to protect the one you love. If that means I must deal with giant wolves in my house, I consider that a very low price to pay," the older Chinese man said to me.

"Fair enough," I told him. "I've given you my warning and you've given me your reply. If you could get the two grand upfront to me at some point over the next few days, I'd appreciate it. Same for the personal item. Best if you bring them together, actually. You can just drop them and your house key off with Topaz, the receptionist down in the lobby."

"If you don't mind me saying so, Mr. Sexton, she smells like a stripper."

"That's because she is also a stripper, Detective Gao, but it's not my place to judge how people make their dollars as long as the work gets done," I said to him. "Go home, Detective Gao, and let me get to work on this." I held up the photograph, shaking it in his direction. "I'll get answers, I promise you."

The detective excused himself from my office, as I set the photograph back down on top of my desk. I pulled the yellow legal pad closer and scribbled PLAN OF ATTACK on it, underlining it before giving myself a handful of options. SEYMOUR. LAYLA. BARNABY. DIGGER. THE CAPTAIN. THE BIRDMAN. SHIV. Lots of possible places to kick off. I scribbled down LAST RESORT to the right of THE CAPTAIN, and after looking at for a good long while, I wrote a 1 next to SEYMOUR, and circled it, followed by a 2 next to SHIV, circling that as well. No need to start rattling big trees when little trees would do just as well.

I also scribbled down CALL CHARLOTTE before putting a 3 next to it, circling that. She wouldn't have any useful information about any of this mess, but she always liked to know when I was on a case. That way if I suddenly found myself up to my neck in shit I couldn't manage, she could come and bail me out. A more prideful man would take shame in that, but my sister was one of the deadliest hunters the Sexton clan had ever produced, so I was perfectly fine accepting her help when it was offered. There weren't many people alive or dead I'd be scared to face down in a duel, but she was definitely one of them. That said, Charlotte could also sometimes be as subtle as a sledgehammer through a curio shop front window, so getting a little bit of the work under my belt done first wouldn't hurt anything.

My eyes turned to glance out the window once more, seeing the fog had rolled in even thicker, as the setting sun was casting far less light into the space. Time to get back to work, I thought to myself. That meant it was time to get suited up.

I opened the largest drawer of my desk, taking out the massive oaken case, setting it atop the yellow pad. I placed my thumbs into the grooves on either side of the top of the box and heard the telltale whirring from the insides of it as the internal mechanisms shifted from locked to an open state. I lifted the top off and pulled out the gunbelt, sliding it around my waist, before taking the first of my custom Colt M1878s from its place, opening the cylinder, loading in some of our custom made bullets into the chambers one at a time before snapping it shut, sliding the gun into the holster on my left hip, repeating the process with the other one, sliding it into the holster on my right hip. I closed the box back up and put it back into my desk drawer, closing it shut. I brought my fingertips across the belt buckle just below my belly and felt the enchantment take grip once more, hiding the weapons from anyone who couldn't see behind the veil. You can't just go walking around San Francisco with a couple of six-shooters on your hips without people staring unless you know how to hide them. This is 2005, not 1905. The concealment enchantment was one of the very first things Dad taught me in the early days, so I'd had lots of practice with it. It was like slipping on the most comfortable pair of pants you'd ever owned.

After a glance down at my yellow pad, I picked up the photograph and put it into my satchel, then tapped the first stop on my tour through the dark side of the veil. I had to go see a unicorn about a man.