Secrets and Lies

Monday morning I made sure to wake up at a respectable half-past-seven. I kept quiet so as not to wake my partner as I moved past her towards the washroom. The busty redhead was looking absolutely adorable again, snoring softly as she lay bundled up in her blankets in the middle of her bed.

It was some thirty minutes or so later when I finally emerged. I'd replaced my nightgown with a bath robe, after having showered and taken care of my usual morning routines. I found Phoebe was already up by then, sitting cross-legged on the sofa cradling a mug of coffee in her hands. She was still in her nightshirt, so I figured she was probably waiting for her turn in the shower.

"Good morning cutie," I smiled to her as I headed over to the machine to get a coffee for myself. "The washroom's all yours now. Sorry if I kept you waiting."

Her cheeks coloured slightly but she smirked and teased, "I wasn't exactly desperate, but another ten minutes and I might've let myself in there to join you."

I glanced over at her and raised an eyebrow, "Oh? What if I'd locked the door?"

She giggled, "Please. Those privacy locks are barely a suggestion. I can get past one of them in two seconds flat, I wouldn't need magic to do it. The only reason I didn't was it would have been rude to walk in uninvited."

Both my eyebrows shot up at that comment, but not because of her boast. Instead it was her laughter that caught my attention. I was pretty sure that was only the second time I'd heard her giggle, and it was the first time she'd actually sounded happy or mirthful about it. And that left me with some some complicated thoughts and feelings.

I busied myself getting my coffee just right as I thought about that. On the one hand I was glad her mood seemed to have picked up again after our ordeal on Saturday. It was nice to see her genuinely smiling, and like almost everything about her the giggling was absolutely adorable. Even her epic bed-head looked cute.

Which led me to some other thoughts and feelings that I was less certain about.

I enjoyed the friendly teasing and occasional flirting going on between us, but I wasn't sure if Phoebe wanted more. For that matter I wasn't sure if I wanted more. Or if either of us were even ready for that. Despite the rest of the organization apparently hooking up with each other, I worried that my partner was maybe a little too fragile to get involved in a relationship just yet. And for that matter I was still way too new to the whole operation. Plus based on what I'd learned so far, I wasn't even sure if LIES was the right fit for me after all.

All that left me thinking once again about Jenny Carter, and the job opening up in Castleton. I still had a couple days left before she needed my answer, and I was beginning to think that would depend on how Dr. Bishop and Miss Talbot responded to those questions and concerns I'd sent them yesterday.

"Alright! My turn in the shower," Phoebe suddenly announced as she got to her feet. She left her coffee mug on the table for now, then turned and disappeared into the washroom.

While she was in there I got myself dressed, and considering we'd be on the road all day long I went for comfort once again. That meant sneakers, leggings, a t-shirt, and my new hoodie. Then I got myself a second cup of coffee to enjoy while I started packing up and getting ready to check out.

It was just a few minutes past nine when the cute redhead finally emerged from the washroom, wrapped up in another big fluffy white robe. She'd barely got two steps though before my phone started ringing.

"It's Bishop," I commented after checking the screen. Then I answered, "Good morning doctor. What can I do for you? Is this about our final report?"

"Or is this about the email I sent afterwards?" I added a moment later.

Grace sounded stressed as she responded, "We'll talk about your concerns later Trillium. Right now I've something rather urgent to discuss. Is Phoebe there? Can you put me on speaker please?"

"Of course," I nodded as I gestured for my partner to join me. Then I sat down at the table, while Phoebe moved past me to get herself a fresh cup of coffee.

"We're both here now," I stated after setting my phone on speaker mode. "Is something wrong?"

Rather than Dr. Bishop it was Alys who spoke up next. The teen sounded scared and worried when she announced, "My dad's gone missing!"

"We've lost contact with both Owen and Martin," Grace elaborated.

She sounded just as concerned as the teen as she continued, "We last heard from them on Saturday, after they arrived in Canterbury. They were following up on their missing witnesses, and trying to track down that angelic entity. They failed to check in yesterday, and haven't responded to any of our messages or texts."

"Now dad's phone's not even on!" Alys interjected. "Something's happened to him, I just know it! He said this work was dangerous..."

The teen's voice trailed off, while it sounded like Emma was trying to comfort her in the background. Meanwhile my partner settled quietly into the seat right next to mine again.

Dr. Bishop took over, "Terry's confirmed that both Owen's and Martin's phones have been switched off. Their last registered locations were both in downtown Canterbury, as of early yesterday afternoon. I believe they were looking into the second appearance."

Phoebe and I exchanged a glance then I asked, "Second appearance? You mean the angel turned up again?"

Grace responded, "I take it you haven't seen the news, or been on social media since yesterday?"

"The angel appeared at Canterbury Cathedral, just after the Sunday morning services concluded," Emma chimed in. "It was seen by hundreds of people. There's pictures of it all over the internet."

I had no idea how to react, but my parter remained focused on the most important issue. She asked the witchy teen, "You tried scrying for Owen and Martin yet? Any results?"

The girl replied, "Well of course I've tried! I'm being blocked though. I get some fuzzy impressions, I'm positive they're both still alive. But something's keeping me from seeing them, or from getting a feel for their location."

"Trillium, Phoebe, I need you two to head directly to Canterbury," Grace stated. "This isn't about locating an angel or a potential entity, it's about finding Owen and Martin."

Alys added, "Please find my dad!"

"Of course," I nodded. "Terry are you there? I'm sure you're already on this, but can you send us everything you've got on our people's movements since they left Cardiff? Phone records, credit card transactions, anything else you can find?"

The tech guy's smooth voice came through the speaker, "You got it. It'll take me a bit to round up all the data, but I'll have it all over to you ASAP."

Grace added, "I'll send everything we'd received from them regarding their case. Like I said though, this isn't about you taking over for them. It's to help you find them."

"Understood," I stated. "We're just packing up here, we should be on the road within the hour."

The doctor replied, "Thank you both. Please be careful. And please keep in touch!"

"Aye, we will," Phoebe promised. "And don't worry Alys, we'll find your dad."

"Thank you!" the teen replied.

Dr. Bishop ended the call after that, and I took a deep breath then sighed as I turned to look at my partner. She had a grim, thoughtful look on her face as she took a long sip of her coffee.

"Any thoughts?" I asked. "Is this a common occurrence, with people going missing?"

Phoebe slowly shook her head, "Not really. Like the kid said it's dangerous work, but in my time with the Brotherhood we never lost anyone. Not until last year, when the whole bloody thing came apart."

After another sip of her coffee she added, "I don't know if you're aware, but Owen used to run the Brotherhood office in Cardiff. After the headquarters in London fell, he was probably the highest-ranking operative in the UK. That means he was damned good at his job. I know that doesn't necessarily apply to our current circumstances, but if something's got its hooks in him that doesn't bode well for the rest of us."

That was an unpleasant thought, and as it sank in I began to realize just how serious the situation was. To my knowledge, Owen, Martin, and Phoebe were the three most experienced field operatives LIES had. Now two of them were missing, and in my opinion the third was in dire need of some medical leave and therapy.

That left Terrance, who was also ex-Brotherhood, but as far as I knew he was more 'support staff' rather than an active field agent. Then there was myself, with plenty of experience with the police but very little when it came to the supernatural. And I knew Grace Bishop had only been with LIES for a couple months. Finally there were Alys and Emma, who were both teenagers. Like Phoebe said, the situation did not bode well at all.

After dwelling on that for a minute or so I finally got to my feet as I said, "We'd better get moving."

Phoebe just nodded as she stood up as well. It didn't take her long to get dressed, she pulled on a pair of tight jeans and a t-shirt, followed by some running shoes and her new autumn jacket. She finished packing soon afterwards, and she made sure to grab the rest of the beer we had in the mini-fridge. Along with that bottle of Scotch we'd picked up the other day.

My partner took care of check-out, which went smoothly, then we headed out to her SUV. We were on the road less than forty-five minutes after ending the call with Grace and the others. That included a brief stop to fill up the Grandland's petrol tank.

"Looks like we've got another three hours or so of driving ahead of us," I commented after setting Canterbury as our destination in the satnav. "Can you see if we've got those notes yet from Grace? Or the other information from Terry?"

My partner fished out her phone, but she sighed quietly as she began checking it for texts or emails.

Hearing her sigh I glanced at her before focusing on the road again. "Are you ok? If you're not feeling up for this case -"

"I'll be fine," she insisted quietly. "I'm just worried for my friend. Owen and I go way back, we've known each other over twenty years. I was best man at his wedding..."

Her voice trailed off for a moment and she grimaced, "It actually feels bloody weird saying that now. I'm sure it sounds just as strange, considering what I look like."

Then before I could comment she added, "Nothing yet from Terrence, I'm starting to wonder if he's actually any good at his job. Grace sent all Owen's notes though. I suppose you'd like me to read them to you?"

"Yes please," I nodded. "If you don't mind?"

Phoebe shook her head as she tapped her phone a few more times. Then she began, "So our original three witnesses were George Robbins, twenty nine years old. Lives with his parents in Fordwich, works as an auto mechanic in Canterbury. Norman White, age thirty two. Resident of Sturry, works for the Canterbury City Council. And Iain Bray, thirty one, also of Sturry. And also works in Canterbury, at a small tech start-up."

"White and Bray are flatmates," she added as she continued reading our coworker's notes, "And apparently all three men were childhood friends, they grew up in the same area east of Canterbury."

She continued, "The evening of Saturday November twenty-third the trio spent a few hours at their favourite pub in Fordwich. They left just past eleven at night, then saw the angel appear in front of an old historic church. Right, we already knew that part. Um, Norman White departed in the company of the angel, Iain Bray headed north towards his flat in Sturry, and George Robbins returned to his parents' home in Fordwich."

I interjected, "That last conference call on Friday, didn't Owen say he and Martin were planning to speak with the third witness? That'd be Bray I guess? And the second one, White, he was missing. Did he ever turn up?"

"Hang on," Phoebe replied as she scrolled further through the document. "Right, says here Owen and Martin visited the flat Bray and White shared that evening, Friday the twenty-ninth. There was no sign of Mr. Bray though, he didn't answer the door or their calls or messages. They spoke with a neighbour instead, she said she'd last seen Iain Bray the previous morning when he left for work. So that was a little past eight, on November twenty-eighth."

After some more scrolling she went on, "Owen and Martin made some calls and found out Bray didn't show up at work on Thursday or Friday, so now he's missing too. That just leaves Robbins as the only witness who hasn't vanished."

I frowned, "He's the one who started doing volunteer work at the old church, right?"

"Aye," the redhead nodded. "He claims witnessing the angel changed his life. Said he quit drinking after that, and started volunteering his services at the ancient church where the angel appeared."

Just then her phone buzzed with a notification. A moment later she announced, "That's from Terry. Let's see what he's got for us."

"Ok first up is information he'd already sent to Owen and Martin," she added after opening the next file. "Huh. There were some transactions on White's bank card after he disappeared with the angel, mostly at expensive restaurants in Canterbury. There were a couple large ATM withdrawals too, and all that pretty much drained his accounts. The last one was on Wednesday November twenty-seventh."

She continued, "This is interesting. Iain Bray's credit card was used at an expensive hotel in Canterbury, on Sunday the twenty-fourth. That was the day after the angel appeared, when Bray was supposedly back at his flat in Sturry. It was used there again the next two days. Then Thursday the twenty-eighth, his bank card was used at an ATM in Canterbury for a couple large withdrawals, draining his accounts as well."

By that point I was already getting a fairly clear picture in my mind of what was going on. "This sounds like the work of a con artist, rather than any sort of supernatural entity. Someone put on a show, tricked a few guys into thinking they'd witnessed something divine, and now they're living it up at their victims' expense."

"Seriously," I added, "Why would an actual angel need an expensive hotel room and meals at fancy restaurants? Or cash?"

Phoebe nodded slowly, "Aye, can't argue with that. Except there's no bloody way some mundane conman's got the better of both Owen and Martin. And Emma said something's blocking her from scrying our men. That's not likely to be in your typical crook's repertoire."

Those were both very good points. Still, apart from that it really did feel like some sort of con job to me. Which left me wondering if we might be dealing with a supernatural criminal this time, rather than an alien entity.

"Anyways let's see what else Terrance sent us," the redhead stated as she tapped her phone a few more times. "Right, he's also got records from our missing men."

She slowly scrolled through the next document as she commented, "Nothing out of sorts here. Petrol charges and restaurant fees starting from the day they left Cardiff. Receipts from an inn in Sturry for three nights, more meals over the next few days. Looks like they checked in to that same fancy hotel in Canterbury on Friday, the one where Bray's credit card was used. That was after they got the heads-up from Terry. More meal expenses, and... damn."

The redhead sighed, "Owen's and Martin's phones were both disconnected from the mobile network yesterday at around one in the afternoon. And an hour later Martin's bank card was used at a machine in Canterbury to make a few large cash withdrawals."

I frowned, "Does it say if they're still registered at that same hotel?"

She glanced at her phone again then shook her head, "Apart from the initial deposit there hasn't been another charge from the hotel. So either they've still got the room, or if they've left they must have paid cash when they checked out."

"Right," I sighed. "If you're booking us a room somewhere, let's not stay at the same place. Ok?"

Phoebe grimaced, "Good point. I'll see what else is available after we've -"

She was cut off by another notification buzz from her phone. She tapped that, then her expression darkened as she read the latest message.

"It's from Grace," the redhead stated. "Kent Police just fished Iain Bray's body out of the River Stour."

Hearing that left me frowning again, "Con artist or not, this case just got a lot more serious."

"Aye," my partner sighed.