Maisie didn’t plan her life to the last minute, so the summons to appear at the university library immediately after her last class of the day did not pose any difficulties. Not unless you counted the gathering of students at the front doors of her boarding school dorm, where girls exclaimed over a poster announcing a concert in town later that month.
She pushed past them with her chin lifted. If the performer wasn’t Korean, she wasn’t interested. Besides, the summons from her legal guardian wasn’t to be taken lightly, and Thea didn’t appreciate tardiness.
But what could she want?
Students from the local public school swarmed around her, filling the sidewalks into the city as she made her way to the university campus. She spent time here in the small coffee shops and independent bookstores on weekends, to get away from her needy roommate and bustling dorm, to read and complete homework or watch the world walk by.
Today, though, she would put all of that on hold for Thea, who never approached her beyond their monthly check-in meetings and a weekly text to ask Maisie if she needed anything. That was her job, after all. Nothing more, nothing less.
Maisie wondered if she had enough time to pick up a cafe au lait on the way. Before she could decide, a boy on a dark red scooter rushed past her, nearly knocking her over.
“Sorry!” he called over his shoulder, and nearly nicked the fender of a parked minivan before he disappeared into traffic. His eyes were a bright blue, like those of a doll Maisie once had as a child.
She wondered where that doll was now, lost among the several moves between her parents’ various houses and most likely disposed of once she was, as well. With her messenger bag tucked tightly to her side, she kept walking, her attention drawn to the university library before her.
The study rooms were in a neat row to the right of the circulation desk, so it only took a few moments for her to reach number five, as Thea had instructed. When she peered through the clear glass wall, she found two women sitting at the long oak desk inside.
One was Thea, her wire-rimmed glasses nearly at the end of her nose. As Maisie watched, her guardian tipped the middle of the frame with a neatly manicured finger so it slid up the bridge.
Maisie went in, making an effort not to turn to look at the third woman, who stood in a back corner, her arms crossed over her chest. It would be rude to stare, she knew, and so she allowed Thea to take her hand and shake it.
“I’m so glad you could make it, Maisie,” Thea said, as if Maisie was an adult, someone of consequence instead of a thirteen year old middle school student. Maisie nodded and tilted her head in a silent question.
“Isabel, Nanda, this is Maisie. Maisie, Isabel and Nanda. Both live here in the city, and Nanda is a student here at the university. I’ve told them about you, Maisie, to the extent necessary.”
Leave it to Thea to be discreet, although neither of these women looked like the type to feed off gossip about an abandoned teenager whose parents keep trying to steal her money, even as they left her to a court-appointed stranger to attend to her personal needs.
Maisie knew she would never be an actual person in their eyes. It wasn’t something she cried over, not when her parents were as awful as they were. It was better to be an orphan for all practical purposes than to claim them as relations.
“Nice to meet you,” she smiled at each woman in turn, and Nanda, who had burnished gold hair that slid over her shoulder as she leaned forward in a short bow, smiled back. Isabel, who was perhaps in her late twenties, smiled faintly as she stood at a distance. There was something sad about her, for all her quiet beauty.
“Here he is. You can have time to get to know each other better later.”
Thea tapped on her phone as Maisie stared at her, wide-eyed. She still had no idea why she was there, or who these other women were beyond their names. Nanda shrugged as their eyes met, and Maisie decided she liked her.
“Hello, ladies. I’m so pleased you could attend this meeting, and I gather Thea has explained my offer. Now, to get down to it . . .”
“Excuse me, but I haven’t,” Thea interrupted the male voice on speaker. Isabel stepped forward and rested the palms of her hands on the table. She wore a diamond ring in an antique dark gold setting on the middle finger of her right hand, and Maisie fought the temptation to stare at it. “Maisie has only just arrived.”
“No time, no time. The situation has become quite serious. Deadly, in fact. Our client, who was certain he was being followed, is now dead.”
Isabel pulled out a chair and Maisie did the same. The three of them sat in a row across the table from Thea, wearing identical frowns. A murder?
Maisie’s mother used to tell her to find things out for herself, and while she was sure her mother merely meant Maisie should stop bothering her with questions, the instruction stuck in her mind, rearing in her head as she watched Thea’s mouth fall open.
“Who is our client? Why did he think he was being followed?”
Nanda clasped her hands on the table and stared at the phone, as if she could see the man through the device. Maisie covered her mouth to smother the giggle that rose in the back of her throat.
Someone was dead. She shouldn’t laugh, but Nanda was bold in ways that would irritate Maisie’s parents. Nanda’s mother must have allowed her to ask whatever she wished; she wasn’t someone who held back, even with strangers. When Nanda glanced at Maisie, her honey-brown eyes wide with interest, Maisie dared to smile.
“I’m pleased you have an interest, Nanda. I was so hoping to skip any sort of reluctance on your part. I include you, Isabel, and Maisie, in those hopes as well,” the voice cleared his throat. “No, Max! Bad dog!”
He shouted and Maisie’s shoulders jerked. Isabel lifted her chin and picked up the phone as Maisie stared.
“I don’t know why you’ve asked me here, but I have no interest in whatever is going on. I’m leaving.”
Isabel held the phone out to Thea and Thea stood up to take it as she shook her head.
“Dreadful creature! Get back here now!”
The voice continued as if he hadn’t heard Isabel’s refusal. Maisie and Nanda laughed. Whatever trouble this man had with his dog would be hilarious to observe.
“Please excuse me, ladies. My dachshund has such an evil disposition when it comes to our neighbor’s cat. I wish she wouldn’t let the beast wander in my garden.”
The room grew silent while Maisie and Nanda smiled at each other. Isabel tilted her head as she mirrored Thea’s stance and turned from the table.
“Please, Isabel. There are particular reasons Harry has invited the three of you to participate in this investigation. I promise the reward, for each of you, will be worth your time.”
“I don’t need money, thank you,” Nanda spoke up. “But I’m interested in mysteries. My life isn’t all that exciting, except for the books I read.”
Maisie knew she herself had money of her own, money Thea managed, but she didn’t say anything because Thea, and therefore, most likely, this Harry knew all about her financial situation. When Isabel walked purposefully towards the study room door, Maisie reached out to her. This woman was a complete stranger, and yet, there was something familiar about her.
Or maybe something she wished for, something Maisie recognized but had never had. This cool aloofness, this indifference that almost hid the unhappiness Maisie could read in the carefully crafted, calm expression on her face.
“Won’t you stay a little bit longer, please?”
Isabel looked down at Maisie’s outstretched hand, and Maisie knew her mother would tell her to leave adults alone, to mind her own business. To never, ever ask anyone for anything. Her mother would slap her hand, shove her aside, and call her a heartless little beast for troubling her.
But Isabel pressed her lips together and took Maisie’s hand before schooling her features into a controlled acceptance of the situation. Maisie wondered if Isabel had children of her own, and if she did, if they realized their good fortune. She held Maisie’s hand in a way that made the girl long for something she had never known.
“Fine,” Isabel said, nodding first to Maisie and then to Nanda, who accepted Maisie’s free hand with her own. “Tell us. Tell us everything."
Welcome to We’re No Angels, a Henry James fanfiction. Be sure to read the introduction if you’d like a handle on what to expect - or not. Either way, I hope you continue with episode two.
A middle aged author declining in popularity. An up and coming literary agent with an eye for genius. A partnership that would forge a prodigious legacy in American literature. Read An Eye for Genius today.
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