She’d remarked on the fact that he hadn’t been taking jobs, but he’d turned most down because he wasn’t entirely sure what jobs he should be taking. Ever since the attack on the Dragon, ever since he’d been trying to better understand what he could do, Gavin hadn’t been sure whether or not he could even take another job without drawing the wrong kind of attention here again.
“Only the people who know,” she whispered. “It’s not as if I was able to get your name from everyone. Most people don’t seem to believe you exist. That tells me you’re definitely the right person for the job.”
“What job is it?”
“I need you to find someone for me,” she said.
“Just find them?”
He looked over to Gaspar again, and this time the old thief watched him, something hiding in his gaze.
Maybe uncertainty? Or something else…
“Just find him,” she said. “Why? Do you do other things?”
“Gavin is known as something of a skilled fighter,” Jessica said.
“Well…” Erica said, then stopped.
Maybe she wanted an assassin, but she didn’t have the typical appearance of someone looking to hire one. For that matter, Gavin rarely encountered anyone in the Dragon who had a job for him. Stranger still was Jessica’s eagerness to help this woman.
“What is it?” Gavin asked.
“It might be dangerous. The person I need you to find has been taken from me. It’s my son.”
“Your son.” He regarded her for a moment. “How old is he?”
“You’re going to take the job?”
“I didn’t say that, but I didn’t say I wouldn’t. I need more information before I decide.”
“He’s ten. He was taken from me.”
Ten?
Gavin had a hard time believing that this woman had a son who was ten years old, but it wasn’t impossible. “Where is he?”
“Isn’t finding that out what you do?” she asked.
“If you want to hire me, you’re going to have to give me a little more information.”
“It’s complicated.”
“How?” Gavin asked.
“Because of where he went. I think… well, I might as well go on and say it. He’s been taken by somebody with power. I don’t really know where they took him, only that they left a marker behind. I don’t think they meant to, but I suspect he kicked it free.” She reached into her pocket, pulled a coin out, and slid it across the table to him. It was made of silver, and etched on the surface was a strange symbol, a series of triangles surrounded by a circle. “I found this. I don’t really know what it means, but whoever is responsible left it behind.”
“Why would somebody want to take your son?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “That’s what I can’t get over. There wouldn’t be any reason for anyone to take him.”
“Why do you think you need somebody like me? The constables could help you.”
“I went to the constables, and as soon as they saw that marker, they wanted nothing to do with the job.”
Gavin frowned. If she had gone to the constables, their refusal to help her said volumes about this job. It meant there was something there, whether Gavin wanted anything to do with it or not.
“We’ll look into it,” Gaspar said.
“You will?” She turned toward him, and smiled widely. “I knew it. I knew I’d come to the right place. Everybody had been pointing me toward Gavin Lorren, and they said his team could find my son. I’m so thankful that I was brought here. To you.”
Gavin stared at her. His heart hammered, the strange sensation from heading through the street still troubling him. He pushed the feeling away but knew he needed to be careful, to trust his instinct. Right now, his instinct was telling him to pay attention to whatever he’d experienced before—and not so much to this woman.
“What can you tell us about him?” Jessica asked.
“He’s going to be scared. He won’t know what’s going on, and he’ll be afraid. Not that I could blame him. I’d be afraid too. I can’t imagine what he’s going through right now. I can’t imagine that he…” Gavin trailed off as Erica leaned down, rubbing her eyes while tears streamed down her face.
Gaspar slid over and patted her on the shoulder. He whispered something in her ear that Gavin couldn’t hear.
“Why did you bring me in on this?” Gavin whispered to Jessica.
“What would you have me do? She came in, talking about a son, and she said she needed you. Somehow, she’d heard your name somewhere. I thought you’d be willing to help.”
“Why would I be willing to help? This isn’t the kind of thing I do.”
“You’ve not been doing anything. Other than sitting around here and sniping at Gaspar. I figured you needed to do something else.”
Gavin sniffed. He hadn’t been sniping at anyone, least of all the old thief. “Now you’re trying to find jobs for me?”
“You aren’t finding the jobs, so I thought perhaps—”
Gavin let out a frustrated sigh. It did no good. Jessica ignored him, turning her attention back to the woman.
“What are you willing to pay?” he asked.
Erica’s eyes widened. “Pay?”
“If you want me to take the job. What will you pay?”
She looked from Gavin to Gaspar and then back to Jessica, a look of confusion on her face. “I didn’t realize I was going to have to pay. I thought…” She forced a smile, then frowned as she rubbed a knuckle in her eye. “I suppose… well, I suppose I could pay. What is it that you normally charge for something like this?”
“I haven’t taken a whole lot of jobs like this. Most of the jobs I take are a bit different.”
“Different how?”
Jessica and Gaspar both shook their heads slightly. Gavin breathed out.
Am I really going to start taking jobs searching for missing children?
He looked from Gaspar to Jessica as he leaned forward. They both watched, though Gaspar seemed more concerned than he let on. “We can work out payment later.”
“Oh, good,” she said, breathing out heavily. “I just want to get him back.”
“What else can you tell us about him that might be helpful?” Gavin asked.
“Or anything you can remember about the men who took him,” Gaspar added.
“I didn’t see them. It was dark. Late. They broke into our home and took him. I thought it was the constables at first, but they wouldn’t do anything like that, would they?”
Gavin’s recent experience with the constables suggested that maybe there was something to her hunch. Perhaps he should’ve paid more attention to what they were doing.
He frowned. “I don’t think the constables would, but anything is possible.”
Gaspar shot him an annoyed look. “I think what Gavin means to say is that we don’t know the constables well enough to make that determination.”
“That’s what I figured,” she said. “It’s difficult to believe they would’ve done anything like that, but I don’t even know. I thought their job was to protect us.”