Chapter Text
Edalyn Clawthorne pulled the blinds of her corner office shut and slumped back into her moth-eaten chair, early morning sunbeams poking through the bent slats. The detective shoved her messy white hair out of her face, blowing a stray strand or two off her nose that would not go away. She stared out at the mess of papers hiding her wooden desk from view. So few of them were from active cases, maybe a half dozen. The rest of them were primarily your standard junk mail; Eda had to fire her receptionist a few weeks prior and couldn’t be bothered to take the nonsense he usually handled down to the shredder. A few had big, bold, and red letters on them. Eda hadn’t read them; nothing good came from big, bold, and red letters sent to someone who’d been eating instant ramen twice a day for months.
The detective leaned back away from her desk, producing a small flask from inside the pocket of her maroon leather jacket before downing half the bottle in a single gulp. One of the only advantages of being alone was there was nobody to nag her about her habits, no one to remind her that she needed to ease up a little bit. She was great at her job! The alcohol was part of the process. She returned the flask to her pocket and wiped the bronze liquid from her lips with her hand, before catching a flash of green from in front of her. She’d been so stuck in her own thoughts she hadn’t noticed the pale young woman poking her head through her grimy door into her office.
“Oh sorry, is now a bad time?” the porcelain woman asked, rummaging through her hefty purse as she stepped fully into the detective’s office. “You didn’t have a website so I just dropped by, I wasn’t sure if you were open.” Eda blinked a few times at the green haired woman, trying to process that this woman, who almost seemed like a doll come to life, was standing in her office, wearing the expression of a frightened kitten. “Oh, yeah we’re open,” she hurriedly stammered, brushing dust off the empty chair in front of her desk as she gestured for the green haired woman to sit. “Sorry, been so busy with all my other cases I forgot to turn the lights on! Ding dang newfangled technology.”
“A website. Is newfangled technology to you?” the woman asked, gingerly taking a seat across from Eda. The detective scowled at her, then quickly dropped it, sensing how tense the girl was. Her arms were clutching her purse tightly, trembling slightly, though in an almost imperceptible way to anyone who wasn’t paying close enough attention. She knows how to hide her nerves, Eda observed, making a mental note of that along with the woman’s formal tone.
“Back in my day we had nothing but business cards, a phonebook, and grit, young lady,” she cracked, trying to put the girl’s mind at ease as she often did whenever she had a particularly scared client. Eda had seen all sorts in her decades of work behind this desk. She’d started by sniffing out gossip in middle school; who stole the test answers from 7th period Social Studies, who was making out in the stalls at lunch, simple stuff. It quickly snowballed into a passion that had carried Eda for years. There was something about uncovering a mystery that just thrilled the middle aged detective, a thrill she’d been sorely missing for months ever since…
Eda quickly cut off the train of thought, focusing her attention back on the green haired girl who had finally set her bag on the ground. “So tell me, what brings ya down to my fine establishment miss…”
“Oh, I just assumed you knew me, sorry,” the girl hastily apologized. “Most people do.” Eda raised an eyebrow. “Quite presumptuous of you,” she replied. “Ya famous or something?”
“My mother is, yes,” the girl answered, her eyes suddenly darting around the room frantically. “I’m Amity Blight, the daughter of Odalia Blight—”
“The tech lady?” Eda interrupted, a bit more surprise slipping into her voice than she’d planned. “Whaddya doing down here then? I mean, surely if you had any serious trouble, a fatcat like her would be able to get you out of it in no time.”
Amity shifted in her chair, her amber eyes suddenly terrified to meet Eda’s own. “My mother doesn’t know I’m here…” she meekly murmured. “She…she wouldn’t have approved of…” the girl trailed off, Eda catching a glimpse of tears beginning to form at the corners of her eyes. She reached out a gnarled hand to the girl. “Hey, hey,” she reassured, putting on the bravest smile she could muster. “You don’t have to be afraid. Anything you say here is strictly confidential, I won’t tell nobody nothing.”
“S-so…” the green haired girl finally started, lightly grabbing Eda’s fingers. “I…I started dating this girl, right? We met in one of my political science classes and she was just…” the girl trailed off, interrupting herself with a breathy chuckle. “Well, she’s nothing like I expected. My mother’s not homophobic, mind you, but she wouldn’t have liked her.”
“Oh, so she’s poor,” Eda interrupted matter-of-factly. Another chuckle escaped Amity’s throat as tears escaped from her eyes. “Yeah, basically,” she said. “But she’s sweet, she’s determined, she wants to go into photojournalism and she’s damn good at what she does.”
Amity’s throat swallowed her words, and the smile disappeared from her face. Tears began to pour harder as she trained her eyes back on the floor. Eda felt the grip on her fingers get so tight she could’ve sworn she heard a crack.
“And then…a week ago. She was just gone. She didn’t return my texts, I tried calling her and her phone was disconnected. I went to her apartment and her sister told me she skipped town. It’s not like her to be so distant.” Amity’s voice hardened, moving from despair to desperate anger. “She’s not gone, but something happened to her. I don’t know if my mother is responsible or not, but…but she’s gone and you’re the best at what you do so please, Miss Clawthorne.”
Amity rummaged in her purse and produced a massive stack of bills, slamming it onto the detective’s desk. Eda’s eyes widened as she produced another, and another, and another. “I know you can find her, I have more if this isn’t enough,” Amity continued, the desperation building in her voice. “Please, please find my Luz.”
***
Eda stared at the mound of cash strewn across her desk. She’d accepted the case in a heartbeat, needling a few more details out of the Blight girl before she had to leave. She knew who she was looking for: Luz Noceda, 21, third year student at DePaul. Her family was from Connecticut, but moved to Chicago after her dad passed away. She lived in an apartment in Rogers Park with her sister, Victoria (though Amity had insisted on calling her Vee. What a strange family).
Eda had also done her due diligence on the Blights, and it didn’t take much more than a quick google search for the detective to deduce why Amity had seemed so frightened when she approached her. There was article after article about scandal after scandal surrounding Blight Industries: skirting environmental regulations, illegal union busting activity, sexual harassment scandals from top officials. Yet it never seemed to trace back to the woman at the top: Odalia Blight always managed to get away scott free. Eda thought she’d recognized the name, and not just from osmosis either.
Eda stood at her desk, staring at the phone clutched between her fingers. Just call them, she screamed at herself internally. It’s not a big deal! They’ll be able to help. She took a deep breath and dialed a number she didn’t think she’d call again, at least for a long while.
“Edalyn? What’s wrong?” The smooth, nasal voice of Raine Whispers made Eda’s heart flutter. She knew she missed them, it was impossible not to, but she didn’t expect to feel a physical reaction just to hearing their voice. “Hi…” the detective started before clearing her throat. Professional, that’s what they wanted. “Hello, Raine, I wanted to ask you something. It’s about a case I’m working on.”
“You’re working on a case? It’s been a while.”
“Just took it on actually, girl came in this morning.”
“Well that’s excellent! I know business has been slow recently.”
“A little yeah, but I’m making do.”
“Hooty didn’t seem to think so.”
“Hooty’s Hooty! Not my fault that people aren’t looking for a cheery psycho when they’re trying to tell me about a kidnapping.”
“Is that what you’re calling me about?”
“Yes, no. Maybe?”
“Really covering all your bases there.” Eda sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose in exasperation.
“Look, has anyone at your practice had any experience with Blight Industries?” she asked. “My client is connected to them and I wanna know just how fucked I’m gonna be.”
“Blight Industries…” Raine repeated, their voice trailing off as they became lost in thought.
“Yeah? Blight Industries. Looked ‘em up and they seemed right up your guys’ alley.”
“What exactly is your client’s connection to the company, Edalyn?”
“Now c’mon Raine, that’s confidential. Wouldn’t be very professional of me to tell you.”
A moment of silence passed, crushing Eda with the worry she’d gone too far with being glib.
“Harsh, but fair,” Raine finally relented, their voice crackling over the speaker phone. “Still, it’s hard to say how much we can help if I don’t know what exactly you’re—”
“She’s Odalia Blight’s daughter,” Eda interrupted, cutting off the lawyer. Another moment of silence passed as Eda awaited Raine’s reply. “Oh, so I’m that kinda screwed huh?” She finally continued, trying to interject a bit of humor into their conversation.
“Sorry, I had to check in with my partners. I’ll be down at your office in an hour.”
“You’re coming here?” Eda asked, her eyes flitting about the messy, dusty office.
“If you’re this caught up with the Blight family, whatever you’re doing, you’ll need a very good lawyer to get you out of trouble, Edalyn.”
“And how do you know I’m gonna get into trouble?”
A third moment of silence passed. Eda couldn’t help but crack a smile as she imagined the stony face Raine would be giving her if they were having this conversation in person.
“Fair enough,” she relented. “Still, can we meet in the middle somewhere? I’m about to close up for the night.”
“Smart, throw anyone who’s following you off the scent. How’s Grimgrub’s?”
“Are you asking me to grab a drink with you, Raine Whispers?” Eda tried to sound smug, but a little earnestness couldn’t help but sneak into her words.
“Indeed, it’s the perfect time of day for a work happy hour. Plus, I know it’s your favorite.” Eda felt blood rushing to her cheeks in spite of herself.
“Ah, makes sense. You can be there in 30?”
***
Raine Whispers wasn’t much of a drinker, though after seeing Edalyn Clawthorne effortlessly throw back her fourth shot of the evening, they suddenly wished they were. It would’ve been so much easier to just be like her, to just be able to toss everything to the wind. Unfortunately, that just wasn’t how they were wired. They had never loved Grimgrub’s Pub; the seedy dive bar Eda had first shown them when they were still students. It was one of her favorite places at twenty and it remained one of her favorites at fifty. Perhaps Raine shouldn’t have been so foolish, but it would’ve been so easy if they could just be who she wanted them to be.
“Mmmm,” Eda grumbled, brushing her messy hair out of her eyes. “Whaddya want from me again? I forgot.”
“You really need to ease up,” Raine insisted, snatching a flask Eda had produced from God-knows-where out of her hand, to whimpered protests from the detective. “We have important, sensitive business to discuss.”
Eda blew a raspberry as she rested her head on the sticky wooden bar table. “Mmmmmm, business,” she repeated in a tone dripping with disdain. “That’s all you want these days.”
“That’s what you wanted,” Raine hissed, frustration slipping into their voice. “You called me, remember?”
“Oh…no I didn't,” Eda admitted, sighing into the stained oak. “Was it…was it about that girl I saw today?”
“Odalia Blight’s kid, yes,” Raine filled in. “Edalyn…Eda.” The shortening of her name made Eda perk up, her eyes suddenly focusing as she raised her head from the table. “Look, I’ve dealt with the Blights before. We all have. You can’t win. You just can’t. The best you can hope for is they give you a boatload of money to go away. If Odalia had anything to do with this ‘Luz’ disappearing, I’m afraid of what’ll happen if you try to find her.”
“You didn’t see her face, Rainestorm.” Raine turned red in spite of themself at the nickname they hadn’t heard in a year, the nickname they’d asked Eda not to call them again. “Luz’s?” They asked, trying to brush past the fluttering they felt in their chest. Eda shook her head. “The Blight girl,” she clarified, scrunching her eyes to try and will the memory back to the front of her mind. “Amelia…no that’s not it. Abby…no but I’m closer. Amity! That’s her name.” The realization was accompanied by the detective snapping her gnarled fingers.
“She gave me the most desperate look. I’ve never seen anyone that scared, especially not someone as loaded as she is. She’s that scared and asked me for help? Raine, I need to try.” Eda appeared as if she wanted to say more, but she bit her tongue, golden crown digging into her lip as she held back her words.
Raine sighed, shaking their head as they offered the flask back to their ex-lover. “You haven’t lost your passion,” they said, a faint smile creasing their face. Eda smiled back at the attorney, taking the flask and returning it to her burgundy jacket. She grabbed the cane sitting at the side of her stool and pushed herself to her feet, unsteady limbs held upright by the gilded staff. “Hopefully you’ve still got yours,” she replied, taking Raine by the hand with her free fingers and dragging them out of the run down dive they’d frequented so many times when they were younger.