Page 60 of Facade

“It drives me crazy that I can’t show it off, and tell everyone,” Jace said with some angst. “There would be too many questions, and everyone would want to meet her.”

Heath would now be in the same boat. It was a complicated situation. They would get through it, though.

Having three of them in the equation now meant one more brain to figure out what could possibly have befallen Charles Voudrie. Jace and Clarke would help Heath and Nadine try to protect the students. That was a given.

“Would you mind letting me see the charm? I’m curious about this magic,” Heath said.

That was true, but it was also a lighter topic that might help them all relax while they waited for dinner to cook. He’d heard of enhancement products, but hadn’t been interested in how they worked until now.

Clarke unclasped the leather bracelet, and leaned over to hand it to him. Suddenly, there was absolutely no doubt that she was female despite the short hair, masculine clothing, and lack of makeup. That was a much more radical change than Heath had expected.

“Wow. I hope I have the opportunity to meet your Uncle Harry at some point,” Heath said sincerely. “This is one powerful charm.”

“Now you see why I was so shocked when Clarke walked into the training center that first day,” Jace said. “She is, and always has been, very feminine. It blew my mind.”

The timer went off, and Heath got up to take the casserole out of the oven. After asking where the dishes were, Jace set the table. Clarke put herself in charge of coasters and beverages.

Jace looked at the whiteboard several times during the meal, but didn’t comment until they finished eating, and went to sit down in the living room.

“I can’t believe you have a column dedicated to us,” Jace said. “Did you actually think we might be involved with the missing students?”

“No, but I didn’t want to ignore the possibility. They could all be separate anomalies, but I’m not about to make assumptions,” Heath said. “You’ve been acting atypical from the start of term, wearing muscle shirts, and having actual conversations with an academic. Now, I can erase that section, and focus on the other mysteries.”

“And I thought we were being so careful,” Jace said ruefully.

“Relax,” Heath said. “I don’t think anyone else noticed, or thought anything about it.”

“Russell,” Clarke said with consternation.

“What about him?” Heath asked.

“Russell notices everything. He’s crazy perceptive. But he hasn’t brought Jace up in conversation once,” Clarke said. “Now I’m wondering why.”

“That is curious,” Jace agreed. “He catalogued exactly how many times the chief maintenance engineer frowned when allocating duties to his staff for the regional tournament, and also predicted most of Mitch’s moves. It would be more logical to assume that Russell has noticed my change in clothes and behavior than otherwise.”

“I didn’t realize he was that observant,” Heath commented. “Russell only ever flirted with me outrageously, to the point that I felt hunted, and ran away at the sight of him.”

Clarke started laughing. With the charm still off, it was an enchanting, infectious sound. “He calls you ‘Dreamy Heath’, and said he used all the charm in his arsenal to get a date, only to be shot down every time,” she told them. “If I can ever come clean with him, Russell will be jealous, and probably beg for naughty details.”

Heath chose to ignore the comment. He had never known how to deal with someone who was interested in him when he didn’t reciprocate those feelings. Retreat was better than saying something potentially offensive.

But he would have to get over it, and hope that Russell respected the bond. It sounded like he and Clarke had become friends.

“I’ve been checking into the staff Russell mentioned,” Jace said. “Nothing has led to Charlie, and I haven’t found anything on the head groundskeeper yet. But he was right about the maintenance staff. One has a drinking problem, stashing bottles and breath mints in his locker. Another has health issues that have caused him to miss work. He is a solid resource.”

“I was planning on leading Russell into talking about more staff members to get as much information as possible. He hasn’t been wrong yet, and might know something helpful,” Clarke said. “But then Mitch struck, and everything went to hell. Now, I wonder if I should pursue that, since he hasn’t mentioned Jace. Is that suspicious?”

“Not necessarily suspicious, but definitely curious,” Jace said. “We need to determine how trustworthy Russell is.”

“If his perception is that keen, Russell could be a huge help. He’s been here for years, and has a lot of friends in town. Nadine and I are convinced that the regional tournaments are tied to the missing graduates,” Heath told them. “Every one of them participated in a tournament, and was being scouted. They are at the top of their classes, with high power ranks.”

“That’s why you were upset to hear that the tournament will be held in Clementine,” Clarke said. “Russell noticed that, too.”

“All of this is important, and for all I know, the missing graduates could be connected to your dad, Clarke,” Heath said. “But can we take a detour, and talk about the ambush for a minute? I’m glad it happened, since I wouldn’t have realized that Clarke was my mate otherwise, and the three of us can work together on this. But, I still don’t understand what brought that on.”

“I asked if we knew someone who might have information that could help us determine what happened to Dad,” Clarke said. “And I had a vision of you.”

Heath was fascinated with how her psionic power worked, and wanted to delve into that more at some point. It wasn’t pertinent, now, however.