One trouble followed another.
Lu Li should have had ti to prepare, but the catastrophe had shattered his plans. He should have had ti to gather resources, but the Awful Giant had thrown everything into disarray. He should have had ti to build his shelter, but the rainy season had put a stop to that.
Everything was going from bad to worse.
“I can’t wait any longer,” Lu Li told himself.
He finished reading the Investigator Weekly and placed it with the other issues.
“What can I do?” Anna asked, her clear eyes fixed on Lu Li, full of determination.
“A lot.”
Lu Li picked up the phone, paused for a mont in thought, then recalled a number he rarely used and dialed.
He didn’t have to wait long. A quick, energetic voice ca from the receiver:
“Hello, this is Prosperity...”
“It’s ,” Lu Li interrupted.
Marcus faltered for a second, and then his voice grew even more enthusiastic, though it remained just as rapid:
“Oh, it’s our esteed Investigator! What can I do for you?”
“I have a job for you.”
“Er... Did I hear you correctly... a job? We at Prosperity, the two of us... I an... What did you have in mind?”
“Find
soone in Belfast who knows the northern Elm Forest well.”
“Ah... that’s not really what we do here at Prosperity. We only handle supernatural problems, you see.”
Or, more accurately, only the supernatural problems Lu Li agreed to solve.
After all, Lu Li was the only one who had agreed to work with him.
“Never mind, then,” Lu Li said.
“Er... Right. I’m still on the lookout for a lucrative case for you, so please, don’t give up hope!”
Lu Li hung up before Marcus could finish.
Jobs like this were indeed best left to professionals—like the brother and sister duo who had all but vanished from his life recently.
Oliver and his sister, JoJo.
A month ago, Oliver had taken a private commission—transporting cargo from the Shadow Swamp or Zenster to Belfast.
A trip like that usually took him a week, but a month had gone by without a word.
Only the letters from Mrs. Slav, a consequence of his actions, continued to arrive every few days or once a week.
Perhaps sothing had happened to him, or maybe he’d found a better job—after all, he wasn’t officially employed by Lu Li.
Based on his own experience, Lu Li leaned toward the forr explanation.
After so thought, Lu Li decided to call the number Oliver’s sister, JoJo, had left him.
JoJo didn't answer, but after Lu Li asked to speak with Joan, he was told to wait.
A few minutes later, the phone on his desk rang.
“Hello, Lu Li? It’s JoJo... Were you asking about my brother?”
“Is he back?”
“He ca back... but he’s gone again...” A note of guilt crept into JoJo’s cheerful voice. “He took on a new job last month, a really good one, so he’s back on the road...”
“Never mind, then,” Lu Li said, about to hang up.
“Wait!” JoJo exclaid suddenly. “Did you... have a job for him?”
“Yes.”
“He’s probably in Tenebrae now, waiting for a shipnt... But I can do it!”
“I need it done as soon as possible.”
“What a coincidence! I need a job as soon as possible!”
The girl, who had grown up in the slums with her brother, had a business sense beyond her years.
Besides, JoJo had handled a few previous tasks for the detective agency rather well.
So Lu Li got straight to the point:
“Find
soone in Belfast who’s familiar with the northern part of the Elm Forest. Preferably before noon. You know the agency’s address—bring him here.”
“Right now? It’s pouring outside.”
“That’s why I said as soon as possible.”
“Hmm... Alright. And what’s your budget? Just so you know, the paynt isn’t for . I’ll just take my percentage, sa as you arranged with my brother.”
“Find the most knowledgeable person you can. Let them na their own price, within reason, of course.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t let him charge you an arm and a leg. Talk soon!”
JoJo hung up quickly again.
Lu Li returned the receiver to its cradle.
“That was a woman’s voice,” Anna noted nonchalantly as she drifted by. If she hadn’t been stealing glances at Lu Li, her feigned indifference might have been more convincing.
“Oliver’s sister, JoJo. You’ve seen her before,” Lu Li replied.
Anna seed to let out a sigh of relief, her voice becoming more animated. “Oh, I rember her! Is she the one who took the job?”
“Yes.”
“Oh...”
Perhaps wanting to prove herself, or maybe because she genuinely had the right person in mind, the phone rang again half an hour later. JoJo inford Lu Li that she’d found the right man, but he had an amputated leg and it would take him a long ti to walk to the agency...
“Take a cab.”
“Just so you know, I’m not spending my ager commission on cab fare.”
“I’ll pay for it.”
“Now you’re talking! We’ll be there soon!”
And once again, the line went dead.
“They’ll be here soon,” Lu Li told Anna as he hung up the phone.
“I’m going too!” Anna declared, straightening up from where she’d been wiping the floor and planting her hands on her hips.
“Of course.”
...
Twenty minutes later, a cab pulled up to the house.
“They’re here.”
Lu Li grabbed so change and stepped out onto the sheltered porch.
JoJo was helping an elderly man with an empty right pant leg out of the cab while the driver held an umbrella over them.
As they reached the porch, Lu Li asked the driver for the fare and paid him double. “Take this young lady wherever she needs to go.”
JoJo, who had been about to help the old man inside, froze. “Don’t you need my help?”
“No. What price did you agree on?”
The old man answered before JoJo could. “Fifty shillings if I have to go sowhere. Ten shillings if I’m just answering questions. After all, I’m just going to be answering your questions, and you’re a friend of JoJo and Oliver’s.”
“Mister Barton and I go way back,” JoJo explained.
“And what if I need you to answer questions and go sowhere?” Lu Li asked.
“Still fifty shillings.”
Lu Li nodded and handed JoJo 10 shillings. Her cut was only supposed to be five, but the only five-shilling coin he’d had, he’d already given to the driver.
“Wow, thanks, boss!”
JoJo let out a whistle, twirled the 10-shilling note, and climbed back into the cab. Waving to Lu Li, she called out, “If you have any more jobs, you know who to call!”
A cold draft swirled next to Lu Li.
The cab drove off. Lu Li turned to help the old man.
But the man had already guided his empty pant leg over the threshold and into the dark hallway.
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