Tove was a bit nervous, she could admit that. She'd only had a few hours of sleep that night, and this was something of a stealth mission; If Marqués was wrapped up in something, the second he suspected they knew, he'd surely shut down.
Tove didn't know Marqués very well. Sure the man had worked at the office for decades, but she didn't really interact with people outside her department. Sometimes he had come in to get details on stories he was planning to report back home, but all those interactions had been fairly brief and very professional. Nothing about him really stood out. A nice man, but the kind of nice that didn't invite you to look further in.
They talked about pretty mundane things. Marqués suggested many activities to Alaia to make her first winter here more bearable, things that would turn the cold and the dark into new and exciting, instead of just cold and dark. Like star gazing and ice sculpting contests and sleeping in an igloo and the ice marathon. Upon Alaia's confusion at the last one, Tove explained that once the sea froze they built a kilometers long skating path in the harbour and yes, you could rent skates and yes she could teach her how to skate.
The conversation turned from wintertime activities to general things to do and know when in Embärfjell. The community college held basic courses in Fjellish specifically for immigrants, as well as a bunch of other interesting classes both in Fjellish and Esperanto. The many museums around the city had exhibitions that changed every few months and their press cards entitled them to half off on all admittance fees. A lot of the libraries, especially the city library, had large collections of books in many different languages, even Cametonian. They also provided services that weren't lending books, like lending out household objects or games or hosting classes and providing spaces for study or just spend time. All of this seemed to surprise Alaia, which in turn surprised Tove. Libraries were a cornerstone of communities in Embärfjell and she couldn't imagine what it would be like to not live near one.
Throughout the conversation Tove kept a close eye on Marqués, in case he did or said something suspicious. He didn't. He seemed like a genuine, sweet old man who was happy to talk with them. It was annoying. As the conversation started to die down, having run it's natural course, she was starting to worry. There wasn't much else to be said.
"Oh, Mr. Marqués?" asked Alaia. "Why did you decide to retire so suddenly?"
A moment's pause. Tove hadn't even thought to ask that, hadn't realised that the man had even retired somehow suddenly, but as said, she didn't really talk with people outside her department.
Marqués looked uncomfortable. "I'm sorry?" he said.
"I just thought, well, you left the management back home scrambling to find a replacement..." Alaia tried to explain. It seemed she hadn't expected this to be a touchy subject.
"I retired for personal reasons," he cut her off. He was trying his best to look collected but didn't quite manage it.
"Oh okay," she said with a strained smile. "I was just, I wanted to make sure it wasn't anything about the workplace or anything...?"
"No, no, nothing like that!" he quickly assured. "The EFAR office is a lovely place to work, I just got the deeds..." he trailed off and then smiled, a bit strained. "I just had to stop working for personal reasons. I am quite old, it was about time to let someone young and fresh to take the helm."
There was a moment of awkward laughter and then they moved on talking about the office and then Alaia glanced at her watch and declared that they ought to go. There was the typical goodbyes and things as the two women put on their coats and then they were back out in the cold winter air. They walked a few blocks in silence.
"That was... something," Tove said.
"Sorry we didn't get much regarding the investigation," Alaia said with a sympathetic smile.
"Oh we got something! Did you see how weird he was about why he retired? Something shifty is definitely going on there."
"Oh. Oh I didn't even realise..."
"Don't worry about that, it's like my literal job description to pick up on that stuff. And by the way, if you need a refresher on all the suggestions he had--" Tove pulled out a black rectangle from her pocket "--I've got you covered."
Alaia gasped. "You recorded the conversation?" she asked with a scandalous voice, but she was grinning.
Tove just smiled and pocketed the recording device as they stopped at the tram stop. They took a tram to the centre, because Alaia wanted to see the library immediately and Tove didn't mind, she liked the atmosphere there and she was frankly too tired to go back to the office. She helped her apply for a library card and they spent the next few hours lost between the tall bookshelves.
___________________________________________________________
Whoo boy that was. It was such a good topic and I just couldn't come up with anything good :/ oh well.
Next topic is "Island" bye
Pie out.
No comments:
Post a Comment