Chapter 6 #3
“Little beast!” he said warmly. “Well, I grew up on a farm, so I’m used to the ways of cats. I think I know what will appease her—here we are.”
He lifted the cat off his coat and placed her on his shoulder. Lynx froze again, her mouth still comically hanging open. Then, to my astonishment, she butted her head against his ear and settled herself on his shoulder, seeming eminently pleased with her new vantage.
“I’m afraid you’ve no excuse not to take her home now,” I said. “You’re far too comfortable with each other.”
“I wish I could,” he replied, looking away with a wince, as if embarrassed to disappoint me. “But I would make a poor companion—my work is demanding, and I’m rarely at home.”
“Do you have a shop nearby?”
“No, but I often work in this part of the city,” he said. “Detective Rouzet. Please call me Laurent.”
“I see,” I said, noting that he held my gaze a little longer than necessary, as if to gauge my reaction.
I had none—I could think of no reason why the police would have an interest in the shelter, apart from the banal one he’d already given.
Even if my theory was correct and the place had once housed an illegal magic shop, this had nothing to do with me.
I gave him my name and held out my hand. He had warm eyes that narrowed considerably when he smiled, which made me wish to trust him automatically. At the same time, there was a guardedness about him that made me feel slightly wrong-footed, but I put this down to his profession.
He asked to see my rental contract, which I had no qualms about showing him. He frowned at the place where I had signed my name.
“Agnes?” he said, pronouncing it in the English way, with a hard G. “Not Agnès?”
“I’m named for my grandmother,” I said, smiling. “She was Scottish, and particular about the spelling of her name. You may pronounce it either way.”
As I spoke, I wondered if I could somehow convince him to leave without making him suspect me of something. I didn’t like that he made Mina uncomfortable.
“Have you met the landlord?” he said.
“Only the caretaker, Yannick. Do you know him?”
“Yes,” he said, and the word was like a wall, stopping me from enquiring further. I was startled and a little alarmed—I thought of Yannick, with his puppyish enthusiasm and transparent expressions, and wondered what on earth he could have to do with anything under Laurent’s remit.
“I’m not surprised the owner didn’t interview you himself,” Laurent continued. “I understand he’s abroad at present, and that he spends little time in the city. Did you have any qualms about renting a place from a person you’d never met?”
It was clear he felt there was only one correct answer to this, and meant to make me flustered. I replied politely, “Not particularly, for I was in no position to be choosy.”
I gave him a summary of my situation and the state of the place on Rue Sainte-Roseline, which he digested with a thoughtful expression.
As I saw no reason to beat around the bush, I added, “The rent was surprisingly affordable. I wonder if you know the reason—I guessed the place might have acquired a reputation from some prior tenant’s misbehaviour.
Is the owner perhaps not as discerning as one might hope? ”
Unfortunately, Laurent seemed well practiced in deflecting curiosity, and the noise he made in response to this could have meant anything.
“I wouldn’t mind speaking with him, should he turn up,” he said.
“My aim isn’t specific; I like to be acquainted with the local business owners, and I’ve found him—difficult to pin down.
Would you mind telling me if you see him? I’ll stop by again.”
“Ah,” I hedged, thinking of Mina. “Perhaps we could meet elsewhere? There’s a café down the street. I’d be happy to buy you a coffee.”
He blinked at me, and his ears reddened. Only then did I wonder if there was an additional significance to the warmth in his eyes, and, short on the heels of this, I heard my own words again. This, coupled with his evident embarrassment, made me turn pink. “I meant—well—”
“Yes,” he said, running a hand through his hair, which only made him look more inconveniently handsome. “That would—Only I’m not supposed to—Well, I should be off. Thank you for—the cat. I’ll think about it.”
“Wonderful,” I said, now thoroughly desperate for him to be gone. I’d always been dreadful when it came to flirtation—it had been lucky for me that Robin, alone among men, found my awkwardness charming. Now it seemed I’d found a way to deploy my awkwardness at men I wasn’t even interested in.
Well, if nothing else, I’d landed on an effective strategy for dampening police interest in my affairs. Laurent was out the door within seconds.
“Did you just invite a man to coffee?” élise demanded. She’d edged closer during the tail end of our conversation, and stood looking equally astonished and delighted. “An attractive man at that?”
“No,” I said. “Don’t look at me like that. He won’t be back.”
élise regarded me with a considering smile, and her gaze followed Laurent across the street. “I wouldn’t be so certain.”