Black Hollow

Chapter 10 - It's the Little Things

Arden grunted as he passed Nunk at the entrance of End of the Rainbow Savings & Trust, his mind a jumble of Kerry's unspoken implications. She may not have come right out and said she thought Quinn was involved, but she had definitely implied it. Arden refused to believe it, however. Not Quinn. There was no way. They had been partners since Seraphine asked them to come run the bank, and friends way before that. Quinn would never betray Arden that way.

Would he?

As Arden shoved his way into his office, he had to admit that he wasn't positive. Not anymore. He walked around his desk and collapsed into his chair, blowing out his frustration in a loud breath. Running his hand through his shaggy blond hair, he sighed, wishing he had a direction to pursue. He turned in his chair, glancing out at his bank, now busy with the afternoon rush from businesses making their midday deposits. As he sat there, staring, he noticed Asherah Stone walking past Nunk, a blue deposit bag gripped tightly in her hand, her fiery red hair bouncing slightly along her shoulders as she walked.

Arden narrowed his eyes as he watched her sashay across the floor toward the nearest teller. Asherah was a siren, a race who had the power to subdue men with their voices, twisting them to whatever fate they desired, and usually not a lengthy one. Her power would enable her to gain the upperhand on one of his employees, forcing them to give her access to the vault. Of course, what the former assassin would want with his gold when she was mated to the head of the Drakki family with a fortune at her fingertips, Arden couldn't begin to fathom. Still, once some people had a little fortune, they often craved more along with the power that came with owning all that wealth. It also wouldn't be the first time someone in Black Hollow betrayed the town. The Drakki family suffered their own inner upheaval as one in the family thought they deserved more than their fair share.

Arden shook his head, casting the thought away as flotsam on his ocean of intrigue. Asherah had done everything she could to help secure the town, strengthening the safety measures Black Hollow depended on to protect the community from outside forces. He doubted she would turn around and collapse the town by stealing its source of funding after that.

A knock came at his office door just before Quinn entered. “Where's your shadow?" he asked, glancing around the office, obviously expecting to see Kerry still there.

Arden shifted his gaze from Asherah to look behind Quinn, but there was no sign of Paddy anywhere, even at his teller window where he should be by now. “She had some of her own questions to ask Seraphine," Arden said as he turned his attention back to Quinn, who was walking over to one of the plush chairs. “Where's Paddy?"

Quinn fell into the chair more than sat down. “How would I know? Probably holed up in some whiskey barrel by now." He draped his arms along the arms of the chair and slid down into the seat as opposed to sitting in it. “I'm not the man's keeper. If you want my opinion, we should send him packing."

Arden stared at Quinn through narrowed eyes. “You don't know where he is? You didn't follow him at lunch?"

“Was I supposed to follow him?" Quinn looked at Arden, his eyebrows pinched in confusion. “Since when do we police our employees?"

“Since someone is trying to steal our gold," Arden said with a little more vehemence than he meant. “Quinn, I watched you follow him into Thirst Bar. You saying you didn't see him in there?"

Quinn shrugged. “I didn't see anyone in there, really. I walked over to the bar, ordered a pint and some wings, and had lunch. If Paddy was in there, I didn't notice."

Arden stared at his friend for a moment, trying to decide if he believed him or not. With a sigh, he shook his head. Quinn had been his friend forever. Arden wouldn't start doubting him now. “Sorry," he said. “This craziness is getting to me." He glanced out his office window as Asherah waved at Nunk just before passing through the front doorway, the empty bank bag dangling from her fingers.

“I can imagine," Quinn said as he slid forward in his chair. “I'm actually surprised you're not with that investigator's sister. I'm still not sure why you're being so open with her about everything. She's an outsider. She could bring trouble we don't need."

Arden glanced over at his friend and chuckled. “And what trouble is it that we need exactly?" He fell back into his chair, hands clasped in his lap. “I'm not sure why I'm being so upfront with her, either, but it feels right. I can't explain it. I just know I can trust her; I need to trust her."

“And just which head are you thinking with?" Quinn asked, his lips curled up in a smirk.

Arden rolled his eyes, and was just about to tell Quinn to watch his mouth when the lights inside the bank suddenly went out, each flaming torch squelched, drowning the interior of End of the Rainbow in darkness. A couple of people screamed, and Nunk could be heard moving about, knocking over one of the artificial plants along the wall and uttering a vulgar oath. One of the tellers fell off their stool it sounded like from the crash behind the wall of slotted windows as a door slammed shut in the back of the building.

“What the hell?" Quinn shouted, and Arden heard the man leave his chair.

“Someone is going after the gold," Arden said as he tried to maneuver around his desk only to crack his knee on the corner. “s**t!" he exclaimed, clutching his knee as he kept hobbling toward his door. “We need to get to the vault. Nunk!" he called out as soon as he made it out of the office. “Stand by the front door. No one goes in or out." He took two steps and then the flames flickered back to life in the torches along the walls, blinding everyone for a moment as their eyes adjusted.

Arden straightened, blinking the shock out of his eyes. He quickly scanned the interior of the bank, looking for anything out of place, looking for anyone out of place. He stopped searching when his gaze fell upon Paddy McDuffy standing in his teller box, waiting to take care of the next customer. His nose seemed to throb with its redness, and his eyes were bloodshot as he practically leaned on the stone counter in front of him. “Someone's back from lunch," Arden grumbled.

Quinn stepped up beside him. “Do you think he turned off the lights to cover his tracks?"

Arden glanced over at his friend, his brows pinched over his nose in disbelief. “Does he really think we wouldn't notice that he wasn't there before the lights went out?"

Quinn shrugged. “Probably. He thinks we don't know he's drunk all the time."

Arden just stared at Quinn a moment before he turned back around and stared at Paddy. Is he really drunk all the time? “We need to go and check on the vault," he said.

“You think someone had time to get in and out?" Quinn followed Arden as he started toward the door in the back corner. “The lights weren't off that long."

Arden gestured to where Paddy took Saroj's bank deposit. “He had enough time to get inside and at his window. Who knows who else could have slipped in during that little blackout?" He opened the door to the back area, pausing at the entrance to the security room and poking his head inside. “Ruck, any idea what happened?" The inside of the security room was vastly different than the rest of the bank. Computer monitors lined the back wall, terminals underneath the long desk as two ogres hulked over the display, tapping the screens as they stared.

Ruck turned to Arden, shrugging his thick boulder-like shoulders. When he spoke, his voice was deep, like crushing gravel. “I don't know. Everything was fine one moment, and then just went dark," He turned back to the monitors. “Looks like everything is fine now."

Arden stared with wide eyes at the ogre. Perhaps ogres were not the best at security. Arden would have to look into hiring someone with a little more brain power to do more than stare at the monitors and guard the doors. “Did anyone come through that door?" he asked, pointing to the door he had just passed through. “I heard it open."

Ruck stared at him again, scratching his bald, gray head. “I don't know. It was dark."

Quinn groaned. Arden didn't blame him. He turned and started toward the entrance to the vault. He truly needed to beef up his security team. Or rather, not beef up, more nerd up.