Clarke - Our Lady of the Ice

. * The text for this book is set in Sabon LT . * Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data * Clarke, Cassandra Rose, 1983 * Our lady of the ice / Cassandra Rose Clarke.First edition. * p. cm. * Summary: A female PI comes into conflict with a ruthless gangster just as both humans and robots agitate for independence in a domed Argentinian colony in Antarctica.Publisher. * ISBN 978-1-4814-4426-2 (hardcover) * ISBN 978-1-4814-4428-6 (eBook) * 1. Women private investigatorsFiction. I. Title. * PS3603.L372O87 2015 * 813'.6dc23 * 2014039598

TO KEVIN LUND:

SURPRISE!

CHAPTER ONE

DIEGO

The old clock tower in the center of the city rang out eight times, and that meant the last ship to the mainland was leaving for the winter. Diego lit a cigarette to commemorate the occasion.

Out on the balcony, Eliana leaned over the railing and screamed out the hours with a mad sort of desperation. So did everyone else in the smokestack district, their voices drowning out the clock towers distant gongs. When the crowd roared eight and the clock tower fell silent, fires erupted out of the metal barrels lining the curb, the band struck their first note, and people poured out of the tenement housing onto the narrow, winding streets.

Last Night had begun.

Eliana dropped away from the railing, picked up her beer bottle, spun in place in a lazy cumbia. Her wavy dark hair skimmed across the top of her shoulders. Diego dragged on his cigarette and watched her, the light from the fires catching on the sparkles in her dress.

You didnt count, Eliana said, shuffling up to him. The desperation was gone; now sadness tinged the edge of her voice, nothing more.

I never count. Diego swigged from his beer bottle. Dont see the point.

She stopped dancing. Her skin was already dewed with sweatthey always turned the heat up on Last Night, one final indulgence before the winter. Diego wanted to lick that sweat away. Hed spend the whole night on this balcony with just her if he thought he could convince her to stay, no parties or parades or any of that bullshit. But Eliana had always wanted to see the mainland. It was one of the first things hed learned about her. And he knew she was exactly the sort of person Last Night was for. It wasnt a celebration; it was a wake. Another year gone by, and she was still stuck in the domes, still stuck in the ice.

You want to go down to the street? Eliana asked.

No, thought Diego, but he knew that wasnt what she wanted to hear. Sure. He grinned. Theyve got the fires going, and I want to get you out of those clothes sooner rather than later.

Im hardly wearing anything right now!

Exactly.

Eliana laughed, covering up her sadness. Diego grabbed her by the hand and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. She pressed her cheek against his chest, and for a moment they swayed together, out of time to the music floating up from the street.

You want to follow the parade this year? he asked into her hair, already knowing the answer.

I told Maria and Essie Id meet them at Julios.

Oh, hell. Hed forgotten about those two. Figures shed make plans without him.

Eliana smacked him on the arm. I didnt know if you were going to show up tonight or not.

I wouldnt miss Last Night, baby. He kissed her, slow and lingering, trying to forget that he hadnt seen her for three weeks. Besides, I figured youd changed your mind about seeing me, you being a cop and all.

I told you, Im not a cop.

Hey, youre the one with the license.

That license doesnt make me a cop.

He kissed her again. They left her balcony, Eliana dragging him through her shabby little apartment and down the stairwell and out onto the street. It was brighter there, from the fires, and hotter, too. Women had peeled off their sweaters and coats to reveal bare skin spangled with glitter.

Diego threw his arm over Elianas shoulder as they stumbled along the street, dodging dancers and sparks from the handheld fireworks. The fireworks had been banned for years, but you could still buy them a few days before Last Night. Tradition.

Julios, that tiny hole-in-the-wall bar Eliana liked, was only three streets over, but the walk took a long time in the crush of bodies. Diego slipped his hand under Elianas thin dress, along the bare damp skin of her back, and pressed his mouth against her neck while she wound through the streets, giggling and leaning into him. Glitter showered down from the tenement balconies, sticking to his bare arms and alighting in Elianas hair. This shit-hole neighborhood was transformed during Last Night into someplace where you might actually want to live. The whole city was. They might call it Last Night, but it was as bright as day. Light was everywhere. From the fires, from the glitter, from the floodlamps affixed to the underside of the dome, that one glass shield between Hope City and the winds of Antarctica. The city never turned the floodlamps off during Last Night, and so the day never ended.

You didnt get true sunlight in Hope City.

Julios was crowded, people spilling out into the street, holding their glasses aloft. Not exactly Diegos scene, but he let Eliana push their way inside, shedding glitter and kissing and laughing. It was quieter inside than out, and darker, although just as warm.

Eliana! Over here!

Diego recognized Marias voice immediately. Hard to miss something that shrill. Still, Eliana had pulled away from him and was spinning in place, scanning for Maria in the shadows. She let out a shout when she found her friend, then grabbed Diegos hand and pulled him over to the table where Maria was sitting. She was dressed for the parade: tight dress, hair teased high in that stupid way the girls were doing, too much color around her eyes.

Diego wished to hell hed called Eliana sooner.

My God, I didnt think you were going to make it. Maria leaned over the table and pushed out a pair of wobbling chairs. I bought you an El Pato. She slid it across the table.

So wheres Essie? Eliana asked, sliding into her seat. Diego sat down beside her.

She decided to go out with that stupid artist friend of hers, down in the warehouse district. Maria rolled her eyes.

Which artist friend?

The Independence-minded one.

Thats all of her artist friends. Eliana sipped her drink.

Maria laughed. True enough. This is the one I think is a terrorist.

Oh. Him.

Diego managed to suppress a laugh at the thought of any of Elianas friends hanging around the AFF .

She tried to convince me to go with her, Maria went on. She gave me all the usual lines about how we shouldnt even be thinking about the mainland and such. But I told her I was meeting you. Maria glanced at Diego. Sorry I didnt get you anything, Diego. Didnt know you were going to show.

Everyone keeps saying that. Diego grinned, trying to scare her. Its almost like you dont trust me.

Beneath the bright mask of her makeup Maria gave him a dark look that suggested that was exactly what she thought.

Share mine, Eliana said, handing Diego her El Pato and then leaning over to kiss him on the mouth. It reminded him why he put up with her idiot friends.

You two are awful, Maria said.

Not any more awful than whats going on out there. Diego took a sip. He hadnt had one of these in a long time, even though Sebastian always drank them when they were down at the Florencia.

Maria patted her hair coquettishly. I wouldnt know. Ive been waiting in here for the last forty-five minutes. They showed the departure. She nodded at the television set sitting on the edge of the bar. It cast an arc of blue light across the floor. Black-and-white footage of the party at the docks flashed across the screen.