Page 52 of Smokescreen (Knight & Daywalker)
Still, there was a blinking cursor, and when I tapped it, a keyboard appeared on the screen. So I typed my favorite kind. “Jasmine.”
The machine in front of me clicked, and a bowl-shaped container on the front opened.
The app said“please open a jasmine packet and empty it in the receptacle.”
It took me a while, but I managed to find little white packets of tea in the cupboard that seemed to match the tea maker, and followed the instructions. After a moment, the creepy white smiley face said “enjoy your tea,” and went blank.
I continued staring at my phone screen until Davin appeared next to me, making me jump. “Just another person wanting to rent the empty shop. Why are you staring at a blank white screen?”
“I...I don’t like this. The machines are going to judge us wanting and kill us all.”
The machine in front of me beeped, and the carafe attached to the front was full of tea. I opened the cupboard again and pulled out one of the mugs inside; purple, green, and white things that—of course—went with the rest of the office decor. It took me a moment to figure out how the carafe attached to the machine and pull it away, then pour it into the mug.
Then I picked it up and lifted it to my lips, breathed softly on the steaming tea, then took a sniff. It smelled right, so I took a sip.
Fuck me, it wasperfect.
“Never mind. I welcome our new robot overlords. Thank you terrifying phone tea-maker hybrid.”
My phone pinged, and the words, “You’re welcome” drifted across the bottom of the white screen.
Nope, not thinking about it.
What was that saying about looking gift-tea makers in the mouth?
Davin was looking at me like I was crazy when I turned back to him, but he didn’t ask if I’d cracked, so I just smiled. “So, a murder investigation and potential renters are all we’re going to be dealing with for the rest of our lives?”
We sat down and started discussing the day’s appointments, three more scattered across the morning and afternoon, but then he shifted, pulling out an actual paper notebook. “I made some plans about a system for your friend the doctor,” he said. “Thought you’d want to look at them and give me your input.”
He dragged his chair over behind my desk, and we looked at the sketches he’d made, discussing the technical details of Doc’s request and how we could fulfill it. Apparently, we could do so quite easily.
I was drawing Davin a rough map of Doc’s property when the phone rang again. But...it wasn’t the office phone this time.
It was my phone.
I scowled and set down the notebook. “Sorry, just a second.” I answered the phone, even though caller ID said it was a blocked number. Normally I might not have, but I was in the middle of a murder investigation, and I dealt with vampires, bunch of paranoid bastards that they were. They’d all had their numbers unlisted or blocked as soon as that had been an option. It was how I knew the helpless old person act they tried to pull with new tech was half bullshit.
Still, I pressed the button and put the phone against my ear. “Flynn Knight.”
“Come to Broken Dreams tonight,” a mechanical voice said, and everything about it was just wrong. It was like the opposite of hearing an animal talk, and it made my skin crawl. I wanted to drop my phone and get away from it. I’d never reacted so dramatically to anything in my life, but the voice was just...repellant.
“Who is this?” I demanded.
The voice didn’t answer, it just said, “Eight o’clock.” Then, there was the telltale click of the line disconnecting.
When I turned to him, Davin was glaring at my phone. “You’re not doing that,” he told me. Cute. Like he had a say.
“Of course I am. I mean, it’s obviously about Charles, right? Maybe it’s Whisper. Maybe they killed him and want me to stop snooping around.”
He stared at me, and when I just waited, he groaned. “You’re serious. Someone who doesn’t even sound human demands you go somewhere, and you just do it? Automatically? No questions?”
“I had lots of questions. They hung up,” I pointed out, useless but determined. After all, I would have asked questions.Probably. Ihadasked one, at least, even if it hadn’t gotten answered.
Twist, who had once again been napping on the corner of my desk, stood, stretched, and sauntered over in front of us. “Worry not, Father. I will come along to protect you.”
Given the fact that she’d probably eaten my body weight in meat over the last few days, it was more reassuring than a kitten offering protection should have been. Besides, it wasn’t like I was going to leave her behind if she wanted to go.
The cat distribution system had chosen me, and I had duly given in.
