An excerpt from "The Devil's Game"

I’d driven through this part of town a few times before, but I’d never stopped here, nor did I have any desire to. There was nothing here that interested me, and to be honest, I’d always been a little frightened. It seemed like anytime someone got shot, it was somewhere in the area. But Ilmari had told me to meet him over here, and I wanted some answers.

I slowed down when I saw the drive-through liquor store ahead. As I drove down the alley between the liquor store and the shady motel on the other side, I started to have second thoughts. I really didn’t want to get out of my car – I felt like I was going to be beaten up and robbed as soon as I stepped outside. Telling myself I was just being ridiculous, I turned into the parking lot behind the liquor store and saw the place I was going.

Shady’s Babies.

There was a pink banner with blue lettering naming the place, and I could see several signs in the window that looked like they were just on regular paper taped to the window. When I approached the building, I saw that’s exactly what they were. They were even handwritten. I was really starting to see the “shady” part of this store. Not that I needed any more information since I was familiar with Ilmari. I was certain that anything that guy was involved with was shady.

A bell chimed as I opened the door and stepped into the dark shop. My first thought was that it was full of junk and clutter. There were shelves and tables filled with all kinds of crap. Before I could really see what any of it was, a voice made me jump.

“Can I help you?” I looked up to see an older, heavyset woman sitting at the counter. She frowned and squinted at me, and I just stared for a moment. She was pale. Very pale. In fact, I wondered if she was a vampire, as ridiculous as that sounded. But I don’t think I’d ever seen someone so completely white.

“Uh.” That’s all I could manage. Really, what was I doing there?

“Oh!” She suddenly had a smile on her face, showing off coffee-stained teeth. “You must be here for Ilmari! I’ll go get him for you!” She stood up and turned around, heading through a dark doorway behind her.

I stood there for a few moments, then I decided to take a look around while waiting. Maybe there would be something there that would help me. I doubted it, but with Ilmari, it was hard to tell. Mostly, the store had baby products – clothes, toys, formula. But there were also things like tampons and pregnancy tests. I couldn’t imagine who would buy such products from a place like this.

“Whatcha lookin’ for, Rainy?” Ilmari asked from behind me.

“God damn it!” I nearly shouted. Every time I saw him, I felt myself getting angry. Something about him just pissed me off. “What the hell kind of place is this? Never mind. I don’t care about your stupid, creepy store. Who are you and why are you hanging around me?”

“Creepy? There’s nothing creepy about it. I provide quality products and an affordable price. The location and poor lighting and all that’s just to keep prices down. My customers don’t seem to mind. Have you seen the prices of this stuff at other stores? It’s outrageous. How is anyone supposed to afford that?”

“I said I don’t care,” I said angrily. “You talked enough about your store, so why don’t you try telling me about who you are?”

“I’ve been asked that question a lot, you know. By those smarter and far more powerful than you. If you really want to know the answer to that, you’re going to have to try a lot harder. Yelling at me isn’t going to get you anywhere. Maybe just more angry.”

“You promised me answers!”

“Keep your voice down,” Ilmari said. “Shady doesn’t like it when you shout.”

“Shady?”

“The lady running the store.”

“I thought it was your store.”

“Oh, it is. But some people feel more comfortable buying certain products from a female. So Shady takes care of the customers and I take care of the rest. Plus I like the way it sounds with her name. What else do I call a baby store?”

“You still said you’d tell me what I wanted to know,” I said, trying to get him to focus.

“I said I’d tell you what you needed to know,” Ilmari corrected. “Which probably doesn’t overlap much with what you want to know.”

“I knew I was wasting my time here,” I grumbled, heading for the door. On my way out, I ran into a table, knocking several things on the floor in the process. Without thinking, I bent down to pick them up. It was just a force of habit - normally I wouldn’t have done anything for Ilmari.

As I was picking up the containers of powdered formula, I noticed that they weren’t a national brand. Not that I would have known what the national brands were, but it was very obviously the store brand from a big box store. The kind you could only get at that store.

Turning around, I looked at Ilmari with a completely incredulous look on my face. “You sell stolen baby products? Oh my god! Are the tampons stolen too?”

“And the vaginal cream,” Ilmari added.

“Oh god!”

“Which one?”

“What?” I didn’t even know what he was talking about for a second, and then, I stopped caring. “I don’t want to be associated with you anymore. I never did. I feel like I’m going to be arrested just being near you.”

“The cops look the other way,” Ilmari assured me. “Trust me. I keep everything under control. Now, you sure you don’t want to hear what I have to say?”

“I don’t care,” I said automatically. But I did want to know. And it wasn’t like I could just get him out of my life right now anyway. He still had my dog and I wanted him back.

“Yet you’re still here,” Ilmari said. Even though I wasn’t looking at him, I could feel him smirking. I was tempted to throw something at him, but I restrained myself.

“Just make it quick,” I said with a sigh.

“Great,” he said. “So, you want to start with why I sell stolen baby products? Or how I got to be such an amazing chemistry professor?”

“How about why you stole my dog? Or what the hell you’re doing in my life?” I know that sounded arrogant, but he’d been everywhere in my life since the start of the semester. I didn’t believe it could be a coincidence. “What do you want from me?”

“Mostly, I want your cooperation,” he said with a shrug. “Actually, you want a job? Shady could use some help around this place.”

“I already have one,” I replied, wishing he’d hurry up. Not that I was surprised. He was always so dodgy when it came to telling anyone anything. “And I don’t have to sell stolen goods.”

“Well, if you ever want a change, let me know.”

“Back to the point. What do you want my cooperation for?”

“Well, that’s a little complicated, and it’s nothing you need to know right now. But there’s things that I’ll ask from you, and I’ll need you to follow through on them. I’d say no questions asked, but as long as you follow through, you can ask all the questions you like. I probably won’t answer them.”

“What kind of things?” I wasn’t liking this idea, but I felt like I should at least see what it would involve. If it would mean getting him out of my life, it might be worth it.

“Oh, nothing bad,” he said. That meant nothing to me. What he thought of as “bad” was probably extreme. “Just things like delivering messages and keeping me informed of certain happenings. And as a little bonus, if you agree to help me, I’ll give your dog back.”

That had my attention. The only reason I was talking to him was because I wanted my dog back. I didn’t trust him to keep Spooky safe or to take care of him properly. The sooner I got him back, the better. And maybe I could find a way out of the deal later too. But for the moment, it seemed as if I’d have to play Ilmari’s little game.

“Fine,” I said. “Deal.”

You should know I don't mind criticism! I may not particularly care right now, but when I go back to work on it, it'll be something to take into consideration. I'm glad you like the whole "Shady's Babies" thing. I was sitting there trying to think of a name for a shady business, and I decided to just call it Shady. I then created Shady the character to make it make sense. I didn't even really think of Shady and Rainy as working well together.

You've got Ilmari pegged right. He would randomly rename someone. My character's name just never happened to come up. Her name is Reinhild, and I figure she goes by something else. I don't really like "Rein" but I thought perhaps someone started calling her "Rain" at one point and she decided close enough. Or maybe she goes by Hildi or something. It's an unusual name, but her father explains it. I think. He's the one who likes weird names.

Thanks. I'll keep that all in mind when I go to write the story. I didn't describe Ilmari. Didn't really notice that. In the actual story, I think I'll have his description earlier, probably when Rain first meets him. And I think you're right about the evasive thing. I'm not very good at writing that sort of thing, so it's not so good now but hopefully I can get better.