Sidestep
Sarah was sitting on a stool, sipping from a mug of coffee as she watched Irene bustle about the kitchen. “Are you sure I can’t help?”
“You can give me an opinion on the walnut and cinnamon batch,” Irene waved Sarah’s suggestion aside and returned to layering crushed pistachios in buttered filo pastry.
Sarah made an almost indecent sound as she popped a piece of baklava into her mouth. “It’s so good. I can’t believe I sampled it before Jareth did.”
“You didn’t,” Irene laughed. “I swear, that husband of yours has a radar for when I’m baking. He popped in and waxed lyrical about my culinary skills just as the first batch was being sliced.”
“Of course he did,” Sarah rolled her eyes. “Have you taken up golf?”
“No, dear,” Irene looked over her shoulder. “Oh, the clubs in the umbrella holder. I asked the goblins to leave them there.”
“The goblins play golf?” Sarah lived with goblins and couldn’t see them having much interest in following the rules of any game when they erred towards chaos.
“There’s a group of them who’ve taken to watching golf with your father and he’s named them after the golf clubs they started carrying.” Irene shook her head in fond exasperation. “I suspect they use the clubs as weapons, but I’d prefer not to have that confirmed.” Irene shuddered before flashing Sarah a vicious grin. “Unless they were dealing with that awful man who orphaned those poor little girls you were telling me about.”
Sarah couldn’t disagree with the sentiment, but the man was too far removed from the wish for her to be able to act directly against him. While club wielding goblins would have undoubtedly adjusted his attitude, Jareth had worked within the limits of the compact to exact justice.
“As expected, his law enforcement contacts were more than happy to accept his false claim of victimhood in defending himself from a crazy ex and her sister.” Sarah snorted in disgust and recognised the rage in Irene’s eyes. “Before you castrate the man with a rusty spoon, he’s being dealt with.”
The man who’d murdered two women may have been able to use the deep seated misogyny of a broken justice system in his favour. However, when officers searched the homes of both victims and found evidence of the man having rampaged through in an orgy of destruction, his tale of innocence started to unravel.
The existence of the girls was usually wiped from Above, but there were exceptions. With ransacked homes and two missing children, the justice system swiftly swung in the other direction and used the women’s murders as a lever to force the man to reveal the whereabouts of the girls.
“He’s been charged with four counts of murder and is in prison on remand as a suspected child killer who’s refused to reveal the location of the bodies.”
“Such a shame,” Irene chuckled darkly. “I imagine the prisoner grapevine won’t be favourable.”
“I suspect you’re right.”
labyfic — drabble #253: chop
Part of the Balance!verse
“You can give me an opinion on the walnut and cinnamon batch,” Irene waved Sarah’s suggestion aside and returned to layering crushed pistachios in buttered filo pastry.
Sarah made an almost indecent sound as she popped a piece of baklava into her mouth. “It’s so good. I can’t believe I sampled it before Jareth did.”
“You didn’t,” Irene laughed. “I swear, that husband of yours has a radar for when I’m baking. He popped in and waxed lyrical about my culinary skills just as the first batch was being sliced.”
“Of course he did,” Sarah rolled her eyes. “Have you taken up golf?”
“No, dear,” Irene looked over her shoulder. “Oh, the clubs in the umbrella holder. I asked the goblins to leave them there.”
“The goblins play golf?” Sarah lived with goblins and couldn’t see them having much interest in following the rules of any game when they erred towards chaos.
“There’s a group of them who’ve taken to watching golf with your father and he’s named them after the golf clubs they started carrying.” Irene shook her head in fond exasperation. “I suspect they use the clubs as weapons, but I’d prefer not to have that confirmed.” Irene shuddered before flashing Sarah a vicious grin. “Unless they were dealing with that awful man who orphaned those poor little girls you were telling me about.”
Sarah couldn’t disagree with the sentiment, but the man was too far removed from the wish for her to be able to act directly against him. While club wielding goblins would have undoubtedly adjusted his attitude, Jareth had worked within the limits of the compact to exact justice.
“As expected, his law enforcement contacts were more than happy to accept his false claim of victimhood in defending himself from a crazy ex and her sister.” Sarah snorted in disgust and recognised the rage in Irene’s eyes. “Before you castrate the man with a rusty spoon, he’s being dealt with.”
The man who’d murdered two women may have been able to use the deep seated misogyny of a broken justice system in his favour. However, when officers searched the homes of both victims and found evidence of the man having rampaged through in an orgy of destruction, his tale of innocence started to unravel.
The existence of the girls was usually wiped from Above, but there were exceptions. With ransacked homes and two missing children, the justice system swiftly swung in the other direction and used the women’s murders as a lever to force the man to reveal the whereabouts of the girls.
“He’s been charged with four counts of murder and is in prison on remand as a suspected child killer who’s refused to reveal the location of the bodies.”
“Such a shame,” Irene chuckled darkly. “I imagine the prisoner grapevine won’t be favourable.”
“I suspect you’re right.”
labyfic — drabble #253: chopPart of the Balance!verse