Pomegranate Corner, Rangerville, Sunday, May 2, 2021, 6:20 PM
"Thank you, Mrs. Roswell," Molly said.
"Please, Ms. Prescott, call me Meredith," Meredith Roswell, the rental agent, said with a plastic smile.
"Well, Meredith, call me Molly," Molly returned a polite smile of her own.
"This is one of our nicest rentals," Meredith said with a wave of her well-manicured hand, and Molly found herself thinking of her as Manicured Meredith.
"Lots of space, a lovely yard and centrally located, right off Main Street," Manicured Meredith continued. "They must really like you at FutureTech, for them to provide you such a lovely place."
"Being a Senior Project Engineer does come with some perks," Molly chuckled. "It also means they get to move me all over the place, but I don't mind."
"That must be hard for your... um... partner," Manicured Meredith probed gently.
"No partner, just me," Molly smiled politely, long practice allowing her to effortlessly bury her annoyance at everyone's assumption that a middle-aged woman, even a professional woman, had to be in a relationship. She'd done relationships - some good, others bad. At this point in her life, she was happy with just herself.
"Well, the movers brought in your things earlier in the week," Manicured Meredith said, quickly changing the subject. "I'm afraid I'm not sure everything arrived."
"Oh, it probably did," Molly's smiled became more genuine, if a little rueful. "I don't have much. Like I said, the company moves me around a lot. I was going to ask if there was any place in town I could pick up a few things..."
"Oh certainly," Manicured Meredith said. "We have several lovely shops downtown, which is just over there really. As I said, you are very centrally located. Also, the best place to eat in town is the 8 Bells Tavern, that way down Main. It's a favorite of the off-duty personnel from the Army base. Of course, you know about the Army base..."
"Oh yes, I did," Molly nodded, politely not rising to the unspoken question. Yes, she was here working on a FutureTech project for the Ministry of Defense, but she wasn't about to tell her rental agent that.
"That's good." Manicured Meredith's plastic smile returned. "Well, if you need anything, you have my number. Oh, one more thing... When you're shopping, I would avoid the curio stand by the trailer park across from 8 Bells. Really, I don't why we let them stay in business."
"Well, thank you," Molly smiled, resolving to check out this curio stand at her first opportunity.
"Home, sweet home," Molly smiled, looking around her new space.
She supposed Manicured Meredith could be forgiven for thinking some of her things had been lost in the move. Most of the furniture came with the house. Even the laptop belonged to corporate. Only her guitar, her books and the few boxes in the bedroom containing her clothes had made the move with her.
A nomad's life, Molly mused, moving from place to place for the company, stepping in to pull struggling projects back from the brink of ruin - often to the resentment of the original project team (no matter that they'd brought said projects to the brink of ruin themselves).
It was the life she'd chosen, and she actually enjoyed it. A few regrets, here and there, over the years but, on the whole, she was happy with it. A bit lonely, sure, but happy.
It was a nice house, Molly admitted as she looked around. Meredith had been right about that. Centrally located, nice yard, plenty of room and...
... a cat?
What the hell?
Molly jumped, startled, looking down at the grey tabby cat. The cat looked back at her with inscrutable green eyes.
"Hello there," Molly assayed, cautiously holding out her hand to the animal.
In general, Molly didn't mind cats. Other people's cats. In other people's houses. Mysterious cats, with too-knowing eyes, appearing in her own living room... even a newly acquired living room... didn't rank high on her list.
The cat gave her hand a speculative sniff, tail flicking in a considering way. Then, evidently deeming the human to be acceptable, the cat turned away and, with imperious distain, hopped up to settle on the couch.
"I think one of us is in the wrong place," Molly said to the cat, sitting down next to it.
"I wonder." For some reason, the man's gentle voice didn't startle Molly as much as it should have.
"Please pardon me for intruding," the man continued. "The door was open, and I did knock. I see you've found Huntress... or perhaps she's found you."
"This is your cat, I take it," Molly said carefully.
"In as much as I feed her and tend to her other needs, she deigns to share my house and travel with me when the mood takes her." The man smiled a smile that brightened his eyes and brought warmth to a gentle face framed by luxurious hair Molly found herself envying.
"She's called Huntress," the man continued, "and I'm called Lucius."
"Definitely your cat," Molly laughed. "Well, I'm Molly."
"A pleasure to meet you, Molly," Lucius said. "Now, Huntress, I believe we've troubled Molly quite enough and should be going."
To the end of her days, Molly was never entirely sure what moved her to say: "No please, it's no trouble. Come in."
Maybe it was the vague loneliness that had come from pondering her nomadic life. Maybe it was a twisted sense of courtesy in the face of this peculiar man's odd manner. Maybe it was that there was something unaccountably familiar about Lucius of the Luxurious Hair. Maybe she'd just lost her mind for a minute.
Whatever the reason, she found herself inviting this strange man to sit and talk with her.
"So, you two are from Rangerville?" Molly asked.
"No, we're recent arrivals," Lucius of the Luxurious Hair replied. "I keep a small house outside of Henford and usually live a quiet life, just Huntress, myself, a few chickens and my garden. This is a bit of an adventure for me."
"What brought you here?" Molly blinked, puzzled.
"Work, you might say," Lucius said. "I'm mostly retired, but a friend asked me to look into a situation here."
"Sounds familiar," Molly smiled. "What kind of work are you doing?"
"I'm here looking into a possible invasive species," Lucius said. "Hopefully, I can find a way to maintain the Balance."
"Oh, so you're a conservationist," Molly said.
"After a fashion," Lucius answered easily. "So, what brought you here?"
So, Molly found herself sharing her story with Lucius of the Luxurious Hair.
It was later than either of them intended when Lucius, with Huntress trotting easily at his side, left.
New town, new project and a new friend, Molly thought as she got ready for bed.
There are worse ways to start out.
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Author's Note: One of those points of continuity between stories, the events of Strangerville Mystery begin just before the events of Wyrd Girls, Book 1: Year of the Wolf.
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