“Sounds great. I’ll have the Cab.”
“Make it two.”
“I’ll bring them right over,” the server said before leaving us alone once more.
“This is nice,” I said as we both looked out over the water. “It’s my first time here.”
Ranger X murmured in agreement before we lapsed into silence. The only sound to break the quiet was the distinct clink of glass as the waitress placed our wine on the table.
“Cheers,” he said, raising a glass. “To finally being able to steal you away from work for a night, even if it was an accident.”
I raised my glass and clinked his, taking a sip of the rich, velvety liquid before setting it down. “If you had asked me, I might have snuck away before this,” I said. “It doesn’t take a serving of The Elixir for me to get the night off.”
“I don’t know. Gus runs a pretty tight ship.”
“Speaking of Gus, I have to talk to you about something.”
“I was hoping we wouldn’t talk about work,” he said with a sigh. “But I suppose it can’t be avoided.”
“Do you know the school Cretan Darham Hall?”
“It’s infamous.”
“Did you know Gus is a graduate?” I asked. “Not only a graduate, but he’s a Black Ribbon?”
Ranger X sat back and took another drink of wine, and then two more as he mulled over the information before replying. “I’m not surprised. I didn’t know for sure though.”
“What do you make of it?”
He raised one shoulder. “I don’t make anything of it. It’s just a fact. A fact I’ll file away for the future, should it ever be of use.”
“I just learned that fifty percent of wizards who graduate from that school are bad.”
“According to your math, that means fifty percent would also be good.”
“True,” I agreed.
“Where’d you get your information?”
I inhaled a breath. “Do you know a man who goes by the name of Liam?”
“Brown hair, little bit older than me, polite guy?”
“That’s him.”
“I’ve seen him around, but we’re not close,” X said. “Did you talk to him?”
I quickly explained the sequence of events that had landed me at Sea Salt for dinner. From Liam’s morning visit to the bungalow, to his overpayment of the bill, to my returning the money at Midge’s B&B. “After all of that, I’m still not sure what Liam does for a living, or why he’s here.”
“He buys and sells goods.”
“What sort of goods?”
Ranger X raised an eyebrow. “We’ll call them...hard to find goods and services.”
I sucked in a breath. “Illegal stuff? Does he steal things?”
“He’s a don’t ask, don’t tell sort of guy.”
“Hold on a second.” I raised a hand and put it on the table. “You’re basically the police here on The Isle. If you know he’s doing something wrong, then why haven’t you gone after him? Put him in jail?”
“I never said that he’s involved in anything illegal.”
I waited a beat. “Help me out then. What does he do?”
“There are gray areas and fine lines in any industry,” X said. “And every now and again, a good person needs materials for a good cause, yet sometimes those materials are difficult to obtain.”
I squinted at him. “So he walks a fine line between right and wrong, is that what you’re saying?”
“More or less. His business is legal, and I trust him. He’s helped Ranger HQ on several different occasions.”
“Has he helped you?”
“One of my men.” Ranger X shifted in his chair. “A Ranger had been badly injured. A bite from a troll that’d become infected after a trip into The Forest. All of the medicine we had on hand combined wouldn’t have saved his life, and none of the healers would touch him. They said he was too far gone.”
The slight note of pain in his voice surprised me. I’d pictured the leader of the Rangers to be able to speak about situations like this with a note of detachment. “You called Liam for help?”
“I did. He was able to deliver a new potion not yet on the market. It’s highly dangerous with the potential for extremely terrible side effects. It wasn’t approved by the MPA—”
“MPA?”
“Magical Potions Association. They test newly developed potions and verify their safety before allowing them to go to market for public use. This is why Liam’s job tiptoes in a gray area. It’s not illegal to use the potion, merely...unconventional.”