“Who says you can’t have both? Now, I’ve got to double check the timeline on when they reported that she was pregnant, and I need you to look up what you can on their religion.” Daphne skimmed her tablet. “Some god named Demeter. Find out if he’d be against fertility restrictions. Find out if their local chapter’s even still licensed. That’ll tell us right there how crazy this group is. Too bad your servitor skipped town on us. Even if the group’s licensed, the servitors always know more dirt.”
“Something tells me Justin wouldn’t be too excited to help us if he was here,” remarked Tessa wryly.
“Of course not,” said Daphne, rolling her eyes. “Why would he be troubled by something so mundane, when he could be off on glamorous trips with our next consul? How did he pull that off? Is it true they used to be roommates?”
Tessa thought back to Justin’s tone and expression whenever he’d spoken of the trip. Despite all his assurances that it would be safe and easy, Tessa hadn’t been able to shake the vibe he wasn’t actually looking forward to it. “I’m not sure he really pulled anything off,” she said at last.
“They were roommates,” confirmed Cynthia, returning with Quentin and her assigned praetorian-of-the-day. “Luck of the draw in the university housing system. I used to visit sometimes.”
“I bet that must’ve been a sight.” Daphne’s tone was light, but Tessa noticed a shrewd look in her eyes.
Cynthia shook her head in a mix of amusement and disapproval. “Typical college life, I guess. Especially for two guys. Their place was always a mess, and I swear they spent more time at parties than in class. Yet look at them now.”
“Did you ever think back then they’d end up in their current positions?” asked Daphne.
“I wouldn’t have imagined servitor exactly for Justin,” said Cynthia after a few moments of thought. “But I would’ve guessed something high profile that allows him to be an expert and spout his vast knowledge, whether it’s wanted or not. So I guess this fits.”
“And Senator Darling?” Daphne prompted. She almost seemed to be holding her breath in anticipation. “Was he politician material back then?”
“When do you guys have to go?” interrupted Tessa. There was something in Daphne’s line of questioning that she didn’t like. It was too eager, too calculated for casual curiosity.
Cynthia glanced at the time and grimaced. “Five minutes ago. See you later.”
She hurried her entourage out, and Daphne watched them with a frown. Tessa almost expected chastisement for scaring Cynthia away, but Daphne’s features soon smoothed as she returned to their task at hand. Despite her initial misgivings, Tessa found herself caught up in the work. Research on the vast Gemman media stream was something that Tessa actually liked and could have done just for fun. Daphne was right about there being no official government records on Demeter’s followers, but Tessa learned that Demeter was a goddess, not a god, and had strong ties to fertility. Tessa gathered all the pertinent information she could find and formatted it all in an organized way that allowed quick access and earned Daphne’s grudging approval.
“Damn,” she said. “I should’ve gotten an intern a long time ago.”
A couple hours later, they set out for Burnaby, with Rufus in tow, to make the scheduled interview. Daphne fell silent as they rode, rereading her notes and touching up her heavy makeup, which to Tessa’s eyes, hadn’t budged. When they got off at their station, they found a young man waiting for them with a camera case. Daphne introduced him as Felix and said that he’d be filming the interview for her.
The family they were visiting lived in a working class suburb, nice but not as affluent as Tessa’s. The mother was a petite, mousy woman who greeted them at the door and seemed surprised to find more than a lone reporter outside.
“My associates,” said Daphne breezily. She shook the other woman’s hand vigorously. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Lin and help you tell your side of the story. As soon as word of your lawsuit gets out, everyone will know what’s going on and start making all sorts of assumptions. Best to have the truth on the record.” Daphne gave a calculated pause. “You, uh, haven’t begun your lawsuit yet, have you? Gotten in touch with a lawyer?”
“We’ve spoken to a few,” said Mrs. Lin nervously. “But we haven’t contracted with one yet.”
Daphne’s smile broadened. “I’m so glad to hear that. For Helene’s sake. It means we have time.”
Tessa knew that Daphne was much gladder for her own sake, since no lawyer would’ve probably let the family speak with her. Mrs. Lin led them to a modestly furnished living room, introducing them to her husband and the aforementioned Helene. Mr. Lin looked as meek and mild as his wife, and Helene looked like any ordinary girl that Tessa might see at school. All looked uneasy. Daphne chatted away about light topics and tried to make them comfortable as she and Felix set up the living room. It turned out he’d brought two cameras, one that would stay unmanned and fixed on Daphne and another that he would control in order to get the best shots of the Lin family. Tessa, remembering this was all supposed to be a learning experience, stayed out of the way with Rufus and tried to pay attention.
Daphne began by getting the family’s backstory—what the parents did for a living, what Helene’s hobbies were, etc. Daphne then moved on to Helene’s relationship with a boy at her school. They’d been dating for six months, and no one seemed particularly surprised that sex had been an outcome. The pregnancy was the shocking part, and that was what Daphne soon honed in on.
“Why do you think you got pregnant?” asked Daphne.
Helene shot her parents a nervous look. “The implant was faulty.”
”They’re rated for ten years of use,” argued Daphne. “Have you had yours that long?”
“Four,” said Helene, flushing.
And then Daphne went in for the kilclass="underline" “Is it or is it not true that you actually disabled your implant in tribute to your goddess Demeter and her cult of fertility?”
“No!” gasped Helene.
“Did your parents ask you to do it? Did your parents do it themselves?”
“Of course not,” exclaimed Mrs. Lin.
“Why don’t you tell me about your faith then,” said Daphne. “Describe it and your goddess in your own words.”
Mr. and Mrs. Lin, on the defensive now, attempted to paint a picture of their religion and did so in bits and pieces. A lot of it corroborated Tessa’s research, and it was almost impossible to talk about Demeter without mentioning fertility.
“But it’s not just about . . . babies,” explained an exasperated Mr. Lin, when Daphne pointed out the connections. “It’s fertility in a larger sense. Growth and new life of all things—plants, ideas, art. There’s a lot to it.”
Daphne fixed him with her dark gaze. “As a goddess who supports growth and new life, how does she feel about contraceptive implants?”
“I . . . I don’t know,” he said.
“Your church encourages removal of the implants when legally allowable at twenty, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think Demeter is pleased or displeased at news of your daughter’s pregnancy?” asked Daphne.
The family fell silent at that. When Daphne repeated it, Mrs. Lin said, “I’m sure she has better things to worry about than us.”
“She’s a great and powerful goddess,” said Daphne. “I’m sure she keeps track of all of her followers. Would she or would she not approve of Helene’s pregnancy?”
“I suppose . . . well, I suppose she’d approve,” said Mrs. Lin. “But—”
But Daphne had what she needed. Through that and a number of other tricky questions, even Tessa could tell that Daphne could edit together a segment where the family inadvertently implicated themselves. It made Tessa feel slightly queasy, but to Daphne, it was a triumph she couldn’t stop crowing about on the train ride back to Vancouver.