“Gut feeling, but we’ll meet him to talk somewhere nearby, as soon as this call is wrapped up and we’ve seen how they respond. Half an hour should be plenty of time. But let’s not do it here,” I said.

Shade 4.7

“Hello? This is Andre Giannone.”

“Andre, hello. We were hoping you could help us out. We want to rent some locations in Cedar Point.”

“Where did you get this number?”

“We went to the source. Mortari Construction handled the building in Cedar Point, and they gave us the name of… Andrea Giannone? Could it be your daughter we’re wanting to contact?”

“I am Andrea, I go by Andre. Easier, not having to explain that I’m not a woman. It’s a man’s name where I was born.”

“That’s great. Andre, aren’t you the one charged with leasing the properties?”

“Their records are out of date. I’ve washed my hands of the business. Look elsewhere.”

“Can you give us the number of the person we can call?”

“No. There are no vacancies in Cedar Point right now, and I won’t give you the number because I don’t know who is handling things.”

‘Won’t give you the number’, I noted. Not ‘can’t give you the number’. Despite not knowing?

“A cursory internet search suggests there are a lot of vacancies in Cedar Point. People are noting it and asking why.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“You live there.”

“I keep to myself. Look elsewhere. Stop bothering an old man.”

“Mr. Giannone, I understand if you’re scared. Don’t answer me if you’re worried people are listening in. We’re heroes.”

Was the summary silence on the other end because he was worried people were listening in, or was it shock?

“We’re heroes. We’re a corporate team with plans of settling in. We know there are vacancies, and we know you still have signs up. If we can get this working, we’re going to look after you and the people in Cedar Point.”

“What? A corporate team?”

“Of heroes, Mr. Giannone. We call ourselves Auzure. Au for the chemical symbol for gold, azure for blue, I don’t know if that will help you remember. You’ll see us around, if we can do this without stepping on anyone else’s toes.”

“Toes? What?”

I glanced over the others, and saw Tristan doing the same thing. His eyes met mine. I wondered if he had the same thought I did, about how Dido’s clarification about the name would only confuse people.

“Jurisdictions, Mr. Giannone. It wouldn’t be good if we turned up there and ended up in a turf war with fellow heroes over who gets to help.”

“Why would there be fighting to—there’s nothing here. There’s nobody here. It’s a nowhere place. Everyone who could leave left. Everyone else wants to be left alone.”