And there it was, the answer to the question Spence was politely trying to avoid. It was one thing to ask if Eleanor’s brother was a reincarnate, considering that information was vital for him to do a thorough investigation; asking if she shared Aaron’s recent gift was another thing entirely. He thought she probably did – twins, etc. – but it wasn’t technically something he needed to know. Probably had no bearing on the case, from what she’d said already, but he kept an eye out for the signs anyway.
The tilt of her head followed by a distant look gave her away, in more ways than one. Over the years, Spence had gotten familiar with reincarnates at every stage in their lives. They all had their tells, from brand new to old hat, and one of his favorite party tricks was being able to correctly guess how long someone had been a reincarnate, down to the year and sometimes even the month. Eleanor, though, was almost certainly brand new. It took a while to lose that habit, of trying to actively listen to someone whose voice was only audible in your own head. Spence had a feeling that she was so new that she didn’t realize she was doing it yet. Someone would point it out to her eventually, but not him, and not right now. As curious as he was to know more about her, who she might be besides Eleanor Taft, she was focused on her brother, and it was best to keep it that way. For professional reasons, of course.
So he noticed but said nothing, giving more attention to her words. That her brother was both a new reincarnate and too trusting put a line between his eyebrows. Sounds like the perfect victim. Not exactly a fair thought, but it was a little more generous than the other possibility that came to mind. Keeping his reincarnate’s identity a secret from his twin sister wasn’t a great sign to begin with. Sure, Aaron might’ve just been unfamiliar with his reincarnate, making an explanation more unwieldy than it would be for, say, someone who’d devoured Twin Peaks on VHS when he was far too young and long before he became the reincarnate of Dale Cooper. But it was just as likely that Aaron’s new other half might be the kind who disappeared on purpose, all the better to do their worst.
For Eleanor’s sake – and, a little more distantly, for Aaron’s too – he hoped that wasn’t the case.
“Very.” Spence answered promptly, not mincing his words. “They’re very dangerous. Some more than others. The big one’s the Resistance, formerly known as CORE. They’ve been around a long time. Done a lot of damage. You remember Boston?" He let the question hang for a moment, then continued. "That was them. For the life of me I couldn’t tell you what they think they're actually resisting, but they're big enough and they believe in it enough that it doesn’t really matter. Villains find a purpose there, and they’ve got a sticky web. Good people get caught in it all the time.”
Not wanting to overwhelm her, he stopped there. Even the oversimplified version was a lot to take in without mentioning his various Resistance-adjacent contacts, which he'd nearly done. Some of them were like Aaron – decent people who trusted indecent ones – but others were… well, a little more complicated. Not really the kind of people clients would find trustworthy, but thanks to Coop and his own instincts, he’d managed to keep his skin intact. Telling Eleanor about them, though, even obliquely, would not be wise. Strange that for second there he'd almost crossed that line.
“Anyway, that’s where I’ll start. Good a place as any.” He offered her a wry but reassuring smile. “Sometimes it helps to cross the biggest monster off the list before you tackle the smaller ones.”