didn’t know what else I could do.
Once I reached the station, I headed for Alsoran’s study. He was about to leave.
“Do you have a moment?”
“I do. I was just going to change the night rounds. Joran is going to fill in for Severyn.”
“How is he?”
“The slash he took from putting down the brawl at Semplex is finally healing.”
“Good.” I followed him back into the study, but didn’t sit down. “I followed up on the business with Kearyk. He had a lover, not a woman, and the lover thinks Kearyk was drowned. The clerk was terrified of water. But one other thing came up. The lover’s a street chalker, and he claims he went down to headquarters to tell them Kearyk had to have been drowned on purpose. Merolyn dissuaded him and offered a veiled threat. So when I talked with Captain Bolyet I asked a bit about Cydarth, and…” I looked to Alsoran.
“From the way you referred to the subcommander, sir, I thought you knew. He’s been trying to get all the lieutenants behind him for years. I guess he figured most would become captains. He wasn’t real pleased when you forced Warydt into a stipend, you know?”
“His displeasure was rather obvious, but I didn’t know that was part of the reason. I just thought he didn’t like the amount of control I had over Third District.”
“No, sir. He doesn’t. He’s just waiting for your last term to end.”
Or until he could find a way to oust Artois.
“What are you going to report on the bank explosion?” Alsoran asked.
“I’m not going to report anything for a bit. We’ll leave the case open for now. If nothing turns up in a month or so, I’ll report it as a failed robbery. I don’t know what else I can do.”
“It wasn’t ever intended to be a robbery, was it?”
“I strongly doubt it. They want someone to look into things at the banque, matters that involve the dead clerk…maybe more.” I shrugged. “Without proof, though, I don’t know what else we can do.”
Alsoran nodded.
The rest of the day was held to a mugging, two thefts, another wagon smash, another elver death, and a husband beating his wife so badly she might not live. All in all, close to a typical Vendrei.
When I reached NordEste Design and Seliora opened the door, I could tell something had happened from the look on her face.
Her first words confirmed it. “Haerasyn stole all of Odelia’s jewelry and all their golds. He ran off. No one knows where.”
I couldn’t say that I was surprised. “I hope it wasn’t too much.” I stepped inside the foyer and closed the door behind me.
“The jewelry bothers her more than the golds. One of the brooches came from Grandmama’s mother.”
“He’s likely already fenced or pawned it. Or he will soon. If someone gives me a description, I can circulate it to the goldsmiths who handle pawned goods. They’d hold it, but Odelia would have to pay…”
“Aunt Aegina would pay…”
And that was how the occupational events of the day ended, not that we didn’t have to get on with returning home, feeding and getting Diestrya ready for bed, and all the other details of domestic life.
14
Because it was my turn for Samedi duty at Third District, I got up in the darkness before dawn, made my way to the exercise facility, and endured Clovyl’s tortures…and the run, which was always a relief of sorts, after strenuous exercise, practice in hand-to-hand combat, and defense against weapons. Seliora was still asleep when I returned. I was grateful for that, because we hadn’t gone to bed that early. She’d needed to talk about how upset Odelia had been.
I actually had to wake Seliora after I showered and shaved, not that we had time for anything besides a quick embrace, because Diestrya was already awake, and we struggled through the rest of the morning routine, including a hurried breakfast. Because of the consternation created by Haerasyn’s thefts, by the time we finished eating Seliora had decided that she and Diestrya would spend the day with her family, and I’d join them after I finished at Third District.
“You already told your family, didn’t you?” I asked.
“I told Mother we would, unless you had other plans.” She gave me a sideways smile.
I just shook my head as I rose from the table. “I can probably be there by fifth glass.”
“We won’t eat until sixth.”
“I’ll try not to be late…but it is Samedi.”
“Can you do something about the brooch and the other jewelry?”
“I can circulate the word among the goldsmiths in Third District and ask them to pass it to others.”
“Do you think it will work?”
I shrugged. “It just depends.”
“It would be nice, but we won’t count on it.”
That was the best attitude, unhappily.
Before long, we hurried out the door, leaving the house to Klysia, who would soon be leaving it even emptier, since she had most of the weekend off and to herself. The duty coach ride to NordEste Design was uneventful, except when Diestrya saw a pair of matched tans, and began to chatter about “pretty horsies.”
At that point, Seliora and I just grinned and listened.
After I walked them to the door at NordEste Design, still holding my shields, and then walked back to the duty coach, I scanned the newsheets on the ride to the station, but there was nothing new, except for a report that the Ferrans were sending more land-cruisers to the border with Jariola.
I wasn’t looking forward to duty, not at all, but I would be able to start circulating a description of Haerasyn and the stolen jewelry, both to Third District patrollers and to all the other districts. The Third District patrollers were more likely to keep an eye out for him, but it was always possible patrollers in other districts might see him. If Haerasyn happened to be smart about it, he’d stay well away from Third District. But then, stealing from a relative of a Civic Patrol officer wasn’t the brightest of acts.
Delanyn smiled as I walked into the station. “Good morning, Captain.”
“Good morning. Quiet so far?”
“Yes, sir.”
I hadn’t expected anything else. Very little happened early on Samedi, except for the business of making sure that the offenders brought in on Vendrei evening were secure for the weekend, since they stayed at the station until Lundi morning, when they’d be sent to headquarters for charging, or quietly released if their only offense had been being too rowdy.
I stood at the duty desk reading the log and round reports. There had been three more elver deaths since I’d left the station on Vendrei, one in the taudis and two in other areas. A tinsmith’s apprentice had been found dead in the alley behind the shop, at Sudroad and the Avenue D’Artisans, and the body of a well-dressed young woman had been found seated on a bench in the gardens behind the Anomen D’Este.
The second case seemed odd, and I went over Freasyn’s report. There was absolutely nothing that would identify the woman, who was reported as being in her early twenties, but Freasyn had noted that her wrists appeared bruised, and that she barely smelled of elveweed, although a smoked pipe had been found just beyond her hand, and the remnants of elveweed had been the greener and stronger variety.
I looked to the duty patroller. “Delanyn…has the body wagon been here yet?”
“No, sir. Should be any moment, though.”
I turned and headed toward the rear of the station. “I’m going to look at the woman elver.”
“Yes, sir.”
The body room was the last chamber in the station, with thick walls, and in fall and winter the barred windows were opened to keep it cool. I opened the door, ready for anything, but the day was early and cool, and the only smells were that of faint decay and stale elveweed. Three bodies lay on the long tables, uncovered. There
