do. All I can tell you is that the captain was definitely home earlier tonight when I brought her the evening mail.”
Syfax thumbed his nose and crossed his arms. “The mail?”
“Yes, the late correspondence. We usually get a few messages after the day shift has left. There were a couple of telegrams from Tingis tonight.”
“That’s probably my general telling your captain that I’m coming,” Syfax said. “You said a couple of telegrams? What was the other one?”
The sergeant flipped through the papers on her desk. “Here’s the receipt I have from the telegraph office. Two messages, both from Tingis. One from the marshals’ office. One from Lady Damya’s estate.”
“Lady Damya?” Syfax snatched the receipt to read it, but it offered no more information. “What would the governor of Tingis want with a police captain in Port Chellah?”
“I don’t know. It was sealed, of course. I just delivered them.” The sergeant blinked and sat up a little straighter. “Why? What do you think it means, sir?”
Anyone in the house could have sent that telegram, including a certain dinner guest. “I think it means we need to see your captain right now. Let’s go. Now.” Syfax pointed at the door. This time, the sergeant leapt up and led the way out into the night. Striding side by side, their boots clacked on the cobblestones and the sound echoed down the empty streets beneath the silent gaze of dark windows and locked doors. Streetlamps hung only at the intersections, leaving the avenues in between drenched in shadows, and the dim haze that hovered over the city obscured all but the brightest stars.
“It’s just one more block this way.” The sergeant pointed to the left.
Turning the corner they saw a strange shape on the ground, and they sprinted toward the body half hidden in the shadows of a narrow alley. Only one hand lay out upon the street, its outstretched fingers clawing feebly at the circle of lamplight just out of reach. The sergeant knelt at the man’s side and Syfax saw his face, the face of the young officer they had sent out to find the captain half an hour ago. His breathing was faint and ragged and watery. Blood trickled from his lip. When the sergeant took his hand, he showed no sign that he noticed.
The major squatted down to study him. A single gunshot wound in the stomach, a wide pool of blood on the ground already beginning to congeal. Syfax leaned in closer to speak into the young man’s ear, “Hey kid, looks like you tried to take on the whole Songhai army by yourself. You bucking for an early promotion?”
The officer’s lip twitched. “Guess I should have…called for backup, sir.”
“Yeah, looks like,” Syfax said. “What happened?”
“…caught her…leaving…” He mouthed the words as much as whispered them, his eyes already vacant and dull.
“Who?” The sergeant squeezed his hand. “Who did this?”
“Captain Aknin.”
Why am I not surprised? Syfax squinted at the man’s mouth to make sure he caught every word clearly. “Why?”
“…said…mess… clean…” The officer whimpered and gasped. “It hurts.”
“I know, kid.” Syfax grabbed the woman’s arm and tugged her away from her partner. “Have you seen a wound like that before?”
She nodded as the tears spilled down her cheeks.
“Then you know he’s only got a little time left. We can’t save him.”
She nodded again.
“But we can help him.” He raised his eyebrows to emphasize the word help.
Her eyes went wide. “No, we can’t!”
“Look at him again,” Syfax said. “He’s all torn up, his insides are burning, his arms and legs are shaking, and he’s coughing up blood. It’s the right thing to do.”
“It’s…okay,” the man whispered. “Please.”
The sergeant pulled back, sat down against the wall, and covered her eyes. Syfax knelt by the young man’s shoulders and took his head in his lap. The major whispered to him, “Look to your left.”
The officer turned his head and mumbled, “Thanks, sir.”
“On the count of three. Okay?” Syfax placed one hand on the youth’s cheek and the other hand on the back of his head, and pulled sharply. “Three.”
The young man went limp and the sergeant wailed softly at his feet. Syfax closed the man’s eyes and backed away from the alley, leaving the sergeant with her dead comrade in the shadows.
I can’t believe I had to do that. Again. Syfax took a deep breath and tasted the iron and copper tang of blood that hung heavy in the sultry air. These people better pray I don’t catch up to them in some dark alley.
He meant to give her a full minute while he considered his options. After ten seconds, he leaned over her and said, “Sergeant, I need a horse. Now.”
The sergeant nodded and staggered away from the alley, stared around at the empty street for a moment, and then set out to the right. Syfax followed close at her side. “Sergeant, I need your help. I need you to tell me everything you know about this Captain Aknin. Friends, relations, politics, vices, money problems, family problems.”
“I’m sorry, sir.” She sniffed. “I only transferred here last month. I don’t really know anything about her.”
“What about her work? Her routine? Her habits?” He tried to keep his voice low, to avoid barking at her. “Where does she eat? Where does she make the most arrests? Where does she avoid going? What policies has she set for your station? Anything strange at all?”
“Wait.” The sergeant stopped in the middle of the street with a frown.
Syfax crossed his arms and tried to dig the answer out of her head by staring at it. Come on kid, spit it out. He glanced down the road. You really can’t think and walk at the same time? We’ve got killers on the loose. “Well?”
She nodded. “The old tombs down near the beach, along the north shore. When I first started here last month, she had me doing patrols out there to make sure no one was squatting in the mausoleums. Half of them have been broken open by thieves and sometimes people sleep in them now. I’ve had to toss a few people out. The area is too large for the caretaker to watch all of it himself. But last week, Captain Aknin started doing the patrols herself. She said it was too important to let us do it.” The sergeant peered up at him. “That’s strange, isn’t it?”
“Great work, kid.” He beamed as he grabbed her shoulders and got her walking again. “Now get me that horse.”
The stable wasn’t far and the hostler proved a light sleeper. Moments later, Syfax was in the saddle and galloping away with the sergeant still negotiating for the horse on behalf of the Port Chellah police force. When Syfax arrived at the airfield, Kenan stepped out of the Halcyon ’s gondola to stare at the horse. “Major?”
Syfax reined up beside him. “Give your gun to the pilot.”
“My gun?” Kenan frowned over his shoulder at the woman in the cockpit. “Yes, sir.” Two soft snaps released his belt and holster, the heavy revolver dangling from the thick leather strap like a hanged man. Kenan ducked back into the cabin and shoved the belt at Taziri. “The major said to give this to you.”
“What?” The pilot took the belt with a glare and strode out into the night air. “What do I need a gun for? What’s going on?”
Syfax shrugged. “I don’t know what’s going on, Ohana, but people are still getting killed so I don’t want anyone getting on or off that airship until I get back. You’re in charge until then. Kenan, get up here.”
The corporal swung up onto the horse behind Syfax.
Syfax said, “Listen, all I know is that someone in Tingis sent a telegram to the police captain here, and then she killed one of her own officers less than an hour ago. Maybe Ambassador Chaou and the captain are working together. Either way, killing folks in the service is a bad sign.” Syfax paused. “Ohana, if I don’t come back for some reason, I want you to fly straight back to Tingis and report everything that happened tonight to the Marshal General yourself, in person. Understood?”
Taziri looked at the gun belt in her hand, held some distance away from her body. “I’ve never shot anyone before.”
“Hopefully, that won’t change tonight.” Syfax snapped the reins and the horse bolted across the grassy field and onto a cobblestone lane.
