The Third Lynx

He gave me the kind of look of strained patience I seemed to get a lot from people and left the room. 'Losutu knows all about Bayta,' I told Morse. 'If you'd mentioned her in your report, he certainly would have included her in his note.'

'Of course,' Morse said. 'By the way, in case you're interested, I've got ESS running a full check on you even as we speak.'

'They're welcome to waste their time,' I said, with just a twinge of concern. There was nothing blatantly illegal anyone could point to, but over the years I'd had my share of incidents that might easily be misinterpreted. 'Meanwhile, if I were you, I'd try very hard to stay on Bayta's good side. If you need to make up time on a Quadrail, Bayta's the one who can make it happen.'

He snorted. 'What is she, a travel agent?'

'Way better than that,' I assured him. 'But if we're going to help you, you need to tell us what exactly is going on.'

For another moment he studied my face. He still looked weak, but the color was starting to come back to his skin. Whatever the doctor had given him, it was working. 'All right,' he said at last, laying the reader aside. 'What do you know about three sets of Nemuti sculptures called Hawk, Viper, and Lynx?'

'Never heard of them before yesterday,' I told him truthfully. 'Not until Kunstler's dying words, actually.'

His eyes widened. 'Kunstler talked to you? What did he say?'

'You first,' I said. 'Tell me about these sculptures.'

His lips compressed. 'There are nine of them,' he said. 'Smallish things, the size of your forearm or perhaps a bit smaller. They're very old, apparently from some vanished civilization that predates the Nemuti colonization of Veerstu. Even so, the art community doesn't put a lot of value on them.' He tapped the reader. 'I presume you read all this?'

'Enough to get the gist,' I said, glancing over my shoulder as the door opened and Bayta slipped into the room. 'I know about the attempted robbery and Daniel Stafford's mysterious disappearance. We both do.' I added, nodding toward Bayta.

Morse turned a brief glare on Bayta. 'What you don't know is that all nine of the sculptures have disappeared over the past year, stolen from various collectors or museums,' he continued. 'The last of them, one of the Hawks, was stolen from a Belldic collector just over three weeks ago.'

'I thought the report said that the attempt on Kunstler's Lynx failed,' I reminded him.

'No, that group didn't get it,' Morse said with a touch of impatience. 'But it is gone. Odds are Stafford stole it, either at the time of the botched burglary, or else earlier, with the other attempt merely exposing its absence.' He raised his eyebrows. 'Curiously enough, in the five weeks since then Kunstler never filed a missing-item report with his insurance agency. That tells me he knew where it was and thought he could get it back.'

'From Stafford.'

'Or whoever Stafford has sold it to,' Morse said. 'Unfortunately, there isn't enough actual evidence to issue a detention order.'

'He is apparently traveling under a false ID, though,' I said.

'Which we'll be happy to charge him with once we catch him at it,' Morse agreed. 'But we have to find him first. At any rate, when Kunstler suddenly made plans to travel to Bellis right after the theft of the Hawk there we thought he might know something. Since Lady Dorchester already had plans to visit friends on Bellis, ESS put me aboard as her escort to keep an eye on him.'

'Only Kunstler never made it that far,' I murmured. 'Do we know if he had any communications from the Estates-General before he headed off there?'

'He received communications every day from all over the galaxy,' Morse said patiently. 'Barring a complete tap-and-strain, there's no way for us to tell if any of them mentioned the Lynx. Now, what did Kunstler say before he died?'

'One more question ' I said. 'If you don't know where Stafford is, where exactly are you heading in such a hurry?'

'Stafford has friends,' Morse said. 'Eight of them are currently on their way to a ski resort in the Halkavisti Empire.'

I looked at Bayta, noting the sudden tightening of her face. Our last visit to a Halkan ski resort had nearly gotten both of us killed. 'Which one?' I asked.

'Carvlis Fang Mountain,' he said. 'It's on Ian-apof, one of the systems bordering the Tra'hok Unity.'

Nowhere near Sistarrko, then. I started breathing again. 'And you think they'll lead you to Stafford?'

'I don't know, but at the moment, they're all we have.' Morse's lips compressed. 'Unfortunately, they were on the express train that left an hour ago.'

'Any of these friends particularly close to Stafford?' I asked.

'Penny Auslander,' Morse said. 'Twenty-three years old, daughter of the financier Charles Auslander of Zurich. She was Stafford's girlfriend all last school year, and there's no indication the relationship has cooled any.'

'Really,' I said. Penny's name had been the first one on ESS's list of Stafford's friends, but there hadn't been anything about them being snuggly. 'How do you know?'

Morse smiled tightly, patting the side pocket on his slacks. 'Not all the data chips end up in the data chip case,' he said. 'There was a set of follow-up information that came on its own chip.'

'I'd like to see that.'

'I'm sure you would,' he countered. 'Not going to happen.'

I shrugged. We'd see about that. 'Fine. What class are you traveling?'

'I have a six-week first-class pass,' Morse said, his smile fading into a frown. 'Why?'

'We need to know what kind of seats to get,' I said. 'Get your shoes and jacket and meet us in the lobby.'

'Just a moment,' he growled as he sat up. This time, he didn't fall over. 'You haven't told me what Kunstler said to you before he died.'

'It wasn't much, actually,' I said. 'I told him who I was, he said he trusted me, then he told me about the Lynx—'

'Wait, wait, wait,' Morse interrupted. 'He said he trusted you?'

'Or words to that effect,' I said. 'He mentioned the Lynx, then he mentioned Daniel, then he died.'

'Just Daniel?' Morse asked. 'Not Daniel Stafford?'

Kunstler's fading voice echoed again in my ears. Daniel—Daniel Mice. 'No, just Daniel,' I told Morse. 'Now finish getting dressed while I get us some seats.'

'You just get seats for wherever you're going,' Morse said as he started putting on his shoes. 'I can get my own.'

'Fine,' I said. Nudging Bayta, I moved us out into the corridor.

'Are we just getting two seats, then?' she asked as we headed toward the lobby.

'We're getting three,' I told her. 'We need to find Stafford and the Lynx before the Modhri does, and Morse has some of the pieces to that puzzle. I want to stay with him as long as we can.'

'He may not like that.'

'He's welcome to wait for another train,' I said shortly. 'First things first. I presume our friend Ms. Auslander will need to change trains at some point on her way to Ian-apof?'

'At least twice,' Bayta said, frowning in concentration. 'The first change will be at either Homshil or Jurskala.'

'Have the stationmaster pull her itinerary and find out which it is,' I said. 'Then have him send a message ahead to the stationmaster there to keep her from getting on her next train.'

Bayta blinked. 'How is he going to do that?'

'Have the Spiders tell her there's some problem with her transfer,' I said. 'Or that her ticket record's been lost, or her ID's not reading right and they'll need to message back to Terra for confirmation.'

She gave me the same look she'd used earlier when I'd suggested smoking the Gang of Fifteen out of their compartment with a fake fire. 'I suppose they can do that,' she said reluctantly.

'Don't worry, it won't go on anyone's personal record,' I soothed her. 'We just need to hold this girl in one place long enough to catch up with her.'