“And sector-travel is important.”
“Yes, it is.” He took a sip of the tiko, which was unusual for him.
“Because of this Belleraphon.”
“Because of a number of reasons.”
“Name one.”
He put down his glass. “Didn’t anyone tell you,” he asked, “that travel broadens the mind?”
Chapter 39
“Well, if you leave out his personal life, he was a happy man.”
neighbor’s comment at the
funeral of a successful poet
Tal walked back to the Visitor’s Residence alone. A slight feeling of disorientation slurred his footsteps, the product of just a few sips of tiko. He knew better than to touch alcohol; what had come over him? Maybe he was beginning not to care … he’d done the same thing for so long, asked the same questions, and whether the answers came in a thousand different accents or forgotten dialects or sullen silences, it always ended in the same futility. Although this was the first time he’d had help. It felt odd to put a section of the search into the hands of Keylinn and Spider. Very odd.
The texture of the ground beneath his boots told him when he reached the driveway of the Residence, because his footsteps made no sound. It was dark down here at the bottom of the hill, perhaps to discourage visitors from leaving at night. A salt smell blew in from the sea.
“Special Officer Diamond?”
It was a woman’s voice; he turned at once in the direction of the source, wishing Adrian had not decreed that hand weapons would be offensive to the Duke. Nevertheless he did not answer, but waited. His night-sight was better than a human’s—let them locate him, if they wanted to try.
She stepped out from the feathery jocasta trees. She carried no light, and had clearly been waiting long enough for her own sight to adjust. She was dark-skinned and wore the long pleated skirt, like everyone else, and she walked gracefully from the bushes that lined the drive to where he stood.
“I do have the right person? Tal Diamond?”
“Can I help you?” he asked. This close, he could see by the starlight and the faint spillover of the floodlights on the residence that she was young; barely twenty standard, if that. She wore one earring, where most Barets wore two: A small gold stud sculpted in the shape of a rose. She was also one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen in his life.
“Yes, I recognize you by description.” Her accent was soft but cool. “I’m here to help you, Officer Diamond. And in several areas.”
Again, he waited. If this was some kind of sex-trap by Baret Two state security, it was terribly coarse and obvious—but then, many governments were like that. She seemed to follow his thoughts, for a faint smile appeared on her face. She was nothing if not poised. “I understand you’re seeking information about Belleraphon.”
He almost reached out to take her wrists, and the reaction shocked him. Any number of people along the way had claimed knowledge of Belleraphon; why should he take this one seriously? He said, “I infer, then, you’re claiming to have such information?” He kept his voice disinterested.
“At any rate,” she said, “I believe I know more about the man than you do. You may have heard rumors that he was active in this city a few years ago. I was here at the same time—it was when I first came to Everun.”
“You must have been all of fourteen.”
“Yes. Opportunities were more extensive here than they were in my home town.”
There was a thriving market in Lankio Quarter for boys and girls of that age. Still, it was none of his business. “You’re saying you had some contact with Belleraphon then?”
“I’m saying nothing, cyr, at the moment. I prefer trade.”
Tal had run through much of his bribe money in the course of the day’s inquiries. “I’ll have to withdraw from our team’s treasury. I can’t get at it till tomorrow.”
She shrugged. “We can meet tomorrow evening. Shall we say, at the Fortune River Bar at the fourth hour?”
He looked at her. She smiled again and said, “I prefer to keep track of the people I do business with. As a sign of my good faith, let me assist you in another matter. The Sawyer Crown.”
This time he did take her wrists. He backed her into the stand of jocasta trees and said, “Who are you?”
She made no resistance. “If you would calm yourself, cyr. You’re not the first person to have made discreet inquiries. Well, yes, yours were the first that were actually discreet. Other members of your team have been asking any number of people about the Crown—most notably i the Opal hierophant. I hesitate to call him stupid, being a Redemptionist myself, but—”
He let her go. This put his assignment in a new and more difficult light.
She said, “I believe the Arbriths know more about the matter than they’ve been willing to share. If I may make a suggestion ... there’s an old definition of winning a war that says, ‘Get there first, with the most men.’ In this case I would say, ‘Get there first, with the most money.’ ”
“Why should you care?” he asked her.
“First, if a Curosa legacy exists, it should belong to the ! Hollow Hills. I told you I was a Redemptionist. Second … no Curosa legacy will be safe if the Republic takes over our world.”
“Do you think that’s likely?”
“Don’t you?” When he was silent, she said, “Already a number of the aristocracy have found reasons for super! vising their estates off-planet, or visiting long-disliked relations. Only those of us without the titles and money to leave are trapped
