In the office of the Prior, Fyne Blanchet finished his report with a yawning comment. ‘I don’t know what all the fuss is about. She’s all right. I talked about the things you wanted me to, but she didn’t say anything much. There’s no evidence of her knowing anything I don’t. She didn’t gripe about corruption or say she was going to murder the governor or anything, just a few snide remarks, the same as anyone.’
‘She didn’t ask you to stay.’
‘A lot of them don’t. Hell, she’s got it on with that guy at the Northwest Chapter. Five years? What’s his name, Zimble? So, she’s monogamous. Lots of women are. Besides, she was really upset over that burning. She saw the whole thing. She didn’t eat much, and she was pale all through the concert.’
The Prior grunted, thought. After a time, he said, ‘She has some people she usually sees here in Splash One.’
‘So?’
‘So, she would normally want to visit them.’
‘And?’
‘If she doesn’t visit them or any one of them, it might mean something.’
Blanchet yawned. He felt the Prior was clutching at straws. Donatella Furz was nothing to worry about. And what was the Prior so worried about? Blanchet, who kept his curiosity strictly in check when it was profitable to do so, told himself he really didn’t know. Or care.
‘Fibey,’ she said the next morning over her breakfast fish, ‘I’ve got three old friends here in town. I’d like to see them while I’m here. Could you arrange that for me?’
‘Certainly, Ma’am. Any particular order? Lunch dates? Dinner dates?’
‘No. Nothing in particular. Whatever’s convenient for them. There’s an old family friend, actually sort of a cousin of my mother’s. Name’s Cyndal Prince, and last time I was here she lived over in that development south of town, along the bay. Then there’s Link Emert, He’s still with BDL, but he’s recently been attached to the Governor’s office. Liaison of some kind. And then there’s my niece, Fabian Furz.’
‘Your brother’s daughter?’
‘One and only. Bart died about five years ago, one of those wasting diseases no one in the interior knows anything about, and by the time he got to the ’Soilcoast, it was too late to do anything. You’d think by now they’d have improved the medical system in the Deepsoil towns, wouldn’t you?’
‘I think it’s a materiel question, Ma’am.’
‘Oh, I know, I know. No way to ship the big diagnostic machines in. No way to take in the life support systems. Shit. They take in anything else that suits them, in itty bitty pieces, if necessary, with a whole troop of mechanics to put it together again. Oh, well, no reason to fuss about it now. Bart’s long gone, and my bitching won’t bring him back. Anyhow, if you could get hold of those people and set up dates for me, this afternoon or tomorrow morning, I’d appreciate it. I’ll call you just before noon, if that’s convenient.’
‘You have other plans for this morning?’
‘I, Blanchet, am going to have my annual medical checkup. That’s why I’m here. Orders from up top.’
There was no shortage of diagnostic machines at the Splash One medical center. No shortage of technicians either, Don thought, as she was prodded, poked, bled, and otherwise sampled for the tenth time in as many minutes. ‘This is the last one,’ the anonymous white-coated person said with at least a semblance of sympathy. ‘You can get dressed now.’
The physician, who appeared harried and abstracted, leafed through the chart twice before looking up at Don with a furrowed brow. ‘You didn’t have that wound on your arm last time. No record of it in your history. Well, there wouldn’t be. It’s obviously fresh.’
‘Yes, it’s a recent injury.’
‘When? How?’
‘Oh, about ten days ago. A fall. A ’ling blew its top when I was on a narrow trail, and I fell against a sharp edge. I reported it to the Prior when I got back to the Chapter House. It should be in the record update.’
‘Oh, I see it. Yes. Well, just checking. Healing clean, is it?’
‘Seems to be healing well, yes.’
‘Do you want the scar removed?’
‘Perhaps later. It still takes two or three weeks of regeneration treatment to take scars off, doesn’t it.’
‘With the small machines, which is all we have available, yes. About that.’
‘Well, I don’t have time right now. I’ve got several explorations to do for BDL before Old Moon’s out. I’ve got some leave coming up next Dead Moon, though. Maybe I’ll do it then.’
‘Suit yourself. If you want it done in Northwest City, don’t go to the BDL medical center there. Word to the wise, right? Go to this woman. You’ll have to pay for it, but you’ll be better satisfied.’ The physician handed over a note with a name on it.
Don made an appreciative noise, both for the information and because she had been afraid there would be close questioning about the injury. Not that it wasn’t very much like a dozen crystal cuts she’d had over the years. It could have been a crystal cut.
But it wasn’t.
Shortly after she had returned to Northwest from the Enigma, she had calmed down and begun to realize how dangerous her position might be. This realization was followed by a period of indecision during which she had found an excuse to make a quick trip to Splash One, ostensibly only to attend a government house reception. During the reception, she had managed to get lost on the way to the women’s convenience long enough to hold a lengthy whispered conversation in a dark and supposedly vacant office, guaranteed by her friend to be free of ears or eyes.
‘I don’t suppose it would do any good to suggest you just forget the whole thing?’ her friend had murmured.
‘I’ve explained why that won’t work,’ she had said. ‘This information has to get out. It has to be made public.’ They both knew it. Don’s friend had worked for an intelligence agency at one
