L. E.Modesitt - Imager’s Intrigue

“You have all this evidence?” Caellynd’s voice was skeptical.

“Most of it’s in that folder.” I nodded toward the desk. “Some of the background is not, but you can certainly check that yourself if you have doubts.” I went on to explain about the barges, and about the funds transfers with the Banque D’Rivages, and the forged documents. Then I let him take his time going through what I had brought.

After looking through the materials, Caellynd looked up. “I can see why you reached the conclusions you did. It’s unavoidable. There’s one thing that puzzles me. I can see the resemblance in the handwriting of the note, but the initial isn’t his.”

“It is. Had his father lived and held on to his holding, Geuffryt might well have been High Holder Laevoryn.” At least, after he’d removed his older brother, which I had no doubts he would have tried. “That’s one reason for his actions. He felt that the High Holders and the Collegium were the reason why he and his family lost everything. He’s taken other actions against High Holders in the past.”

“Such as?”

I shook my head. “They didn’t happen recently, and they’re not relevant here. Unearthing them now would only hurt innocents.”

“Will you leave that evidence?”

“No. You may view it any time you wish. If you wish to go over it now, I’ll wait. Or if you want to have anyone copy from it, I’ll be happy to wait as well.”

Caellynd nodded slowly. “Given what I’ve heard and seen, I can see your reluctance to part with it. I can’t blame you. We will need to copy parts of it, especially the barge lease contract details.”

All in all, I was at the Naval Command for more than a glass before I was finally able to return to the duty coach and begin the ride back to Imagisle.

Maitre Dyana was indeed waiting, even though I didn’t get back to the Collegium until two quints past fifth glass.

“What happened?” Her words were cool.

“I offered the evidence. Geuffryt denied it. Then he shot Valeun in the forehead and tried to shoot me. He was less than a yard away. I imaged pitricin into his brain. His shot hit the carpet.”

“His study was doubtless under observation.”

“A junior commander observed almost everything. His report verified what I told you. Deputy Sea-Marshal Caellynd went over everything with both the commander and me. After that, I presented the evidence to Deputy Sea-Marshal Caellynd, and he went over it thoroughly. He decided that there was no way to hush up everything, but that he would make a statement that apparently Geuffryt shot the Marshal when he realized that his personal ties to a Ferran banker and agent would be revealed and that he would have been demoted and dismissed.”

“What about the Civic Patrol?”

“They don’t come into it. The Naval Command is a military establishment. They handle their own offenses. In the cases of capital crimes tried by court martial, cases can be appealed to the high justiciary.”

“Maitre Dichartyn would be proud of you,” she said.

“No. He’d have been telling me there was another way. There probably was, but I couldn’t find it, and we were running out of time. Besides, the Navy doesn’t need to reveal what Geuffryt really did. They’d never get the ships they need, not for years, and it would be years before the suspicions settled down. Caellynd is the kind of Sea-Marshal all the senior officers want and the kind that the Council can deal with.”

“He’s not stupid.”

“Neither was Valeun, but he still didn’t see the dangers. Caellynd is basically honest, but he’s also a realist.”

Maitre Dyana nodded. “I need to think about this. See me first thing in the morning. Since it’s Samedi…half past eighth glass.”

“I’ll be here.”

She just looked at me, and I looked back.

“Good-night, Rhenn.”

“Good-night.” At least, she hadn’t made a fuss about my disobeying her instructions about Geuffryt, but that might have been because there wasn’t any point to it and because matters would only have gotten worse with the Naval Command if I hadn’t acted. Besides, she had once mentioned that we might need a new Sea-Marshal if Valeun proved uncooperative, and he’d proved not only uncooperative, but corrupt.

As I left Dyana’s study, I shook my head. One of the aspects of it that bothered me the most was that Valeun would most likely end up venerated and respected, his death thought to be a tragedy.

I returned to my study and locked away the evidence folder, then left and walked slowly back toward the house.

Seliora met me in the foyer. She gave me a sad smile. “You’re late. I had to put Diestrya to bed.”

“That’s probably better.” I took a deep breath, then took off my cloak and hung it up. Then I walked over to her and put my arms around her. I held her tightly for a while, then finally released her.

“It was hard, wasn’t it?”

“Yes…I had to do what needed to be done. Do we have any wine?”

“I brought up the Cambrisio. I thought you might need something.”

I didn’t say more until we were sitting in the parlor in front of a stove that was barely emitting any heat. Then I began. “You knew I was meeting with Valeun and Geuffryt. I told you how Valeun never wanted to deal with Geuffryt, and how Geuffryt killed the clerk and probably Johanyr, though that’s something I can’t prove…” From there I told her the “official” story, ending with, “and while you know how things really are, there’s no point in even talking about that. Sometimes, it’s just better to leave things the way people see them, because they don’t want to hear or see what really happened. Just like Valeun. He didn’t want to admit that he’d made a mistake with Geuffryt. He’d rather have let the man continue to do all sorts of evil things than have any of it come out. I’m not much better, because I don’t want some of it to come out because it will hurt Solidar and the Council and the Collegium and accomplish nothing.”

“There will be enough of the truth out there that people will be satisfied.” Her smile in the dim light was ironic. “They never want the whole complicated truth. Never. They say they do, but they always run from it.”

And I was afraid she was right about that as well.

Before I went in to see Maitre Dyana on Samedi morning, I did read the newsheets so that I’d know how the incident was being presented.

Veritum and Tableta both had stories on the deaths of Geuffryt and Valeun. Veritum reported the “Navy” version, but speculated that Geuffryt had been about to be removed for incompetence, because of his failure to discover all the Ferran infiltration that led to sabotage and explosions. Tableta noted that a high-ranking imager had been present and suggested that the Collegium had been demanding Geuffryt’s removal because of his failure to stop the Ferran bombardment of Imagisle. Both stories showed Caellynd’s ability to deal with the newsheets.

Gherard wasn’t in the anteroom, and the door to the Maitre’s study was open. So I walked in and sat down.

“Caellynd sent me a note.” Dyana wasn’t wearing a scarf of any sort, and those were her first words. “By Navy courier.”

“Might I ask what he had to say?”

“You can. It was very polite. He wrote that he appreciated your tactful handling of what could have been a difficult situation for the Naval Command, and that he hoped that the Collegium and the Naval Command could resume working together constructively and cooperatively.” She leaned forward and handed me the heavy notecard with the Navy seal.

I read it slowly and carefully, but what Maitre Dyana had said was almost word for word what Caellynd had written, except for the last words, which were: