L. E.Modesitt - Imager’s Intrigue

Controlled as he was, Tolsynn still twitched. “There’s no problem with the accounts.”

One of the many things I’d learned over the years was that the world was far smaller than people realized, and that someone always knew someone else. Most times I had to look to find the connections. Once in a while, as now, I already knew. “You know, or perhaps you don’t, that before I became an imager and a patroller, I was a member of the Portraiture Guild. What you probably don’t know is that the head of the Guild is the cousin of a well-known Maitre D’Structure. Now…we can discuss these matters now, or Master Reayalt and Maitre Schorzat can come and discuss them, doubtless with less courtesy.”

“We’d best go to my study.” Tolsynn didn’t quite sigh, but I could sense the resignation.

I followed him to a study smaller than mine at Third Station. He did not sit behind the narrow desk, but stood beside it, clearly hoping our talk would not take too long.

“After Kearyk’s death was reported,” he said after several moments, “I immediately audited the ledgers and the accounts he handled. I didn’t expect anything unusual. That’s just the normal procedure when an employee dies or leaves. It’s to make sure that whoever takes over the accounts starts with a balanced and accurate set of records. The accounts balanced, but…there was a letter from the clerk at the Guild claiming that the account had one hundred golds missing, and with the letter was a listing of withdrawals and deposits. I checked the daily ledgers and found a withdrawal that was not in the list sent by the Guild, but it was the last one of the day, and the hand was different.”

“Someone entered it later?”

“Kearyk was the one who closed the daily ledger that Meredi, but the hand wasn’t his.”

“He could have disguised it.”

Tolsynn shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“That suggests someone had access to more records than that one ledger,” I pointed out.

“We’ve checked through all the ledgers. We’re not finished, but so far, there seem to be no other discrepancies. We have, of course, returned the hundred golds to the Guild account.”

“Might I see one of the daily ledgers?” I asked.

He turned to the case beside the desk and handed a wide ledger to me. While the account book was bound, the binding was secured with brass screws so that pages could be added.

“Could you show me a page that closes the daily transactions?”

Tolsynn turned several pages, then pointed. Right below where the last entry was a stamped ornate foil seal pressed into the paper.

“Who has access to that seal?”

“I do. So does the head clerk. No one else.”

“Where is it kept?”

“In the vault at night. It’s locked in the head clerk’s desk during the day.”

I nodded. “I may have some more questions for you later, Director.”

“Do you have any idea…why?”

“Someone wanted to send a message to the Patrol. I don’t think it has much to do with the banque, but it’s too early to say. I’ll let you know as soon as possible what else we find out.” I stepped back and nodded. “Thank you very much.”

It was clear enough to me that neither Tolsynn nor the head clerk had anything to do with matters, except as unwitting accomplices, but someone in the banque did, someone who knew the routine, probably poor Kearyk, who had been pressured to switch a single page in the ledger and enter the withdrawal on the Guild account. The entire routine had been designed to call attention to the funds transactions involving Caartyl and Cydarth. The bigger questions were who was behind the gambit and why.

Once I left Tolsynn, I made my way to Chenoyt, who was closing his leather case. “What have you found out?”

He lifted the case, then turned to me. “This wasn’t so much a bomb as an explosive. It looks like they used damp guncotton packed in heavy pressed paper with a fuse set to ignite a dry guncotton primer.”

“They wanted a big explosion but limited damage?”

Chenoyt nodded.

“If you’d write that up for me…and headquarters.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you.”

Before we left, I talked to Khallyn, but he hadn’t discovered that much more than we’d heard when we’d first gotten to the bank. So I left the two patrollers and hailed a hack.

When I returned to the station, I stopped at the duty desk. “Lyonyt, send an inquiry to the other districts. See if they have any information on a bank clerk by the name of Kearyk D’Cleris. He drowned recently. Send whoever’s on unattached duty to the Grammaire D’Martradon to find out what they can on him. He left school there maybe eight or nine years ago, but they might have records, or someone might remember him.”

“Yes, sir.”

I headed to find Alsoran and to brief him. I wouldn’t write up a report for the commander until I got the rounds report from Kallyn and Zylpher and the report from Chenoyt. I’d also decided that I wouldn’t be able to accompany any patrollers.

By the end of the day shift, I had a written report on the banque explosion and some information on the drowned clerk. The drowning had been reported in District One, because it had taken place in the River Aluse a mille south of the Bridge of Hopes. That was where Kearyk’s body had been found. I decided against talking to the clerk’s family until I had checked with Dichartyn.

When I picked up Seliora, she looked concerned, but I didn’t ask about what, just helped her and Diestrya to the duty coach and boosted my daughter inside.

As the coach began the trip to Imagisle, Seliora asked, “What was your day like?”

“Another elveweed death and another explosion. This one was at the Banque D’Excelsis near Plaza D’Este. We’ll need to talk about that later, and I’ll need to tell Master Dichartyn when we get to Imagisle. What about your day?”

Seliora’s eyes widened slightly, but she nodded and said, “Odelia didn’t come to work today.”

“Do you know why?”

“Even Aunt Aegina doesn’t know. She left to go over to Kolasyn and Odelia’s place just before you came.”

I did know that, after Kolasyn and Odelia had gotten married, less than six months after Seliora and I had, Odelia had moved to the quarters over the small metal-working shop Kolasyn had inherited from his uncle, for whom he’d been an apprentice. “I hope everything’s all right.”

“It’s my fault. Yesterday, she was complaining about Haerasyn again. I said that, if he wanted to destroy his life, she and Kolasyn couldn’t do much to stop him. She said that I was cold and hard-hearted, and that she didn’t see how you could stand me.”

I managed not to swallow. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“It hurt too much. I wanted to think about it.”

I put my arm around her. “You were right about Haerasyn. It’s not as though he doesn’t know the dangers. He’s ignoring them, and he’s using Kolasyn’s coins to buy elveweed.”

“I think Haerasyn’s pilfered coins from Odelia’s wallet, too. That’s from what she’s sort of said at times.”

“Pilfer…pilfer…” contributed Diestrya.

“Pilfer means to take from someone,” Seliora said. “You shouldn’t pilfer. It’s not good.”

Diestrya nodded. “Not good.”

Once we reached Imagisle, I left Seliora and Diestrya and walked swiftly to and across the quadrangle to the administration building. Dichartyn’s door was closed. I knocked. “Rhennthyl here.”

Master Dichartyn opened the door.

I saw a young imager seated before his desk, as I once had been.

“It’s urgent?” He raised his eyebrows.

“Relatively. It’s about an explosion at the Banque D’Excelsis.”