Dead Letter (18 page)

“
I bet you have,” said Lanuille, her voice thick with
sarcasm.

Captain
Malek noticed Lanuille’s barely covered disgust, while Ginny
proceeded into Kettna’s trap unaware. “What do you want to know,
lovie?”

“
There are so many weapons a guard can learn, but I don’t know
which one is best for me.”

“
See now. You should get a sturdy truncheon. Longswords like
this are for experts.” Ginny drew his sword and gave it a flurry,
swishing it back into his scabbard with a click and an evil
grin.

“
Clubs are so brutal, so … unladylike. I want a
blade.”

“
Hear this one, Malek?” Ginny grinned like the idiot he was.
“Blades for a lady!”

“
Do you have anything smaller than a longsword?”

“
Back at my crib I have a chest full of blades I can show
you,” he suggested.

“
Oh.” Kettna pouted. “It’s a shame you don’t have any others
with you. Maybe another guard here has something with more
finesse.”

“
Hang on now, petal. If you want finesse then feast your eyes
on this little viper.” He withdrew a stiletto hidden inside his
boot. Just the thing that would have killed the black-handed
dealer.

“
That is something. Do you have anything like this, Captain
Malek?” asked the Inspector.

“
O’course I don’t. What’s it matter?”

“
Do any of your comrades have a weapon like this?”

“
They don’t have my style, see.” Ginny twirled the spike in
the air and returned it to his boot.

Kettna
had found her culprit. “Guardsman Ginny, you are to answer
questions regarding a recent murder.”

Ginny
laughed. “This some kind of joke, Malek? You in on
this?”

“
Murder is a serious crime, Guardsman Ginny,” replied Kettna,
imitating her mother’s authoritarian tone.

“
Who says I been killin’?” asked Ginny. “I’ll have a quiet
chat and sort it all out. Don’t you worry that pretty little head
about none of it.”

“
I think there has been a misunderstanding,” suggested Captain
Malek. “Just let the Inspector ask her questions and we’ll be on
our way.”

“
I got the right to know who’s rattin’ on me, don’t I?” Ginny
complained.

“
So you can beat them down like you did those trainees?” asked
Kettna.

“
Maybe I should give you some training like I did that broken
bird,” said Ginny, pointing at the woman with the smashed nose.
“You’d better know how to defend yourself on the
street.”

“
I require answers, not intimidation,” said Kettna, hoping the
shake she felt in her voice did not come across.

Ginny
leaned in close. So close, Kettna smelt sweat and ale and felt her
heart beat faster. “I’ve killed so many men … and women too, which
of ‘em are you frettin’ about?”

Kettna
was floored for a response. “I don’t know,” was all she dared say.
She shouldn’t have accused him so openly. It was a foolish
mistake.

“
Ain’t that somthin’?” Ginny laughed.

Kettna
rallied her confidence. She was this man’s superior in every
respect. She was of higher rank, class, intelligence and morality.
She was the one asking questions, not this brute. “Why did you kill
one of the Black Hand Boys?”

Ginny
laughed. “He was just a pathetic nameless slumper that died from
the blaze. I had nothing to do with him and you ain’t got nothing
that can prove it.”

“
How do you know so much detail about the death of some
unguilded vagrant?” asked Kettna. “Unless you were
involved?”

Ginny
swallowed hard and his smug face contorted into a snarl. “You can’t
touch me. I take orders from the top!”

“
Is that so? Who exactly are you talking about?” asked
Kettna.

Captain
Malek intervened. “Don’t open your fat mouth again,
Ginny.”

Kettna
showed the guards the Constable’s seal. “You are both compelled to
answer my questions on the authority of the Constable.”

“
I know you are an intelligent woman; far more so than either
of us,” said Captain Malek. “But you’re barking up the wrong tree.
The apples on our branch might be a bit rotten, but the rot you are
lookin’ for ain’t where we’re hanging. The way things work here,
it’s best you keep the Night Watch on your side, cause it gets
awful dark on Flint Street if the lamps go out, and when you’re
dreamin’ in that cozy bed at the Cog and Wheel, we walk your street
and keep you breathing. I don’t want that to change. Do
you?”

“
Don’t you dare threaten her,” said Lanuille. “I’ll end you if
you say another ill conceived word.”

“
I don’t doubt that,” said Captain Malek. “But I’m not the one
you should be worried about.”

Lanuille’s magical presence swelled with power as she swam
into the weave. Kettna put a hand on her companion’s shoulder to
tame the fury. “We’re understood.” Kettna had no intention of
letting the investigation drop. It was to her advantage if the
goons of the criminal underworld thought she was compliant.
“Perhaps I’ll look in another direction. The evidence is shaky at
best.”

“
Rest well then. We’ll keep watch through the night.” The
Captain turned and escorted Ginny from the training yard. Two other
hard looking men joined them, clapping Ginny on the shoulder and
joking. Ginny’s jackal laugh echoed off the fortifications and made
Kettna shiver.

“
Let’s see if the Constable has returned.”

“
You go,” suggested Lanuille. “I am going to keep an eye on
things out here, in case they try something.”

Kettna
agreed and walked across the courtyard to the Constable’s quarters.
She knocked on his door with all the authority her fists could
handle.

“
Enter!” called the strong voice of the Constable.

Kettna
did so. The Constable listened to the Inspector describe the
morning’s investigations and outline the evidence. Her report was
brief, but thorough. There was no point hiding her suspicions about
the involvement of the Night Watch from the her
superior.

“
A faked overdose, planted evidence and you suspect Ginny of
murder?” he asked.

“
I do,” Kettna replied. “I also suspect that he knows the
location of the missing lockbox and the gold.”

“
Now, without sounding like a heartless administrator, you are
not investigating a murder, Inspector. You are investigating the
theft of the Head Merchant’s valuables.”

“
I know, but isn’t bringing the killer to justice more
important than a lost glory box?”

“
It is. What if you could do both things? You don’t have
enough evidence to convict Ginny. We need to discover who motivated
Ginny to do murder and plant the chain of office upon the body. Who
would benefit from the theft?”

“
Merchant Guillan benefits by blaming his political rival. The
Guildmaster benefits by proving the theft is a hoax perpetrated by
Merchant Guillan. They both have something to gain.”

“
You mentioned Bloody Agnus. Could this not have her hand in
it?”

“
Maybe so, but I don’t know how to prove that. Everything I
hear about her is baseless rumour. She is the haunting on
everyone’s lips, frightened whispers without tangible
fact.”

“
More facts are what’s needed here.” The Constable opened a
heavy ledger and flipped back through the entries, looking for
something. “If this Black Hand gang are dealing blaze, it could be
the link to Bloody Agnus.”

“
Are there other thefts around the same time that the Merchant
Guild was broken into?” asked Kettna.

“
That is exactly what I am looking for,” replied the Constable
with monocle to eye. “Yes. Look here, and here. Both Lapidiary
Schon and Glazier Thossam have registered complaints about valuable
thefts. Both are representatives on the High Council.”

“
This could be a pattern of intimidation before the election,”
suggested Kettna.

“
Here, you examine the reports and go and visit them. Find out
what you can and report back by sundown.” The Constable got up from
his desk and opened a closet behind his desk. Inside was a small
armoury of swords, mail, plate and a kite shield with his crest
emblazoned upon it. He selected a simple gambeson and a short
sword. Kettna hoped he wasn’t going to suggest she take
them.

“
What’s all that for?”

“
I’m going to teach those recruits how to throttle brigands
like Ginny,” said the Constable.

That was
a relief. While Kettna knew she needed martial training, today was
not the day for it. “Wouldn’t it be easier to suspend Ginny,
pending the investigation?”

“
Better to let the rat run and see where the nest is, don’t
you think? I’ve had my eye on Malik and his watchmen. Let them
scurry.”

The
Constable left Kettna to examine the reports and make her notes.
She tore some scraps of paper and marked the pages for future
reference. The Guild needed a better way to catalogue the crimes
and criminals of the city. They could do with a
librarian.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Broken
Glass

Kettna collected Lanuille, who was sitting on a crate in the
shade of the stables, watching the guard movements to and from of
the barracks. The adept had nothing of interest to report; Captain
Malik and his night watchmen had by all accounts retired while the
sun baked the city. The two mages left the fortress and picked up
the twins on the way down the hill to the Glaziers
Guild.

The
glaziers occupied a large yard beside the outer wall. It was dotted
with beehive shaped furnaces tended by busy guilders turning molten
glass like warm honey. Glass blowers, lead lighters and window
makers moved with confident industry, shifting the fragile material
between forges, work benches and cooling racks. Beside the open
yard was the Glaziers Guild Hall, a small out-building attached to
a larger storehouse. This guild had no grand facade proclaiming
their wealth. This was a guild that proclaimed their importance
through their hard labour, their skill and by the beauty of the
glass they created.

There
was no doorman, nor a private guard to greet them. In fact, there
was no one inside the main building at all. All the guilders were
tasked with work, so Kettna asked the twins to wait by the entrance
to the yard while she looked for the craftsman in charge. Kettna
debated calling out and making a fool of herself. Instead, she
approached the most senior glazier, instructing a man with bulging
arms and sweat glistened skin in some finer points of the glazing
process. “Good morning to you both. I’m looking for Glazier
Thossam. Is he around?”

The
instructor removed tinted goggles and undid a fabric mask,
revealing a stern faced suspicious woman. “Who’s
asking?”

“
Forgive me. I’m here on behalf of the Constable.” Kettna
fumbled in her pouch to produce the cloth badge. It slipped through
her fingers and fell in a puddle of mud. The Inspector looked up
with an apology and fished it out, wiping it down with a
handkerchief from her inside sleeve.

“
And what’s that in aid of?” asked the glazier.

“
Just to let you know, I am here with his authority to
investigate a crime reported by your guild head.”

The
woman eased her expression a mite and offered a soot-stained hand.
Kettna shook it as firmly as she could, to match the woman’s strong
grip. The glazier’s wiry arms were tattooed with the symbols of
skills she had mastered; vases, windows, stained glass, jewellery
and all sorts of other symbols Kettna could not discern.

“
Glad to have you here. I’m Thossam. Come into the shack and
I’ll make you some tea.”

“
Thank you. But I don’t want to take up too much from your
time. I can see that you are busy.”

“
Suit yourself. The kettle’s always boiled here ready for a
brew … and the company ain’t bad either.”

Thossam
turned a spigot on a cast iron pipe, and steaming water poured into
a green glass mug. From a timber spice box she selected familiar
herbs and root cuttings, that when steeped, brought her memories of
childhood.

“
I see those eyes of yours drink in everything. You know what
I got here, don’t you?”

“
Four parts Addersnap, two parts mallow, one part
liquorice.”

“
Just the thing.”

“
That’s a brew to improve mana restoration. My mother made it
for me after practice.”

“
She made it for me too.”

“
You were a mage?” asked Kettna.

“
Not quite. Your mother though … she was somethin’ special.
I’d not be alive if it weren’t for her.”

“
How so?” asked Lanuille.

“
Saved me from the fire that burnt our orphanage down, for
starters.”