Page 116 of A Light in the Dark
“Yes, madam.”
“Excellent. When I crossed the border this morning, there was a backlog of authorizations. I handled everything for the borders, but I suspect there are many other instances of this throughout the city-state. I’m going to need a team of five or ten people to find out who needs direct authorizations from me, organize them by how long they’ve been neglected, and prepare everything for signing so all I need to do is review, ask questions, and sign.”
The guard pulled out a radio from his utility belt, and I appreciated how accurately he repeated my request. “That should be simple enough.”
“On the surface, I suspect it is. After seeing the problems at the border, I fear I might need to find ten extra people to get that backlog addressed. Had that lout properly paid security staff?”
The guard’s wince indicated I had more than a few problems on my hands. “Not as well as one would hope.”
“All right. That’s fire number two that needs to be put out. I will need the city-state’s human resources department, assuming we have one, to audit all payments for staff and make certain everyone is paid. I don’t care when the normal pay period is; I want everyone paid within a week, preferably by Friday. Is anyone from human resources working right now?”
“Yes, madam. We are on a split schedule, as the previous mayor indicated we worked better that way.”
If I wanted to hide corruption, splitting the staff and preventing people from getting together to ferret out problems was a good way to handle it. “I see. We’ll discuss scheduling later, but please put out a request for every employee to submit a list of three priorities for improvement in how this place is run. I make no promises the suggestions will be met in the way people want, but this should give me a good starting point for what needs to be changed.”
Joel returned, and he twirled his keys and fobs around his finger. “If I get ticketed, I’ll just pay it. I’m too damned lazy to go walk a block to the pay meter.”
With a sigh, the guard reported Joel’s make and model of car and indicated that it was my vehicle and to leave it alone for the evening.
“This mayor gig isn’t too bad so far. It’s just common sense and asking what the problems are so they can be addressed,” I informed my neighbor. “Is there an office I can use in this place?”
“Yes, madam. Unfortunately, it’s a mess right now. Your predecessor had a tantrum at his arrest.”
Of course he had. “Was there a tornado fashioned of paperwork?”
“He also shattered his monitor, but the computer itself was not damaged. The technical team has already hacked into his account so you have full access to everything. All data on city-state computers is considered to be property of the city-state. Law enforcement was given a copy of everything incriminating.”
I found it interesting that the security guard was up to date on everything going on with the investigation. “Please make certain I receive updates on what’s going on with that along with a copy of everything that has already happened. Show me to this office, and I’ll see what I can get done in thirty minutes before I head home for the night. I just wanted to get some balls rolling so the disasters cease their breeding.”
“I wish you the best of luck with that, Madam Mayor,” he replied in a solemn tone. “You are going to need it.”
The former mayorhad been an overconfident idiot. Evidence of his plans to murder Earth’s refugees lay scattered throughout his office, ranging in memos to aides to source strangleberry and other toxic items for delivery to grocery stores, labeled as imports from Moonriver. I remembered what Roger had said.
Only the educated would be able to tell the difference between our lethal berries and Moonriver’s kinder cousin. I scowled, tearing through the office to make piles for latersorting. Anything dealing with the refugee situation went into one pile. Anything I could identify as belonging to the plot to fill our grocery stores with poison went into another.
I found more than a few pages about me and my work along with the pay stubs to eliminate me as a risk to his mayorship.
That went into another pile.
I hadn’t been the only target, and judging from the copies of the death certificates, those victims hadn’t been so lucky. They numbered a hundred and thirty-one in total, telling a sad story of a purge of those with heart and goodwill towards those struck with misfortune.
Then, buried in the depths of the mess, I found the journal detailing how he intended to get rid of everyone who hadn’t been born in Stonecreek proper, from people like my parents, the town of luna moth shifters disrupting his economy in ways he didn’t appreciate, to even Joel, who refused to bend and only shore for those the mayor had approved of.
The evidence he’d meant to kill Joel to close Sampson Sigils and make his purge easier infuriated me.
I caged my anger, checked the time, and huffed that thirty minutes had grown to two hours. I picked up all the sheets relating to the confirmed murders, the purge, and the deadly little journal, and carried the lot to the door. A pair of security guards, whom I’d learned were all transfers from other parts of the city-state due to the mayor’s corruption and influence, waited with expectant patience.
“Law enforcement needs to review everything, make copies, and return the originals. The death certificates are for his victims, and the city-state will need to look intocompensation for the families. And someone with some skill at public speaking will need to put together a speech about this. We will not be burying that man’s sins.”
The younger of the guards took the papers from me while the older one, with grayed hair and a tired expression, nodded and got on his radio to relay my instructions.
“I’m going home, and I expect I’ll be back tomorrow trying to make sense of this mess.”
Without waiting for a reply, I made my way through City Hall to the coffee shop where Joel plied himself with a dark brew and entertained himself on his phone. He was where I’d left him, although his expression implied his patience had run out at least thirty minutes ago.
“I’m ready to leave,” I announced, and rather than head for the door, I angled for the barista, who greeted me with a smile. “I need the largest, hottest, and strongest coffee you have, please.”
“Yes, madam,” the woman replied and went to work on my order. I dug out my wallet, and the luna moth joined me.
