Page 18 of A Drop of Corruption

“Hmm,” she said softly. She held it up close to her eye, then turned to her iron stove, muttering, “Let us see, then…”

She flicked the plug of metal at her stove. With a loud clang, it struck the side of the stove—and, for a fleeting moment, it stuck fast.

I stared, mouth agape. Then the piece of metal slid down theside of the stove—very slowly, in a strange, stuttering, scraping movement—before finally clattering to the floor.

“What…” I said faintly. “How did it…”

“It is lodestone,” she said. She bound her hand up in the folds of her dress and picked up the iron, for it was now hot from the stove. “Or it wasmadeto be lodestone. Though it has lost some of its strength.”

My eyes fluttered as I searched my memory, summoning information. “The rock that sticks to metal?”

“Certain metals, yes. But if you rub a piece of those certain metals upon true lodestone for long enough, the metals shall eventually gain some lodestone properties. This piece of iron was made to be lodestone, but it has lost much of its power…But not all.” She turned to me, grinning. “Andwhatwere the locks of Sujedo’s windows made from, Din?”

“Iron, ma’am. Is…is that how the murderer got into the rooms? They climbed to the very top of the tower, and used lodestone to undo the locks from the outside to get in?”

“I don’t think it’s as simple as that. For Malo spoke truth to you today—we are beset by impossibilities. How was no person found within that room? And how was his body found so far away days later? We reconcile these impossibilities, and we are left with the answer.”

“And…what might the answer be, ma’am?”

“The answer, Din,” she said, “lies in asking the rightquestions.We should not be asking ‘How did the killer get into and out of those rooms?’ but rather…which rooms was Mineti Sujedo in, and when, if any at all?” She grinned widely. “Tomorrow, go to the Treasury bank and interview the engraver there about Sujedo’s visit. But I really wantpracticalthings from them—Sujedo’s girth, his gait, his height. Make the engravershowyou. Make him point on your shoulder…” She stabbed her own scrawny deltoid with a narrow digit. “…to show how tall the man was, for example. Am I clear?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“But before you go to the bank, best send a message to the Treasury delegation and schedule a meeting with them at their lodgings in Old Town. The man you wish to get hold of is Prificto Kardas. He is the one running that operation. I wish to talk to him personally. You shall likely have to catch him quick before the goddamned king and his people gobble up all their goddamn time. Got it?”

I sighed deeply as I added this to my list of tasks. “Yes, ma’am.”

Ana inspected me closely. “Hm,” she said slowly. “How else was your day, Din?”

I hesitated, for she did not usually ask such plainly personal questions. “I had thought I had described almost all of it, ma’am.”

“Yes, but you said nothing of youremotionalwell-being, Din. This is our fifth investigation in but a year and a half. We are chewing through the stack at quite a clip! Yet I know not all souls fit easily to such labors.”

I suppressed a sigh of relief, for I’d almost thought she’d known of my new money issues. “I am well-accustomed to how this works now, I think, ma’am,” I said.

“Oh, are you? And how shall it go?”

“Well, first there is the pleasant puzzle, yes?” I said. “The how, and the who. Then all the dirty drudgery, wherein I follow folk about or dig through their refuse. And then, inevitably, either a rope or the slam of an iron door, and tears.”

She cackled evilly. “Ah, child…If this one is as simple as that, I shall be overjoyed! It already has a rotten scent to it. Still—is this work not asglamorousas you wished, Din? Did you think the life of a civil servant was going to be a grand and theatrical role?”

“As long as it pays, ma’am, I shall serve whatever role you desire.”

“What a mercenary statement!” she said. “I’m surprised at your cynicism, Din, given your valiance in Talagray. I am tempted to ascribe it to your illness.” She looked me over. “You are pale. And need rest. But before you retire, go and check the post for me, please. I suspect I’ll have a few letters that have been sent ahead.”

“It’s well past sundown, ma’am,” I said. “Are you sure the post station will be open?”

“This is Yarrowdale, child,” she said. “Home of theShroud.They receive and send orders all day and all night here. Go and get my post, and then you may rest.”

I bowed. “Of course, ma’am.”

“Note that I saidrest,Din!” she called as I retreated. “And nothingelse!”

I shut the door.

Chapter 8

Ana proved to be right:as I walked the short distance to the Yarrowdale imperial post station, the city about me was still thriving and thrumming. The manufactuaries and breweries and fermentation stills clung close to the canals, each resembling giant ceramic pots with many little spouts and spigots, each one leaking threads of silvery steam into the night sky. In the sparkling light of the mai-lanterns, the sight reminded me of shrines in the third ring, their cauldrons releasing fumes as worshippers tossed in pellets of faithwood.