Page 28 of A Drop of Corruption

“Indeed,” said Ana. “But the turtles were not as hungry as expected—and thus, we found him.”

Kardas sat back in his seat, stunned, the tip of his thumb hanging mere inches from his lips. “Do…do you have any evidence for this theory, Immunis?” he asked faintly. “Or is this all conjecture?”

“For now, it is conjecture,” Ana said. “But as I said, I think evidence is easily found.”

“Found where?” said Malo.

“In the vacant rooms just to the side and down from Sujedo’s chambers,” Ana said smoothly.

“But…but we looked there, ma’am,” said Malo. “We searched all the rooms when we first searched for Sujedo. We found nothing.”

“You looked too quick, I think. Let us look again.”

—

We trooped downthe leaning hallway, then down one flight of stairs, me leading Ana by the arm. We had the porter unlock the door to the vacant room below, and once again I was back in the musky, reeking air, dimly lit by a blade of daylight slicing through a crack in the windows.

“The shutters, Din,” said Ana. “Check them, please.”

I did so, studying each one, yet when I touched the first shutter on the right, it opened easily, even though it appeared to be locked. I peered at the lock and spied a seam running through the iron.

“The lock’s been sawed through, ma’am,” I said. “Looks like it’s closed, but the lock does nothing.”

“That is one bit of evidence, then,” said Ana. “I am guessing our impostor’s lodestone trick only works through barriers withanotherpiece of lodestone on the other side. He had to use a less elegant method to get in here…but let us look for more.” She sniffed the air. “The mold in this place likely regrows when stepped on or touched. But where it has been disturbed, one may see indentations…I sayone,but in reality, only Malo’s eyes can discern anything at all. Signum—do you see anything?”

Malo gazed about the room, her bright green eyes narrowed. Then her mouth fell open. “Yes,” she said softly.

“And what do you see?”

“I see…footprints,” she said. “Maybe from when they first searched the room, but…but there is another string of disturbances,leading…” She walked to the eastern wall, then studied it, squinting. “There is a brick here, in the wall, that has been disturbed. I can see it in the mold about it.”

“Din—remove that brick with your sword,” said Ana. “Butcarefully.This is a very clever person we are dealing with. He may have prepared for us.”

I drew my sword, the bright green blade glimmering even in this room, and delicately slid its point into the side seam of the brick. Using my sword as a lever, I pushed the brick until it tumbled out of the wall, and stepped back.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then Malo narrowed her eyes, studying the gap from ten paces away.

“It is clothing,” she said. “Or was.”

“Was?” said Kardas.

Malo unsheathed a knife, walked to the gap, and speared something and held it up for us to see. It appeared to be a soft, black, drippy substance almost like tar.

“It has been treated with a reagent,” she said. “So it was consumed and decomposed rapidly. But…there is something else.”

She dropped the clump of black, then reached into the gap once more and used her blade to flick out something small and twinkling, which tumbled to a stop at my feet.

I squatted to look at it. “A Treasury herald,” I said. I searched my memory to identify it, and realized it matched one of the many heralds upon Kardas’s breast. “The same as one you wear, sir,” I said to him.

Kardas leaned forward to look at it. “Th-that is the herald of the Order of the White Clove,” he said faintly. “For great service to the Treasury.”

“And Sujedo, I take it, was also a member of that order, sir?” said Ana.

“Y-yes. He was.”

“Then the conclusion is clear,” said Ana. “The impostor snuck out of Sujedo’s rooms, climbed down into this one, changedoutofSujedo’s clothes, and hid them away in this wall—for he knew he would be in terrible trouble if caught with an officer’s clothing—yet he first treated them to ensure that they rotted beyond recognition.”

“But why bother?” said Kardas. “We found the herald. We know the clothes are Sujedo’s.”