Page 45 of A Drop of Corruption

“This is the code that Ghrelin was using? But…why is an Apoth communicating like a silent, mad monk?” I said, frustrated.

“I don’t know.”

“And why would the impostor do the same thing?”

“Oh, I’ve no fucking idea toanyof this, child! Why train someonein such a thing? Unless, of course, both Ghrelin and our impostor were participating in some unusual duties there on the Shroud. Duties that for some reason requiredtapping.And duties that Thelenai and her crew donotwish us to know about!”

“Can we translate this code of Ghrelin’s?” I said. “Will it take days, or weeks, or—”

“Oh, it is a simple pattern, and easily mastered.” She waved a hand. “I believe I had it all translated on the ride back today.”

There was a beat of silence.

“You…have mastered a nonverbal language used by a dying sect of monks, ma’am,” I said dubiously, “in less than a day?”

“I mean, it’s nottootechnical,” she said. “It’s just three damned fingers tapping, it can only be so complex.” She saw the skeptical look on my face. “Would you like me to translate what Ghrelin said, Din,” she snapped, “or would you prefer to stand there and keep doubting me like a stubborn little prick?”

“Translate away, ma’am.”

“Right…” She cleared her throat and said, “Unless I am mistaken, today our friend Ghrelin was tapping out the words…Sorrow. Sorrow. Despair. We are doomed. It is doomed. Failure. Sorrow. What have I done. Who has done this to me. Despair. Doom. I am doomed.And yesterday, when you first met him, his tapping was saying—No. No. No. No. How. Cannot be. Please, no. Cannot be. Cannot be.” She sniffed. “And that, I think, was all. Not very positive commentary, really.”

A long silence, broken only by the crash of the distant waves.

“He was saying all that?” I said faintly.

“Yes. Unconsciously, perhaps, like he was trained to let every thought in his brain spill down his arm to his fingers to be tapped out. How deliciouslyridiculous,yes?”

“I find all these mentions of doom somewhat less than delightful, ma’am,” I said weakly.

“Oh, don’t melt to pieces on me now, Din! We’ve no idea what Ghrelin was referencing. He could have been talking about his preparations for his dinner, for all we know. Yet I am most interested in one bit in particular—Who has done this to me?”

“I see…The Apoths are lying to us, but they do not know who the killer is.”

“If we believe his absurd little coded tapping is true, then yes. Theyverymuch want us to catch the bastard, and are willing to give us anything we need to do so—excepttell us what they’re actually up to. Which makes me think they are working upon something very secret, and very dangerous—and that our killer is likely involved in it.”

The silence lingered on. The tiny flame I’d placed in the stove had now turned to smoke.

“Something to do with the Shroud?” I asked quietly.

“Possibly,” she said. “Two Apoths, both of them tapping. And both of them, apparently, are geniuses, of a sort…for one served on the Shroud itself, and indeed built the veil that surrounds it, while the other pulled off a theft of frankly absurd complexity. Then there is the mention ofmarrow,and their reaction to it. And we know the impostor did not steal healing grafts…So, what if what was in that box had something to do with the Shroud, or this marrow?”

I stared at her as the wood smoke filled the room, my heart flitting in my chest. “Then what shall we do, ma’am?”

“Oh—wecatchhim, Din! We worry about Ghrelin and the other Apoths later. Let us focus on our thief and see what we can find.”

—

After I hadmade her tea, I waited quietly as Ana read through the parchments Thelenai had sent. She finally took a thunderous slurp, then sat back and pronounced: “Well, Din. We are now very definitely in thedrudgerybit of our work.”

I grimaced, for I was well familiar with this speech. “How many people are you sending me after, ma’am?”

“It’s a bad one this time. Not quite as bad as Logirstad, where you had to dig through that landfill, but…still a piece of work.” She handed a piece of parchment off to me. “There are forty-three Apothetikal officers who were given permissions to that chest in that vault.”

I took the page and began engraving the names, squinting to make the letters hold still for my eyes.

“You are going to have to work this list closely, Din. Corner all of them and establish their locations during the past two, three weeks. Let’s see who was where.”

“But we’re not optimistic—are we, ma’am?”