Imager's challenge

30

When I got out of the duty coach outside Third District station on Mardi morning, the pale blue sky was clear and crisp, and the wind had died away. I nodded to Melyor and Slausyl as they headed out of the station, and to Zellyn, who was just inside the station door. He gave me a smile.

Alsoran arrived right after I stowed my bag in my cubby, and we immediately walked out of the station and up Fuosta to South Middle. Well before Dugalle, we passed the first of three toughs, all on the edge of Youdh’s “territory,” and all of whom watched me as we passed. I thought I caught a hint of purple under the nondescript dark brown cloak of the second tough.

Once we were past the third tough-who was barely visible and indistinct from where he watched from within an alleyway-and started on the round proper, Alsoran cleared his throat. He didn’t quite look at me as he spoke. “Looks as you did something that Youdh didn’t like. Any idea what that might have been?”

“The only thing I’ve done recently is ask some of the other patrollers what they know about Youdh. I asked Melyor and Slausyl because that’s their round.”

“Good men, and they do their best.” He paused again. “No one else?” His tone was casual.

“I did ask Sansolt about Youdh on Solayi. He was on the desk.”

“Sansolt knows a great deal. He talks to everyone.”

The flatness of Alsoran’s tone suggested even more than his words.

“I’ll have to keep that in mind. Is there anyone else you think I should talk to who might know why Youdh’s men are watching me?”

Alsoran didn’t speak for several steps, then fingered his chin. “You know, Master Rhennthyl, I can’t think of anyone who’d be helpful besides the ones you’ve already talked to. No patroller worth his stipend wants to get too close to the taudischefs. Folks believe the worst. The taudischefs think you’re out to get them somehow, and everyone else thinks you’re getting something from them. No way to come out ahead.”

I laughed. “It’s too bad, but it makes sense. It seems to me that a taudischef like Jadhyl wants the same thing as the Patrol. He wants things to be orderly and go smoothly.”

“He also wants to line his wallet.”

“That’s true, but who doesn’t? The question is how people do it. Youdh likes to kill people if they don’t pay him. Does Jadhyl? You’ve patrolled here. What do you think?”

“Jadhyl will . . . I think, only if he has to. Someone’s disappearing every week around Youdh. That’s what Melyor says. Is it true? Who knows? We don’t find bodies, and that’s fine with the captain.”

I had doubts about that policy, but I wasn’t the captain.

Meredi was again comparatively uneventful, although we did have to investigate a break-in at one of the bistros. A side of beef was missing, along with flour and oil and an empty cashbox that had held only a handful of coppers, but it had happened in the middle of the night, and the thief hadn’t left many traces except where he’d pried the bars away from a window opening onto the alley.

Since we didn’t bring in any malefactors near the end of our round, I was able to leave the station close to fourth glass. Again, I hailed a hack to take me to Patrol headquarters. This time, I didn’t put on the cloak and cap in the coach, but left them in the bag. I didn’t slink around, either, but had the driver deliver me right to the building. I actually walked right into headquarters to the charging desk. Gulyart was still there.

“Working the late glasses again?”

Gulyart looked up from the charging sheet. “Master Rhennthyl.” He shook his head. “It takes longer by myself. I heard you were still at Third District.”

“I am, but I thought I’d stop by and see how things were going here.”

Gulyart shrugged. “Same as always.” He looked at me. “Maybe not quite. We’re not getting as many prisoners from Third District.”

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve been walking rounds with patrollers, mostly in the taudis areas. The patrollers haven’t said much about numbers.”

“There aren’t as many.” He gave a crooked smile. “Could be that some of them don’t want to try anything with an imager.”

I shook my head. “From what I’ve seen, offenders don’t think about patrollers or imagers.”

“They don’t, but the taudischefs might.”

I just shrugged. What else could I have done? My next words were far lower. “Has anything changed here?”

He was the one to shake his head. Then he glanced toward the closed door that led to the upper level and Mardoyt’s study. After a moment, he asked, “Have you heard about when they might send in the conscription teams?”

“No. They wouldn’t tell me or anyone I know. I’d have to believe that it won’t be long, but who knows?”

“Be nice if they’d let us know.”

We both knew that the Army and Navy would do what they’d do.

At that moment, the door from the upper level opened, and Baluzt stepped out, hurrying toward the charging desk. “Gulyart, do you have the charging sheets-”

He actually stopped in midstride, and his mouth opened, if for just a moment before he smiled. “Master Rhennthyl, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I missed headquarters,” I replied cheerfully.

“It’ll be another quint,” Gulyart said to Baluzt.

“I’ll be back then.” Baluzt nodded to me. “It’s good to see you, Master Rhennthyl.” Then he turned and headed back through the doorway to the staircase, closing it behind him.

I had no doubts at all that Baluzt was reporting my presence to Lieutenant Mardoyt, and that suited my purposes.

“I won’t keep you, Gulyart, but I did want to stop by and see how you were doing.” I smiled, not out of calculation, because I liked Gulyart and thought he was doing the best he could.

“I’m glad you did, sir.”

Once I left headquarters, I raised concealment shields and waited.

While I still waited close to two quints, Mardoyt left headquarters close to a glass earlier than he had on Lundi. I used the same technique, holding on to the luggage rack at the back of the hack. I managed to get the brown cloak out of the bag and on, and to switch caps before we reached Mardoyt’s destination. This time, the lieutenant took the hack two blocks farther from the river on the Avenue D’Artisans before leaving the coach. There he stopped by a flower stall and purchased a large bunch of yellow chrysanthemums and then walked, whistling cheerfully, back down the avenue and then to his house.

Several times he paused, looking back. Once he shook his head.

Yet . . . I didn’t have the feeling he was looking for me, or at least not in my direction. I looked around as well, but I didn’t see anything. Who would have seen me through shields?

A girl, perhaps the one who had opened the door the night before, stood waiting for him in the twilight on the porch. Holding the flowers in one hand, he gave her a hug with his free arm. They entered the house together.

Because it was earlier in the evening than when I had seen the dwelling the night before, I had a better chance to study it. Although it was a row duplex, it was a good fifteen yards in width, and deeper than that, rising three stories. The third level was probably cramped and smaller, but the dormers suggested that there was at least one usable room there.

Whether the lieutenant leased the dwelling or actually owned it, given what I recalled about Patrol pay scales, he would have had difficulty paying for such lodging, unless he’d inherited money or had other income. I was wagering on the latter, based on what I’d observed when I’d been assisting on the charging desk and observing the justice hearings, but I did need to get a copy of the pay scales and see if Seliora could have her advocate find out who owned the house in which Mardoyt lived.

Once more, I watched the dwelling for more than two glasses, until the lamps were extinguished on the lower levels and only a faint trace of light escaped from one room on the second floor.