The Pearl Crucible - A Dardana Fenek Mystery - THELUMENE (Part 3)

(Chapter 11, part 3)

“What did Miss Fortunato have to say?” he asked.

“Little useful. As a young, unmarried woman, she’s been kept locked in at night unless she’s been let go out with friends.”

“Quite usual in Aulis, among aristoi and epistarchs. Even mercanters with big houses.” He didn’t seem to disapprove.

“She doesn’t seem sad that’s changed,” I went on, “but I don’t see it as a reason for murder. She says she heard nothing and saw nothing. She denied knowing there was hemlock in the garden.”

“What did you think of her denial?”

I hesitated. “I find it coincidental there’d be hemlock in the salad, and that  she ordered it cleared out with the other weeds after her father ate it.”

“We have no evidence he was poisoned. I had the toxcist check his body in the autopsy.”

“No sign, of course?”

“None at all, but from two weeks ago … ” He shook his head, studying the brooch, my shawl, and my face thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t expect it. I find it very unlikely,” he said, “to follow you, that she could beat him over the head with a statuette when she was locked in the women’s quarters.”

“It would be a challenge,” I agreed. “She also frightened me with a kind of art that she does. I can’t remember the name, but there was light and sound, and it felt unpleasant but seemed to please her. Something she learned in Academy, about materials analysis. If she knew how to do that, would she know how to tamper with his car?”

“Either is more than I know how to do,” he said. “But I know what you’re talking about. She might have also learned to code, but the terminalist said it was a sophisticated job. It sounds like what she’s doing with the effects takes no more knowledge than adjusting the device to make a pretty pattern.”

“Or an ugly one.”

“Granted. Anything else?”

“Heard nothing, saw nothing, knows nothing. Well, she knows her father has a taste for women, and that her mother hates him for it.”

“I must speak with his wife. I’ve sent her a convo, but she’s merely acknowledged it. I might have to go out there and see her in person. The estate is beyond the Montara Sierpento, in Birzeta Deme. You, I think,” he smiled at me, “she’d entirely ignore, even if you used my name.”

“I’ve been pushing my luck,” I said truthfully.

The elegant woman returned after the end of the meal with the bill, and Mardonios put five blue single-drachm banknotes on a silver tray for the supper and one for her. The sight of so much money for food left me dizzy. I’d never spent more than a drachm for Barsina and me together, including the gratuity. Six drachms was a decent chunk of my rent. I left on his arm, my girl trailing behind, and I noted, at one of the tables to the side of the restaurant that looked over rose-gardens, Miss Testaferrata who noted me right back and fixed me with an evil stare.

For an instant, it felt like quite a triumph, but as she watched us, I realized gloomily that I now had other problems. She sat with Caruano Gatto of the Gatto Brothers private inspector agency. Gatto rose and bowed at Miss Testaferrato and made his way to Mardonios, as we waited for the valet and the car.

“Sir,” he said, “I should introduce myself. Caruano Gatto.”

“I’ve heard of you, Mist’ Gatto.” They shook hands.

Gatto’s medium height, medium skin, medium looks, not yet fifty, black mustache.

“Welcome to Aulis, Ensign-Captain.”

“Thank you.—You have the biggest private agency in Aulis, I hear.”

“My brother and me, but he’s in orbit. We’re one of the Big Six, as we call us, and there’s another dozen little ones, and a few independent operators.”

“Like Miss Fenek here. You’ve been introduced?”

“Everyone knows Nosy—Miss Fenek. She and I have worked together a few times. I also tell her to quit. As in, you should really quit.” He looked significantly at me.

I flashed the edge of my teeth. “I don’t give up.”

“Where is my car?” Mardonios said. “Miss Fenek, a moment? Mist’ Gatto, attend her in my absence?”

“A pleasure to.”

“Of course,” I said, and the ensign-captain stepped out the glass doors. I turned on my heel at Gatto. “You aren’t going to touch me here, are you?” I asked bluntly.

“Thank you for not lying to me,” Gatto said.  “And no, I’d like to impress future clients without tackling women in restaurants.”

“Kind,” I said.

Barsina was poised to run, but I folded my arms and lifted my chin. “I won’t be intimidated.”

He smiled and laughed warmly. My gaze shifted past him to Testaferrata, who glared, and I realized he was making our conversation appear innocent. I relaxed, placed my thumbs on the top of my girdle, and tilted my head to look pleasantly at him.

“This is your only warning,” he said. “Get out of town. Buy a bus ticket and head anywhere. Argoshaan. Gryphonikos. Calypso. Anywhere. I have fifty drachms to turn you over to her, Nosy-panties. I like you,” he assured me. “I really do. But if it wasn’t Gatto Brothers putting your head in a noose, it would be Colonna-Cesari. Strictly business.”

“I have worked too hard,” I said, feigning a charming smile for the Miss, “to run off now.”

“Running off is what you’re good at, Nosy-panties. So she tells me. If you’re still in Aulis tomorrow morning, you’ll be leaving it in chains tomorrow afternoon. She’s dead serious, and don’t doubt her, Fenek. She’s already hired a contractor in Helioshad, and he’ll break your body for days before he gibbets it up for the field-girls to gawk at. One warning is it. One.”

“Mist’ Gatto, you were always a gentleman,” I said. “Why this consideration?”

He spread his hands and smiled. “Because I like you. Because you didn’t lie just now. Because I already have my fee—I give up my bonus if I don’t get you, so you can see I am as honest and above board with you as you are with me. Because you do good work, and I respect that. Go do it somewhere else.”

Mardonios came back in. “Thank you, Mist’ Gatto!”

They bowed to each other, and the ensign-captain ushered me out.

He drove us back into the lower town. He was silent until he neared my street. “Why do they all call you Nosy-panties?” he finally enquired.

“Probably because they can’t stop thinking about my panties, Ensign-Captain, since they can’t get into them. They project their nosiness on me, perhaps.”

“Ah! I see. So the lure is your chastity—should I call you priestess, then?”

“If you like.”

“Perhaps I shall if you are as inaccessible as you say.”

I laughed. “Ensign-Captain, I do not pursue men.”

“None at all?”

“Not yet.”

He pulled into the end of my street.

“What will you do tomorrow, Miss Fenek?”

“I’m going to the Academy to visit an archaeologist,” I said. I ignored the faint noise Barsina made. “And then I have another case I must work on as well.”

“An archaeologist?” he said. “You must keep me posted.”

“I promise I will.”

He handed me out of the car, and I began to remove the brooch and shawl. “Please,” he said. “You’re under no obligation to me.”

“Then why give me gifts, if not to make me obliged?”

He bowed. “Topĉu did not appreciate what you’ve done,” he said, “helping some of the mercanters and dolemen find a bit of justice in this commissariat. I wish to rectify that, and show my goodwill going forward. I owe you first.”

“You may find showing me good will a burden, Ensign-Captain,” I replied. “Some days, I don’t think I’ll live a full life.”

He bowed again. “I trust you will,” he said. “Be watchful,” he said. “Miss Testafarrato seems to have developed a dislike for you if you saw her watching when we left.”

“I couldn’t fail to miss that,” I said. “Good evening, Ensign-Captain.—And thank you for supper.”

( … This way to Chapter Eleven part 2 … ) ( … This way to Chapter Twelve part 1 … )