Chapter 61
Doing investigations means knowing when to bring people into your circle as allies, when to see them as possible targets, and the wisdom to tell the difference.
DIC Manual
The faint rattling of teacups was the only sound in the hallway leading to Elaine’s personal parlor at the Allynswood manor house, except for the soft footsteps of two women and the occasional rattle of china on a tray. Tiba Redblossom, a young bauchan woman dressed in a somber blue maid’s dress and white apron followed Edelkyn, Elaine’s housekeeper, companion and former nanny, as they headed towards the parlor, Tiba’s curly hair and large pointed ears sticking out from beneath the ruffles of a starched white cap that couldn’t really control the chaos of her head. Sucking on her bottom lip, she knit her brows together trying hard not to rattle the tray as she followed Edelkyn, a formidable woman when her ire was up, and it currently was quite high.
“This is not right,” Edelkyn said in a voice barely above a whisper, frowning, as she carried a tray of small sweet cakes, and her disapproval of the situation in hand made Tiba rattle the tray just a little more.
“What do those dragonkin mean coming here?” Edelkyn continued under her breath, a voice all the people who worked in the mansion knew was a danger signal. “What? What has our lady to do with people from the DIC?” She hurrumped, and Tiba rattled the tray again. “And the audacity of them coming here while Master Gweir and Tam are out riding! What was Jessup doing, letting them in, while Master Gweir was out?”
“I wouldn’t know, Ma’am” Tiba said in a soft, tiny, almost quivering voice. Her tray rattled again.
Edelkyn turned back enough to give her compatriot a small smile. Tiba could feel herself relaxing at the look of approval.
“Don’t mind this old woman, child. It’s not your job to know, Tiba. You’re doing fine. Don’t mind me. I just don’t like it when things like this happen. It’s not right. It’s not seemly.”
“Surely Mistress hasn’t done anything the DIC would be looking into,” Tiba said.
“Surely not, indeed,” Edelkyn said nodding vehemently. “It’s not like our lady has anything to do with whatever underhanded business that Turbot and his people are up to. The very idea!”
They reached the parlor door, and Edelkyn knocked lightly. Jessup, an older man in the leather breeches and black jacket that was the livery of those who were part of the household staff, and who had been serving the Allyns for three generations, opened it, and let the two women in.
Edelkyn huffed at him as she stepped through.
He ignored her obvious irritation. “Took you long enough,” he muttered in a voice only the two women could hear.
“It was my fault,” Tiba said, dropping her head, hiding behind Edelkyn. “I couldn’t find the good tea chest.”
“Hush, girl, that’s enough. You did fine,” Edelkyn said in a soft voice. “Someone,” she said, sending a dagger glance at Jessup, “refilled the tea chest and put it back in the wrong place.” She stepped past Jessup. More loudly, she said, “Bring out the tea cart, if you want to be helpful.”
Elaine’s receiving parlor was a comfortable, elegant room decorated with fine paneling and detailed vine sculpted stonework. Three large windows looked into her garden, filled with early spring flowers. Out in the garden, a group of birds dashed back and forth from tree to birdfeeder and birdbath. The furniture was just elegant enough, fine turned wooden chairs with comfortable upholstery, cushions and throws, to signal status, but not too much formality.
Inside the sunny room, Elaine sat neatly in a roundbacked upholstered chair, her flowing blue silk gown falling into neat folds around her. She smiled beamingly at her company. To her left, two Dragonkin men sat on a sofa. One was slightly taller than the other, both dressed in the best red and gold DIC uniforms, crisp and collared and metal buttoned. The shorter one was obviously a little uncomfortable in these surroundings. The taller seemed more at ease and had obviously made some comment just before the two women had entered, but all conversation ceased as Edelkyn stepped forward. The silence was perhaps created by by Edelkyn’s glare.
Noticing where the Dragonkin men were looking, Elaine turned to face the incoming women.
“Edelkyn! There you are! I hope you brought some of those wonderful little tartlets you make so well,” Elaine said, smiling at her old nanny and companion, well aware of what she needed to do to calm the older woman down. “Come sit next to me, and help me remember what these interesting fellows are here to tell me.”
Edelkyn’s look softened. “Of course I did, child. They were fresh baked this morning. I hope our...company,” she said, looking up at the two Dragonkin, “likes them as well as you do.”
“I’m sure they will,” Elaine said. “Nobody makes sweet cakes as well as you do!”
Jessup took that as his clue to roll the tea cart and position it neatly between the chairs and the sofa. Edelkyn positioned her tray of sweets on it, and took the tea service out of Tiba’s hands. “You can go now, child, but stay alert and near the bell,” she told the young woman. “We might call for you if we need anything.”
Tibia nodded gratefully, and exited the room.
Picking up the teapot, Edelkyn shot a look at Jessup. “You too, Jessup. I know you have some other duties to perform today. For one, we’re getting pantry deliveries, and that’s your job. I’ll take care of our Lady Elaine here.”
He pulled himself up to his full height, ran a hand through his graying hair. “Mistress Edelkyn…”
“Edelkyn has a point,” Elaine said, smothering whatever protest that Jessup was about to launch. “Someone has to oversee the household staff, especially on deliveries day. Neither of our guests have anything nefarious in their plans for me, and Edelkyn is more than enough chaperone for propriety.” Her voice held just a note of amusement. “And she never gossips with the staff when I ask her not to.”
Jessup, wilting a little, knew when he had been beat. “As you will, ma’am.” Turning he left.
Giving Elaine her personal approval signal, Edelkyn poured tea and handed it first to Elaine, and then to the guests.
“I hope you like the tea,” Elaine said. “It’s a special blend. I’m told the Oldest serves only this one at her meetings, but we save it for special company.”
Both Dragonkin men took sips and made appropriate looks for tasting such a rare brew. “Very nice,” the shorter one said.
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Edelkyn settled down in her chair after pouring her own tea. Elaine patted her hand, then popped one of the tartlets into her mouth, smiling. “Edelkyn, meet Asper Bloodstone and Balston Mullin, stopping by Goblin Market as they are making some rounds for the DIC, annual audits and such. Asper tells me he worked recently with Gweir.”
“I’d tell you more,” Asper said, “but I think what we did is still pretty restricted.”
“Oh, I know how that goes,” Elaine said, nodding. My husband’s been in the King’s Guard since before we were married. Still, it’s a shame that Gweir and Tam had to miss you, but they are out today. I think Gweir’s teaching Tam about hunting. With Gweir’s work, they get to spend so little time together, I can’t begrudge them.” She gave a wistful sigh, and looked out of the window, as if she could see them riding in the distance. “There are times in life a boy needs his father. And Tam is definitely at that age.”
“Family time is important,” Balston said, a bit awkwardly. “My father and I never got to spend much time together either. He traveled for the DIC a lot, and I spent a lot of time stuck at the creche school while my mother traveled with him. I had great teachers, but it’s not quite the same.”
“True,” Elaine said.
Asper Bloodstone, gave his partner a questioning look about the direction the talk was going in. To change the subject he raised his cup again and sipped it appreciatively. Lowering it, he smiled at Elaine and Edelkyn. “They say the DIC runs on tea, but ours is never this good,” he said. “I wish I could take this back with me to Sunderland. But even if I could afford to drink it at home, they’d never buy it for Headquarters.” He sighed, regretfully, with just enough emphasis to start to charm the older woman.
“Yes, it takes good tea to start with, but good water is the secret,” Edelkyn said. “We’re blessed with excellent water here. Perhaps you could get one of those touchstone filters -”
“Oh, you’ve started Edelkyn on one of her favorite subjects,” Elaine said, giggling a little. “She can talk about the proper way to handle tea for hours.” Elaine passed the tray of sweets to him. Do have one of the tartlets, Master Bloodstone. They are made with fruit from our own gardens.”
“You would get along fine in Willowick, Mistress Edelkyn,” Asper said. “Tea and its makings are very important there.” He took one of the offered sweets and tasted it. “And get rich selling tea sweets, if this is the type of thing you bake. It’s delicious.”
Edelkyn beamed in his direction.
He took another bite. “Apricot?”
“We have excellent luck with them most years,” Elaine said, nodding. “But I am afraid you can’t whisk Edelkyn off to Sunderland. We need her here. Everything would fall apart without her!”
“Tell that to Tam when he runs off and I have to drag him back,” Edelkyn said.
“I do! Over and over again. He’ll learn. Just like I did.” Elaine patted the older woman’s hand again.
Asper took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then put his cup down on the table, something did not pass Elaine’s notice, and she sat up straighter, waiting for what the Dragonkin man had to say.
“I have to admit, Lady Elaine, that wanting to say hello to Gweir was not the only reason we stopped by today,” he said after a moment.
Elaine raised her cup to her lips, elegantly taking a sip. “Indeed? DIC business?”
“I’m afraid so, yes,” Balston said, taking over at Asper’s pausing to find the right words. Digging into his satchel and pulling out some papers he passed the top one over to Lady Elaine. “We are looking for information about Violetta Greenleaf.”
“Violetta Greenleaf?” Elaine reacted to the name with true surprise. “My friend Violetta Greenleaf?” She looked down at the paper Balston handed him. It was a missing person flyer, with a reasonable drawing of her old school friend splashed across it.
Asper nodded. “The Violetta Greenleaf who went to the school at Comrie with you, studied with both the Alder Branches and the Fireburners, and later went to work for Briarwood and Flysch.
Elaine’s face fell, and her eyebrows bunched up, somewhere between worry and anger. “Yes, yes, I know her,” she said. “She’s missing? Is she in trouble?”
Edelkyn reached over and rested a hand lightly on Elaine’s shoulder. “Violetta, that sweet thing? Oh dear. Whatever has happened?” Elaine laced her fingers into the older woman’s hand for a moment, then let go.
“She’s not in trouble with us, let me reassure you,” Balston said. “She’s not wanted for anything.”
“Missing?” Elaine asked. She reached out to pick her tea cup back up.
“She went missing earlier this year, over a month ago. She was vacationing in the Harani area, near the Gray Lands. But she never returned.”
“Oh my!” Elaine said, almost dropping her cup. “Violetta was never one to just wander off without telling anybody anything. She was almost obsessively conscientious. Is..is she...is she...”
“We don’t know,” Asper said. “We have a team out there investigating, but we haven’t seen any sign of foul play so far.”
“Oh Violetta,” Elaine said, leaning into Edelkyn’s shoulder, who in turn, soothed the younger woman with gentle strokes.
“Violetta is a smart and clever woman,” Edelkyn said. “Remember when your mother had that tantrum about you studying with the Greenfellows? It was Violetta who talked sense to her, and got you to do what you wanted without ripping up the family. Whatever she’s doing, she will be using her smarts.”
Taking a deep breath, Elaine nodded, then straightened up, and turned back to look at Asper. “I assume you want to know if I know anything that might help you find her.”
“Every bit of information can help,” Balston said, nodding.
She wrote me she was going to make a trip to Runi Blahn, and maybe the Gray Lands nearby,” Elaine said. “She had a friend who died or disappear there a few years earlier. She wanted to visit the scene. I take it they had been very close. She was quite upset when whatever happened to him did. There was a whole expedition that was attacked, and I heard they assumed her friend was with them. I knew she was planning to go, but I haven’t heard from her since before Winter Solstice.”
“Does she stay in touch?” Balston asked.
“Somewhat,” Elaine said. We didn’t see each other very often, except at school reunions. She has come to visit every now and then, but she’s not fond of country living. But we sent each other messages every month, and exchanged greetings at holidays, birthdays, that sort of things.” She rubbed her chin. “She may have kept in better touch with Gan Thistleberry. All three of us were a group at school together. After our studies at the White Isle, Gan went back to teach at Master Gwaher’s school, but she’s living here now on one of my farmsteads. You could ask her if she’s heard from Violetta.”
Asper sighed. “About that. I heard she’s not particularly fond of the DIC.”
“No she’s not. The office in Comrie was rather mean to her when Master Gwaher disappeared.” Elaine met Asper’s eyes. “So let me guess. You want some help getting her to talk to you?”
“It’s not like we think Mistress Greenleaf did anything wrong,” Asper said. “We just want to find out what happened to her, and help her get home if she needs to. There are people back at her office that are quite worried.”
Elaine nodded. “They don’t think she’s run off with any trade secrets or anything like that, do they? She’s just missing and they are concerned?” She took a cookie from the tray and broke it in half.
Balston nodded. “Not that they’ve told us, and they would have told us if they wanted her brought in for that. That’s definitely a job for the DIC.”
“It seems like an unusual thing, to have high ranking officers from the DIC coming here to ask background questions, when you could have had the new first year, Umber Madrona come over here. He’s a gentle soul, and my sister thinks fondly of him. I’m sure he could have reported everything back to you easier than you coming out.”
“Uh, yeah,” Asper said. “I can’t go into all the details right now, but we need to discover if her disappearance is connected to some other disappearances. A whole group of people who were doing research into no-space have vanished over the last few years.”
“Like Master Gwaher?” Elaine said, dipping her cookie into her tea.
“Exactly. And Mistress Greenleaf was doing work in that area. It may be something bigger than just a vacation mishap.”
“Something bigger? A connection to a whole group of missing persons? Are you investigating the whole group?” Elaine’s eyes narrowed, looking at first Balston and then Asper.
“It might even be bigger than that. We don’t know yet. We thought we’d start with Mistress Greenleaf. If she’s not connected, that is fine – we will find out what happened to her, rescue her if she needs it, help her get home. And if her disappearance is connected...”
“It might lead to other things. Like finding out what really happened to Master Gwaher.” Elaine leaned forward in her seat.
“We have a team investigating. Master Gwaher’s case is being looked at again by some of our best investigators. The way the Comrie team handled it is shameworthy.”
“Gan would like to hear that.” Elaine put her teacup down. “I tell you what, gentlemen. Come back this afternoon, and I’ll help you talk with Gan. Be ready to talk about what you’re doing, as much as you can, and if it could help rescue Violetta and find out the truth about Master Gwaher, I’m sure she’ll be more than ready to help you.”