Foundryside (The Founders Trilogy #1) - Robert Jackson Bennett Page 0,60

stared at each other, Gregor smiling placidly, Orso’s face fixed in a furious glare.

“Now,” said Orso. “If you will excuse us, Captain.”

“Of course. I will let you get back to your business, sir,” said Gregor. “Sorry to trouble you.” He started toward the steps, but paused. “Oh, I’m sorry, but—young lady?”

The girl looked up. “Yes?”

“I apologize, but I believe I have been quite rude. I don’t think I ever learned your name.”

“Oh. It’s Grimaldi.”

“Thank you—but I meant your first name?”

She glanced at Orso, but he still had his back to her. “Berenice,” she said.

Gregor smiled. “Thank you. It was nice meeting you both.” Then he turned and trotted up the stairs.

* * *

Orso Ignacio listened as the captain’s footfalls faded. Then he and Berenice turned to look at each other.

“Sir…” said Berenice.

Orso shook his head and lifted a finger to his lips. He pointed at the various hallways and doors leading out of the lexicon chamber, then pointed to his ears: Could be people listening.

She nodded. “Workshop?” she asked.

“Workshop,” he said.

They exited the lexicon chamber, called a carriage, and rode back to the Hypatus Department of the inner Dandolo enclaves, a sprawling, rambling structure that somewhat resembled a university. Orso and Berenice walked in, then silently climbed the stairs to Orso’s workshop. The thick, heavy wooden door felt Orso coming, and began opening. He’d scrived it to sense his blood—a deviously difficult trick—but he was impatient, and shoved it open the rest of the way.

He waited for the door to shut after him. Then he exploded.

“Shit. Shit! Shit!” he screamed.

“Ah,” said Berenice. “Yes. I agree, sir.”

“I…I thought the goddamn thing had been destroyed!” cried Orso. “Along with the rest of the goddamn waterfront! But…It was stolen? Again? I’ve been robbed again?”

“It would seem so, sir,” said Berenice.

“But how? We kept it between us, Berenice! We only discussed it in this room! How did someone find out again?”

“That is concerning, sir,” said Berenice.

“Concerning! It’s a hell of a lot more than conce—”

“True, sir. But the larger question is…” She glanced at him, anxious. “What happens if Captain Dandolo does as he suggested, and catches this thief tonight—and they still have the item in their possession?”

Orso went pale. “Then when he brings the thief back…Ofelia will find out.”

“Yes, sir.”

“She’ll find out that I paid for another expedition, another artifact.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And…and she’ll find out how I paid for it! And how much.” Orso grabbed the sides of his head. “Oh, God! All the thousands of duvots I took, all that money I took, all that money I arranged in the ledgers just right!”

She nodded. “That is my concern, sir.”

“Shit,” said Orso, pacing. “Shit! Shit! We have to…We have to…” He looked at her. “You have to follow him.”

“I beg your pardon, sir?”

“Follow him!” said Orso. “You have to follow him, Berenice!”

“Me, sir?”

“Yes!” He ran to a cabinet and grabbed a small box. “He can’t have left yet. Gregor Dandolo walks all over the campo, like an idiot! Ofelia complains about it all the time! Grab a carriage, go to the southern gates, wait for him, and follow him! And…” He fumbled with the box, frantic, and snatched something out of it. “Take this.”

He shoved what appeared to be a small, scrived strip of tin into her hands, with small tabs at the top and the bottom. “A twinned plate, sir?” she asked.

“Yes!” he said. “I’ll keep its pair. Ah, let’s see—snap off the top tab if Gregor catches the thief. Snap off the bottom if he doesn’t. And snap off both if he catches them and they still have the artifact! If the thief gets away, follow them if you can, and find out where they are. Whatever you do, the same thing will happen to my plate, so I’ll know exactly what’s happened.”

“And you will stay here and do what, exactly, sir?”

“There are favors I can call in,” said Orso. “Debts people owe me, so that I can maybe cover up my own debts to the goddamn company! If Gregor Dandolo comes back here with that key, I need to make it look like I put just a toe out of line, not my whole damn body and thirty thousand scrumming duvots of Dandolo Chartered money!”

“And you plan to arrange all that in…” She glanced out the open workshop window at the Michiel clock tower. “Eight hours?”

“Yes!” he said. “But it would certainly be nice if Gregor Dandolo didn’t bring the thief back here, so then I’d never have to