A Plague of Giants (Seven Kennings #1) - Kevin Hearne Page 0,41

with us if he could speak the Bone Giants’ language—I’d have to put together a suitable gift basket for our meeting. Perhaps themed around some fine mustards.

Elynea and her children surprised me when I came home by not being there. And neither were most of my belongings.

The first thought I had upon seeing my looted house was that Elynea and the children would have no place to sleep except the floor because the couch and the beds were all gone. Then I worried that I would have to sleep on the floor, too, and Bryn of the Deep, it looked pretty rough. Only after that did the thought enter my head that maybe Elynea had something to do with the robbery.

Unworthy of me, perhaps. Unjustified by any facts other than the single one that she was not in my house at a time when she usually was. But I supposed there would be no reason to stay in my house in such a state if she had gone out and come back to discover it this way.

Not everything was gone. My writing desk still squatted in my bedroom, together with my materials and papers; that was a mercy. Such things were worthless to desperate people right now, but beds and couches were in short supply out on Survivor Field.

So, apparently, were bathtubs. Mine was gone, the drainpipe to underground sanitation sluices sticking up out of the tile like a lightning-struck stump. I cursed, and it echoed off the walls. I still had a commode, at least. And although they had carried off my wardrobe, they had tossed my clothes out of it first, leaving them scattered about on the floor.

My pantry was bare, every scrap and crumb of food pillaged. I supposed there must be far hungrier people than I who needed it. My dishes and silverware were missing, too. Recognizing a pattern, I saw that most of my personal items remained but all the housewares and basic needs had been stripped. If it was indeed Elynea who was responsible for this, I didn’t begrudge her a bit of it, though I would have liked to hear how she explained such behavior to her kids.

There was nothing to do but inform the constabulary and make inquiries with my neighbors, not in any hope of recovering my possessions but merely to let them all know it had occurred, and perhaps my neighbors would beware and take steps to make sure it didn’t happen to them.

Dame du Marröd, the nice widow across the street who’d given the orange tunic to Elynea, had seen nothing.

“You didn’t notice some dodgy types removing my bathtub and furniture?”

“I was knitting a pair of socks for my grandson and listening to that bard fellow tell his story,” she said. “And the young men I have staying with me were all out working or looking for work today. I’m sorry, Master Dervan.” She sniffed a couple of times, uncertain and a touch worried. “Do you need a bath now?”

“No, thank you, I have much else to do. I might take you up on it later, though.”

“Of course, dear.”

When the constable arrived, one Master du Bartylyn, he let me know that I should not hold out any hope of swift justice. A slightly pudgy and avuncular gentleman with a beard going gray and a nose that looked like it had been broken more than once, he had a voice that was both tired and sympathetic. “There’s been a rash of these types of robberies recently. This is the fifth one this week. We haven’t recovered anyone’s belongings yet, and I’m doubtful we will. Everyone’s moving in and out all the time with this refugee situation, and nobody looks twice at furniture moving now. It’s so commonplace that you’d have a difficult time distinguishing between lawful and criminal furniture moving, you know?”

“Right. How does one move furniture suspiciously these days?”

The constable chuckled. “Well, you’re being quite sensible about it. The last family screamed at me for not instantly returning their grandmother’s candelabra to them.”

Shrugging, I replied, “I suppose it’s nothing to scream about compared to what most people have lost. I can’t summon too much outrage when they left me my work and my clothing.”

“A man with perspective! That’s rare. Well, if we do find anything, we’ll be in touch. Thanks for reporting it in any case. Helps us establish a pattern.”

“And if you see Elynea or her children?”

“Same thing: we’ll let you know.”

I returned to the palace to sleep