Episode 144 · On State Business

The policeman at the gate had let Soles through yesterday. This morning he stood in front of it with both hands on his belt and waited while Soles explained why he had come.

— I remember you, he said. That doesn’t change anything.

Beyond him, a man in a gray coat stood beside the dark sedan. Soles recognized the briefcase before the face. A second man, younger, was speaking to someone inside the gatehouse. Neither wore a police uniform.

Maxim had parked the truck on the road. He came up slowly, with Tesa keeping his pace and pretending not to. Krista stood beside Soles. She had brought no camera.

— The investigator knows me, Soles said.

— Then call him.

The policeman looked past Soles. The man by the sedan had put down his briefcase.

— I’ll take it from here, the older man said.

The policeman stepped aside. The gate stayed shut.

— You’re early, the man said.

— You were expecting me?

— I was expecting someone.

The younger man left the gatehouse and stood on the older man’s right. Between them was room for a person to pass. Neither had needed to block it; the closed gate did that for them.

— We’d like to see the east wing, Soles said.

— The building is unsafe.

— Then we’ll look from outside.

— The restriction includes the grounds.

— Who put it there?

The younger man opened a leather wallet. The card inside had a photograph, a seal and several lines too small to read at that distance. He held it still when Krista leaned closer.

— We’re here on state business, he said. Under a defense order. Access is by authorization only.

— Police? Soles asked.

— No.

Krista read the card and looked at the policeman. He nodded once. Soles had seen enough. The authority was real. Yesterday’s explanation was something else.

— All this for a gas leak, Soles said. Must be very important gas.

The younger man shut the wallet.

— It becomes important when people keep trying to get into an unsafe building.

The older man had not smiled. He stood comfortably, without the stiffness of someone expecting trouble. His briefcase was beside his shoe. He did not reach for it until Soles looked down.

— You’ve studied the case, Soles said.

— Yes.

— More than the investigator has.

— His responsibilities are different.

— And ours?

The man opened the briefcase on the sedan’s hood. He took out a folder, turned a few pages and laid it flat. Soles saw his own name above a photograph of the workshop. A list of dates followed. The younger man rested a hand on the next page before Soles could read it.

— We know about the stone by the water, the older man said. The carved tree. The structure you entered beneath the garden. And your relationship with the escaped prisoner.

Tesa moved beside Maxim. Soles heard the sole of her boot scrape the road.

— What’s his name? Krista asked.

— You know his name.

— Then use it.

The man closed the folder.

— Varren. If he contacts any of you, we need to be informed immediately.

Soles asked why, and got the four missing prisoners he had heard about yesterday. He asked what they had found inside and was told it was part of an ongoing investigation. He asked about the garden and got the same answer, word for word, as if the man kept it on a card.

— You show us a file and then tell us nothing.

— I showed you that this conversation is worth taking seriously.

The folder had shown him only names he already knew. The man had not turned the page.

— You’ve got my name in there, Soles said. I haven’t got yours.

— Tarn, the man said, as though it cost him nothing. It probably didn’t.

— Do you have a name for these investigations?

— Cases involving reported paranormal phenomena, the younger man said.

— Reported?

— Until we’ve established what happened.

Soles needed something they wanted, and he had exactly one thing. He meant to find out what it was worth to them before he gave any of it away.

— Does your file mention a blade?

The younger man’s hand stopped on the fastening of his wallet. Tarn put the folder back without looking at him.

— Several items were recovered during the investigation.

— This one wasn’t.

The blade lay against Soles’s ribs, inside his jacket. Krista turned her head a little. He kept his hands where both men could see them.

— Dark blade, he said. Almost no reflection. Heavy for its size. I found it in the temple.

— Where is it now?

— I left it there.

The answer came easily. He disliked how easily.

— You left an object like that behind? Tarn asked.

— I wasn’t collecting souvenirs.

— Can you identify its location?

— Yes.

Tarn waited. Behind him, the younger one slipped the wallet into his coat and left the fastening open.

— I want to see what’s in the prison, Soles said. And I want something I don’t already know. Then I’ll tell you where to look.

— You’re proposing an exchange of information.

— You can call it that in the report.

— We can contact you after we’ve considered it.

Tarn picked up the briefcase. His fingers settled around the handle, but he did not lift it. Soles turned toward the road.

— Let’s go, he said to the others.

— We have your address.

Soles looked back.

— Good. Saves me writing it down. I’m offering now. You can have the meeting afterward.

For a moment nobody spoke. The policeman watched the road. Tesa’s eyes went from Soles to the briefcase and back, measuring which of them would move first.

— You may observe the site, the man said. With an escort. You’ll answer our questions afterward.

— If you answer mine.

— Questions about this site. I can’t offer you access to an investigation because you’ve described a weapon.

— But you can offer me access to a building that’s unsafe.

— From a designated position.

Soles nodded. The man lifted the briefcase at last.

They entered through the gate. The younger man stayed behind them, close enough that Soles heard every step. The grass beyond the broken yard wall was still green. Overnight frost had stopped in a sharp line short of it.

Krista walked beside Soles.

— Left it there, she said quietly.

— Keep walking.

She did, but moved a little farther from him.