Chapter 12, Part 1: Natalina

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"What the hell do you mean we can't publish it?" Natalina asked her editor, ignoring his visibly damaged state.

Her editor, Vance Elderman, looked like he had walked to work after being hit by a train. His eyes were blood-shot, the bags under those eyes were thicker than her thumb, and he had the distinctive pungency of someone who slept in the clothes he wore yesterday.

"There are too many other plausible explanations," Vance said simply. "You know that. A doctored report could be explained away by claiming it's covering up a suicide, an accidental fall down some stairs, or a kinky foray involving prostitutes and black-market meat."

"We still have the body, and the impromptu autopsy my source with the Undertakers sent to us." Natalina reminded him, pointlessly. Her editor never entered an argument without knowing exactly how it would end.

"We have a reject, who's basically a janitor for their Ice Box. That's not a source that can contradict an official autopsy and the word of the army," Vance insisted. "No, Nat. You've hit a dead end here. We need more than we can get on our own, and it's likely to stay that way. We need to start approaching this from a different direction."

"We could involve Valen. He seemed pretty interested in this situation," Natalina said.

"Colonel Redgrave is also our prime suspect. Which makes sending him a copy of that revised autopsy more than a little inconvenient, Casper. It's entirely reasonable to suspect that he's only waiting for us to dig something up before he drops in with a strike-force or orders a Crafter to slag this whole building." Vance said firmly, shaking his head.

"Okay. So there's no pulling further on that thread. What other angles do we have on this issue?" Natalina asked. "And what were you doing last night?"

"Soirée for Distribution," Vance replied, scowling. Natalina gulped out of reflex, and scrunched her face up, preparing to spit out an apology.

"Save it, Casper. I stand by that piece of yours. They're just upset that you made them look like the enablers of the worst humanitarian crisis in the City," Vance said.

"They are," Natalina insisted.

"I spent the entire evening telling them that. Less and less politely as the night wore on. Probably drank too much. Pretty sure I'd have had an 'accident' without Crafter Estoban," Vance said. "Lovely woman, in case you've never met her. Sat down beside me after I said something particularly stupid, and explained to me that she could evaporate the water out of a person without lighting them on fire. I'm pretty sure a division chief soiled himself. She loved your article, by the way."

"Did she?" Natalina asked, amused.

"Wanted to talk about how the gangs operate down there. She told me they use Coldstone as currency, since any amount of the stuff is hard to come by. Expensive as hell, too. She said a single pound of the stuff could buy you rights to an entire vein and dozens of people to mine it."

"Cold-stone?" Natalina mused as she picked up the autopsy report again.

"Yeah. Research gets furious if large amounts ever go missing, so what they have down there stays expensive."

"Vance, you're a genius."

"I don't follow."

"Even in the revised report, my source didn't list the Colonel's sword in her effects," Natalina exclaimed, trying to keep herself from hopping in excitement.

"Huh," Vance said, as he picked up the report and looked at it again. "You're right. I expect the Army has recovered it, to hand off to some new Lieutenant."

"Okay, I'm reaching here, but follow for a bit before you start poking holes in this idea. The army wouldn't have assassinated a sitting Colonel in good standing, which means if you're a colonel looking to knock off some competition before the election, you need to hire outside help."

"I'm following," Vance said, nodding his head.

"The obvious source is Oversight. Every shadow has the skills needed to murder someone, but trying to find a shadow willing to take a bribe is risky. All you need is a little honesty or indignation, and your entire conspiracy is blown apart. Particularly if you end up inciting the ire of someone like those nannies," Natalina explained. "It's too risky, and since Colonel Darrower fought with whoever killed her, I doubt it was a hit-squad from Oversight. They kill Crafters; they wouldn't have botched their work."

"Okay, so it wasn't Oversight or the Army. Doubt it was the Orderlies, you don't bring an assassination plot to them expecting a co-conspirator. So who was it?" Vance speculated aloud.

"Think of a group that employs thugs and enforcers, and could be paid with the weapon their victim was carrying," Natalina said.

"You think it was an Undercity gang that murdered Darrower?" Vance asked, surprised.

"Best guess, and it fits a missing sword. Simmering ash, this makes for another dead end," Natalina said.

"You have to involve Redgrave to test this theory of yours," Vance concluded instantly. "How else can you confirm the sword is missing?"

"I think it's time we involved the Orderlies. We need access to Darrower's apartment, and we need someone at arm's length from us to make those enquiries for us."

"If you involve the Orderlies, and unless our conspiring colonel is Redgrave, you're warning the conspirators that you're on to them," Vance warned her. "It's strange to say this, but you're probably safer taking your enquiry to Redgrave. Ideally, directly to the burly army clerk you gushed over a few weeks ago."

"I didn't gush!" Natalina insisted.

"Ooh! So dangerous!" Vance said, comically fanning his face with his hand.

"You're a prick, Vance," Natalina said, as she chuckled.

"Of course I am. Irritability and sass are prerequisites to my job." Vance said, as he stepped over to the window and looked out the window for a moment. "Okay. I'm going to make an executive decision here, and take what we have to the Orderlies. We're going to have to abandon the idea of keeping this quiet. Go see your burly crush. I'm going to see an old friend, he's an Inspector, and press him to get access to Darrower's apartment and her personal effects. We can only hope they have the brains not to make the investigation official until they have more information."

"So we're running with this, hoping that these conspirators can't catch up with us?" Natalina asked, grinning wildly.

"That's the plan," Vance replied as he started to gather up their collected evidence.

"It's risky. We're counting on being a couple of steps ahead of a conspiracy we're only barely following. This could end badly for us, Vance," Natalina warned him.

"True. But time isn't on our side. Too long, and we could end up trying to accuse a sitting Lord Captain. You want to put a bet on our odds after that happens?" Vance asked.

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