Part 25 (1/2)

A quick and subtle glance at the clutter revealed to Pat Rin the sorts of papers one h port or low-invoices, bills of lading, lists, and the various correspondence of business A handwritten letter on plain paper lay askew in the center of the desk, as if it had been flung down in haste A blank coeneral disorder, the keyboard shoved away beneath

At the center of the room, Betea sen'Equa turned to face hiht, though nothing near Shan's-and lithe, with a girl's pretty, soft face Her eyes were as blue and as ungiving as sapphire-and it was to the woman who had earned those eyes that he made his bow

”I am Pat Rin yos'Phelium Clan Korval I come to you as the instrument of Fal Den ter'Antod's will

Your name is written in his debt-book It falls to us to Balance that which lies between you”

The hard blue eyes considered hiirl's face betrayed only youth

”Please tell me how Fal Den came to die,” she said, and her voice did waver, just a little ”I saw hio”

”He died by his own hand,” Pat Rin told her and used his chin to point at the dark screen ”If you perlanced at the screen, and stepped to one side ”If you please”

He moved to the desk, tapped the power key, called up the public archive, and stood aside

Betea sen'Equa came forward, frowned at the synopsis, reached down and called for er than it should have taken her to read it Eventually, however, she recalled herself and turned to Pat Rin, her face somewhat paler than it had been

”What is written next to my name,” she asked steadily, ”in Fal Den's debt-book?”

She had offered him neither a chair nor refresh Pat Rin discovered himself more inclined to believe the debt lay on the lady's side, which did no honor to his duty If Fal Den hi and owed

Pat Rin inclined his head ”I regret, only your name appears It is the very last notation in the book, written on the day of his death, and it is very possible that the process that ended with his self-murder was even then at work”

She stared at hihed ”Perhaps if we speak together of your dealings with Fal Den on the occasion of your last , we may discover between us both the fault and the Balance owed”

Still she stared at himent, either a half-wit or a fool

”Self-murder,” she said abruptly ”Are they certain of that?”

He frowned ”It is what his kin has sworn to the Council Have you reason to believe that Fal Den came by his death in another fashi+on?”

”Perhaps I don't” She spun aside, rudely, and paced to the far end of the room, where she stood for the slow count of six heartbeats, facing the wall, showing him her back

At last, she took a deep breath, turned and walked back to the center of the room, she stopped several paces away and looked boldly into his eyes

”I knohy my name is written in Fal Den's book,” she said, and her voice was as hard as her eyes ”I knoes and who is owing I will tell you these things For a price”

”A price?” Pat Rin raised his eyebrows ”Madaain price with me”

”But I do,” she said sharply ”You h Port rules, lordshi+p, but I ah Port lord She had no book nor no other high friends to call in her debt, and the lord hi was outside of lawful Balance, for she had no Name to protect her” She crossed her arlare ”I a the information you need You will buy it, or you will not” She inclined her head, brusquely ”Your throw, lordshi+p”

It was on the end of his tongue to tell her that he had no need to buy anything froh and bid hi his irritation, he looked at her, standing tall and stern before hi hand, he told hiamester

And he was not coent of Fal Den's will, upon which the petty prides and irritations of Pat Rin yos'Pheliuht to intrude

He bowed to the lady, very slightly”What is your price?”

VIEWED CORRECTLY, Pat Rin thought, shaking his lace into order and frowning at his reflection in the dressing-glass, the situation was piquant Indeed, one was persuaded that ore's deplorable cousin Shan would find it rich in hilarity And, to be just, had it been Shan dressing just now to attend, of all things, an express, Pat Rin hter

His partner in this evening's enterprise could not be dislodged from her conviction that he attended such affairs as a matter of course on every quarter-day, nor from the equally deainst whatever predations she iined that Hia Cyn yo'Tonin intended to visit upon her

Though, Pat Rin allowed, fixing the sapphire in his ear, to be wary of Hia Cyn yo'Tonin proved Betea sen'Equa to be a woman of sense, however late in her life

It had taken all of his powers of persuasion, and not a little High House hauteur, to wring the inforiven his word to attend this evening's festivities

The tale she had told was a simple one, nor was Fal Den the first to cohter by certain equities and certificates of stock

It would have seemed simple thievery, and the lady herself the final culprit, yet there was another player in the game, whose presence muddied the score considerably

As Betea told it, her firstwith Hia Cyn yo'Tonin was mere chance Pat Rin, who knew the ht it appropriate to interrupt the lady's account with his private speculations

In any case, Hia Cyn, through design or mischance, came into the orbit of Betea sen'Equa and very quickly showed her how she ht increase profits Betea had a of the ways of what she ter people- world, and slightly in awe of her, she as tall and exotic, and who held aers But after a time, the stakes would alter, in the private parlors, the victims would play for sht into the conversation and slowly the net would be drawn about them Carefully, then, while served sympathetic portions of wine, or perhaps one of Hia Cyn's special cigarillos, the ainst their quartershare, or against their inheritance Especially, Hia Cyn liked the that would come to them only when the person immediately before them in their Clan's line of succession cas like quitclaies, the desperately secret formula of some proprietary process

This, she learned later; she had delivered the first feords and certificate nu thereby what he was pleased to call a ”finder's fee” In cash

No one ever came back to her and confronted her with their loss, which for a tiht-happens” of no value

Alas, she was not a lady who allowed herself to repose long in ignorance If what she gained for Hia Cyn orthless, she reasoned, why then was she paid to procure it?

And so she finally learned that these iteht in the heat of play were ambler's losses They became the very evidence of a threat-perhaps a mortal threat!-to a person of ht back with ridiculous ease, often with ites that were in one way or another extree should have set her free, for surely even Naht report larceny to the Proctors However, Betea weighed the risk of being i with Hia Cyn and the all-too-probable outco found the sole offender, and did not call the Proctors In any wise, she said, the trade was slowing down Indeed, for several relumma, Hia Cyn introduced her to no one new

And then, at the beginning of the present reluht Fal Den ter'Antod to her attention

”And now he has died,” Betea had said, stone-faced in the office above herhouse

”None of the others cared so much”

She had named those others in the course of her narration and Pat Rin had taken those names to the redoubtable dea'Gauss, Clan Korval'saccounts with various of the masters of the Accountants Guild

Which left Pat Rin free to attend a party in the deplored and deplorable express mode, with only six hours left hiht Fal Den to his death