“More than dangerous, Blantach,” Marasi said. “Catastrophic.”
“Right. Right,” Blantach said. “Was thatreally… you know…?”
“Yes,” Marasi said. “I’ve met him before.”
“Rusts…” Blantach took a deep breath and turned to face them again. “I think I can keep Entrone off your back if you let me send an officer with you.”
“Out of the question,” Wax said.
Blantach stepped closer and met his eyes. “Listen. This is my city. I don’t know what—or who—you’re afraid of, but I’m not part of it. I want to help, and this is the only thing I can think of. If you have a Bilming officer with you, I can persuade Entrone I’ve got someone watching you.”
She turned, gesturing, and a figure came scrambling down the steps, nearly tripping at the end. The slender woman pushed her overly large spectacles up on her face, but that nearly made her drop the three ledgers she was trying to carry. Shoulder-length black hair fell around her face as she struggled to keep the ledgers in hand. She pushed it back and grinned sheepishly—through lips with bright red lipstick.
It was Moonlight.
“She says she knows you,” Blantach said, “and that you might be willing to trust her? Kim is one of our researchers—she’s not a field agent, but she knows her way around Bilming and can help you work in the city.”
Moonlight… “Kim”… thrust out her hand to shake—which almost caused her to drop her ledgers again. She scrambled to catch them.
“She looks fun,” Wayne said.
“You’re just imagining tying her shoelaces together,” Wax said, his arms folded. “Marasi, do you know this person?”
“I… do,” Marasi said.
“From where?” he asked.
Sharing the truth with Blantach didn’t seem like a good idea. “We worked on a project together a while ago—she came to Elendel to further some research she was doing.”
Wax narrowed his eyes, obviously trying to decide if that made Kim more or less suspicious. Marasi, though, felt maybe she could trust the woman. A little. After all, Marshhadsaid that people with the interlocking diamond tattoos would be on their side.
Moonlight saluted Wax. “I promise to be of use, sir, and not get in your way.” She grimaced. “Except maybe by accident.”
“I think we should bring her,” Marasi said.
Wax nodded. “You’re on the team then, Kim. Let’s see if you can beof use. A man named Tobal Copper vanished in this city recently. I want to track down where he lived and interrogate anyone who might have known him.”
“Oh!” Moonlight said. “I don’t have that kind of informationonme, of course. I just carry around the city maps and details! But I can get you into the records office! We should be able to find answers there.”
“Which will let them know what we’re doing,” Wax said. “The Set is sure to have agents in such an important place.”
“I doubt there’s another way to get this information,” Marasi said. “We’ll just have to move quickly, to stay ahead of them.”
“Agreed,” Wax said after a moment’s thought. “Lead on, Kim. Captain Blantach, anything you could do to keep the lord mayor off our backs would bemostappreciated.”
***
The Bilming City Records and Research Building was ahugeimprovement over the similar offices in Elendel. Marasi had been forced to spend many an hour in closets, searching through thick ledgers of names or broadsheet archives.
This building, however, was a sleek silvery structure, each side more window than wall. Blantach led them inside herself, and a flash of her constable’s credentials got them assigned a flock of junior researchers before she bade the group farewell.
In minutes, Marasi and the others were sitting in comfortable chairs in a glass-walled meeting room, sipping tea while waiting for the results. All but Wax, who paced like a caged animal.
Well, Marasi might have preferred some of Allik’s hot chocolate, but thiscertainlybeat spending bleary-eyed hours sorting through old records on her own. The break gave her a moment to jot down a letter to Allik—saying not to worry if he heard of casualties via the broadsheets.
She paused. Then she added that he should take a short trip to the countryside to visit her father, and stay out of Elendel for the day. Just in case.
She stepped out to send the message—she’dseen a radio station on the way to the archive. As she walked down the too-white hallway, Moonlight emerged from a side passage. Hadn’t she gone to the restroom? Marasi glanced over her shoulder and saw that the meeting room where she’dleft Wax and Wayne was out of sight.