Silence fell for a few moments, broken only by the crackling of the logs in the fireplace.
Then Lucas looked up. “Alastair, I’m starting to see a pattern here.”
“Hmmm.”
“It’s not obvious, which perhaps is why you couldn’t put your finger on it, but it’s there. Look at this...” He turned the sheet toward Alastair and pointed to several lines. “At first glance, all these numbers look very much as they’re supposed to. All the transactions would seem to be quite routine. But...”
“I’m not sure what I’m looking for,” replied Alastair. “As you said, they seem to be within normal parameters...”
“They seem to be, yes.” Lucas sighed. “But there’s a pattern, there, Alastair. You can barely notice it. I’m probably seeing it because I built the whole damn system, but I’ll wager that if you spend half an hour with these numbers, looking at them from a fresh perspective, you’ll see what I mean.”
Once more the room quietened as Alastair frowned at the paper in his hand, narrowing his eyes and focussing intently on what he saw.
Then he looked up, an expression of irritation on his face. “By God, Lucas. You’re right. I couldn’t put my finger on it.”
“I’m not surprised. It’s subtle. Clever and subtle. And it’s being done very carefully.”
“Here...” Alastair tapped a line. “These numbers have been rounded down. And here as well. Such small fractions I missed it entirely. And...” he picked up a couple more sheets, “here...look here...the timing of these transactions has been shifted...”
“Thus accruing profits elsewhere,” agreed Lucas.
“Damn, my friend. Just damn...”
“No single account has been damaged enough to trigger any kind of alarm,” Lucas’s voice was chilly. “It’s not theft, it’s more like erosion. But put together? Alastair, Arcvale’s financial system...my financial system...the one that’s grown from my PBIC, it’s bleeding the city, drop by drop.”
Alastair digested that comment, his face betraying his concern as the magnitude of what was happening now, and what it could lead to, became clearer. He leaned back, steepling his fingers.
“If this continues unchecked,” he said slowly, “the first people to feel it won’t be the investors, or the Exchange.”
Lucas looked up with a slight frown. “No?”
“No. It will be the Forge. Delayed materials, adjusted wages, production that no longer quite adds up,” he met Lucas’s eyes.“And if anyone is going to notice the slightest irregularity...” He didn’t finish the sentence.
As far as Lucas was concerned, he didn’t need to.
He exhaled slowly as he accepted that yes, Silas would see it. “There’s no other way, is there?”
Alastair shook his head. “No, lad. There’s no other way.”
Chapter Six
The following morning, in Turningstone House, the breakfast hustle and bustle wound down, and two maids had finished clearing the table. Verity was sitting beside the last cup of tea when Sprocket peered around the door of the parlour.
“Will you be ‘at home’ today, my Lady? I’m sure there’ll be callers after last night’s do...”
Verity had to laugh. “Calling the elegant and productive evening that was held last night, complete with just about all the top families from Arcvale, plenty of Flight Division officers to flirt with, and a very healthy total of donations? Well, honestly, Sprocket. You have to come up with a better description of it than ‘do’.”
“Did you flirt with any of the officers?”
“No.” Verity’s response was rapid and firm. “Firstly, you know very well that I don’t flirt. And secondly, an officer? Really, Sprocket.”
The tickerkin shook her head and sighed. “I worry about you, my Lady.”
A loud knock on the front door punctuated Sprocket’s comment. “Oh dear.” She trundled from the room, only to return in a few moments holding a small but beautiful bouquet, the scent of the flowers filling the air.
“For you, my Lady.”
“Ah.” Verity shook her head. “Are yousurethey’re not for you?”
