“I’ll ask your dockmaster later, thank you,” Calya cut in. “I’m a bit paranoid after so many mishaps. My apologies.”
The mayor made a blustery amalgam of understanding and wheedling attempt to change her mind. Calya ignored him, her attention returning to the mages. “Who is Matthias?”
“A Magister Two doing work toward his Magister Three level,” the woman replied. “I’m Treen and that’s Aylton. We’re all working on experiments for the university, but our reporting has been consistent, as we told the Sentinel.”
“University work?” Anadae said. “I thought this was a Graelynd job. Unaffiliated.”
“I misspoke. It’s technically outside work, but we’ve received approval to use some of the data here for our Mag Threes once the work here is done.”
Aylton sniffed. “Easier to simplify for explaining to non-Sylveren University folks.”
“Which we aren’t,” Ezzyn said. Hard to say which was more brittle, his tone or his smile.
Regardless, it put the other mages’ hackles up, which didn’t serve Calya’s purpose. “Makes it easier for me,” she said. “What was Matthias working on?”
Treen shrugged. “Growing some type of plant for textile use in South District. I’m not an earth mage, so I don’t know the particulars.”
“Why did he leave after receiving his shipment? Isn’t that odd?”
“Not necessarily,” Aylton said. “He might’ve gotten tired of the grind and left for a different project. All the earth funding has been going toward eco resto work in Rhell. Understandably,” he added with a nod toward Ezzyn.
“He never mentioned this to you?” Calya struggled to keep her skepticism in check. “He simply vanished one day.”
“We weren’t close,” Treen said. “We aren’t always in here every day, or at the same time.”
“What are the rest of you working on?”
Treen gave Calya a polite, regretful smile. “I’m sorry, Miss Helm, but your company isn’t part of our contract, and the work is classified.”
Before Calya could argue, Brint came through the door.
“Avenor!” the mayor cried. “I was wondering when you’d stop by.”
Calya watched the men greet each other heartily. “You two are acquainted?”
An understatement, obviously, but she enjoyed how uncomfortable the mayor looked. She knew Brint had had some kind of private project here, though whether it was truly a thing of the past or not was growing more suspect by the moment. Still, it stood to reason the mayor would’ve gone out of his way to make himself known to a member of as influential a family as the Avenors. But there was business friendliness, and then there was the smarmy level on display.
“We, uh…” Krowe glanced at Brint.
“I’ve made a few trips on AG’s behalf,” Brint said, shoulders lifting in a careless shrug. “Would you excuse us? I have business I need to discuss.” Though his tone had an affable charm, his lip curled with the sneer she knew was truer to his nature.
“One last question,” Anadae said. “Is this your primary office?”
Calya glanced around the room. Tables and papers and filing cabinets. There was a workstation toward the back with some sort of crystal model-projection system, and she glimpsed storage racks on the rear wall, but her sister had a point; it wasn’t nearly the level of equipment they’d expected to find. Song’s Scrap had more testing paraphernalia than this supposed research office.
“Yes, I was given the impression there was a larger team present,” Calya said. “Doing… I’m not sure of the proper phrasing, but more active research?”
“Much of our research is theoretical,” Aylton said. “Funding issues, as I’ve mentioned.”
“You’re welcome to look over Matthias’s desk.” Treen gestured toward a table toward the back of the room. “We haven’t had a chance to pack up what’s left.”
Calya kept a bland smile on her face as she murmured her thanks before going with Anadae and Ezzyn to investigate the desk. It didn’t escape her notice that the mayor was able to stay for the classified meeting, but then, Krowe and Brint seemed cozy.
Matthias’s desk didn’t have much, whether because he’d truly taken most of his things during his departure or because his colleagues had already picked it over. All that remained were irrelevant forms and what appeared to be some old task lists that hadn’t been thrown out.
Calya was about to slam one of the desk drawers in frustration over the dead end, but she checked her childish impulse at the last moment. She could punch a pillow when she got back to the inn.
Her abrupt motion caused something to rustle at the back of the drawer. A slight scrape of paper on wood. Reaching to the back, she found the crumpled remains of an unfinished letter. More of a list, really, for aside from the salutation of Lady S, there were a few lines that resembled code more than sentences. It was signed with a simple M.
