"Did you hear what happened this morning?" he asked.
So, he'd been right, and the guy liked gossiping.
Mattie took the bait. "What?"
"There was a big accident at the mansion," he said, looking smug that he was the first one to deliver the news. "Part of the building collapsed. Two people died, and some were badly injured. The rest suffered minor injuries."
Dimitri gave the guy his full attention. "We didn't hear anything, so I assume no gas tanks exploded this time?"
"I don't think so. Something in the basement collapsed. A wall or a floor or something fell in, and two guys from the construction crew got crushed. I saw them being carried out on stretchers." He glanced at the cameras, hesitated, but then decided to go ahead anyway. "The main staircase of the mansion is gone too. I saw them bring in a tall ladder so Lord Losham and the others on the upper floor could get down."
"Do you know in which part of the basement that happened?" Dimitri asked, even though he was quite sure it was where they were looking for the chests of the five immortals in stasis that the clan wanted.
The delivery guy shrugged. "How should I know? Nobody's saying much. Security shut everything down and told everyone to stay away. But it's got to be where they've been cleaning up the debris from the gas explosion, right? That's the only part of the basement anyone's been working in."
"That makes sense." Dimitri walked over to where the guy left the trays. "Thank you for bringing our lunch, but you should probably head back. They will wonder where you are. Besides, I'm sure others on your delivery list will appreciate hearing the news."
"Right." The guy pushed away from the table. "I need to go." He turned to Mattie and gave her a warm smile. "See you at dinner?"
"I'll be here." She smiled back and waved with her good hand.
After the guy left, Dimitri carried the trays to where they usually ate their meals. Petrov was almost done clearing the table, and Dimitri waited with the trays until he wiped the surface clean.
"I wonder what they are feeding us today." Petrov removed the wrapping from his tray. "Oh, good. Finally, some meat. I'm so tired of fish."
"No comment on the news?" Dimitri asked as he pulled out a stool for Mattie.
"What would you like me to say?" Petrov unwrapped his utensils. "Not our business."
Mattie sat and somehow managed to remove the shrink wrap by holding the tray down with her elbow and pulling the film with her left hand. "Obviously, the collapse must be where the enclosure with the chests used to be."
After checking through the window that no one was near, Dimitri pulled down his mask and took a bite.
As he'd expected, his other canine had fallen out during the night, and now he had two gaping holes in his mouth. Not a very attractive look, but Mattie claimed that he looked cute, so he didn't care that Petrov's big belly started heaving, which betrayed that he was barely stifling a laugh.
"Don't laugh at him," Mattie admonished. "He looks adorable."
"He looks like he had his teeth knocked out."
Dimitri shrugged and kept eating and thinking about what the delivery guy had said.
The food today was some kind of stew, with more vegetables than meat, but it wasn't bad. "The previous explosion must have compromised the structural integrity of that section. The engineers probably underestimated the damage, or the excavation work destabilized something they didn't account for."
"Or someone helped it along," Petrov said.
Dimitri had been thinking the same thing. The Brotherhood's internal politics were a nest of vipers, and Losham's brothers had been circling since Navuh's disappearance. A structural failure would further undermine Losham, painting him in an unfavorable light in the event that their father returned. If he appeared incompetent, the others' reputations would rise in comparison. It was much easier to undermine the one in the lead than try to outdo him.
He cast Petrov a smile. "I thought it wasn't our business."
"It's not." Petrov fished out another chunk of meat from the stew. "But I like to solve murder mysteries and other puzzles."
"I hate them." Mattie affected a shiver. "Why would anyone want to read about murder?"
"It's exciting," Petrov said. "And since I know it's fiction, I don't have to feel bad about it."
"I always think of parallels in the real world." Mattie put her fork down and reached for the bottle of water Dimitri put in front of her. "I can't help it. Then I get sad, and that's not why I read. I want to be uplifted, motivated, and encouraged. If I want to be depressed, I can read the news."
"Not here," Petrov countered. "We don't get the news, and we don't get murder mysteries either. The fact that there is no library here says all you need to know about this place. They are all barbarians."
