“While I’m on Kostroma,” Leary continued in a tone as emotionless as that of an accountant making a report of expenditures, “I intend to avail myself of the privilege of using the Electoral Library, granted all members of the delegation by his Excellency Walter III. I understand that might be a problem for you, Ms. Mundy. I therefore—”
He took a small case from his purse and opened it. His fingers moved with assurance though he continued to meet Adele’s eyes.
“—offer you my card with the address of my present lodgings written on the back. If you choose to have a friend call on me, my landlord will take the message even if I’m absent and we can proceed with arrangements.”
Shouted confusion rattled windows in the north wing. The noise might well be coming from the library, but for the moment that wasn’t the most important situation Adele Mundy had to deal with.
She looked at the card of bi-surfaced plastic. The front read:
DANIEL OLIVER LEARY
LIEUTENANT, RCN
The finish was slick and hard enough to turn a knifepoint. She flipped the card over to read the address written on the porous back in a neat hand. The street was somewhere down by the harbor, she thought, but she hadn’t made an effort to learn the geography of Kostroma City.
As she weighed her response, knuckles tapped and the glass doors opened. She and Leary looked around, Adele in surprise and the lieutenant with obvious irritation.
The woman who’d intruded was big and had close-cropped black hair. She was around thirty and would have had an attractive face if it weren’t for the scar across her lower left cheek, ear-tip to chin.
In the woman’s right hand was a hammer gripped by the head. She slapped the handle into her left palm idly. The hammer looked very similar to the one the journeyman carpenter in the library had carried.
“Yes, Woetjans?” Leary said in a thin tone.
“Sorry to intrude, sir,” the woman replied; she didn’t sound particularly sorry. “There was a bit of difficulty when we asked the wogs where the shelving was supposed to go up. If the officer-in-charge here—”
Woetjans nodded toward Adele.
“—will come set us straight, we’ll get started.”
She smiled with satisfaction. “Doesn’t look like much more than a couple weeks’ work to get shipshape, though that depends on your man Hogg finding the materials like he says he can.”
“What in God’s name is going on?” Adele asked mildly.
Leary cleared his throat. In some embarrassment he said, “It appears to me that since you’re in charge here, Ms. Mundy, the library project is a matter of Cinnabar’s national pride. I’ve therefore taken the liberty of enlisting a detachment of sailors to show the locals how it’s done. Ah . . .”
He looked away, grimaced, and turned to face Adele squarely again. “This business is irrespective of any matters of honor that may take place between two Cinnabar citizens, of course.”
Adele tapped the card on her opposite thumbnail. “I see,” she said. “An admirably succinct explanation.”
She tucked the card into her purse and looked at the lieutenant again. He stood in a loose brace, waiting for her decision. He wasn’t nearly as young as she’d first judged him.
“I won’t have a friend call on you, Lieutenant Leary,” Adele said, “because I don’t have a friend on this planet. Few enough anywhere else, though Mistress Boileau no doubt qualifies.”
Leary smiled. For an instant he was a boy again, or a friendly puppy.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d come with me now,” Adele continued, “to give me your viewpoint on how the library should be organized. I’m always willing to learn from those whose knowledge and ability I respect. And I’m afraid that if the rest of the navy is like you—”
She gave Woetjans a glance of appraisal only slightly softened by a smile.
“—we’ll probably find the room completely finished if we delay more than a few minutes.”
Leary bowed her toward the doorway. They walked down the corridor side by side. Woetjans strode ahead of them bellowing, “Clear way, you lot!” and gesturing with the hammer to emphasize her point.