Midnight Jewel (The Glittering Court #2)(80)

Silas shook his head. “No. But I’ll ask some contacts in the morning.”

“Well, I think I already know. He’s a new pirate. And he keeps his goods at a boardinghouse on Water Street. One that’s allegedly ugly and old. That’s probably where those supplies will be moved from in the morning.”

Both bushy eyebrows rose. “And how in the world do you know that?”

“I have a source. A very reliable one,” I added, seeing his eyes narrow in skepticism. “I guarantee this is accurate. Can you get to the boardinghouse in time?”

“Maybe. There are a few boardinghouses over there.” Silas sat down at a desk and sifted through stacks of paper until he found what looked like a map of the city. After a quick scan, he rolled it up and tossed it aside. “Not what I need. There’s paper and ink over there to write your letter.”

I retrieved it and, with no other clear writing surface, sat on the floor. Silas continued rummaging around.

As intimidating as I found him, I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “What about the North Joyce man? Could he have been one of the couriers on the list we stole from Abraham Miller?”

“We?” Silas paused in his search. “You were there?”

I squirmed under his gaze. “I thought Grant told you.”

“There’s a lot he’s not telling me, apparently. Ah, this is it.” He spread out another map.

I wrote a few lines of the letter, using an old Sirminican code of my father’s. Silas made a grunt of what sounded like satisfaction. I looked up. “Did you find the boardinghouse?”

“Likely. There are three on that street. One’s new. I’ve got a hunch on which of the others is ‘ugly.’ Grant was just over there—he’ll know. I expect him any minute.”

A sort of excited nervousness fluttered within me at that. His job finished, Silas sat back in his chair with the map, occasionally glancing down at me. Shifting so that I had a better look, I worked up the courage to speak again. “Mister Garrett, may I ask you something?”

“Sure.” He stood up and walked over to me. “But I might not answer.”

I hadn’t expected him to loom over me while I spoke. “Why isn’t there any law enforcement in Cape Triumph?”

He did answer, so that was promising. “Well. There’s us. And the militia. And the army.”

“The militia and the army are two separate groups with two separate ways of operating,” I pointed out. “And neither actually works consistently in the city. It’s not their main job, and a lot of the militiamen take bribes. As for you—the McGraws—you don’t enforce citywide laws. I know you have some authority from the king, but you only use it to serve your cases. There’s nothing unified here like there is in Evaria. No central city patrol or watch.”

“Forming something like that would be the governor’s decision,” he said slowly. “Remember that Cape Triumph started off as a few shacks in the woods. Organized city watches weren’t really part of any master plan, and the army was enough muscle. Then the militia came along. And even though it’s sloppy, it’s what has held up here.”

“Not from what I’ve seen. Pirates are enforcing justice.”

He snorted. “Then go submit a proposal to Governor Doyle. You’re plucky. Maybe you could convince him to organize something.”

“I’m Sirminican. And a woman. It’s hard to get any credibility at all—let alone permission to form a city watch.” I half expected Silas to agree. Instead, he just kept studying me, like this was the first time we’d met. He had a gruff, no-nonsense air and obviously didn’t suffer fools. I honestly wondered how Grant—who had his own share of headstrongness—managed to work for an authority figure like this. Or any authority figure, really. Pushing my luck, I asked, “Can I ask something else? About Grant?”

“The less you know, the easier your life will be.”

“Please, Mister Garrett. I just want to understand him.”

Again, a delay. I kept wondering if Silas was trying to unsettle me or just needed that much time to think over his responses. “You really are ambitious. What’s your question?”

“Grant said when he came to Cape Triumph as a child—when he was sent away from the Balanquans—that a couple took him in. Was that you?”

“He told you that too?” That seemed to astonish Silas more than learning I’d helped steal the list. “Yes. It was me. And my wife. She passed a year after he left.” He paused again, letting that memory linger. “I tried to talk Grant out of going with him—his father—but Grant didn’t want anything to do with me at that point. He went off on his own and had to learn alone.”

“But he came back to you. You must have had a bigger impact than you thought.”

Silas shrugged. “He didn’t come to me right away. He went to the Balanquans first. I don’t know what happened there, but he didn’t stick around long. Would he have come here after that if he hadn’t met Aiana? Hard to say.”

That friendship had always been a mystery to me. “Did they meet when he was back there?”

“No. He found her in the northern colonies, on the run from her . . . wife.” Silas didn’t sound like he disapproved, so much as he was still getting used to a concept that wasn’t openly accepted in Osfrid and Evaria. “The Balanquans were hunting her. She had no idea what to do or where to go. Grant’s father might have been a ruthless bastard, but he did teach Grant how to take care of himself. And he took care of Aiana. He needed a fixed place for her to hide, and Cape Triumph was the only one he knew.”