The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter (Riyria Chronicles #4)(61)

“Any idea who he was?” Hadrian asked.

“A mir,” Royce replied. “Said we should leave or we were going to be added to a list.”

“There’s a list?”

“That’s what I said.”

“And why both of us? I didn’t chase him.”

Royce smiled. “Maybe he didn’t want you to feel left out.”

“Oh, well, at least someone thinks about me.”

“What happened to the dwarf and the Calian?”

“They bolted in different directions.”

“You followed the Calian, right?”

Hadrian nodded. “Chased him clear across town, almost to the docks.”

“And?”

“He went around a corner. I lost him for a bit; then I tripped over his body.”

“He was dead? Did you see who killed him?”

“Nope.”

“Was his throat slit?”

“No, worse.”

“How so?”

“His face was gone. Looked like it had been eaten.”

Royce had excellent hearing. At that moment, he could tell a mongrel dog was padding its way along the alley one block up, but he still wasn’t certain he’d heard Hadrian correctly. “Did you say eaten?”

Hadrian adjusted his scarf, tucking the ends inside the leather of his tunic. “Chewed up pretty bad.”

Royce leaned in. “Is that new?” He gestured at the knitted garment.

Hadrian grinned and hooked his thumb, showing the blue-dyed wool in the hazy lamplight. “Like it? I was down in the Calian section of town. That place never goes to sleep. All sorts of merchants still selling everything imaginable. Honestly, you should go there. I’ll help you shop. We could get you a nice new cloak, didn’t see any polka dots but there was a sweet lemon-yellow one. You’d look good. What do you think?”

“You stopped to buy a scarf in the middle of the night?”

Hadrian shrugged. “An impulse buy. I just happened to spot it at the fourth cart I went to. Actually, I was hoping for a whole cloak, but this was all I could find. You should get yourself one.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s blue, and because I think having a face is a good thing.”

Royce rolled his eyes. “Let’s try to keep focused, shall we? What about the box? Let me guess; it was taken and you didn’t get a chance to look inside?”

“Why would you assume that?”

“It’s just the way these things always seem to go,” Royce grumbled. “You either have a day when everything works out or one when nothing does. Following the dwarf turned up only that he has a family and likes to carve wood; the guy you went after led nowhere, and the phantom who tried to flatten us with a slab of stone killed himself, denying me the opportunity to check his body. With such a grand set of circumstances, I must assume the box also vanished, thereby putting the perfect finish to a miserable day.”

“We know where the dwarf lives. We can—”

“He’ll be gone, along with his whole family. You saw that place. They’re as tight-knit as a sweater knotted out of human hair.”

Hadrian looked at him with that appalled expression he so often wore when Royce talked about drowning loud dogs or eliminating witnesses. “A sweater made out of—”

“I’m just saying, it’s going to take a lot of torture to get anyone in that neighborhood to talk.”

“We aren’t torturing anyone.”

Royce rolled his eyes. “Well, I certainly wouldn’t be taking you along if I was. But it doesn’t matter, they would only lie. To get the truth I’d have to launch a complex operation where I could—”

“No torture, Royce.”

Royce frowned. “So, to reiterate . . . the perfect finish to a miserable day.”

“So pessimistic.” Hadrian shook his head slowly, frowning. “I was thinking just the opposite. About how good the day turned out to be.” He raised his hand, spreading his fingers. “Count with me.” He held back a finger. “First, we managed to discover where the dwarf lived.” He held back another. “Second, we found two more suspects he was colluding with, and where they were meeting.” Another finger. “Third, we didn’t get crushed by a block of granite.” He bent another back. “Fourth, the fellow you were chasing fell to his death—not you. Nor did you kill him, so we are also not wanted for murder this morning. I consider that a plus even if you might not.” He held back his thumb. “Best of all, I still have a handsome face.” Hadrian shook his five fingers at Royce like a child waving an enthusiastic hello. “So you see, we had a very good day, and to prove it let me put forth the evidence of the box. It wasn’t taken, Mister Grim. I found it on the ground beside the Calian. Apparently, all his assailant was after was the man’s face.”

“And inside?”

Hadrian’s expression lost its buoyant sarcasm. “Rocks.”

“Rocks?”

Hadrian rolled his shoulders. “Just a box of gravel. That’s all that was inside. I dug through it, which I should get credit for. Especially given that I was in a dark, foggy alley next to a faceless corpse, but yeah, it was just gravel.”

“So, the box wasn’t taken, but it turned out to be empty for all practical purposes, and you claim that as evidence that we had a good day?”