The Autumn Republic

Chapter 37

“Three days,” Adamat said as he was led into Ricard’s office in the Kinnen Hotel. “It took me three days to get an appointment to see not you but your undersecretary! What the pit is going on here, Ricard? I thought you wanted me working quickly.”

Adamat came up short. Ricard sat slumped behind his desk, hair frayed, jacket discarded in one corner, a pair of reading glasses perched on his nose and a newspaper in one hand.

“Pit,” Adamat said. “It looks like you haven’t slept in three days.”

Ricard stifled a yawn. “Five, I think. Well. I’ve caught some naps. Here and there. Fell,” he shouted.

“Right here, sir.” Adamat exchanged a glance with Fell, who was standing right beside him.

Ricard squinted over his glasses. “So you are. Fell, tell the boys out front to let Adamat in to see me immediately no matter what.”

Fell cleared her throat. “No matter what, sir?”

“Unless I’m indisposed. Kresimir’s balls, that’s obvious. Look, Adamat, I’m sorry. I’ve quadrupled the security since the bombing, and you know how it is with logistics like this. Orders get crossed, people can’t see me. It’s a nightmare. You should have just come by my home.”

“I did. Several times. You weren’t there.”

“Sir,” Fell said. “You haven’t left this office for two days. You haven’t been home since before the bombing.”

Ricard scratched his head. “That’s right. Oh well. Wine?”

“It’s nine o’clock in the morning.” Adamat took a seat opposite Ricard.

“Coffee?”

“Yes, please.”

“Fell, have someone get us coffee. And put a little whiskey in mine.”

“That’s awful, Ricard,” Adamat said.

“I’ve had worse.” Ricard hiccupped and pounded twice on his chest with one fist. “Now then, what can you tell me about the bombing?”

“The bombing was done with something called ‘blasting oil,’ ” Adamat said. “It took some time, but I was able to track down the manufacturer.”

“Who was it?”

“The Flerring Powder Company.”

“Never heard of them,” Ricard growled. “And when I’m done with them, no one ever will. I’ll see them out of business! I’ll destroy everything they–”

Adamat cut him off. “That’s quite unnecessary.”

“What do you mean?”

“I interviewed the owner and his daughter. The blasting oil wasn’t ready for sale. It’s too unstable. One of their chemists sold a sample of it behind their backs and they canned him for it.”

“I see. This chemist?”

“Blew himself up the day after they fired him.”

“Convenient.”

“Perhaps. Whether it was an accident or not, Flerring insisted that he wouldn’t have sold the stuff himself, and I believe him.”

“Where does that leave us? The owner claiming innocence and the chemist dead? I don’t like it.”

“They told me who their chemist sold the sample to.”

A young man entered the room carrying a silver platter with two cups and a pot of coffee. When the drinks were served and the man had left, Ricard leaned forward. “Who bought it?”

“The Underhill Mining Coalition.”

Ricard made a strangled noise and spit some of his coffee out down the front of his shirt. “Pardon?”

“The Underhill Mining Coalition,” Adamat repeated. “Which, if my memory serves, is a front for the Underhill Society. The name they use when one of the members wants to buy something with funds that can’t be easily traced.”

“If memory serves.” Ricard scrunched up his face and mimicked Adamat in a high voice. “Bloody Knacked and your bloody memory. You can’t be certain.”

“It’s the only lead I have.”

“Perhaps you got the explosive wrong. Maybe it was something else.”

“I put the time to good use while I was waiting for my appointment with Fell,” Adamat said, removing a paper from his pocket. “I employed Flerring the Younger, the heir to the Flerring Powder Company, as an expert in my investigation. She examined the union headquarters and has given me written evidence that the explosion was indeed caused by blasting oil, and that the oil was purchased by the Underhill Mining Coalition.”

“How the pit did you get her to sign that?”

Adamat coughed into his hand. “I swore that we wouldn’t prosecute her or her company.”

“You’re a bastard.”

“If we need a scapegoat, the dead chemist is as good as any. But we don’t need a scapegoat. We just need the location of the Underhill Society.”

Ricard sprang to his feet. “Absolutely not.”

“Why is that?”

“What’s the point of a secret society if it’s not secret anymore?”

“They tried to kill you.”

“They? More likely just one or two of the members.” Ricard cursed under his breath. “I rose up through their ranks. I’ve been friends with those men and women for the last twenty years. I’ve given every one of them good jobs, business opportunities. Pit, I’ve kept three of them out of jail.”

“How many members are there?”

“There are–” Ricard’s mouth snapped shut. “I’m not supposed to talk about it at all. Secret society, remember?”

“I think they waived their right to secrecy when they decided to use the society as their front while trying to kill you. Are any of them particularly stupid?”

“It’s not as stupid as you think. Less than fifty people in Adopest even know that the Underhill Society exists. Giving the name to some small powder company means absolutely nothing, and let’s be honest – we only know it was this blasting oil because of you. The police didn’t notice anything different about the explosion.” Ricard slumped back in his chair and drained his cup of coffee. He bent over suddenly, his face twisted in a grimace.

“Are you all right?”

“That coffee was really hot.” Ricard recovered and went on. “I can’t do it. I can’t betray them like this.”

“They betrayed you.”

“One or two of them. Maybe! Pit.”

“I understand this is hard for you, Ricard.” Adamat leaned across the desk. “They’ll try again, though.”

“How can you be certain? You said they only had a sample.”

“After examining the union headquarters, Flerring the Younger said she thought two explosions weren’t big enough for them to have used all the blasting oil. They may still have enough blasting oil to make several more bombs.”

“Well, pit.”

“If you can give me the names of one or two of the society members you suspect, I can trail them. I would need some men to help me, but we might be able to find out where they keep the blasting oil or their next target.”

“I know where they’re keeping it,” Ricard said miserably.

“Where?”

“At the Society building.”

“They’re keeping an unstable explosive at the Underhill Society? How stupid are they?”

“Not as stupid as you think.”

“You have to tell me where it is.”

Instead, Ricard turned and shouted for Fell. When she appeared at the door, he said, “Get together five of my most discreet men.”

“When?”

“As quickly as possible. Within the hour.”

“Yes sir. What is it for, sir?”

“We have to search the basement of this building for a powerful explosive.”

Adamat was astonished at how quickly Fell prepared the operation.

At Fell’s insistence, Ricard left the building – ostensibly to meet Cheris for an early lunch – and several of his most valuable lieutenants were suddenly called away. Within thirty minutes, two men and three women had gathered in an empty hotel room. Adamat could only assume they were union members who had earned Ricard’s trust but not yet been given any duties of importance.

Adamat stood near the window of the hotel room. Two of the women sat on the bed, and a third near the door, while both men had their backs to the wall. Everyone watched intently as Fell entered the room and closed the door behind her.

She began quietly, “What we say at this meeting does not leave this room, understand?”

The gathered group exchanged looks before giving their unanimous consent. Some of them glanced at Adamat and he wondered if any of them knew who he was. He recognized three of the faces by happenstance, but didn’t know any of their names.

“There is a strong chance that someone has placed a bomb beneath this building,” Fell said. To their credit, none of them headed for the door. “The perpetrator does not know that we know, and we are going to search the premises quickly and quietly until we find it. We will start with the basement and work our way up. Before any of you ask, this is not a volunteer assignment. If one of you leaves the building before I say so, you will never find work in this country again.”

Adamat noted that one of the men had started to sweat violently. Fear? Or guilt? The woman by the door swallowed hard.

“That being said,” Fell went on, letting a smile touch her lips, “once we find and dispose of the bomb, each of you will find yourself well rewarded. You’ll receive promotions within the union and a not-insignificant amount of money. Inspector Adamat and I will lead the search. Questions? Yes, Draily?”

The woman by the door lowered her hand. “I don’t know a damn thing about bombs. How am I going to help with all this?”

Adamat cut in before Fell could respond. “No one knows anything about this kind of bomb,” he said. “It’s not gunpowder, but something called blasting oil. It does not respond to flame but rather to concussion, which means that our search needs to be very, very careful. Handle everything gently and, for Adom’s sake, do not drop anything!”

“Then what the pit are we looking for?” the sweating man asked, his voice strained.

“I don’t know,” Adamat admitted. “A container of some sort. The blasting oil was sold in ten clear glass vials, stoppered at the top with corks. Our suspect may have transferred the oil to a new container, or it may still be in those same vials. We’ll make a thorough examination of any liquid on the premises.”

“Does this have anything to do with the bombing at the union headquarters?” one of the women on the bed asked.

“Possibly,” Adamat said. They didn’t need to know anything more than that. “Any other questions?”

A round of headshaking.

“Good,” Fell said. “And again, be damned careful! If you find anything suspicious, let Inspector Adamat know immediately. Don’t make a scene. We want to do this as quietly as possible. Now, everyone to the basement.”

Adamat stepped over to Fell as they all filed out of the room. “The brunette,” Adamat said.

“Little Will?”

“Yes. Something about all this was making him nervous as pit. Grab him and put him under guard.”

Fell gave a quick affirmative and left the room quickly after Will. Adamat passed them in the hall, Fell with her hand on Will’s shoulder and Will’s collar soaked with sweat. Adamat followed the rest of the group down to the cellar. Lanterns were handed out quickly, and voices talked in hushed tones. Adamat held his lantern high and gripped his cane tightly. A tingle went down his spine as he descended into the damp stone basement.

The four union workers looked to him when they reached the bottom, and he realized that Fell had not yet come down. He was seized by sudden suspicion. If even one of them was in on this bomb plot, they might make a go at him. He found himself sizing each of them up, planning the best way to defend himself.

A few moments passed before he realized they were still watching him.

“Well, get to it.”

“Uh, sir,” Draily said. “Look.”

Adamat shook the fear from his head and stepped forward. They stood in a long, arched hallway with walls of stone, and off the hallway to the right were a dozen niches that extended out beneath the hotel. At the far end of the hall was a low, heavy door.

Draily was pointing into the first niche. Adamat held his lantern inside and squinted. “Nothing but wine,” he said.

She rolled her eyes. “Is it?”

“Oh.” Realization set in. Of course. Any of these wine bottles could be the bomb or bombs he was looking for. It would be the best place to hide something like that – in plain sight. Adamat tapped his fingers on his stomach, then said, “Search everything else. I’ll check the wine.”

The rest of the group moved on to the other niches, and Adamat began to inspect the wine. At first glance he estimated upward of two thousand bottles here, and Adamat wondered if this was the other part of Ricard’s wine collection or whether the hotel was just this well stocked.

Adamat removed his jacket and hung it from a peg on the wall, rolling his sleeves up. He began examining each wine bottle, starting at the top row. They came in every variety; some were slender, dark-brown bottles, while others were fat green bottles with long necks.

He looked for consistency; the thickness of the dust, how the labels were positioned, as well as the size and shape of the bottle itself. He felt a growing despair as he went – if the blasting oil had been hidden inside a wine bottle, it might be impossible to find. A hotel such as this went through wine at an alarming rate. Some of the bottles had been here for months or years, and those were easy to tell from the layer of dust, but there were still at least eighty bottles that had been handled recently.

“You think our bomber is that devious?” Fell’s voice said from the hallway.

Adamat didn’t look up from his examination. “They’d have to be an idiot not to see the opportunity,” Adamat said. “I don’t know how to go about this without opening four dozen bottles to check their contents.”

“A last resort, I think,” Fell said. “You know how Ricard is about his wine.”

“Would he rather drink a glass of blasting oil?”

“I’ll have to point that out to him.” She paused, then, “You’re certain it’s here?”

“Ricard was certain,” Adamat said. “That’s all I have to go on.”

“He may be wrong.”

“A possibility, sure,” Adamat said. “But if he’s right…”

“Not worth the risk. That man you pointed out, Will?”

“Anything?” Adamat stopped his search long enough to look hopefully toward Fell. If they’d just happened upon a conspirator, they might get a lucky break. Investigative science practically depended on lucky breaks.

“Just nervous,” Fell said. “His father worked for a powder company and was killed in a blast two years ago. Will’s terrified of explosions. I should have remembered it earlier. Poor man pissed himself when I wouldn’t let him leave the building.”

Adamat returned his attention to the wine bottles. “A pity.”

He heard a jingle of keys, and Fell said, “Mark where you are and come with me. I’ll set a man to make sure the wine isn’t disturbed. We need to search the Underhill Room.”

“Oh?” Adamat made a mental note of the wine cellar and followed Fell down the hallway to the thick door at the end of the basement. She unlocked it and pulled it open, the strain of her shoulders testifying to the weight.

Inside, Adamat was surprised to find another long corridor. He held his lantern high and glanced back at Fell.

“Go on.”

He crept down the hall slowly, still clutching his cane, and he wondered briefly how much he trusted Fell. Her loyalty was supposed to be to Ricard for the duration of her contract. But what if that was all a lie? Could she have planned the bombing? She could kill him down here without a problem, then hide the body and tell Ricard he had left. Adamat’s mind whirred through a dozen possible motives and all the reasons why he was wrong. By the time he reached the end of the hall, he was no less wary, and all the more certain that he wouldn’t stand even the faintest chance against Fell in a fight.

His lantern created eerie shadows in the large, square room at the end of the hall. Fell squeezed past him to light candelabras along all four walls until the entire room had been illuminated. It looked like any of the hundreds of gentleman’s clubs in Adopest – the walls were covered in velvet and the candelabras were polished brass. There was seating for at least a dozen people in the form of divans and couches, and the center of the room held a velvet-lined card table with room for six.

There was a dumbwaiter in one corner, likely leading up to the kitchen, and a smaller, private stock of wine as well as an untapped keg. A fireplace sat at either end of the room, though upon closer examination they appeared to be wood-burning stoves with stone façades.

“So this is the Underhill Society?”

Fell finished lighting the candelabras and blew out her lantern. “Yes.”

“Has it been here the whole time?” Adamat remembered hearing about the Underhill Society for the first time over thirteen years ago and knew it was much older than that. Ricard had owned the hotel for only six.

“Only since Ricard bought the hotel. He hasn’t told me where they met before that.”

Adamat pointed back down the hallway. “Are they…”

“They can come search the room. It shouldn’t take long. Just don’t mention the… well, you know.”

Fell’s searchers finished their assigned niches and then moved into the larger room, checked every nook and cranny thoroughly and without comment as to the room’s purpose. Adamat returned to the wine cellar, resuming his examination of the bottles.

Frustration continued to mount. Every bit of instinct told him that the blasting oil should be hidden among the wine. It was too good a spot for any henchman with half a wit, and if the perpetrator had a whole wit, the oil would have been bottled carefully and put in among the less-used wines. Adamat cursed under his breath and tried to recall the latest fashionable wines among Ricard’s friends and associates – those would be the easiest to rule out.

The searchers moved up to the next floor, and Adamat only barely noted their passing.

It must have been almost an hour later when he heard someone on the basement stairs. He noted Fell’s soft footfalls.

“Any progress upstairs?” he asked.

Fell set her lantern on a wine barrel in one corner. “None. It’s a large hotel and with only four men it’s a slow business. Progress here?”

“I’ve narrowed it down to a possibility of three dozen bottles,” Adamat said.

“Are you sure you’re putting your energy in the right place? After all, I’d think it would be obvious if any of the wine here had been uncorked.”

“Certainly. But they could have done it off-site and brought the wine here.” Adamat sighed and returned a bottle to its place. “I should have asked Ricard if any of his guests have brought him new wine recently.”

“Everyone does,” Fell said.

Adamat eyed the shelves where he’d sorted the most probable bottles. “Have him make a list for me. The only way to know for certain is to open every bottle. Or, more safely, to take the whole lot out of the city and throw it off a high cliff.”

“Ricard would be… cross. He already lost his collection beneath the old headquarters. You know how he feels about his wine.”

“The captain of the hotel will already gut me for destroying whatever system he had in place down here. Might as well infuriate Ricard as well. Get someone to help me carry these upstairs.” He rubbed at his temples. “Pit, how am I going to get this out of the city? From everything Flerring told me, it’s a terrible idea to transport the stuff by carriage. Too bumpy.”

“Ma’am?” a voice called down the basement stairs.

Fell stepped into the basement hall and called back. “Yes?”

“I think we’ve found something.”

Adamat was on his feet in moments. He followed Fell up the stairs, where Draily waited. The woman led them both into the kitchen and stopped beside the silver cabinet. “Had to get the captain to open it up for me.” She opened one of the doors and knelt in front of it. “You’ll want to look yourselves. I don’t really want to reach in there.”

Adamat lay on the wood floor beside the silver cabinet and took Fell’s lantern.

On the bottom shelf, behind the silver serving platters, was a wooden crate. It held glass vials with corks in the top and each one was filled with a clear liquid. Adamat suddenly felt his heart hammering in his ears.

“Bloody pit,” he said.

“It’s there?”

“Yes.”

Fell gave an audible sigh of relief.

“Fetch Flerring the Younger,” Adamat said. “Probably best to have one of her professionals deal with the stuff. Post a heavy guard on this room, but try to do it quietly. And get me the kitchen staff. I want every single one of them here for questioning by this evening.”

Fell barked orders to her people. Adamat felt her hand on his arm. “Excellent work, Inspector.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Adamat said, still lying on the floor, unable to take his eyes off the innocuous-looking bottles of blasting oil.

“Why?”

“There are two bottles missing.”