The Rambling Spy

by Mackenzie Morgan

  Tobias scanned through them. Then he shook his head. “Can’t say he does, but you know I’m no good with faces. I’m better with voices.”

  Aster nodded. “I know. Just thought I’d see if maybe you knew him.”

  Tobias shook his head again. “Sorry.”

  Laryn set the sketches on the counter. “I want Shana to see them. She’s seen him several times over the past couple of days. She might have noticed something the rest of us missed, a dimple, a scar, something like that. What time does she get home?”

  “Not until around ten,” Aster said.

  “What time is it now?” Laryn asked Allisandra.

  “A little after seven. Are you thinking about waiting?”

  “I was, but I need to put Donovan down before long.”

  “You can put him down in Lysette’s room,” Allisandra offered.

  When Laryn went to the front room to get Donovan, Steve said, “Craven’s going to check on the horses. Thought I’d go with him and get a good look at this man’s horse and sketch her, too. If he’s making the rounds, the horse might be another way to identify him, especially for Shadron.”

  Laryn nodded. “And Kyle. They’re both more likely to recognize the horse than the rider.”

  While Craven and Steve were gone, Laryn fed Donovan and put him down for a nap. Once he was settled, Allisandra put Lysette to bed. After both children were sleeping, Allisandra and Laryn joined the others in the kitchen where Steve was making several sketches of the horse.

  When Laryn asked him why so many, he shrugged. “I figured we’d need to give each of them a sketch.”

  Laryn nodded. Then she glanced around at everyone. “I could use a cup of tea. Anyone else want one?”

  They were still sitting around the table quietly talking and drinking tea when Shana walked in.

  “You’re early,” Allisandra said as she got up to get another cup.

  “None for me, thanks,” Shana said. “The tavern cleared out early tonight. I’ve been standing around for the last half hour. I drank a couple of cups while I was waiting for Tyner to decide to lock up.”

  Then she walked over to Laryn, leaned down, and hugged her. “It’s so good to see you.” After she stood back up, she grinned, “I’ve wanted to do that ever since you walked into the tavern.” Then she put a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “You two have no idea how much I’ve missed you. I don’t know what I would have done last spring if it hadn’t been for you.”

  “I’m glad everything worked out,” Laryn said as she squeezed Shana’s hand. “Are you happy in Ardmore?”

  “Very much. The people here are great, and the only memories here are good ones. As much as I love Milhaven and the castle, I don’t think I could stand to be there. Too many horrible memories mixed in with the good ones, but I do hate I missed seeing you pregnant!”

  Steve laughed. “If she’d had her way, everyone would have missed it.”

  Laryn nodded. “People tried to make too much of a fuss. Can’t say I miss it.”

  “And where is he?” Shana said, glancing around the kitchen.

  “He’s asleep in Lysette’s room,” Allisandra said. “Or at least we’re hoping he’s still sleeping.”

  “I’m sure he is,” Laryn said. “He’s not shy about letting me know when he wakes up.” Then she got up to get the sketches she’d put on the counter and handed them to Shana. “Take a good look at these and see if there’s anything you’d change, anything you’d add. You’ve been around him more than anyone else.”

  Shana took the time to really study the sketches. “The only thing I’d do is add a tiny scar here.” She pointed to a spot on the hairline right above Gildan’s left ear. “It’s a little pink ridge. I can’t tell how long it’s been there. If it’s old, it’s a scar. If it’s new, it could end up fading out, but for now, it’s there. To be honest, if Mother hadn’t told me what you were going to do, I wouldn’t have noticed it, but since I knew you’d be making a sketch, I gave him a good hard look. That’s the only thing I saw, unless you want to count his fingernails.”

  Laryn frowned. “What about his fingernails?”

  “For a man, they were pretty clean and neat, like he paid as much attention to them as most women do, but that’s not something that could be used to identify him, and it could change, depending on what work he ends up doing.”

  Laryn nodded. “But still interesting. Anything else?”

  “Not that I’ve been able to spot.”

  “Well, keep an eye out. I’ll check back with you in a week or so and see if you’ve noticed anything else.” Then Laryn looked at Steve. “Are you ready to go? We still need to see Myron this evening.”

  Steve nodded, stacked his sketches up, and put them on top of Laryn’s. “I’ll get Donovan.”

  Donovan didn’t wake up when Steve picked him up and he was still asleep when Laryn put her arm around the two of them. Laryn took out the key, whispered goodbye to everyone, and they left for home.

  ~~~~

  Donovan woke up as soon as they got home, so while Steve went in search of Kevin, Laryn got him settled in his crib. By the time Steve and Kevin got back, Laryn was at the kitchen table going through the sketches.

  After Steve and Kevin sat down, Laryn spread the sketches out on the table. Kevin studied them for a few minutes without saying anything, then he pointed to the sketches of the horse. “His?”

  Steve nodded. “He’s boarding her with Craven. I thought it might be a good idea to have a sketch of her, too. A man can change his appearance if he wants to. It’s a little harder to change a horse.”

  “Unless he gets a different one,” Kevin said as he picked up one of the sketches of the horse. “But all we can do is go by what we have now. These are good. I hate to ask, but would you mind making a set for me to keep at the castle?”

  “We’re keeping the originals,” Laryn said, still looking through the sketches. “Allisandra won’t need any, but the rest will. If we make five copies of each sketch, that’ll be enough for all of them and you.”

  Kevin pointed to one of the full-face sketches. “Could you make a copy of this one first, and let me see if the man you saw in Ardmore is the same one who was asking questions here.”

  “Good idea,” Steve said. “Not much point in making copies if it’s not the same guy.”

  Laryn picked up her pencil. “Hold on a few minutes and you can take it with you. Then you can let us know tomorrow if we need to make more.”

  Kevin leaned back in his chair to wait. “I don’t know if I’m hoping it is or hoping it isn’t, but we need to know one way or the other.”

  ~~~~

  Chris took the sketch to Fenway’s Thursday morning to see if Fenway and Ainsley thought the man in the sketch was the same man who’d been in the tavern six weeks earlier. Neither of them could be positive since it had been so long since they’d seen him, but they thought it was.

  Then Kevin took the sketch to Sister Agnes and asked her to show it to Kitra. There they got a positive answer. Kitra felt sure it was the man she’d seen in Fenway’s as well as the man she’d seen in Trendon.

  After Sister Agnes came by his office to return the sketch, Kevin went out to Laryn’s. “It’s the same man.”

  Laryn nodded. “I thought it would be. We’ve already started on the copies. We should have them done by Sunday.”

  “There’s no rush. If he’s in Ardmore, he won’t be anywhere near any of the others before the end of the year. Take your time. We’ll take them around when you’re done.”

  Laryn paused. “You’re right. And if he meant what he told Tyner, he’ll be in Ardmore for a month. I guess there’s really no need to hurry. It just feels like it.”

  “Probably because there’s a chance Rolan’s behind whatever he’s doing.”

  Laryn nodded. “We’ll let you know when they’re done, but I want to go with you when you take them around. And I think it would be best to tell my brothers and sisters and let them decide how
much to tell their families.”

  “Fine with me,” Kevin said as he stood up to go. “See you later.”

  Chapter 34

  The First Weekend of December

  Friday evening after Kevin and Nikki returned from Rhianna’s, Chris asked if there was anything in particular he wanted to bring up at the December council meeting the next morning.

  Kevin shook his head. “I hope no one brings anything up except trade requests. It’s been quiet since Alastar took over and I want to keep it that way.”

  “You mean since you defeated Gwendolyn. That’s what calmed things down.”

  Kevin shrugged. “Speaking of Gwendolyn, I’ve been thinking about those men on that boat. If one of them was from Landoryn, and they’re working together, doesn’t it stand to reason they’re both from Landoryn?”

  “I think it’s likely, especially since they were together within a couple of weeks of the raid, but I don’t think we can rule out the possibility that the second man’s a hired hand, or that Caleb’s mistaken and neither man is from Landoryn.”

  Kevin thought for a moment. “I think we need to question them, separately. What do you think?”

  “If you’re going to pursue it, that’s the next logical step.”

  “You still think I should let it go?”

  “I’m not sure,” Chris admitted. “I don’t like the idea of anyone connected with those raids walking around free, but the law’s pretty clear according to Chairman Tremayne. If they didn’t participate in the actual raid, they didn’t break any laws.”

  “And as far as we know they weren’t directly involved.” Kevin sighed. “At least not in the raid near Bridgeport.”

  “So we can’t lock them up. And if you go after them, people are going to wonder what a couple boatmen living and working hundreds of miles from Milhaven did to attract your attention. What reason are you going to give for looking for them?”

  Kevin leaned back. “I’m not sure, but definitely not that they might have been involved with the men who pulled those raids. That would put a target on their backs.”

  Chris nodded. “So, if you want to talk to them, you can’t be the one who goes looking for them. And if you send someone else, they’ll need a cover story.”

  “Before we go any farther with this, I want to talk to Thom myself. And I want you there.”

  “All right, but if you send someone else after those men, whoever you send will probably want to talk to Thom, too.”

  “And they can, later, after we decide how we’re going to do this. But if those men were associated with those raids in any way, I want them out of Camden.”

  ~~~~

  After they got back from the council meeting Saturday, Kevin asked Chris if he’d noticed anything unusual.

  “Like what?”

  “Rolan.”

  “What about him? I didn’t see him do anything.”

  “That’s what I mean. He didn’t do anything at all. He didn’t approach any of the other sorcerers, not even Malcolm. He came in, sat down, kept his mouth shut, and then left when it was over.”

  “And that’s a bad thing?”

  “No, just unusual.”

  Chris shrugged. “Well, if he’s up to something, we’ll find out soon enough. Now, are you ready for lunch?”

  Kevin nodded so the two of them went down to the dining room.

  While they were there, Marcus asked Kevin if he had time to take him to Bridgeport for the weekend. Kevin motioned for Marcus to sit down beside him. “Do you think your friend Thom would talk to us about the two boatmen? In private?”

  “Sure. You can use my house if you want to. I could tell Thom I need his help with something.”

  “When would be a good time?”

  “Tomorrow morning would be the easiest,” Marcus answered. “He doesn’t open his shop on Sunday’s unless he’s got a rush order, so no one would notice he wasn’t in town.”

  “We’ll meet you at your house around eleven tomorrow morning,” Kevin said. “Do you think that would work?”

  “That’s fine. I was planning to come back around lunchtime tomorrow anyway. But in the meantime, can someone take me up there this afternoon?”

  Kevin nodded. “I’ll take you as soon as I finish lunch.”

  ~~~~

  When Kevin and Chris talked to Thom Sunday morning, they didn’t learn anything new, but by the time they left, they had no doubt that Thom was convinced Mikos was the man with the key and the one who had told Gwendolyn about Marcus. But no one was sure how Devron fit into all of this.

  After they got back to the castle, Kevin and Chris went into Kevin’s office and shut the door.

  “So,” Chris said as he sat down. “What now?”

  “I want to talk to them, especially Mikos.”

  “How do you want to handle it?”

  “If we were on Earth, I’d have someone go to Myerston and say we’re trying to find him because a long lost relative passed away and left him some money, but even if that would work on Terah, it wouldn’t work with him.”

  “If he’s who we think he is and he hears anyone’s looking for him, he’ll know the gig is up and take off.”

  “Maybe someone should go up there for something completely different, spend the night but ask no questions, like Mikos did his first time in Bridgeport. Then go back later and see what they can find out in a roundabout way.”

  Chris nodded. “They’d need a cover story, and for another trip to make sense, maybe it should involve shipping something.”

  “That’s not a bad idea, but Thom said Carson handles the scheduling. They’d have to go through him to make shipping arrangements.”

  “He might handle the booking, but our two guys deliver all the stuff heading north. As long as whatever they arrange to ship is going north, they’d have a good reason to ask Carson about the men who’d be handling their stuff and insist on an introduction before finalizing things,” Chris said. “But whatever cover story we use can’t tie back to Milhaven, at least not directly.”

  “Maybe we could use the district minister. Tie it into something he has to take care of.”

  “Any way we could tie this into Joan’s clinics? Maybe make arrangements for regular shipments of supplies between chapels and clinics?”

  Kevin mulled that idea over. “That would depend on where clinics are needed around there. Wonder if Joan’s gotten that information yet.”

  “I don’t know, but if it’s not in by the new year, that would give us a reason to send someone up there, and as long as the questions are about chapels and sisters, it would make sense that they’re from Milhaven.”

  “That’s a long time to wait though.”

  “If he’s who we think he is, he’s been hanging around for more than nine months. If he had someplace else to go, he’d have gone a long time ago.”

  “Unless Caleb spooked him.”

  “In which case he’s probably already gone.”

  “True.”

  “I’ll talk to Joan and see if she’s gotten a report from that area. Do you know what district that is?”

  Kevin shook his head.

  “Okay. I’ll look it up.”

  “Let me know what you find out,” Kevin said as he stood up. “If there’s nothing else, I’m going to get out of here for a while.”

  “One more thing before you go.”

  Kevin sighed and sat back down.

  “While you were gone yesterday afternoon, Tolliver came by.”

  “Why?”

  “To drop off some quills and ink, but after he left, Ariel sighed and looked at the door. Since he and I were the only ones in here, I asked him what was wrong. He didn’t want to say at first, but I sort of pushed. He knows he’ll be too old to work as a page soon and he’ll have to leave the castle. He was hoping to get a job in Milhaven, but the only job he knew he could do has been filled.”

  Kevin frowned. “What job?”

  “Nan’s job. He said he’d heard Toll
iver was looking for someone last summer and he should have talked to him about it then, but he was having a good time here and didn’t want to leave, but now that that job’s gone, he doesn’t know what he’s going to do. He said he knows he isn’t guard or soldier material, knows nothing about horses or farm animals, and the only plants he can take care of grow in pots. Then he asked if I knew of anyone who needed some help managing an office or a store of some kind.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I told him not at the moment, but I’d let him know if I hear of anything.”

  “Sounds like this is a good time to talk to him about Landis.”

  “Want me to send him in?”

  “No, not today. I really do want to get out of here for a while. Maybe tomorrow if things aren’t too hectic. It would be nice to have that settled.”

  ~~~~

  First thing Monday morning Chris stopped by Joan’s office and told Petri he’d like to see her when she had a few minutes. Before he got to his desk, Joan stuck her head in the sorcerer’s office and asked, “Your place or mine?”

  Chris grinned. “Let’s go to yours.”

  After they got to her office, she asked him what he needed.

  “Have you heard anything from Montuck about the clinics in Grainger yet?”

  Joan opened one of her desk drawers, pulled a stack of papers out, and thumbed through them. “No, not yet. Why?”

  “How long are you going to wait before you carry out your threat to go get the information yourself?”

  “Well, I gave them until the beginning of the new year, so I can’t do anything until at least the second week of January. Why? What’s going on?”

  “We need to check on something in Myerston and we were hoping we could do it under the cover of following through on the clinic thing.”

  “Can you wait that long?”

  Chris hesitated. “To be honest, we’re not sure.”

  “Well, if you can wait until the report either comes in or doesn’t, I could very easily go to Myerston myself.”

  Chris shook his head. “We weren’t going to involve you in this.”

  Joan leaned back in her chair. “Why not? It’s perfect. I can go to Myerston either to talk to the local sister about setting up clinics or, if they don’t have a chapel, I can use it as my test case.”