Page 22 of The Study of Fire
Valek returned his weapon to its sheath. All of his disguises had a long, slender, deep pocket, lined with thin leather, on his right hip to hide his dagger. Rounding the desk, Valek kept an eye on the patrol officer. The man ignored him.
The door opened into a buzz of activity. The main room of the building was filled with desks, and file cabinets. The proverbial bullpen. Weapons rested along the back wall. A few patrollers glanced at him and promptly dismissed him as harmless.
Valek wove through the chaos toward the left side, where a hallway led to the offices of the higher ranking officers. Captain Ryda occupied the room at the very end of the hall. The door was ajar, but he knocked.
“If it’s not urgent, go away,” she called.
He poked his head in. “Not urgent, but important.”
“Oh, Adviser Valek. Come on in.” She tucked the long strand of hair that had escaped her bun back behind her ear then gestured to the chair in front of her desk. “Do you have an update for me?”
Her office was a mix of organization and clutter. The desk and conference table were neat with plenty of workspace, but stacks of reports occupied every other flat surface except the floor.
“Sorry. No update, but I need more information.”
“What do you need?”
“Did you map the places where each person was found?”
“No. We didn’t think it was significant. It’s not like a burglary ring or serial murders. At first, it appeared to be just disorderly conduct.” She tapped her fingernails on her desk. “We have all the reports. I could assign a patroller to create a map from them.” Ryda flipped through a chart. “Let me see who I can spare. We’re shorthanded tonight, but I can ask Tivon to stay late.”
“No need. I’ll do it. Are the reports together?”
She glanced up. “Yes, they’re in the FIIK room. I’ll show you.”
Ryda led him back down the hallway, across the bullpen and up a stairway.
“FIIK?” he asked.
They reached a large oval room with various sized tables, chalkboards, and maps on the walls.
“FIIK is an unofficial patrol designation. It meansFuck If I Know. This is where the unsolved cases end up. Every so often a young, ambitious patroller will try to make sense of one of them. And occasionally solve it. A few of the old timers will also revisit certain cold cases and have an epiphany.”
Unfortunately, Valek also had a number of incidents over the years he hadn’t been able to solve. He hadn’t considered bringing in fresh eyes to take a look. Most of them were top secret, but he could have Ari and Janco read through them as part of their training.
Heading to a six-foot long desk, Ryda placed her hands on two stacks of files. “These are the reports you’re looking for. If you clear off the other piles, I’ll grab you a map to mark, a stylus, and some ink. Anything else you need?”
“Do you have colored ink?”
“Yes, what color do you want?”
“All of them.”
She laughed. “All right.” Striding to an oversized cabinet, she gathered the needed supplies.
After he created a workspace, Valek checked the lanterns on the other tables. Two had sufficient oil. The sunlight was fading rapidly so he brought them over and lit the elements. Then he pulled a chair over as Ryda set the requested items down.
“It’s going to be a long night. Did you eat dinner?”
“No.”
“I’ll send something up.”
“Thank you.”
He sorted the files according to the date of the incidents. The first arrest had happened around the beginning of the cooling season. The most recent ones occurred two nights ago. A span of about seven weeks long. Valek had five different color inks, but he could mix a few so he’d have seven. One color for each week. Then he returned to the first week’s cases, marking the locations in yellow ink.
The undertaking was time consuming and monotonous. Sometime during the effort, a steaming meat pie and a mug of ale had been delivered and consumed. Nearing the end of his task, one of the lanterns sputtered and died. He cursed at the delay. Running back to the bullpen, he exchanged the empty one for two lit ones.
