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groom s batman as well as general supporter.
One of Roic s fonder secret memories from the past weeks was of witnessing, in
his role as disregarded coatrack, the great Viceroy Count Vorkosigan himself
taking his handsome nephew aside and promising, in a voice so low as to be
almost a whisper, to have Ivan s hide for a drumskin if he allowed his
misplaced sense of fun to do anything at all to screw up the impending
ceremony for m lord. Ivan had been humorless as a judge all week; side bets
were being taken belowstairs for how long it would last. Remembering that
deeply ominous voice, Roic had selected the longest shot in the pool and
thought himself likely to win.
Taura, also in last night s gear of skirt and lacy blouse, lounged on one of
the small sofas in the bay window, apparently offering bracing advice. M lord
had evidently taken the sleeptimer, for he looked vastly better: clean,
shaved, clear-eyed, and very nearly calm.
 Ekaterin s here, he told Roic, in the awed tone of a besieged garrison
commander describing the unexpected relieving force.  The bride s party is
using my mother s suite for their staging area. Mother s going to bring her
down in a moment. She needs to be in on this.
In on what?
was answered before Roic could voice the question by the entry of ImpSec chief
General
Allegre himself, in dress greens, escorted by the count, also already in his
best House uniform. Allegre was a wedding guest in his own right, but it
clearly wasn t for social reasons that he d arrived an hour early.
The countess and Ekaterin followed on their heels, the countess graceful in
something sparkling and green, m lady-to-be still in her drab dress but with
her hair already braided up and thickly entwined with tiny roses and other
exquisite little scented flowers that Roic could not name. Both women looked
grave, but a smile like a fugitive gleam from paradise lit Ekaterin s eyes as
they met m lord s. Roic found he
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that brief intensity, feeling a clumsy intruder. He thus surprised Taura s
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expression: shrewdly approving, but more than a little wistful.
Ivan drew up extra chairs, and all disposed themselves around the small table
near the window. Madame
Vorsoisson took a seat beside m lord, decorously but with no wasted
centimeters between. He gripped her hand. Roic managed to slip in next to
Taura; she smiled down at him. These chambers had once belonged to the late
great General Piotr Vorkosigan, before they d been claimed by his grandson,
the rising young Lord Auditor. This spot, not the grand public rooms
downstairs, was the site of more military, political, and secret conferences
of historic import to Barrayar than Roic could readily imagine.
 I dropped by early to give you ImpSec s latest report in person, Miles,
Madame Vorsoisson, Count, Countess. Allegre, half-leaning on a sofa arm,
nodded around. He reached into his tunic and withdrew a plastic bag in which
something white glimmered and gleamed.  And to return these. I had my
forensics people clean them after collecting and recording the evidence.
They re safe now.
Gingerly, m lord took the pearls from his hand and set them down on the table.
 And do you know yet who gets the thank-you note for this gift? I m rather
hoping to deliver it in person. Ill-concealed menace vibrated beneath his
light tone.
 That has actually broken open much faster than I was expecting, said
Allegre.  It was a very nice forgery job on the date stamps from Escobar on
the outer packaging, but the inner decorative wrapping checked out under
analysis as of Barrayaran origin. Once we knew which planet to look on, the
item was sufficiently unique the necklace of Earth origin, by the way we were
able to trace it by jeweler s is import records almost at once. It was
purchased two weeks ago in Vorbarr Sultana for a large sum of cash, and the
store security vids for the month hadn t been erased yet. My agent positively
identified
Lord Vorbataille.
M lord hissed through his teeth.  He was on my short list, yes. No wonder he
was trying so hard to get off planet.
 He was up to his eyebrows in the plan, but he wasn t its originator. Do you
remember how you said to me three weeks ago that while there had to be brains
behind this operation, you d swear they weren t in
Vorbataille s head?
 Yes, said m lord.  I had him pegged for a front man, suborned for his
connections. And his yacht, of course.
 You were right. We picked up his Jacksonian crime consultant about three
hours ago.
 You have him!
 We have him. He ll keep, now. Allegre gave m lord a grim nod.  Although he
had the wit to not bring
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by trying to get off planet, one of my analysts, who came in last night to
look over the new evidence that came in with the necklace, was able to run a
back-trace and cross-connect, and so identify him. Well, actually he fingered
three suspects, but fast-penta cleared two of them. The source for the toxin
was a fellow by the name of Luca Tarpan.
M lord mouthed the syllables; his face screwed up.  Damn. Are you sure? I ve
never heard of him.
 Quite sure. He appears to have ties with the Bharaputra syndicate on
Jackson s Whole.
 Well, that would give him access to quite a lot of somewhat scrambled
two-year-old information about me and Quinn, yes. Both me s, in fact. And it
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accounts for the superior forgery. But why such a heinous attack? It s almost
more disturbing to think that some total stranger would Have we crossed paths
before?
Allegre shrugged.  It seems not. The preliminary interrogation suggests it was
a purely professional ploy
 although he clearly had no love left for you by the time you were about half
done ripping open this case. Your talent for making interesting new enemies
has evidently not deserted you. The plan was to create distracting chaos in
your investigation just after the group made its getaway Vorbataille was
preselected to be thrown to us for a goat, it turns out but we shut them down
about eight days early. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]