Chapter 6
The fun part for Fiona might not have been watching out for potential killers, but the other activities made up for it.
True to their word, Natta and Trayla took her to the best places in the city, and Fiona realized she was getting a real sense of their personalities by what each of them loved the most about Distani.
Natta tended toward high lookout points with good views and even better cafes nearby. Trayla liked places of historic interest, and quirky local cuisine, sometimes street carts, sometimes tiny places tucked away in alleys.
As she had struggled to find good food in the new world she found herself in until she’d landed on Larga Ways, and even then, there were only a few places that had a menu that was to her taste, she loved every minute of it.
“I should ask the chef here if they’d be interested in a spot on Larga Ways,” she said as she licked her fingers of the last of a truly delicious cake.
Trayla shot her a sidelong look. “You can do that?”
Fiona nodded. “Eazi and I have respected all the lease agreements that were already in place on the way station, but when new ones come up, we set the rent. Balco and the Grih get their percentage because they shared the expense of building the way station. Eazi and I get the management fees and we choose who to rent to.” She thought about it.
“So far we’ve just renewed to the current occupants, but there’s a few smaller places that are standing empty.
” She turned back to memorize the name of the cafe.
She liked the idea of hand picking some places that would suit her palate, as they also clearly suited the Balcoan palate just as much, and Larga Ways was very much a Balcoan landmark.
If Baruke discovered her here before she officially announced herself, and objected, she could say she was here investigating new Balcoan businesses that might be a good fit for Larga Ways. As long as she actually did invite some of them, how could he complain?
Well, he could, but he’d look churlish.
“Do you want to walk up another set of stairs to one of Natta’s spots, or go find the Garden of Reflection, which is my pick?” Trayla asked.
Natta was strolling up ahead, but he and Trayla had set up their ear pieces to connect to each other and to her, and he tilted his head in response.
“If I’ve got my directions right, I think there’s a company near here that’s one of the businesses supplying materials to Paxe on Larga Ways.
They’re the worst offenders when it comes to sending us anything from our order list. Their supplies dropped off first and they’ve been the most difficult to deal with.
” Fee flicked open her handheld and showed the address to Trayla.
“I’d like to just walk past it, see if there’s anything that looks off. ”
Most likely she was wasting her time, Fee acknowledged, but she might as well take a walk past. It really was close by.
Trayla said the address out loud for Natta’s benefit, and he turned off down a side street.
Trayla didn’t take them down the same one, she took the next one along, and when they emerged onto the correct street, Natta was nowhere in sight.
It was mid afternoon, and there was plenty of foot traffic. A few of the high buildings had cafes on the ground floor, which spilled out onto the pavement, and Fee followed Trayla as she wove through the pedestrians.
There was a momentary gap in the crowd and Fee saw Natta standing on the pavement, staring across the street, and both she and Trayla slowed down as they approached him.
He was looking at a building that had been gutted.
Fee stopped beside him as Trayla walked on and then stopped outside a cafe. She got an outside table and put in an order, looking down at her handheld as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
She needed to do the same, Fee knew, but the shock of seeing Grimwell Materials reduced to a burned out shell was hard to push aside.
Natta shook his head suddenly, as if he couldn’t believe his eyes, and then wandered off, and Fee forced herself to walk over to Trayla’s table and slump down into a chair.
“What happened there?” she asked when a server arrived at the table with two cups of grinabo. “A fire?”
The server shook her head. “Rumor is that it was some kind of explosion. Their factory is on the outskirts of the city, the building across the street was their admin office, but they manufacture dangerous goods, apparently, and I guess some stock was brought to the main office. And one night it went boom.”
“Wow.” Trayla leaned forward, eyes wide. “Lucky the buildings nearby weren’t affected.”
“Oh, we were affected.” The server jerked her head toward the inside of the cafe. “Don’t get my boss started on it. Two of our windows had to be replaced. And we got off lightly.”
“Was anyone injured?” Fee asked.
The server shrugged. “Fortunately not. It happened in the early morning hours, so there wasn’t anyone on the street, and apparently there wasn’t anyone inside the building, either.”
“Well, that’s something, at least,” Trayla said. “When did it happen?”
The server tapped her lips, thinking. “Three months ago or so,” she said.
Surprise, surprise.
They drank their grinabo in silence and then headed back to the rental by the river without needing to talk about it.
Natta had again beaten them to it, and Fee noticed he was almost completely invisible on the way back, as if he’d ramped up his watching skills, keeping out of sight.
“Eazi, Grimwell Materials head office was destroyed three months ago.” Fee waited until they were inside before she connected to him.
“They’ve never withdrawn as a supplier.” Eazi paused. “Oh, I see what you mean. I’m looking at the aftermath. Why didn’t they let us know that’s why they can’t deliver?”
“Apparently that was their admin building. Their factory is on the outskirts of the city.” Fee knew that a stroll past that factory was next on the list.
“The company registry lists them as out of business, which is very strange.” Eazi sounded astonished. “And that they sold their factory to another business.”
“Do the records show who bought them?”
“No. There’s no mention of the new owners, it says information pending.” Eazi’s voice was thoughtful. “But it’s been pending for three months.”
Natta and Trayla had done a check of the house, and they came in and sat with her, listening to her side of the conversation.
“You think there’s some obfuscation going on?”
“Maybe. I’ll see what I can dig up,” Eazi said.
“And I’ll go out to the industrial area, find the factory and ask around,” Fee said. “If we get nowhere, so be it, but you never know.”
“Don’t do anything dangerous.” Eazi’s tone tightened.
“I won’t. We’ll be able to come up with a good excuse to be out there, I’m sure. And you can track us, right?” She knew he could.
“Yes.” He seemed to settle down. “I’ll speak to you when I find something.”
When he cut off, she lifted her gaze to the other two. “Eazi says Grimwell Materials’ paperwork says they went out of business, sold their factory, and no longer exist, yet they’re still communicating with us, making excuses for their non-delivery.”
“That . . . is a very strange thing to lie about,” Trayla said.
“Very strange,” Natta agreed. “So do we have an address to check out?”
“Theoretically.” Fee tapped the table. “So I want to find out if the factory is still a going concern or not.”
Natta took out his handheld and tapped the screen. “Here’s the industrial area on the outskirts of the city. But there’s also a large market out there, every second day. It’s well attended by locals and tourists. I was actually going to suggest it as something to do while you’re here.”
That sounded like excellent cover. “What kind of market?” she asked.
“It’s like a wholesale bazaar, where you can get overruns or factory seconds. And sometimes custom pieces that weren’t picked up. I bought some of my furniture from there,” Trayla said.
Fee smiled at them. “Looks like we’re going shopping again.”