Walking out of the camp the two of them moved into the street. The afternoon air was warm and carried the faint smell of salt from the direction of the port.
Mr. Randam wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve and began to talk.
The blockade had already made things difficult enough. But a few weeks back he and a competitor named Compes had gotten into a heated argument. Compes had looked him in the eye and sworn to ruin him.
Mr. Randam had not taken it seriously at first. Most men say things like that.
Then Compes came back.
He brought a clay tablet with him and held it out for Mr. Randam to see. He told him it was a curse. That he had paid someone to put it on him. That everything from that point on would go wrong.
Mr. Randam swallowed as he spoke, his voice still unsteady.
Business partners he had kept for years began to fall ill. Three of them died. The warehouse his family had held since his grandfather burned to the ground. The interest rates on his debts rose. One problem after another, each one arriving just when he thought he had his footing back.
"I started thinking about my family." His voice dropped. "What if it reaches them next?"
So the sequence is: argument, tablet, then the bad luck starts. And it keeps going.
Jack said nothing and let him finish.
Eventually the two of them reached a bench on the side of the road, near one of the narrower streets that led down toward the port district. A few people moved past. Nobody paid them any attention.
They sat.
Jack leaned back slightly with his elbows on his knees, looking at the ground between his feet. He thought for a moment.
Two churches checked him. A priest and a Bishopess both said it wasn't a curse. And if Mardrago's church truly believed it was one they would have fought to keep authority over the matter. They didn't. So it isn't a curse.
That's the first thing.
Second. Sabotage. That part is obvious. Someone is pulling the strings behind the bad luck. But it isn't Compes.
If Compes was the one doing the sabotage he wouldn't have shown the tablet. Showing the tablet invites suspicion directly onto himself. You don't do that if you're the one pulling the strings. You stay invisible.
So why did he show it?
Jack tapped his fingers on his knee.
Because he had to. The tablet required it. Whoever made it needed the target to know they were cursed. It was a required step.
Which means the person who made the tablet is also the one doing the sabotage. They sold Compes an ordinary clay tablet at a high price, used the threat to frighten Mr. Randam, and then began the sabotage themselves to make the curse look real.
And when Mr. Randam went to the churches and the churches investigated, the culprit made sure the evidence pointed away from a curse and into civil territory. Which forced the churches to hand it over to the guardsmen. And the guardsmen are understaffed because of the war.
So now nobody is investigating anything. And whoever is doing this gets to keep going.
Jack exhaled slowly.
That's clean. That's very clean.
He looked at Mr. Randam.
"The churches are right. You're not cursed."
Mr. Randam opened his mouth.
"Someone is sabotaging you," Jack continued. "But it isn't Compes."
Mr. Randam stared at him.
"Compes was sold a clay tablet by someone else. That person is the one ruining your business. They needed Compes to show you the tablet so that you would go to the churches, the churches would investigate, find nothing, and hand the case to the guards. Who are currently useless."
"So the whole curse was.."
"A distraction. A way to tie everyone's hands."
The chubby man sat very still for a moment. Then something behind his eyes shifted. The desperation was still there but something else had entered alongside it.
Anger.
"Then what do I do?"
Jack thought for a second.
"You go to the guards and explain what I just told you. Ask them to assign someone to sit in on an interrogation of Compes. You find out who sold him the tablet and you have your culprit."
Mr. Randam shook his head slowly. "I already tried the guards. They won't assign anyone to this. They said it doesn't meet the threshold."
Right. Understaffed and overworked. They won't move for free.
"Then you make it worth their while." Jack looked at him evenly. "A few hours of one guard's time. That's all this takes. An interrogation isn't a military operation."
"You mean.."
"A gift." Jack kept his voice flat. "For their trouble. Make the benefit obvious and the cost small. A few hours of work at a high rate of pay is a very easy thing to say yes to."
Mr. Randam looked at him for a long moment. Something about the way Jack said it — calm, without any shame in it — seemed to settle something in him.
"You really think this will work?"
"It gets Compes talking. After that it depends on what he says."
Mr. Randam nodded slowly, then stood up. He straightened his coat. Some of the slump had gone out of his shoulders.
"Then let's not waste time."
The two of them began making their way through the streets toward the guard post near the port. The afternoon was getting on. The light had gone from bright to a softer yellow and the shadows were beginning to stretch.
Jack walked beside the man, hands in his pockets.
I still have to return to the Salvation camp every three days. I found where Jack worked. I still need to try for the clerk position before the date passes. And now I'm walking a crying merchant to the guard captain.
My life became so busy..
..at least the stomach doesn't hurt as much.
They turned down one of the wider cobbled streets heading toward the port. In the distance the clock tower was visible above the rooftops, its face catching the late afternoon light.
Mr. Randam walked with more purpose now than he had outside the tent. He was still red around the eyes but the sobbing had stopped.
Jack glanced at him.
He just needed someone to point him in the right direction.
Eventually the two of them came within sight of the guard post at the edge of the port. The same stone building Jack had passed before. A few guards stood outside in their leather and steel.
And standing near the door, talking to one of the men, was Commander Aldis.