Free Lt. Leary, Commanding by David Drake Page A

suggested she'd be perfectly willing to do that if she weren't sure Adele already understood. "If one of my subordinates were to offer that contract to a naval officer, however, he'd be looking for another job. Outside the banking sector, because I'd blackball him as well as terminating his employment."
    Adele, as the only surviving member of her family, knew very well how ruthless Speaker Leary was. It appeared that his daughter had inherited some of that personality.
    "Before you blame yourself for allowing yourself to be taken advantage of, mistress," Deirdre continued, "I should mention that my brother made an even worse deal for his share of the prize money. Banking involves as much specialized knowledge as astrogation or archival research do."
    "You bought Daniel's account also, then?" Adele said; hoping against hope that the answer would be "No," because Daniel's reaction would be—
    "Good God, no!" Deirdre said. "I won't claim to understand my brother, Mistress Mundy, but I can guess how he'd react to that sort of interference. The S&M cultivates a genteel atmosphere, and the presence of a young naval officer threatening to demolish it stone by stone wouldn't fit in with that at all."
    Adele choked when an indrawing breath met a jolt of laughter going the other way. She'd just had an image of a detachment from the Princess Cecile arriving at the Shippers' and Merchants' Treasury with axes and pinch bars.
    "Yes, I agree with your assessment, Mistress Leary," she said. She stood because she had work to do, absorbing information on Strymon. If the banker had more to say, it was time to say it.
    Deirdre rose also. "Since you raise the matter, however," she said, "it would be to Daniel's financial advantage to transfer his account to the S&M."
    Adele suddenly remembered the first time she'd heard the details of her sister Agatha's abuse and murder. "I won't pledge my honor to induce Daniel to take any action whatever regarding the Leary family, mistress," she said. Her voice was as thin as stressed piano wire.
    "Nor would I expect you to, mistress," Deirdre said, as little moved by Adele's anger as granite is by the rain. "But I am pledging my personal honor to you that no ill would result to my brother as a result of any dealings he might have with the S&M."
    This woman has as much stiff-necked pride as a Mundy! Which was no surprise, because the families had been poured from the same crucible of Cinnabar politics.
    "I noted when I reviewed your file," Deirdre said, looking off at an angle, "the irregular way that a portion of your family properties were restored after the Edict of Reconciliation. I suspect there was collusion between the court and the cousin claiming to be the closest surviving relative. Such a miscarriage of justice could be righted even now."
    Adele smiled faintly and extended her hand. "Good day, mistress," she said. "I believe that the past is often better forgotten, however I'll keep that information on hand against later need."
    She walked out of the bank; beside the building was a stop for the east-west loop of a car line. She'd go back to her apartment and from that privacy assemble the information she'd need. The first sweep, that is, to enable her to focus more accurately for the next pass.
    She wouldn't say anything to Daniel about her meeting today; either meeting. It would merely make him uncomfortable to know about Mistress Sand, and as for his sister—
    Adele wasn't going to mention Deirdre until she herself had a better notion of what to think.
    * * *
    Daniel Leary sat at the civilian desk, furnished when he rented the apartment, and switched off the phone on which he'd called Lt. Mon. The view from his window looked down the hillside over three- and four-story apartment houses similar to his own. Because most of them had roof gardens, the effect was more similar to Bantry, the Leary country estate, than a major city.
    Hogg came in with a flimsy in one hand and a bleak scowl on his face.