Free Devlin's Justice by Patricia Bray

logical plan, and despite her doubts about his loyalties, she was impressed at the thoughtfulness with which he approached the problem.
    Had there really been an attempted poisoning, Ansgar’s methods would quite likely have identified the villain. But when they reached the merchant’s house, they found Goodwoman Linsale full of apologies for having troubled them. The healers had traced the illness to an undercook who had been hired to help with the banquet. The undercook had recently been ill, and though recovered had been warned by the healers that he could not work as a cook for at least a fortnight. He had ignored their orders, and the contagion that he carried within him had been passed to the guests.
    Lieutenant Ansgar was visibly deflated by this prosaic explanation, and demanded to know why the goodwoman hadn’t informed the Guard. The goodwoman replied that she had sent a letter only that morning, which would no doubt be waiting for them when they returned.
    She apologized again for wasting their time. Captain Drakken, after grumbling for form’s sake, finally accepted her apologies.
    “These merchants think we have nothing better to do with our time,” Lieutenant Ansgar grumbled as the servants escorted from the house. “Next time she calls for help, we will not be so quick to come running.”
    Captain Drakken nodded. “If we’d waited another hour, we could have saved ourselves the errand. You will likely find her scroll on the watch desk when you return to the Guard Hall.”
    In fact she knew the scroll was there, for she had placed it on the desk herself. After first reading it, then resealing it carefully with wax. It had been just the excuse to leave the palace that she had been searching for all morning.
    “You should return to the hall. Nevyn’s already two hours into your shift, and he’s back on again tonight.”
    “And you?”
    “I will go speak with the healers,” Captain Drakken said. “I don’t like it that this cook was allowed out to ply his trade while still contagious. There must be a way to keep this from happening again.”
    She dismissed Ansgar with a nod and turned west, in the direction of the Healers’ Guild. Ansgar hesitated a moment, then began walking back toward the palace. Drakken took a winding path through the streets, turning sharply twice, until she was convinced that she was not being followed. Then and only then did she allow her footsteps to turn in the direction of the river docks. It was time to find Devlin.

Six

    T HE UNNAMED TAVERN WAS ONLY A FEW YARDS from the docks used by the fishermen to unload their cargo, and the smell of rotting fish mingled with the odor of raw sewage. Here, in the poorer quarters, the underground sewers had not been repaired in years, and as she walked down the alley the mud squelched suspiciously under her boots. And it was only spring. Come the heat of summer, this part of the city would be near unbearable.
    Criminals disdained the area, able to afford better lodgings elsewhere. Only the poorest came here, or those who had worked the docks so long that they were immune to the stench. Few would think to look for one of the guards here.
    In her quarter century of service, Captain Drakken had become familiar with every part of the city, and since becoming Captain she had made it a point to walk each of the patrol routes at least once a season. But routine patrols stopped at the docks. Only chance had brought the unnamed tavern to her attention, when Didrik was investigating a pair of sea captains who had taken to forcibly recruiting sailors. That investigation had been five years ago, and there should be nothing to connect this place to her. Which argued that the message she had received was indeed from Didrik.
    She paused, glancing up and down the alley, but there was no one in sight. Even the feral cats scorned the place for better pickings elsewhere. In the daylight it was easy to see that the former storeroom had been tacked onto