“Don’t quite know, sir,” she said. “But…Immunis Nusis has been injured. Not responding. Could…could be dead.” She touched the back of her scalp. “Something to do with her head.”
I looked at Strovi, alarmed. He nodded back, his face sad. Then I followed them into the night.
CHAPTER 36
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THE APOTH TOWER WAS abuzz with officers as I ran up the steps. The Legionnaires cleared the way for me, ordering folk to step aside, and soon I was back in Nusis’s office, the walls stacked with tanks and jars and pots, the throngs of worms writhing behind so many glass walls, though now all was shadowy and silent, and the air reeked with the copperish scent of blood.
“Come in, Din,” said Ana’s voice from the far darkness. “I need you to see for me.”
I took a lantern from a Legionnaire and moved closer. Ana sat before Nusis’s desk, I saw, blindfolded, head bowed. Sitting behind the desk was Nusis.
She was bent forward, her head resting on the desk with her arms on either side like she’d been working and decided to take a short nap. Spreading from the base of her neck was a pool of blood, smooth and dark and mirrorlike. It dripped off the edge with a slow pat-pat.
I could not see her face. For that, I found myself glad.
“No,” I murmured. “No, I…It can’t truly be her, can it?”
“Din,” said Ana. “Focus. The base of the skull. Please look.”
Trembling, I walked around the corner of the desk. Her hair was thick and took some work to part; but there, behind Nusis’s ear, was a small, dark purplish hole, slowly leaking blood.
“The Hazas’ twitch?” I asked. “They…they did this?”
“The wound looks the same as the others?” Ana said sharply. “Not a mimicry? Because, if so…Then yes. I believe it is the work of the twitch. Are there any other injuries upon her?”
“No, ma’am. None that I can see. But…why would the twitch bother with Nusis?”
Ana cocked her head. “Can you confirm if her safe is still locked?”
I confirmed it was, the front sealed tight. “It is, ma’am.”
“Is there any blood upon the safe?”
I studied it in the lamplight. “No, ma’am.”
“Hm. Any aroma to it?”
I leaned close, sniffing the air. “There is, ma’am. Alcohol, I think. Just a hint of it.”
“Good. We shall confirm more when the trackers arrive…”
“Trackers?”
Three Apoths then strode through the office door, their movements confident and assured. I recognized them immediately: Princeps Kitlan and the two trackers from the contagion crew that we’d ridden out with.
The three Apoths looked at the corpse with blank, hard eyes, then bowed to Ana. “You called for us, ma’am?” asked Kitlan.
“I did,” said Ana. “This, obviously, is a death scene, Princeps, and we’ve need of your talents. I was wondering if you could catch any additional aromas about this place—and possibly remove the door to Nusis’s safe. I believe you lot are in possession of some rather advanced corrosives…”
“We are, ma’am,” said Kitlan. “Mostly for destroying contagion. But we’d be happy to comply here.” She waved to her tracker, who moved to the door of the safe and slid his pack off his back.
He sniffed the door of the safe as he sat before it. “Smells of alcohol, ma’am. Grain, I think. Probably from the immunis’s own stores. But…it also smells of blood.”
“Blood?” asked Ana.
“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded at Nusis. “Her blood.”
“You’re sure?”
“I am. I’ve enough here to sniff to make a match. It’s the same. My guess is the safe was bloodied, and then cleaned with alcohols.”
Ana steepled her fingers. “I see…Would it be safe to say, then, that the killer manipulated or touched the safe after killing Nusis? With bloodied hands? They likely did not kill her beforehand, since, well, Nusis couldn’t open her safe if she was dead…”
The tracker shrugged. “Seems likely, ma’am.”
“I see. Then please remove the door.”
Kitlan and the tracker carefully applied drops of some smoking black reagent to the hinges of the safe. They did so in several rounds, tugging at the door after each application, until finally there was a groan, and the door fell away.
“Now, Din,” said Ana. “Look. Remember. Has anything within the safe been stolen? Anything missing?”