Page 129 of The Tainted Cup

“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 safeafterkilling 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?”

I squatted to look, my eyes shivering as I summoned up my memories of the last time I’d glimpsed inside this safe. I saw the boxes of grafts, a handful of papers I had seen before; and there, in the corner, the reagents key I’d brought to her, the vial set in a little bronze disc. Everything was all still here—or so it seemed.

“The key, Din,” said Ana. “Is the key there?”

I peered at the reagents key, then gestured to the tracker to hold the mai-lantern close.

“Well?” demanded Ana.

“There’s…akey, ma’am,” I said slowly.

“But?”

I peered closer at it. “But…it’s not the key I got from Aristan’s safe house, I think.”

A thunderstruck silence.

“What?” said Ana.

I turned to the tracker. “Can I pick it up, you think?”

The tracker leaned forward and sniffed the safe. “Not catching scent of any graft trips…though the scent of blood and alcohol is much stronger in here.”

“The killer cleaned theinteriorof the safe, you mean?” said Ana.

“Seems likely, ma’am. But it should be safe to review.”

I lifted the reagents key, held it up next to the lantern, and studied it. I shook my head. “I’m sure, ma’am. It’s not the same key. The bronze of the disc is discolored in the wrong places. And it’s missing a few dents. There were four total, one big, three small. And the weight is wrong.”

“You remember all that?” asked the tracker, surprised.

Kitlan snorted. “Boy’s an engraver. That’s what he’s here for.”

“You’re sure about all this, Din?” asked Ana.

I felt the tickling in my eyes as I recalled it. “I’m sure of it, ma’am. This key is similar—but it’s definitely different.”

“Can we figure out what this new keyis,then?” she asked.

The tracker took the key from me and sniffed it. “Well, it’s…it’s a reagents key, ma’am. I can smell it. Smelled ’em before. Dunno what kind, though, or what portal it opens, but…I do note it smells very, very strongly of blood as well, though it’s also been cleaned.”

“But you’resureit’s a reagents key?” asked Ana. “An ordinary one? Nothing special about it?”

“Nothing that I can tell. A reagents key, ordinary enough.”

Ana was silent for a long time.