Page 32 of A Drop of Corruption

“I am afraid that we’ve had a breach in the defenses of this bank, sir,” I said. “One box has been tampered with, and only one—yours.”

His dark eyes leapt back and forth between me, Kardas, and Malo lurking before the vault. “And…what was stolen?”

“We do not yet know, sir,” I said. “The Treasury weight check actually indicates it contains more than it should.”

“So…you are proposing that someoneaddedsomething to my box, rather than stealing from it?”

“Again, we do not yet know. We were hoping you could open it for us to inspect it—though I would like to know what was in it before we do so.”

Ghrelin struggled in silence for a moment. His cheek began to twitch, as did his arms and fingers.

Then he did something very curious: he dropped his right hand and began tapping erratically with three fingers against his belt buckle, creating atap-tap-tapnoise. Yet though this tapping continued, he neither wept nor broke into a rage.

“How did this happen?” he whispered.

“We’re attempting to discover that, sir. We suspect it is in connection with the capture and murder of a senior imperial officer.”

He swallowed. “Papers. It…the box contained papers. But it also contained reagents, to be shipped to the inner rings. A messenger was scheduled to arrive here, open the box, take the papers and the reagents, and board a barge for the inner rings.”

“I see, sir. And…what kind of reagents or materials would this have been for?”

He looked at me, startled, like I had distracted him from some deep reflection. Again, I felt him trying to read my expressions.

“Healing grafts,” he said.

“Mere healing grafts, sir?”

“Yes. But a formula that was still in development and was not fitto be produced at scale.” He suddenly spoke very quickly. “It was proving effective against many respiratory diseases. Drop cough, cavley, irtius, jharelia, more. These are very common diseases that kill thousands each year, especially children and the elderly. With this new formulation, we…we hope to change that.”

Malo and her wardens were slowly standing up behind me.

“I see,” I said. “Then would you come with us, sir, and open the box? We would very much like to confirm what has happened to it.”

He swallowed and nodded, his hand still tapping on his belt. “Certainly.”

—

The vault wasutterly silent as we entered. All the Treasury and Apoth officers watched Ghrelin, who anxiously teetered over to the table with the box, his trembling hands still tapping on his belt; yet Ghrelin himself took no notice of any one of us, and stared instead at the box itself, as if it held some deadly weapon he dreaded.

“I believe you’ll just need to put your hand against the balmleaf there, sir,” I said.

“Of course,” he said quietly. “I have done this countless times myself, Signum.”

Yet he hesitated, his fingers still rapidly tapping on his belt.

“Very good, sir,” I said. “But—please, once it’s been unlocked, allow me to open it. Just in case.”

“In case of what, Signum?”

“I cannot say. But—just in case, sir.”

Ghrelin glanced around at the room, taking in the many officers who were with us. He opened his mouth as if to object, then thought better of it, took a breath, and pressed his hand to the balmleaf lock.

The balmleaf turned a faint brown color. There came a click from somewhere within the box.

I stepped forward to open it for him; yet Ghrelin was faster, and to my surprise, he anxiously reached out and flicked open the box’s lid to peer within.

I began to demand he stop, yet then Ghrelin screamed andstaggered backward, as if all too eager to get as far away as he could from the box.