A Suspicious Commission

“There are two things I would commission of you.”

Before I got to the substance of it, I paused a moment to steady my breath and drew out the plan I’d been turning over the whole way here.

“First, I should like to have servants hired on at House Drake and slipped inside. One man, strong and good with his hands; and one woman, quick on the uptake.”

The moment I named the first commission, Robin’s expression twisted, ever so faintly. As if he’d heard something he’d sooner not have, he let out a quiet sigh and shook his head in a loose, sweeping motion.

“That’s quite a troublesome commission.”
“Troublesome, is it.”
“I’d rather not say such a thing, having already taken payment from Your Grace — but that is plainly no easy task.”

Robin raked at the back of his head in irritation and went on.

“House Drake doesn’t take people on easily, you see. It’s a touch humiliating to admit, but I only know it so well because we’ve failed at that very thing every single time.”

His words had the ring of a refusal, but I said nothing and sipped my tea.

“Letters of recommendation from the capital’s esteemed houses, from the influential Merchants’ Guild — I sent people in bearing every one of them, and none did any good. Surely Your Grace knows it well yourself: that the Countess Drake handles her affairs with quite extraordinary thoroughness.”

Naturally, the choosing of the household staff had always fallen to me, and it had long been my conviction that in taking someone on, no amount of caution was ever too much. With House Drake expanding its business and drawing wary scrutiny from every quarter, I had always overseen the hiring with care.

And yet the one thing I could never guard against was betrayal by the two people closest to me of all, my husband and my twin.

“How the Countess Drake manages to pick off none but the ones we send — plucking them out clean, the way you’d sift chaff from good grain…”

I could bear to listen no longer; Detective Richter’s words were fast souring into a grumble. The longer his sighing, self-deprecating manner went on, the more it felt as though a hand had closed around my heart and was dragging at it, and I grudged every moment that slipped past.

“A recommendation from a provincial notable.”

I set the conversation back on course, my tone firm.

“That will do.”

Even though I’d handed him the answer outright, the shortcut to the whole commission, Robin only frowned faintly and gave a small scoff.

“As I said, a recommendation means little, madam.”
“A recommendation so compelling they couldn’t but take the bearer on — that, of course, would have been useless. I mean the ones you sent in to House Drake.”

Puzzlement flickered across Robin’s face as he turned my remark over. No doubt he found it strange that I, who belonged to no part of House Drake, knew even its inner workings so well. Feigning composure, I set down my teacup and fixed my gaze on him.

“House Drake takes on only those with no connections in the capital and of unquestionable background.”
“…Is that true?”
“Just so. A recommendation from a capital noble or from the Merchants’ Guild means rejection without so much as an interview.”

The capital teemed with those set against Drake over money and influence. However capable a person might be, then, they could not be taken on at the cost of courting such a risk.

“Hm.”

Robin stroked his chin, as if only now grasping the answer. Everything I said seemed to strike him as fascinating.

“So this time, forge a recommendation from a provincial notable and send your people in that way. The man with short hair, the woman one of few words. They’ll likely be welcomed as unassuming, mild-mannered sorts.”

Whenever we took on staff, House Drake’s head housekeeper was always at my side. She would first sift out anyone who came bearing a provincial noble’s recommendation, and that standard had likely not changed much, even now.

And after that, verifying whether the recommendations were genuine was my part.

I would send a telegram to each provincial notable in turn, confirming whether the recommendation held true. But Gloria, I guessed, would find the whole rigmarole too much of a bother, so the odds of a forgery being caught were slim, all the more so since nothing outwardly showed whether the checks had been made at all.

So slipping people into House Drake on a forged recommendation would be no great trouble.

“Short hair, and few words. I’ll bear it in mind.”

Robin jotted it down in his notebook.

“A recommendation from a provincial notable, is it. So there was a way like this after all. It never once occurred to me to try that angle.”

He shifted in his seat, as if itching to forge the recommendation that very instant. A detective was a detective through and through, it seemed; the moment a thread showed in a long-unsolved problem, his interest kindled on pure instinct.

“I’ll have people picked out and sent to House Drake within a few days.”
“I’d want ones who cannot help but keep their mouths shut.”
“Ones who cannot help but keep their mouths shut?”

I knew Robin, being who he was, would see to it well enough on his own, but just in case, I added it in a hurry. This, above all, had to proceed in secret and with the utmost care.

“I don’t believe in a person being close-mouthed by nature. What keeps a mouth shut is always the situation, and nothing more.”
“Ah — I take your meaning entirely. I’ll hire that sort, then. And so the next commission is…”

With the first commission settled, Robin slid naturally into asking about the second. A curiosity well past mere interest now flickered in his eyes.

“I should like to obtain a sleeping draught. One with the fewest possible side effects — none at all would be better still.”

At the second commission, Robin leaned back in his chair without a word and studied me, searching, as though this one struck him as a touch dangerous and gave him pause.

“Forgive the presumption, but might I ask to what purpose, and upon whom, Your Grace means to use it?”
“And why is that?”
“In truth, I’d heard well enough that Your Grace is on decidedly poor terms with the Countess Drake — but I never imagined you’d come to us in person to make so unusual a request.”

For an instant Robin’s eyes gleamed dark and deep, and the moment I caught that look, any impression of him as a green student vanished entirely. He was a capable detective, just as his reputation held, and he seemed to have already guessed who the sleeping draught was for.

“I find myself curious what sort of plan Your Grace is laying. Might it be that you wish for the fall of House Drake?”

I smiled faintly and cut his curiosity short.

“Isn’t working out a puzzle, however you please, precisely your line of work? If you’re curious, find it out for yourself.”

Though whether there was any real way to find it out, that I couldn’t say. I had no intention of sharing my aim with a soul. Commission or no commission, Robin and I were not on the same side.

“Ha, well. That’s true enough — only, I don’t stir for anything but the jobs I’m commissioned to do.”

Detective Richter took my pointed reply with a sheepish laugh, smoothing the moment over. He gave a shrug and settled back into the posture of a man accepting a commission.

“In any case, I’ll get hold of an effective sleeping draught as quickly as I can and send word.”
“Direct contact won’t do. It would be awkward if it came to light that you and I were corresponding.”
“Then some other way for me to reach you would be…”
“The general goods shop across from the carriage depot in the commercial district — do you know it?”
“Yes, I know it.”
“I’ll have a word with the shopkeeper there, so let us pass our messages through him.”

With that, I set the necklace and earrings, wrapped in a handkerchief, down on the table.

“What is this?”
“Call it a retainer, for now. Once the commission is carried through to success, I’ll settle the balance.”
“There’s no need of a retainer, madam. Have I not already been given a tremendous piece of information concerning House Drake?”
“No — don’t refuse. It’s my way of saying this must be made all the more certain.”

I could have raised the money by selling my own hair, if it came to that. So long as it won back my name and my honor, I would have given anything. However much it took, truly.

“In return — there must be no failure. None whatsoever.”

I gathered up the robe I’d set aside and rose. Robin rose with me and gave a slightly flustered nod.

“Then within the coming week I’ll send word through the general goods shop.”

Robin seemed to bow to my back, but I hadn’t the composure to spare for it. I had to be back before Herman returned, and my heart was racing.

Unlike earlier, when I’d been turned away at the door, Detective Richter saw me off himself. He offered his hand, handed me up into the carriage, and added:

“It was an honor to meet you today. I confess I was rather surprised — you seem a very different sort of person than I’d imagined.”

At the unexpected remark, a light laugh slipped out of me, and I answered.

“I’m sorry to say it, but the same is true for me.”

It was a strange feeling, somehow. Back when I had been the Countess Drake, the very existence of a “Detective Richter” had been something I dreaded. And yet, now that I had met and spoken with him face to face, he seemed a rather different man than I’d thought, and I could never have imagined the two of us ending up in the same boat like this.

Of all the many detectives, coming to Robin may have been the right choice after all.

Robin bowed his head, courteous and correct, toward the receding carriage. I settled back and calmly closed my eyes.