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A crowd had gathered, both in the outside hallway and in the R&D corridor. I noticed Jake peering wide-eyed over Owen’s shoulder. Ari hovered over the group clustered in the R&D corridor, looking like someone who had slowed down to ogle the five-car pileup on the freeway.

In the outside hallway, there was an even larger crowd. It was as if someone had gotten on the company intercom and announced that there was free food outside R&D. Gregor and Kim were there from Verification. Minerva Phelps of Prophets and Lost stood in front of the group, like she’d been the first arrival. Dortmund, the accounting gnome, was elbowing people in the knees as he worked his way to the front.Advertisement

If Merlin had been any other boss, he would have said, “Don’t you people have jobs?” and sent them scurrying to stir up more rumors based on half-truths and guesses. Instead, he faced the crowd and said in a commanding voice, “It appears that we have a traitor in our midst. Please be aware of the activity around you and report anything suspicious to Miss Chandler, who will be managing the investigation. Now you may return to your work. The situation is under control.”

When Merlin went into ancient-sorcerer-who-built-an-empire mode, people tended to listen, so the crowd dispersed rapidly. When they were gone, I said, “I guess we’re not investigating covertly anymore.”

He sighed, and he was once again a very elderly man in a difficult position. “It didn’t seem likely that we could maintain any secrecy, so I felt it best to adapt our strategy. You will surely be overwhelmed with reports of suspicious behavior, but it’s possible that a germ of truth will be within. You’ll have to use your discernment to sort through it all wisely.”

“So you’re not going to reassign the investigation to people who know what they’re doing, now that we’ve been outed?” I asked hopefully.

“I see no need to make any changes at this point. Please continue your efforts.”

I could see already that I’d have to sit down with Isabel to get the scoop on the entire company so I’d be able to tell who had a grudge against whom and for what reason. Without being up on all the dirty laundry, it would be impossible to sort the malicious reports from the possible facts. Then again, there was always the possibility that someone who had a reason for a grudge might be telling the truth.

This was a whole new kind of verification, and it had nothing to do with seeing past magic. It would take seeing the truth in each person’s heart and soul.

Piece of cake. Yeah, right. I wondered if it was too late to opt out of my part in the saving-the-world-from-bad-magic gig.

By the time I got back to my own office, I had twelve e-mails and four voice mails. I checked to make sure there was nothing urgent in the mix, but they were all tips. I saved the voice mails and transferred the e-mails into a new folder I created for the investigation. It was almost five and I didn’t feel like I could face sorting through all that negativity. It could wait until morning.

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I moved my things from Trix’s desk back to my own office, then got my coat and bag and headed out. I was surprised to bump into Owen in the lobby. “I don’t remember the last time I saw you going home this early. I mean, other than when you’d had your shoulder ripped to shreds,” I remarked.

“I suppose one good thing to come of this is the fact that sealing off the department means I have to go home on time.”

“You could probably use the rest anyway.”

Then we reversed our morning routine, walking to the subway station from the office, side by side and almost in step. “So you got the ugly job of sorting through all this,” he said.

“Yeah. I wonder what I did to deserve it.”

“You’ve got a level head and a knack for seeing through all kinds of illusions,” he replied.

“I was being sarcastic.”

“I wasn’t. I think you’re probably best for the job. You don’t have any real ax to grind, unlike most of us who’ve worked there a long time.”

I looked at him suspiciously. “You have grudges and enemies and all that, too?”

“Let’s just say that there are people I don’t trust. I wouldn’t go out of my way to hurt them, and I wouldn’t frame them. But I wouldn’t be sad to see evidence pointing at them, and I might not be as discerning as I should be at deciding whether to believe that evidence.” He shrugged. “The problem with a company this old and this stable is that not only have most of us been working there our entire adult lives, but our parents and grandparents also worked there. Some of these grudges and feuds go back generations.” pqdm.com