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Lisa nodded and sat down, her happiness at finding Tonio and Tirrell alive
abating as she realized what Gavra had in mind. "May I ask Detective Tirrell a
question first?" she asked, determined to hold off the hammer as long as
possible.
Gavra nodded. "Go ahead."
Lisa turned to Tirrell. "Are Dr. Jarvis and Colin all right? And have you
caught Weylin and the others yet?"
"Everyone's fine," the detective assured her. "Colin's a bit confused by all
the fuss apparently
Jarvis convinced him he was on a vacation of sorts but he's back in Ridge
Harbor and doing fine.
We picked up Weylin and all the others Martel had been using when they got
tired of flying around the forest and returned to the temple site. Weylin's
going to lose a lot of points for his attack on that policeman, and of course
he's lost his righthand position. The others were just sent back to their
hives with warnings. They'll probably lose some points for being out after
lights-out, but nothing worse is likely to happen to them. When a fagin's
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involved, kids are usually treated more as victims than as criminals."
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Gavra cleared her throat. "Unfortunately, Lisa, your case is considerably more
serious," she said, looking unhappy. "Along with several smaller infractions
of hive rules, you have deliberately violated my prohibition against telling
anyone of your reading ability." She hesitated, and her eyes were moist. "I'm
sorry, but I have no choice but to cancel all of your points."
Lisa swallowed painfully, feeling her breakfast churn in her stomach. She'd
known this was coming, but it still hit her like a punch in the gut. All her
points gone no possibility of any schooling past
Basic maybe not even that much. Her future effectively ruined... and all while
just trying to help people.
But I
did save our lives, she told herself, thinking back to the cabin. Somehow, at
the moment, it didn't feel like a fair trade.
"That seems a bit extreme," Tirrell said. "After all, she was a great deal of
help to us."
Gavra shook her head tiredly. "I tried, Detective, I really did. But I have no
choice. My own superior, the officials at Lee Intro I've even talked to the
mayor's office to try to win her at least a reduction. No one's interested in
sticking his neck out to even help me fight it. The point loss has already
been recorded at the city building I don't know how they found out and there's
absolutely nothing I can do." She looked at him hopefully. "Unless you can
intercede...?"
Tirrell shook his head. "I don't have even temporary authority in Barona
anymore," he said. "We're on our way back to Ridge Harbor right now. Tell me,
how many points did Lisa have?"
Gavra frowned, and even through her misery Lisa heard something odd in the
detective's voice. She looked at him, wondering, but his expression was
perfectly calm. It wasn't until she noticed Tonio doing his best to stifle a
grin that it began to dawn on her that perhaps their disinterest wasn't what
it seemed.
"It was something just over forty-six hundred," Gavra told him, still
frowning. "Forty-six forty, I
believe."
"That's a lot of points," Tirrell commented, drawing a folded piece of paper
and a pen from an inside coat pocket. "Tonio's got more than that, but he's
got several months of righthand duty under his belt." Unfolding the paper, he
laid it on the edge of Gavra's desk and wrote briefly on it. "As a matter of
fact, I was the one who blew the whistle on Lisa. You see, she can only have
her points taken away once and I wanted to make sure it was done before I
brought this by." He offered Gavra the paper.
The Senior was looking thoroughly confused. "What is it?" she asked, taking it
cautiously.
"Didn't you know?" Tirrell's straight face was gone, replaced by a satisfied,
almost wicked smile.
"Ridge Harbor's had a ten-thousand-bill reward posted for Yerik Martel's
capture for nearly four years. With a half-dozen different relationships
between bills and hive points in existence, I was able to get official
permission to use my own judgment."
Gavra blinked hard, her eyes still moist but all the tension gone from her
face. "Lisa... Detective
Tirrell has authorized the addition of forty-seven hundred points to your hive
record."
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A Coming of Age
Lisa's throat felt dry.
Forty-seven hundred points!
Everything she'd lost, and a few extra. "I... thank you," she managed. "I... I
don't know what to say."
"You don't need to say anything," Tirrell told her. "You've done a great deal
for us, Lisa, though the world will never know it. A few hundred hive points
is no more than you've earned."
A warm glow seemed to fill Lisa's body... but she nevertheless caught the
extra meaning behind the words. "I understand," she nodded, and meant it. No
one would ever learn about what had happened that weekend from her.
"Good." Tirrell stood up. "Well, I'd like to stay longer, but we're supposed
to be back in Ridge
Harbor by noon, so we'd better be going. Perhaps you can come visit sometime
soon, Lisa; just drop in at the police station and someone there'll find us."
"And if you come before it gets too cold, I'll show you what flying over an
ocean is like," Tonio added, his manner an odd mixture of shyness and daring.
"I'd like that," she smiled. "I've never flown near the ocean before."
"Good," Tirrell said. "Then we'll see you soon. Good-bye, Ms. Norward, and
thanks for everything."
"I was glad to help. Good-bye, Detective; Tonio.
They left. For a moment the room was silent, and then Gavra stirred in her
chair. "Well, Lisa," she said, "I guess that about ends it."
Lisa nodded. "Should I go on out to the construction site?" she asked. "I
could take over from Kaarin and let her come back here. Unless I'm still on
probation, that is."
Gavra smiled and waved the suggestion away. "Tomorrow's soon enough to get
back to work. Take the day off and relax I get the feeling you've more than
earned it. And whatever you've promised
Detective Tirrell to keep secret, for heaven's sake make sure you do it this
time."
Words that could have hurt... but spoken with a concern that kept them from
doing so. "I will," Lisa smiled back.
Though it might be nice, she thought as she left the office, know exactly
what it was she was to keeping quiet about. Perhaps on Saturday she would take
the others up on their invitation and fly over to Ridge Harbor for a long
talk. And after she got the complete story of what had happened at the
refinery, perhaps she would take Tonio up on his offer of a guided tour of the
seacoast and ocean.
And after that, there might be time for a quick side trip up to Cavendish...
where Daryl was.
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A Coming of Age
"So you're going to let Jarvis keep on with his experiment," Tonio said as
they pulled away from the curb and headed down the street.
"You disapprove?" Tirrell asked.
Tonio shrugged. "I don't like the idea of him putting stuff into Colin without
knowing what it'll do."
"If it hasn't hurt him so far, chances are it's safe enough. And if it's
not... well, it's probably too late already. But I think it's a risk worth
taking, given how things have turned out."
Tonio glanced at the detective. "You're really determined to wipe out all the
fagins, aren't you?"
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