"Who was that man?" I asked, reaching the bottom of the staircase.
Dominic turned from the closed front door, phone still in his hand. The stranger was gone. The entrance hall was empty except for the two of us, the morning light coming through the tall windows, flat, unhurried.
"Someone from Aldric's network," Dominic replied. "He brought me something." He looked at the phone screen once more, then pocketed it. "Come."
He walked toward Richard's study. I followed.
He closed the door behind us, moved to the desk, sat on the edge of it. Not behind it, not in the chair of authority. Just on the edge, like a man who needed to be near something solid without making a statement about it.
I stayed near the door for a moment. Then I crossed the room, sat in the chair across from the desk.
"
