Max had also learned at his mother’s knee, had competed against Lila in silly, childish games, even as he aged out and left the estate. It was Max who had bragged that he would break into Liberté one day, though to Lila’s knowledge, he had never attempted it. Perhaps he had been successful and not revealed it, just as Lila had kept her own victory to herself, for she had been well tutored by her mother against such trust. She didn’t require a high five from Max or a hug from Ms. Poole after a job well done.
No, Liberté had always been a quiet, hidden pride. Every time she polished her sapphire ring, the ring she had commissioned from Jewel as secret congratulations for herself, she felt the glow wash over her anew, felt a smile come to her lips. She flaunted her mischief in front of everyone, and no one else could decode it.
Now she’d done it twice.
Max might not have matched her feat with Liberté, but he had definitely succeeded in ferreting out useful information for Beatrice Randolph over the years. It was what he was good at; his skills were superior to both Lila’s and the chairwoman’s. After he had found an information leak that led to the arrest of five Randolph workborn and two family members, as well as the recovery of three million credits, Max had earned a condo for himself and his mother in one of the nicest buildings on the Randolph estate. The chairwoman also promised him a lucrative contract after he aged out.
Max took the condo and declined the job offer, leaving the estate one week after his mother’s death. Eight years later, he lived on the lake in a house fit for a highborn heir.
Lila chewed her cookie, waiting for her old friend to pick up.
“Lila, you little minx,” he said at last. “What box of trouble will you throw me in today?”
“The best kind. The finding kind.”
“You know me too well. Who am I finding?”
Lila poked at her cookie, smooshing it in half. “Valandra Schreiber.”
“Valandra Schreiber? You want me to find Valandra Schreiber? Just like that?”
“Yes. Just like that. I need to find her before nine o’clock.”
“Nine o’clock when?”
Lila slipped a chocolate chip into her mouth. “Tomorrow morning.”
“You’re not even joking, are you? No one ever finds Valandra, Lila. She finds you. If you need some forgery work done, send a proxy. Oracle’s wrath, I’ll go for you at half my usual rate. Valandra’s an ugly little creature, but she’s a bigger flirt than I am. We always have a fun afternoon.”
“And a fun night?”
/> “I have a fondness for hotels and ugly little creatures. I’m fairly ugly and little myself, except where it counts.”
“Chairwoman Wilson knows where Ms. Schreiber is, Max. She’s meeting her at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.”
“Wilson is lying. She knows a drop address at best.”
“Even so.”
Max sucked in a breath. “I’m not going to rat out Valandra. She’s a business acquaintance, Lila, a profitable one. She’s also a friend. Besides, I know several highborn families who would share an interest in finding the snitch who ratted her out. You couldn’t pay me enough to be that guy.”
“Point taken. My beef’s not with Ms. Schreiber, anyway. I just need to know where Wilson is picking up whatever she’s getting from her.”
“Forged visas, most likely. That’s Valandra’s bread and butter.”
“Probably. I already have an idea where the chairwoman will go after that. She’ll be headed to an airport, a private airstrip, most likely, somewhere she doesn’t have to file a flight plan. I just don’t know which one.”
“You either don’t have a bug on her, or you do and don’t think she’ll be dumb enough to talk about her plans. Or you think she’ll find the bug before she says something useful.”
“She’s either gotten smarter, or she was never as dumb as I imagined. Either way, I can’t rely on my bug. Just find her.”
“Double my usual rate. This is a speed job.”
“Twenty percent above the usual.”
“Lila—”
“Twenty. Otherwise I’ll send out my entire militia to tail every car that comes out the Wilson-Kruger compound, as well as cover the local airstrips, and you’ll get nothing. It’s risky and involves a great deal of paperwork and overtime, but it’d be cheaper than hiring you.”