Chapter 1.31

Four horse-drawn carriages arrived at Colonel Tirel de Graaf's manor. In the first were Catherine de Graaf, Teo, and Aireen de Graaf. In the second were Anastasia de Graaf and her companions. In the other two were men of the de Graaf clan and from the Ministry of Foreign Intelligence, who Catherine de Graaf could trust.

"Madam, we have arrived," Teo said as they stopped in front of the gate to the manor.

He opened the carriage door and stepped out. Then, holding the door open, he gave his hand, first to Catherine and then to Aireen. Aireen was a little embarrassed by this treatment. A little later, others from the other horse-drawn carriages came up.

"What next?" asked Aireen to Catherine.

"If your father is there, I'll talk to him first."

"And if he isn't?"

"Then we'll take a little excursion around the estate," smiled Catherine.

The whole group approached the guards at the gate.

"Is my father back?" Was the first thing that Aireen asked them.

"No, Mistress. The master colonel has not returned."

Hearing the answer, she turned to Catherine.

"Then we go straight to the search," Catherine said. "You and I will go to Tirel's cabinet. The rest of you will take a quick excursion around the manor."

Tirel's men who remained in the manor didn't resist, though they weren't going to help either. For the most part, they only began to act after a direct order from Aireen de Graaf. And this greatly delayed the search for the entire estate.

Tirel's cabinet was empty. No, of course, the current documents concerning his work and his business with the Hippodrome were there. But they did not contain anything useful to Catherine. It was obvious that the colonel had diligently cleaned up all the documents.

"Looks like he won't be coming back here again, Madam," Teo said as he finished going through the papers.

"Yes, it seems so," Catherine agreed with him.

The only useful thing they found were copies of Tirel's debt papers. He had sold his estate to the bank for 340,000 gold and paid off his debt of 170,000 to the bank. He also sold his share of the Hippodrome business for 210,000.

"With that much on hand, he could live luxuriously for the rest of his days," Teo said as he put the last documents on the table.

"Yes, I agree," Catherine said. "He even managed to sell the estate to the bank at almost full price. But I don't think he'll retire. He's too fond of money."

Nearby, Aireen sat with a grim expression on her face.

"How could he do such a thing?" She said quietly. "Sell our estate and run away!"

Well, the colonel had not forgotten about his daughter and had left for her a small sum of money-three thousand in gold in her bank account. Within a few days, bank employees should contact her and give her access to the account.

"I have nowhere to live," Aireen said. The bank was taking possession of Tirel's property in three days. Now she had only two days to find a new place to live and move there.

"My dear," Catherine told her. "What he did is certainly unpleasant, but not fatal. You can always rent an apartment on the outskirts. That money will last you for a couple of years."

"Those couple of years will fly by very quickly," said Aireen, and looked at Catherine. "My little salary is barely enough to rent a good place to live."

"You can always find yourself a good husband."

"Who would want me now? Without money and without a place to live," sighed Aireen. "Mistress, if you will excuse me, I need to spend some time alone."

"Yes, of course, dear," Catherine agreed with her.

Aireen bowed to her and left the Colonel's cabinet.

"Madam," Teo addressed Catherine. "Do you really think Tirel will never come back here again?"

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "But from the looks of it, there's no point for him to come back here."

"Shall I declare him wanted, Madam?"

"What?" wondered Catherine. "Why? We have nothing documented on him. Only miscellaneous little things. With those, I can only press him at a clan meeting."

"What about trying to frame Michael?"

"Are you sure he's the Client? Maybe he just took advantage of the situation for his purposes. Let's hope Captain Anderson unearths something and finds out who the Client is. Then we'll at least have something substantial."

"Are we letting him go?"

"Yes, Teo," she said with a sigh. "He's too good at cleaning up his tracks."

"And Aireen?"

"Aireen? What about her?" Catherine wondered.

"At the next clan meeting, she may lose her status with the Colonel and cease to bear the name de Graaf. Will you not take her under your care?"

"You are right. She can stay with me," she said and looked at Teo. "And as for a status. She might not lose it. You're right, though. It would be better if she were married by then."

Clan meetings were usually held immediately after the National Assembly, which was to begin on the 1st of the 6th month. It lasted ten days. The previous one was on the 1st of the 1st month. The Clan de Graaf meeting was usually scheduled ten days after the end of the National Assembly. The next meeting is scheduled for the 20th of the 6th month.

"Poor girl," Teo sighed. "That's another thing that's come down on her. She's right, not many people would want to marry her now. Maybe we should marry her to Michael."

"To Michael? Not that I'd be against it. I don't see why not. If they both don't mind," Catherine answered evasively. "Are you finished with the papers?"

"Yes, Madam."

"Good, make a copy of all the important documents and we'll be done here."

While Teo made copies of the papers, Catherine ordered the servants to make her tea and serve it in the living room on the first floor. A little later Theodor went into the living room, followed by Anastasia. Then Teo returned with a stack of papers.

"I want tea and cakes and buns, too," Anastasia said first thing. And quickly took an empty seat.

"Have a seat," Catherine said to the others. "Find anything interesting?"

"Practically nothing, ma'am," Theodor replied. "The only thing worthy of your attention is that Tirel's men have been following Michael since he arrived in the capital."

"It doesn't look like he just took advantage of the situation, Madam," Teo said, looking at Catherine.

"All right, I admit it. That's where I was wrong," she said with a sigh. "Have you spoken to all his men?" she asked Theodor.

"No, ma'am. There are hardly any of his men left in the manor, only servants."

"So, we'll put out a wanted notice on his men then," she told those present.

The servants served tea to the others, too, and set out a large serving tray of fresh sweet buns. Anastasia immediately grabbed a couple of buns and stuffed one in her mouth. Catherine looked at her with reproach but said nothing.

"And the servants, Madam?" asked Theo.

"Let Irene deal with the servants," replied Catherine. "They are her servants, not mine."

" Madam, will you allow me to help her with this?"

"As you wish, Theo."

Louie de Brian sat in the carriage and watched Mike's house closely. Periodically, he caught faint bursts of magical energy emanating from there. He was very curious about what was going on there, but he couldn't afford to interfere. It wasn't time for that yet.

At Mike's house, another carriage arrived. This one had the crest of the Clan de Graaf. A human stepped out of it, and at first, Louie thought so.

"Boss, it's Michael de Graaf, by the description."

"Michael de Graaf? I can’t tell the difference between him and a human from the central lands at all."

"Boss are we still going to wait for Tirel to leave the house?"

"Yes," replied Louis. "He's our primary target."

Mike said goodbye to the driver who had dropped him off at home. He took a quick look around the street, turning his attention to two standing carriages not far from his house before heading for the house.

"Did he notice us?"

"I don't think so," Louie replied. "We don't use magic for surveillance and we don't stand outside like those others. And there wasn't an energy surge from him either."

There was an unexpected and very unpleasant surprise waiting for Mike at home. He noticed two carriages in the street, one of which seemed suspicious. But he did not expect to see Colonel Tirel de Graaf in the hall of his house, together with Captain Eric Shtof. Not only that, the floor carpet was rolled up against the wall and no longer covering the pentagram.

Seeing him, Martha jumped up from her seat and wanted to rush toward him, but Eric stopped her abruptly and sat her down forcibly.

"Young master, you are alive!" She said and cried.

"I am alive," replied Mike and looked at Tirel. "It is not yet time to bury me."

"Michael," said the Colonel, turning to him. "I didn't expect you to be released before the trial."

As Mike went inside, three of Tirel's men also headed for the house. And another started to turn the carriage around, probably to bring it up to Mike's house.

"Thank the good people for helping me."

"Catherine de Graaf?" asked the colonel. "And how did she know?"

"That is for you to ask her yourself. She is looking for you, after all."

"No, thank you. I'm not eager to talk to her."

"But she's eager to talk to you," Mike smiled. "She even went to your manor to talk to you in person."

"To the manor? She's a little late," Tirel smiled. "I'm not going back there again. And it's not even mine anymore."

"What? You and Aireen are leaving?" wondered Mike.

" Aireen? What's Aireen got to do with it. She's staying. She's as stubborn as her mother."

"You mean you're abandoning her."

"Shut your mouth," Tirel barked at him. "She's as ungrateful a brat just like her mother. I gave her everything she asked for. But when I picked a great candidate for a husband, she stubbornly refused. She doesn't like him, you see, he's from out of town and has a dubious income. Now let her try to arrange her own miserable life."

"That's no reason to abandon her," Martha entered the conversation.

"I've left her enough money. Enough for a couple of years. And it's not for you to judge me," Tirel answered her. "So enough about that. That's not why we're here," he said suddenly as if waking up.

"So, why are you here, Colonel," Mike asked, keeping his eyes on him.

Instead of answering, Tirel pointed his hand down to the floor where the deactivated pentagram was. Of course, there couldn't have been any other reason. Mike followed the colonel's hand and took a quick look at the pentagram. It looked intact, and even the crystals were all in place and in the right order. What with the energy charge, he didn't know yet. And the fact that Tirel was still in the hall and not in the lab suggested a lot. Mike hoped he couldn't figure out how it worked.

"And what do you want from me?" He asked him.

"I want to see your lab. It's obvious," replied the colonel. "But your pentagram doesn't work right."

"I'm surprised you couldn't activate it, Colonel," grinned Mike.

"Oh, no, no. I figured out the activation. It took some effort, but that's the trivial things," he grinned back. " Transfer doesn't work."

"What?" Mike couldn't believe what he heard. He had the urge to rush out and immediately check the state of the pentagram and the crystals. But he suppressed the impulse in time and only sighed.