They lead in different directions, and I couldn’t tell you at this moment which one ends up in the right place.” We were sitting in the office after Miss Du’s departure. “I didn’t give you the whole story yesterday, but something about what we just heard makes me think there is a bigger fish out there than I first thought.” My uncle nodded slightly. He was awake, I could tell, though his eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow. There was no sense waiting for an answer beyond the nod. There wouldn’t be one. “Good, go ahead and maintain radio silence,” I said. “I’ll give you the short version, because, frankly, it’s the one I’m more comfortable with for now.” No change in breathing patterns. “Since you’ll notice anyway, let me admit at the outset that I’m going to have to blur some of the detail.” Actually, I’d seen dead men breathe more deeply than he was doing now. “To save time, I may also skip over a few secondary points. The essence is as follows: Someone on this side of the river supplied, for a considerable sum of money, a phony state seal, which was somehow transported somewhere.
