The Aurora Borealis Keeps Its Lament novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Heart on the Sleeve

His hut was at the end of the east row, the last light before the dark.

I knocked twice, then a third time, and the door opened at once.

"Alba."

He had been sitting at his desk with a lamp turned to the highest setting and a magnifying glass lying on a sheet of paper.

He saw me and slid the paper under a book.

I decided not to ask.

"I came about the paper," I said.

"Sabina told me you were looking at it."

"Table 3 says the arc began at 21:14."

I watched his face.

For a moment it did not change at all.

Then the line of his jaw tightened.

"It began at 21:41," he said.

"Table 5 has a reading of 8.3 where the log says 3.8."

"Yes. I'm aware."

"You're aware?" I put the folder on his desk. "Then why is it in a paper with your name on it?"

"Because I didn't catch it."

He said it very evenly.

"I dictated the notes. I haven't had time to check the final copy." He lifted a hand and rubbed his eyes. "Sabina doesn't make careless mistakes. She would have copied what I gave her."

"Then you gave her wrong numbers."

"I don't know." His voice had a rough edge I had never heard. "I don't know, Alba."

It frightened me.

I had never in four years heard him say he didn't know something.

I pulled up the second chair and sat down across the desk.

"Give me the pages," I said.

"You said you were done."

"I'm not reading for you. I'm checking the paper. They happen to be the same pages."

A small, tired breath came out of him that was nearly a laugh.

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