45. Business As Usual
In which the gerbils continue their work…
Fenella arrived at Graphic’s bench as Graphic finished setting out her pencils. “Leave those,” she said. “Today you are leading the window that came in.”
She returned to her bench where Gemma Glasswing’s stained glass replica lay flat in its frame, every piece of glass in place and straw where the lead should be. On a board next to it Fenella had set out came in lengths, a lead knife and a tin of horseshoe nails.
Graphic looked at the woman in deep water blue, at the three keys and the purse, and at the straw. Then she picked up the first length of came.
Halcyon was still in the office, and Gimbal was writing out the rest of the list of dies, so Griffin sat down at the laptop. She opened the spreadsheet at the Stock tab and began to work through the stocklist as usual. Then, with the Stock tab still open, she undid the button on her inside pocket and took out the data stick.
As instructed, she inserted it into the laptop. Then clicked on File, Save as, then Browse. On the left-hand side was a list of folders and files and a long way down, a drive called Boily, with the letter D in brackets after it. She clicked it, and clicked Save, and a little bar went across and was gone. She pulled the stick out, put it back in her pocket and did the button up over it. Nobody looked round. Griffin returned to the Stock tab again and went back to work.
At the Stamps box, Gimbal continued writing the die numbers and what the die was, up through the hundreds, one line each in pencil. A little before noon she wrote down the details of die 200 and put the pencil down. The list was finished properly.
In the break room at lunch Gimbal waited until both the others had sat down. “Compartment 23 is empty,” she said. “And 106.”
Griffin stopped with her sandwich halfway to her mouth. “Empty how?”
“Bare wood. The number on the bottom and nothing in the compartment. I listed all the stamps from 1 to 200 and those two were not there.” Gimbal kept her voice low, though the door was shut. “I put both of them in myself. Nobody has asked me for either of them since.”
“Which ones are they?” asked Graphic.
“Twenty-three is the old mark. The curve and the tail and the three lines. Reconstruction, it says on the sheet.” Gimbal looked at the door and back again. “And 106 is the Margrave’s mark.”
Nobody said anything for a moment.
“Did you get the spreadsheet?” asked Gimbal.
“Yes.” Griffin put her sandwich down. “Halcyon was in the office all morning and you were writing the stamps list. I saved it to Boily and put it back in my pocket.”
“I’ve been leading Gemma Glasswing’s window,” said Graphic. “Fenella put me on it first thing. Not stamping. Leading, all morning.” She looked at her paw, which had a grey smear down one side. “I’ve done the top half. I’ll probably finish it today.”
The afternoon continued much as the morning had. Graphic went back to leading the glass. Griffin went back to the Stock tab. Gimbal, with the list finished and handed in at the office door, found the broom and swept the workshop from end to end, which it did not need, and then round the benches.
At half past five the three of them had their coats on and were about to leave. Halcyon had already left for the day. Fenella was at her bench with her back to the room.
Gimbal stopped and turned back towards the workshop door, resting her paw on the handle. “The broom,” she said. “I left it by the bench.”
“Leave it,” said Griffin.
“I don’t leave things out,” Gimbal said, pushing the door open. “Wait for me.”
Before she could take a step inside the workshop, Gimbal saw Fenella standing over the freshly leaded window at the bench where Graphic had left it. She had a stamp in one hand and a small hammer in the other.
As Gimbal watched, Fenella turned the first die to the light, the way she checked every stamp before she used it, and Gimbal saw the curve and the tail and the three lines. Fenella placed it on the lead low on the bottom edge and struck it once with the hammer. Then she put down the stamp and picked up another, heavier stamp. She put it on the bottom edge of the lead directly over the first stamp and struck it with the hammer harder than before.
Gimbal took a step backwards, quietly closed the door and went out to the others, and did not say a word.
https://myrtlelion.substack.com/p/45-business-as-usual