Fraud at Snowfields Read online

  Beltorec sighed. ‘Well, I think you’ll all agree that this is serious, and we need to decide what to do next. Let’s start up the table.’

  The others nodded, except Will, who did not understand this. Start up the table? To do what?

  The others removed everything that was lying on the table. Factorius took the note and eyed it closely. Then Beltorec took out his wand, pointed it at the table, and performed a spell. The tabletop started to shimmer blue as a faint stream of Bluerin flowed to it from Beltorec’s wand. Will stared, unbelieving. The whole top of the table, which just a moment before had been smoothly finished, bare wood, had turned into an LCD-like monitor. Amazing as this was, Will could nevertheless see the symbols he knew from his own computer there, as well as other strange symbols he had never seen before, and he had no idea what they meant.

  ‘Well then,’ Beltorec continued, and put his wand away. To Will’s further amazement Beltorec started touching several of the symbols on the screen with his fingers. It was certainly the largest touchscreen Will had ever seen—except maybe in some science-fiction films.

  ‘That’s incredible,’ he exclaimed, not able to stop himself.

  Beltorec smiled. ‘Good, isn’t it? It’s one of the best achievements of our development department.’

  Beltorec continued tapping the surface and moved around some of the symbols, and started some programs. Finally he started one that filled the whole screen. Will could see what looked like a map of the whole village of Snowfields. It completely covered the surface of the table.

  Seeing Will’s confusion, Lektrissima told him, ‘You see, our development department invented this computer and implemented a system that can trace all personnel inside of Snowfields. Of course its use is highly restricted, and luckily we have only had to use it a few times in the past.’

  Beltorec was still busily tapping on symbols, and a virtual keyboard appeared under his fingers. He looked up at the others around the table and said, ‘Well, we can see all of Snowfields and everything that is currently happening. Any ideas where we should start looking?’

  Factorius stroked his beard. ‘As for me, I’d start looking either at the production sites or at the Bluerin stores. I think illegal access to Bluerin would most likely be there, if you can call it “likely” anyway.’

  Blues cleared his throat. ‘I would not think so! Such access to Bluerin would be more likely at the production sites, but certainly not in the stores. I’ve got strict admission protocols in place so that only the most-trusted and most-essential personnel are allowed near the Bluerin stores. And they would never be alone near it anyway. Admission is only allowed in groups of three. And there have been no reports of any forced intrusions or breaches of protocol.’

  Factorius rolled his eyes. ‘Yes, yes, of course we all know your strict admission protocols and what have you. I only wanted to say that at production sites or in the stores, Bluerin is most concentrated and, therefore, these would be the places where an attempt to withdraw it would probably be most successful and the least noticed.’

  ‘But it would surely be noticed in my stores, thank you very much!’ Blues replied.

  Beltorec held up his hands. ‘Gentlemen, please! Let’s just gather ideas and then we can rule them out, for whatever reasons there may be.’

  Lektrissima looked thoughtful. ‘It would also be quite appropriate to think about less likely places to obtain Bluerin. If there are places where Bluerin is stocked but seldom used, a loss of it might not be noticed immediately, or it might be assumed that the records weren’t up to date and the Bluerin was taken out a long time ago. Places like the school or the laboratories of the development department.’

  ‘Hmm, good thought, actually,’ Beltorec replied. ‘In what other places would lesser amounts of Bluerin be stored that could be taken without anybody noticing?’

  Securitas answered, ‘Well, apart from the school and the development departments, there would not be any Bluerin elsewhere except in the stores and on the production sites. Maybe a bit in the magic department. But that’s about it. Bluerin would not be used anywhere else.’

  Lektrissima interrupted him. ‘Excuse me, Securitas, but that is not quite correct. You are forgetting the emergency stores. You know, the small containers all over Snowfields if you need Bluerin in a hurry to recharge your wand.’

  Securitas looked at her darkly, but then he conceded, ‘Yes, of course you are right. But as you might recall, these are well-guarded, and I would not think that such a small amount as is stored in there for emergencies would be of any interest for a large-scale fraud.’

  Lektrissima said soothingly, ‘Yes, I agree, but I do not think we should dismiss these containers altogether.’

  ‘So,’ Beltorec summarised. ‘The Bluerin has to come from one of these places: the development departments, the school, the production sites, the stores, or the magic department. And the emergency containers would not be of paramount interest. Which would be the most likely?’

  ‘You can certainly rule out my stores!’ Blues announced. This time even Caretrus rolled his eyes.

  ‘Would you know anywhere else where Bluerin is used?’ Beltorec asked Caretrus, ignoring Blues.

  He thought for a moment. ‘No, not really.’

  Beltorec nodded and typed in a few commands on the tabletop. Blue spots appeared throughout the village. Everyone looked at the map.

  ‘These are places where Bluerin can be found,’ Beltorec explained.

  ‘Hmm,’ said Securitas. ‘We’ve just mentioned all of those, as far as I can see. Even the emergency containers are shown, I might note,’ he added after a rather pointed pause.

  ‘Of course, you would not see any Bluerin that is covered in lead, you know?’ interjected Factorius.

  ‘Yes, that’s true!’ Beltorec’s brow furrowed. ‘And it’s more than likely that the forgers would cover their Bluerin and keep it well-hidden.’ He looked at the map for a moment, thinking. ‘We don’t seem to be making much progress here. What else can we do?’

  Factorius replied. ‘I think for now we should all look into the uses of Bluerin in our own departments, and see if we can find any discrepancies before our next meeting—yes, even you, Blues, please, just to rule it out properly,’ he added immediately as Blues started to protest once more. ‘And Lektrissima could look for clues that notes have already been taken out of Snowfields.’

  She nodded.

  ‘Caretrus could talk to his goblins and ask them to look out for any unusual activities or traces of the forgery process—maybe some clippings or leftovers from failed attempts. Our newest member, Will, could try to find any other notes in the school, as quite a few of the ones we’ve already acquired were found in or near the school, so someone in there seems to be involved rather directly. Blues and I should check our departments for any irregularities in the flow of Bluerin. Yes, I know,’ he added quickly, as Blues was immediately starting to protest yet again, ‘there would not be any irregularities in your stores, but please check it anyway, will you?’

  Blues grunted. ‘Beltorec should also have a rather close look at things in his school, for the same reasons we are involving Will. And Securitas should check with the development and magic departments to see if there have been any irregularities there, and to have a look at their usage of Bluerin.’

  Securitas nodded. ‘As cryptic and mysterious as they always act, there’s quite a good chance that even they themselves don’t know who is doing what with Bluerin and where exactly it would be stored.’

  The others laughed at this, and Will got the feeling that the magic department was not held in very high regard by the others—especially since there was nobody from that department in this group.

  Beltorec looked around the table. ‘Thank you, Factorius. I think that about covers it for the moment. Any more suggestions?’ Nobody had anything to add. ‘No? Then that’s all for this evening. We will meet again next week. Hopefully someone will have discovered something useful by
then. Good night to you all.’

  They got up from the table. Will stood next to Beltorec as the others started to leave the room. Beltorec pointed his wand at the table again. The map darkened and vanished, the computer screen disappeared, and Will was looking at an ordinary brown and smooth tabletop again. There was nothing that indicated it was in fact a large computer display. He looked at Beltorec.

  ‘Well, Will, let’s go back. Time to get you off to bed.’ And he led Will out of the room.

  After Will had gone through the door, the light dimmed behind him and the door closed on its own. They walked back through the corridors and up the stairs until Will finally recognised the corridor outside Beltorec’s office.

  ‘Just come inside with me for a minute, will you?’ Beltorec said to Will.

  ‘Good evening, sir! And to you, Mr Burns. Still here so late at night?’ They were greeted by the ever-attentive Crown.

  ‘Yes, some meeting we had to go to, you know how it is.’

  ‘Oh yes, sir, indeed. I do hope this was a productive one.’

  ‘Yes, quite,’ replied Beltorec shortly as he went through the door and into his office. Will followed him inside.

  ‘I sometimes wonder who’s nosier, Mrs Script or Crown.’ Beltorec scoffed. ‘Well, that’s it for tonight. Just one more thing: if you need to talk to me at any time during the following week, just tell Crown the code ‘British tar’, and he will inform me without getting Mrs Script involved. That’s all. Good night to you.’

  ‘Thank you. Good night, sir.’ Will left the office.

  ‘Good night, Mr Burns,’ Crown said gravely as Will went through the door.

  ‘Good night, Crown,’ Will replied absently, as he was thinking about all the things he had seen and heard this evening. He went back to his room quickly, longing for his bed after such an eventful day.

  Chapter 11

  It was at the end of the lesson when Contractus said, ‘I hope you’re all preparing for next week.’ He looked around the classroom. Will and the others looked at each other: what about next week? Were there going to be some tests or what?

  Freddy was the first to ask: ‘Er, sorry, sir, but just what is next week?’

  ‘Why, summer holidays of course!’ Contractus replied innocently.

  ‘Summer holidays?’ Freddy asked, looking startled.

  ‘Of course.’ Contractus laughed. ‘Did you think you’d get no holidays? Of course you do! You’ll have six weeks off to visit home and see your families again.’

  The whole class was in uproar. Everyone babbled excitedly. Will thought this was really great news. He had been so absorbed in his studies he had never even thought about something like summer holidays. But he missed his parents and his sister very much, and he was thrilled to learn that he would see them again the next week.

  The noise died down a bit, and Wendy could be heard asking above it: ‘Mr Contractus? How are we going to get back home?’

  The class went quiet. This was an interesting question.

  ‘With Cloudy’s Transportation Service of course. You’ll take a lantern pick-up here and be transferred via the cloud stations to lanterns next to your homes. Fast and easy. No messing about with planes, airports, check-in times, and all the rest that makes travelling in the outside world so bothersome.’

  ***

  Finally the last week was over, and it was the first day of the summer holidays. The previous evening the students had had a roaring party in their common room, so Will had slept late that morning to recover. Now he was standing underneath the lantern nearest to the school, and performed the necessary spell.

  In the next instant he was standing on the now-familiar cloud platform of Cloudy’s Transportation Service. After being guided through the facility and passing through several transfer stations, he stood underneath the street lantern next to his parents’ house. Home again! His eyes turned moist, and he suddenly realised he had missed it far more than he had been aware of. He quickly walked towards the house and before he could even use his key, the door opened, and his mother caught him in a tight embrace.

  ‘Oh, Will! It’s so good to see you again finally. I’ve missed you!’ she said when she finally released him.

  ‘It’s good to see you too,’ Will replied.

  ‘Come in, come in.’ His mother nearly dragged him inside.

  Once he was standing in the hallway, he heard a shriek: ‘Will!’ And his sister threw herself into his arms. He held her, feeling slightly embarrassed, but at the same time enjoying seeing her again. Suddenly Lucy realised what she was doing and quickly released Will, saying, ‘Er, hi, Will. Good to see you again.’

  Will decided to let it go and just grinned. He could always use it against her later on if necessary.

  They went into the living room, where they sat down, and Will told them all about his experiences at Snowfields. He told them about the lessons, the spells, and the training. They in turn told him about everything that had happened at home and at his old school. Later his father joined them after he had finished work, and Will repeated his most important experiences.

  Will spent a nice, relaxed holiday with his family and met some old friends. But he only saw them a few times because it was quite exhausting for him, as he always had to keep quiet about Snowfields and what he was doing there, and he constantly needed to keep up the story about the boarding school he was now going to. Luckily he had been trained for this during the last week at Snowfields: he and the other students had all made up convincing stories about the school they where supposed to be going to, and the lessons they had there. They even went exhaustively through all the minor details, like what their dorms were like, what the weather was like, what the nearest town was, and so forth. Will had felt like he was an undercover agent taking on a new identity, but now he was glad they had been so thorough with this, as it had prepared him for all the questions and spared him quite a few awkward pauses and contradictions when talking about what he was doing.

  Nonetheless it was quite a strain to keep up the pretence all the time, and so he did not meet his friends often. And, of course, as he was now living somewhere completely different and leading a different life, he did not have much in common with them anymore. So he was just as happy to stay at home and enjoy the company of his family and, of course, simply relax after the hard work at Snowfields.

  ***

  Even though the holidays had seemed so long at the beginning, the time was finally over and Will once again left the house with his suitcase in hand, accompanied by his parents, and went down towards the street lantern. After a final wave, he performed the spell and was once more on the cloud platform of the regional base of Cloudy’s Transportation Service. The trip to Snowfields was short and uneventful, although this time there was no sleigh ride into the village—he just appeared underneath the street lantern right outside the main entrance of the school. Once inside he met Sabrina and Wendy, who were just signing back in after the holiday. Together they went towards their rooms, telling each other about what they had been doing.

  ***

  Will was standing in an office of the headquarters of Cloudy’s Transportation Service. This week he was there for hands-on training. He was to learn all about the internal structure, the distribution network and how they were delivering the presents and transporting the personnel. He had already learned that here at the headquarters were mainly offices from which everything was coordinated. At the edge of the village were the large facilities where the basic materials were delivered and distributed to the Bluerin production facilities. One of the goblins acted as his tutor and was showing him around.

  Will asked him, ‘What I really don’t understand is your slogan, this “We deliver a’f—”’

  ‘Shhh.’ Lektriorer, a transportation goblin, clamped his hand over Will’s mouth. ‘We don’t say that one anymore!’

  Will tried to free himself from Lektriorer’s tight grip. ‘Why’s that?’ he asked. ‘It might sound a bit odd, but
—’

  Lektriorer sighed. ‘Look, if you really must know, Cloudy’s Transportation Service had this slogan you mentioned.’ His voice dropped to a whisper. ‘“We deliver a’fore you’ve posted it” and it led to some…ah, complications. We’ve had a case where a customer wanted to send a parcel to his nephew, but he was a bit forgetful, so he set off on his way here, but forgot the parcel at home. When he got here, he wondered what it was he wanted here at all, turned round, and forgot the parcel completely. But on the same day his nephew received the parcel. The parcel that was never posted, and the same parcel that was still at home, where our customer had forgotten it.’ He looked at Will in obvious discomfort. ‘And in another case, we had an artist who wanted to send a painting. But unfortunately he packed an empty canvas and sent it off. But, true to our motto, the intent was there for the customer to receive the finished painting. So the canvas was filled with the actual painting that hadn’t ever been painted.’

  Will tried to follow this logic. ‘But if it wasn’t painted at all, how could it have been on the canvas?’

  Lektriorer grinned. ‘We’ve had meetings about this. And we installed committees to look into it. They finally reached the conclusion that as we would deliver before it was posted—true to our slogan—we could also deliver what hadn’t been made yet. It was assumed that the actual deed would be done sometime in the future, so in the end it would all sort itself out. The artist would still fill the canvas, and Mr Forgetful would eventually remember and post the parcel. And don’t look at me like that. That’s what they told me.’

  Still trying to follow this logic, Will’s brain shut down and went AWOL.

  ‘At that point we decided it would be an immensely smart thing to change our slogan to “We deliver after you posted it”.’

  Will blinked. ‘That’s, er, not much of a slogan, is it?’

  Lektriorer grimaced. ‘I know, I know, it’s not quite the pick of the bunch, but we had to come up with something quickly, before we had any more, ah, let’s say incidents. At least with this slogan, we won’t have any deliveries ghosting around somewhere or delivering themselves. At least that’s what I hope,’ he added, looking a bit wild around the eyes.