It was another clear day, and Delaney arrived at his office on time with a sheaf of documents in his hand.
Inside them were the letters of suggestion he had collected.
It was something he had set going after his promotion to Deputy Mayor.
He would collect complaints and opinions from every quarter, he had announced, and would then go through them and act on them.
Wrongdoing and law-breaking of any kind he would by no means let pass.
And so he did, in fact. Setting aside a certain number of matters, a great many of them were duly seen to.
That had spread his name about to some degree, and given him a certain standing with the public.
Besides that, he had taken action in a great many directions, and the results he had got were tolerably good.
The Delaney of this period still had his eye on promotion, and so he went at it with particular energy, naturally enough.
He, Delaney, was a dutiful and conscientious man.
"Another full day ahead."
Delaney drank a mouthful of coffee and looked out at the view beyond the window, in high spirits.
He was going to get on with his work, and he would begin by looking at the letters of opinion in the file.
There were people who had been treated unfairly, people who had been bullied by some family or other, people complaining that some firm's operations were affecting the lives of the residents round about... one matter after another came up in front of Delaney.
And he marked them all as he went.
"Hm? A firm that has the nerve to be carrying out Pokémon experiments in secret!! How is that any different from Team Rocket?"
Just then Delaney had come to an anonymous letter, and what it described was a matter of Pokémon experiments.
There were several photographs with it as well, and what they showed bore out what was written.
Before he could read on, there was a knock at the door.
"Sir, sir, this is bad, this is bad."
The voice of his assistant came through the door, urgent with it.
"Come in. What is it?" Delaney put down what was in his hand and called out.
The assistant came in from outside.
"Sir, this is bad. Wycliffe has gone to the Sanctus Group, sealed the company up and arrested the greater part of its staff. He's in the conference room now, and he wants you to go along and be questioned."
"What? He dares to go and make arrests at the Sanctus Group? Doesn't he know the Sanctus Group is under my protection? The nerve of the man!"
Delaney was furious when he had heard it. This Wycliffe — was this a move to break with him openly?
To dare to take the knife to the Sanctus Group, which he protected!!
"Just so. It's as good as saying you don't count at all."
The assistant was crying it up as well.
"Ring ring ring—"
The telephone on the desk began to ring too.
"Hello."
"Delaney, is it? Come along to the conference room. Wycliffe is bringing a charge against you, so come and explain yourself."
"Yes, Mr Mayor. I'm on my way."
He put the telephone down, and Delaney's face went black. Damn the man — this old scoundrel Wycliffe, laying a charge against him.
Right. Very good. Then he, Delaney, would show him that he was not somebody to be squeezed and pushed about at will.
Being careful, Delaney asked his assistant once more all the same: had anything happened at the Sanctus Group lately? Had they got themselves into trouble with the man, or what was it?
The answer he got set his mind at rest. All was as usual at the Sanctus Group; nothing had happened.
"Right, right, right. Take me for an easy mark, do you? Then let's have at it!"
Reckoning that he had given Wycliffe no hold over him, Delaney had his own plan for meeting it too.
This Wycliffe was, like him, a Deputy Mayor of Dark City, and they got on very badly and were forever at each other's throats.
Both of them wanted to climb, and as it happened the Mayor was a year off retirement age, which made this a critical time and a very important one; and he had been making a furious show of himself.
Officialdom is a battlefield, and there was a fight between the two of them; only he had not expected the man to open war without declaring it this time, and come knocking at his door.
..................
"Wycliffe, what do you mean by this! You seal up a company without a word to anybody, and the Sanctus Group of all of them, which I've particularly supported."
In the conference room Delaney struck the table, rose to his feet and shouted it out in anger.
Below, the seats were already filled with the officials of Dark City, watching the two of them fight it out.
"A company you've supported?"
Wycliffe laid one hand on the table top and smiled faintly.
"Don't talk rubbish. Who doesn't know the Sanctus Group is one I've supported? The Mayor himself passed it. You simply don't count me for anything — nor the Mayor either."
Delaney dragged the Mayor in as well, and let fly at Wycliffe with the whole of it.
"Then you know this Auberon, I take it."
"Of course I do. The president of the Sanctus Group. He and I are on some terms — friends, you might say. Now, enough of this and that. You've sealed this company up; why have you sealed it up? Where's your evidence?"
"Just so, Wycliffe. If you have evidence, then let us have your evidence."
An aged voice spoke: the grey-haired Mayor, sitting in the middle, had said his piece.
"Evidence, is it. You shall have it directly." Wycliffe stood up, went up to the front of the conference room and threw the material in his hand up on the projector.
"A day ago I received an anonymous letter saying that the Sanctus Group was carrying out Pokémon research in secret, of an extremely evil kind, in grave breach of League law. So I went out myself, in company with Chief Ellery, to the Sanctus Group — and sure enough, I found the signs of it. Look at this, all of you."
Picture after picture appeared above them, and what could be seen in them plainly and unmistakably was a scene of blood.
They showed Pokémon experiments being carried out, and experiments of a most savage kind; the bloody scene of it made the scalps of the men below crawl to look at it.
"This..."
Delaney was stunned as well. If it were true, then there was something very wrong with this Sanctus Group.
"By the way, this Auberon of the Sanctus Group resisted arrest by force and has fled into open country. That is how the matter stands. One look tells you whether it is true or false. Gentlemen, is there anything still in doubt?"
Wycliffe said it with a smile, looking at Delaney in mockery, and came down and stopped beside him.
"Delaney, what have you got to say for yourself?"
Delaney pinched his brow, and then spread both hands and said:
"No — let me state this here and now. I have no connection whatever with this Auberon. As for support, it was only ordinary support, the same as any other company gets."
"Ha ha ha." Hearing that, Wycliffe laughed, feeling he had caught Delaney out. "Didn't you say Auberon was your friend? And that the Sanctus Group was one you'd particularly supported?"
"I hear you hold shares in the Sanctus Group as well."
Wycliffe bent down at Delaney's side and said it with a chill in his voice.