Julian Vance clicked the tail-cap button of his stainless steel inspection pen.
Click.
A narrow, concentrated beam of three-hundred-and-sixty-five-nanometer ultraviolet light erupted from the quartz lens.
The invisible radiation hit the blue-tinted admission ticket pinned to Julian Sterling-Vane’s gold silk sash, causing the fibers of the paper to fluoresce with a cold, ghostly violet glow.
Sterling-Vane flinched backward half a step, raising his fountain pen as if warding off a blade.
“What are you doing with that light?” Sterling-Vane demanded, his voice dropping its smooth confidence. “Get that thing away from me!”
“Forensic ink analysis,” Julian said, his voice as calm and steady as a dial tone. “Store Number Four retail auditing standard. When a customer presents an exemption coupon, the clerk verifies the print medium.”
The two massive varsity rowers shifted their weight on the concrete landing, their double pupils twitching under the ultraviolet spill.
