Lakin eyed me for a moment, a debate going on behind his yellow-red shifter eyes. “I’ve actually been doing some more digging into the silver murders,” he said, tapping the file. “This is the file Roanas had started on the matter, the one you asked Mr. Genhard to hand over to me. I’ve added a bit to it since then.”
“No kidding.” My eyes widened as I glanced down at the file – it was a good deal thicker than it was when I’d sneaked it out of Roanas’ house and given it to Comenius to hold onto. Roanas had only just begun to dig into the silver murders before he was killed, so the details in the file had been pretty sparse when I’d recovered it. “What have you dug up so far?”
Lakin pressed his lips together, then opened the file and pulled out a photograph. “I found out that your Enforcer colleague, Sillara Tarenan, had a human live-in partner named Narina who lives in Rowanville,” he said, sliding the photograph across the table. “I went to speak to her earlier, to find out if she knew anything that would explain why Sillara was targeted.”
I picked up the photo of Sillara’s lover, my heart sinking a little as I studied the smiling, heart-shaped face of a young woman with flowing pale hair. I had a feeling she wasn’t smiling like that anymore.
Like me, Sillara had been an Enforcer, and she’d been one of the earliest silver poisoning victims. She and I hadn’t been close, but we’d been friendly and she was damn good at her job. Her murder stood out because she was the only shifter from Rowanville to be targeted, so it made sense for Lakin to be digging into her case. An old anger filled me at the senseless loss – if I ever got my hands on Petros Yantz, the bastard who’d organized the murders, I’d make sure he suffered for a long, long time.
“Did you learn anything?” I asked, handing the photo back to him.
“Nothing concrete,” Lakin admitted, nursing his drink – a cup of coffee, judging by the scent wafting from it. I winced as he brought the cup to his lips – the coffee here was terrible. “But she did tell me that Sillara was involved in an important investigation.”
I sat up straight. “What kind of investigation?”
“That’s the thing – her partner doesn’t know. She says Sillara didn’t talk much about her work at home. However, she also told me that Sillara had been incredibly stressed in the weeks before her death – she’d toss and turn in their bed at night and was always on edge.”
“Sounds like she was dealing with something big, then. Something that Yantz didn’t want her to uncover.” I forced down the anger that threatened to rise in my throat at the mention of Yantz’s name – stewing about it would do me no good right now.
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Lakin said darkly. “My next move is to try and figure out what she was working on… but I’m not sure how cooperative the Enforcer’s Guild will be about turning her files over to me.”
“How about we both head on over there tomorrow?” I offered, excited at the prospect of doing something useful on this case. “I can twist some arms for you and help get what you need.”
Lakin’s lips twitched. “I’m sure you could,” he agreed, then paused. “Is this going to interfere with your apprenticeship at all? I wouldn’t want to put you on the Chief Mage’s bad side.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m always on his bad side, so there’s nothing new there.” I was not going to let this stupid apprenticeship get in the way of my chance to participate in this investigation, the Mages Guild be damned. Surely they could find someone else to shuffle paperwork around tomorrow morning. This was far more important.
Lakin only shook his head. “Well you’re a grown woman, and I’m not going to pass up your assistance when I could really use it.” He smiled, and the expression softened his rawboned features. “I really appreciate your help with this, Sunaya.”
“No problem.” I smiled back as pleasure filled me. It had been a long time since I’d basked in the glow of appreciation, and I’d forgotten what it felt like. “I’ve been cooped up in the Palace for way too long. I’ll be glad to finally have some action again.”
Lakin glanced down at the file. “Somehow I get the feeling we’re going to experience more than our fair share of action before this case is over.”
He didn’t know how right he was.
3
The next morning, I pulled into the small parking lot outside the Enforcer’s Guild building, the sun just cresting the rooftops of the buildings lining the street. I figured the earlier we got this done, the sooner I could get back to the Mages Guild. Sure, I was due for a scolding either way, but they’d be less pissed at me if I was simply late rather than absent the entire morning.
As I sat on my steambike waiting for Lakin to arrive, I allowed my gaze to roam over the tall, dingy grey building that represented Canalo’s law enforcement system. It was rectangular, four stories high, with cracked windows and stains sunk deep into the concrete walls. The state of the building was a perfect allegory of our current justice system – old, flawed and neglected. One of the reasons I’d become an Enforcer was to try and make a difference in the system, and uncovering Yantz’s role in the silver murders was the first time I’d made a dent in my goal. It felt good to finally be back in the trenches again, even if just for a short time.
A large shadow passed over my head, and I glanced up to see one of the new tourist dirigibles passing overhead, puffing out white steam that trailed across the morning sky. Half-open glass windows lined both sides of the small cabin fitted to the underside of the large, bright red transport, and I snorted at the sight of cheery humans leaning out and gleefully waving their hands. I was amazed the tour company allowed such a thing – if a tourist hadn’t tumbled out one of those windows yet, it was bound to happen eventually. But dirigibles were a relatively new addition to Solantha’s tourism industry, and I had to admit that enjoying the sunrise from up there sounded pretty fun. If I ever had some spare coin again, I’d have to get myself a ticket, even if they were pretty pricey.