Amaldi’s expression had shuttered, as if windows had been closed to fend off a coming storm. But she met Kaylin’s gaze and held it. “He is a...friend?”

“He’s my partner. Mrs. Erickson is right. Hawks don’t operate solo outside of the Halls of Law.” Instinctive trust warred with learned caution for one long breath. “Mrs. Erickson was the reason I came. When she was talking about my partner, she described his weapon chain as a belt. That’s fair—from a distance it looks like a decorative belt. It’s not normal beat issue for a Hawk.”

“I would hope not,” the young man snapped, entering a conversation he clearly thought should never have taken place. “Do people honestly think of it as a belt?”

“If they’ve never seen it in action? Sure they do. What else could it be?”

Amaldi winced, but this time, she stepped on her companion’s foot. It was an extremely familiar gesture. “You were concerned for Mrs. Erickson, then?”

“Yes. Mrs. Erickson made clear that what she saw when she looked at that belt wasn’t what anyone else sees. It’s clear she sees a lot of things that other people can’t, but I don’t want to get her involved in things that might be dangerous.”

“Then turn heel,” the man snapped, “and go back to wherever it is she found you. Leave this entire line of questioning alone.”

Amaldi’s expression was grim, but there was no fear in it; she was annoyed. “Darreno.” The syllables were a snap of sound that would have been at home in a sergeant’s throat—even Kaylin’s Leontine sergeant. “Please forgive my friend. He is concerned for Mrs. Erickson as well, but he’s entirely too clumsy when it comes to expressing it.

“It is true we noted your partner. We cannot, as we are, commit crimes that would be of concern—or even of note—to you. Or so we assumed. Mrs. Erickson is, we thought, singular. And if we have each other, it is hard to exist as a simple observer. There are advantages to our...condition, but we have had time to dwell on the disadvantages.

“We did not expect that any of you might be able to see us. But...Mrs. Erickson could. And she could speak with us. We took an interest in her because she could. She’s the only friend we have made...” She trailed off. Kaylin noted that the young woman’s Barrani was accented, but she couldn’t pin down the woman’s original language, assuming ghosts had one. She was definitely human in form.