I look toward the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking downtown San Francisco. The bay is tinged its usual phosphorescent green, the lights of the skyscrapers blue and white. Hovercars wink and blink as they weave their way through them.

“So,” Nazarin begins, and I turn. “Was Vuk Radke a regular client of Zenith?”

“He’d come maybe once every other month or so,” Sal replies. He seems at ease, relaxed. I find that unnerving. A dead client was found in this very room, my sister covered in his blood, and he doesn’t seem to mind at all. I swallow.

“Did he often see Tila or Leylani when he was here?”

“Leylani was his favorite hostess.”

“Did he stay over when he visited?”

“Every other time. So perhaps three times a year.”

“Have you had any dealings with him outside Zenith?”

Sal shrugs a shoulder. “Here and there. I go to charity events. Sometimes he’d be there. We were on friendly enough terms, I’d say.” A flicker of emotion on his face: regret.

“Why wasn’t Leylani here three nights ago?”

Sal takes a cig out of his breast pocket and sucks on it, the end briefly glaring red. He blows out the mist. “Said she wasn’t feeling well and had to cancel her shift.”

“Has she missed any work since?”

“No, she came in yesterday. I haven’t told her anything about this.”

“Can you tell us more about what happened three nights ago?”

Why am I here? I want to ask them. I don’t want to listen to this. I don’t want to hear this slick, shiny-suited man dispassionately explaining the night my sister’s life fell apart—and mine, as a side effect. Yet I’m curious, too, and find myself drifting closer. Adrenaline courses through my veins. I force myself to calm down.

“I found her. The room sensed the blood on the floor and it triggered an alarm. My employees are protected—they are never to be harmed. Fantasies like that are reserved for the Zealscape, but even so, we don’t allow violent sexual fantasies unless the host or hostess consents to it. Tila was always very clear she was not interested in that, and their engagement that night was not likely to be sexual.”

My shoulder muscles are so tense they feel like they could shatter.

“So I was concerned, obviously, and came in personally. There was Vuk on the floor, with Tila sitting next to him, covered in blood.”

I close my eyes, but the vision is too vivid. I open my eyes to see Sal’s blue ones focused on me, curiously watching my reaction. I release the tension in my body, but cross my arms over my chest.

“Did she say anything to you?” Nazarin asks.

“She did.”

I frown, and Nazarin nudges him. “What was it?”