The image wavers. Ostensibly this is where Tila and Vuk speak, but the program does not know what was actually said that night. Normally, the cameras in Zenith would, but in the Zeal lounges, clients can pay extra for privacy. When the image clears again, Tila holds a knife. Vuk turns back to her with the drink and she attacks him. He manages to fend her off. She cuts him in a glancing blow to his wrist, which accounts for the blood splatters to the left of the large bloodstain. She manages to stomp on his instep and her knee flies up between his legs. He crumples, and Tila doesn’t hesitate. The knife flashes and goes beneath his ribcage and up, right to his heart. She rips the knife down, widening the wound, and Vuk bleeds out on the floor. She has no expression on her face. She bends down to the coffee table in front of her, driving the knife into the wood.

The holographic image goes dark.

I’m shivering, despite the perfect temperature of the room. It can’t be true. There must be some mistake. The infrared sensors were tampered with. It wasn’t actually my sister. It was someone else. Something. I can’t believe that Tila would do that, with no hesitation, with such precision and skill. There has to be more to it. There has to. Because if not, then I have no idea who that woman is I just watched kill someone in cold blood.

“That’s only one way it could have happened, right?” There’s a note of pleading in my voice, and Nazarin looks at me with a hint of pity. I turn away, not wanting to see it.

“Right. From infrared we know there were two people in the room, but their body movements weren’t mapped. This is their best guess as to the sequence of events, judging by the wounds, but the order could be off, and we have no context.”

I ask myself, in reality, how different could it be? Someone stabbed Vuk and ripped him open that night, and no one else was in the room but my sister. He didn’t do it to himself. I push the doubt away. It’s too much. I’ve never been more thankful for Mana-ma’s training. “What more can you tell me about Vuk?” I ask. The information I have on him from the police download is scant at best.