“We don’t know what he’s capable of, Acolyte.”

Another person to identify me without my robes, I thought, as the man vanished into the lower Gardens. For the first time it struck me that the woman did not resemble an Enforcer. Although she wore the sharp-cut maroon uniform of their order, she had black lace-ups instead of work boots, and the brief run had left her out of breath. A suspicion formed in my mind.

“Understood,” I said. I gestured regret with my hands. “I’m sorry for getting in your way.”

The woman shook her head. “No need to apologize; there wasn’t anything I could have done anyway.”

She’s lying, I thought. There was something slightly false about her expression, too much emphasis behind her words.

“You’ll have to make a witness statement at the Detainment Offices. Ask for Herald Rhyanon Hayder.” The woman sighed heavily. “I must reassure the civilians. Please excuse me.”

Rhyanon Hayder did not work in the Detainment Office; she was Deputy Chief of Civil Obligations. But I nodded anyway.

“Eater’s grace upon you,” I said.

I watched the Enforcer walk toward the Winter Gardens. The man was long gone now, and I stood alone at the top of the stairs. A breeze rustled through the trees.

I wasn’t sure why she had tried to deceive me. But it looked an awful lot like both she and Herald Hayder were impersonating Enforcement staff. That interested me.

I turned right and headed toward Minor West and the Detainment Offices. Time to find some answers.

CHAPTER

SIX

The name ‘Detainment Offices’ was misleading. Few criminals were ever housed within the triple-storey complex. Depending on the severity of their offenses, felons were either sent to the mines, the Cosun province jail, or the Renewal Wards. Although the Detainment Offices did have a limited number of holding cells in the basement, it primarily served as the Enforcement Department’s administrative headquarters.

I sat on a chair in the first-floor corridor, waiting for an appointment with Herald Hayder, which—disconcertingly—was to take place in one of the building’s interrogation rooms.

The Enforcer who had sent me here was a senior Acolyte. I had filed a preliminary report with her, sketching the outlines of the incident. To my surprise, she took down the details without comment. She scarcely batted an eyelid when I asked to speak to Herald Hayder.

“She’ll return shortly. You can wait outside room fifteen.”

I followed her directions, and sat where I was told. Doubts had crept into my mind. In the years prior to her martyrdom, my mother had spoken of Herald Rhyanon Hayder more than once. They had been colleagues at Civil Obligations. When I was a child, Rhyanon had hosted a daughter-naming celebration, and I brought a gift for her newborn. Jene? Joane? That might have been the name. My memory of the day nagged at me; something unusual had happened, but I couldn’t recall the specifics.