I found Azhanharad in a back corner booth, frowning at a copy of the Arbiter. He transferred the frown to me as I came up to the table and stood up. “Othala Celehar.”

“Subpraeceptor.”

“This is a good place to meet, but a bad place to talk. Will you walk with us?”

“Of course,” I said.

We walked in silence for several blocks, until we came to one of the tiny cemeteries that dotted the Airmen’s Quarter. Here, surrounded by the silent dead, Azhanharad stopped. “We have had some very enlightening conversations with Horthena Renthalar.”

“The murderer.”

“Yes. His desire seems to be to get as many people in as much trouble as possible. If Osmin Temin weren’t already dead, she would be executed.”

“Yes.” That had been a given since the moment she told me she had ordered Tedoro’s murder.

“But what Horthena Renthalar has told us about the arrangement is very interesting. The photographer is his brother, Anvina Renthalar.”

That part made sense, but … “How did he become involved with the school?”

“He—the photographer—was Osmin Temin’s lover.”

“He was what?”

“He was her lover first, and they came up with this terrible scheme together,” said Azhanharad.

I said, “She didn’t seem like the kind of woman who would do that.” She had seemed much more like the kind of woman who would have an illicit relationship with one of the teachers at her school.

“Renthalar has no reason to lie.”

“She must not have objected very much to Mer Renthalar’s plans for her students.”

“No, she didn’t. From what Renthalar tells us she didn’t object to anything that promised to bring in money.”

“Why did it take so long for one of the girls to seek help?”

“Firstly, they were told that they would go to prison if anyone found out. Secondly, who were they to tell? Osmin Temin suborned their teachers, and we believe there were bribes paid to the othas’ala, although as of yet we cannot prove it.”

“They had no one to turn to.”

“No,” said Azhanharad. “And they knew that all Osmin Temin had to do was deny the accusation. Subpraeceptor Mobrasar would certainly believe her word over the claims of a bunch of foundlings.”

“Yes,” I said, for that was true. “And thus Tedoro took a chance.”

“Yes. One of the other girls said that Tedoro thought any Witness was better than none. Which turned out to be correct.”

“Too late for Tedoro, though. We suppose that now we will never find out why Osmin Temin wanted her murdered.”

“From what the other girls told us, Tedoro was unwise enough to say aloud that once she was free of the school, she would go to a judicial Witness, and she was due to leave in a matter of weeks. Someone told Osmin Temin what Tedoro had said, and Osmin Temin decided it was a risk she was unwilling to take.”

“What a horrible person,” I said.

“Yes,” said Azhanharad.