Haken glanced up. I was sitting in the alcove in exactly the same place I’d been in when he’d left. “What?”

“The indictment.”

“Oh,” Haken dropped onto the bench. “Could have been worse.” He shrugged. “Rain got the worst of it, he’s the one in charge. Going to screw up his chances for his next promotion.”

“So what did they want to know?” I asked. “More about the case?”

“No one cares about the case anymore. This whole thing’s become about White Rose. That’s what the prosecutor was pushing for—they want an indictment against the whole organisation. Centrists aren’t going to agree to that but . . .”

“Then what are they going to do?”

“Fuck knows,” Haken said with a sigh. “All I know is that we’ll be the ones the shit lands on. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

We got up and started walking out of the Belfry the way we’d arrived. “They kept you in there a long time,” I said.

“Lot of questions.”

“When did they let you out?”

“Look, Verus, you know what ‘closed proceedings’ are, right? I’m not supposed to talk to you about this stuff.”

I nodded. “Sure.”

We headed down the tunnels, making the rest of the trip in silence. I didn’t say what I was thinking. While I’d been free in the Belfry, I’d kept myself busy by searching through the futures of questioning the other mages there. Most hadn’t been talkative but I’d found one clerk who’d been willing to help, and she’d told me (or rather, would have told me) that Haken had gotten out of the indictment proceedings forty-five minutes ago.

I was fairly sure it didn’t take forty-five minutes to walk from the judicial chambers to the Belfry. I wondered what Haken had been doing before rejoining me.

| | | | | | | | |

Night was falling by the time we made it out onto the city streets. “You’re not on the witness list anymore, but you’re still on call,” Haken said. “When they make their decision there’s a good chance you’re going to be called up. Make sure you’re ready to move on short notice.”

“Tonight?”

“Maybe. They might move fast on this one.”

I nodded. “Oh, one more thing,” Haken said. “You still have that focus you found at the station?”

“Sure.”

Haken held a hand out. “You’d better hand it in.”

I took a green spherical focus out of my pocket and passed it over. “You’re going to drop it off at the station?”

“Yeah. You might as well go home and get some rest. Don’t know when we’ll get the order to move.”

“See you tomorrow.”

I walked away down the road. The entrance to the War Rooms that we’d used was on a side street, and there wasn’t much traffic. Behind me, I could sense Haken taking out his phone to make a call. I turned the first corner, stopped, put my back up against the building, and waited.