“He could have been a bystander?”

“Timing’s a little off for that. Besides, remember what your friend Xiaofan said? Second-to-last owner was a boy.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Thought you didn’t believe her?”

“Didn’t say that, did I?” Caldera said. “Have another look at the Thursday footage and see if you can find any trace of this kid. Oh, and while you’re up, get us a coffee.”

“I’m not your secretary, you know.”

“Uh-huh.”

I rolled my eyes and went out into the corridor. Even though it was a Saturday night, I could hear movement from elsewhere in the building. An office after working hours has a different feel from one during the daytime: there’s a kind of energy you don’t get when everyone is just doing their nine-to-five. It’s not the sort of environment where you can really relax, but there’s a weird sense of camaraderie.

Haken was at the coffee machine. The last time I’d seen him had been at Red’s, on Thursday night: he hadn’t looked so tired back then. “You’re working late,” I said.

“Oh, hey, Verus,” Haken said. “Yeah. This bloody missing-persons case.”

“I keep hearing about that.” I opened the fridge and glanced through for milk. “Who are you guys looking for?”

“You know that Council mage, Nirvathis?”

“Vaguely. Is he the one who’s got his eyes on that Junior Council seat that’ll go to the Dark mages if . . . ?”

“Yeah, him. Well, his ex-apprentice did a vanishing act. So now he’s accusing the Dark mages, and the Crusaders have jumped on it from one side and the Unitarians from the other and it’s a giant bloody mess.” Haken sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’ve got four different factions riding us and they all want us to solve the case, except they all want us to solve it different ways, so they’re calling for reports every hour. Everyone’s had their leave cancelled and we’re spending more time answering calls than we are actually working. Total balls-up.”

“Guess that explains why we’re not getting any help.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. You two are going to be on your own for a few days.” Haken yawned. “How’s it going anyway?”

I shrugged. “We IDed the guy. No idea if we’ll catch him.”

“You figured out why he was after you?”

We know that already. I opened my mouth to say that the assassin had been after the focus I’d picked up, then something made me change my mind. That last thing Landis had said to me . . . “Not really.”

“Well, keep at it.” Haken walked out.

The coffeepot was empty, so I had to make a fresh batch. When I was done I took the mug and headed back to Caldera’s office. The corridor was deserted but I could hear the sound of voices coming from the open door: Caldera and Haken. As I approached the doorway I saw Haken walk out.

I went back into the office. Caldera was still in her chair, and I set the mug down on her desk. “Nice one,” she said without looking up.