“What are you suggesting?”
“That they were killed by someone else. And judging by the nature of their deaths—a tiny puncture to the skull for both of them—it was someone very augmented, ma’am.”
Vashta stewed for a moment. “Do you have a suspect?”
“Nothing firm, ma’am.”
“Do you have a motive for their killings?”
“Not a clear one, ma’am—not yet. But all we’ve learned continues to point toward the Hazas.”
“And yet, you have surely heard all I’ve said already about the Hazas. Though I am seneschal, if you wish me to haul the owners of the most valuable land in the Empire into this tower like a pack of jackals, I cannot do it during the wet season, when a leviathan grows so near—and especially not after a breach.”
There was a tense silence. Ana’s fist was clenched, her knuckles white and trembling—just like the day she’d interviewed Fayazi Haza in this very chamber.
“I am here to protect the Empire, Immunis,” said Vashta quietly. “Not deliver justice. That is not the purview of my Iyalet, and justice is not always easy to come by in such times.”
“I see, ma’am,” said Ana. “Yet there is one last question that troubles me most of all.”
“And what might that be?”
“The blackperch mushrooms,” said Ana.
Vashta blinked. “The…the what?”
“Well, presumably, Jolgalgan used blackperch mushrooms as a distraction at the halls of the Hazas—causing a fire to flare up immensely, drawing eyes as she slipped into a servants’ door.”
“So?” said Vashta.
“So, Nusis testified that blackperch mushrooms flare immediately when exposed to flame. Which means that Jolgalgan would have to have been present when the flare occurred.”
“So?”
“So, such a thing would not do for a distraction. She would be drawing eyes to her, rather than away.”
“Can you get to where you’re going with this, please, Immunis?”
“The likeliest explanation, ma’am,” said Ana, “is that there was a third. A third person, a third collaborator. Someone inside the party who tossed the mushrooms into the fire for her, to act as a distraction, while Jolgalgan slipped into the servants’ passages.”
Vashta frowned, troubled. “Do you have any evidence or testimony for this?”
“Again, nothing firm, ma’am. But being as I also wonder how Jolgalgan knew so much about Commander Blas’s movements—a knowledge that neither she nor Ditelus should have been privy to—I find my dissatisfied thoughts bending in this direction. There is, I think, a third poisoner out there.”
“And what,” Vashta asked, “would ameliorate your dissatisfied thoughts, Immunis?”
“I would like to request a week to review all evidence and perform any additional interviews, ma’am. Jolgalgan surely saw many people before her apparent disappearance. So did Ditelus, and Blas. I want to talk to them all, and then we shall find our third, if they exist.”
Vashta silently debated all this. “Do you expect any more Engineering deaths?”
“To dappleglass? I doubt it.”
“And no more bits of the sea wall shall come down.”
“I don’t believe so, no.”
“And your investigation won’t interfere at all with our preparations for the approaching titan.”
“No, ma’am.”
“Then I can give you a week,” she said. “But I cannot promise it will actually be given.”
“Because of the leviathan?” said Ana.
Vashta smiled—a cold, jaded expression. “This is Talagray, Immunis. Nothing is ever certain here. Still, I must say…you have performed your duty. Even if we don’t fully comprehend this crime, you have identified the killers and found them out within a matter of days, when we needed it most. You have done well.”
Ana bowed. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“And although I agree this end doesn’t satisfy, I will congratulate you. Many officers shall sleep far more soundly tonigh—”
The ground shook below us. This quake was much stronger than some of the others I’d felt in the past days. I glanced out the window, worried I might spy green flares rising on the horizon, warning us of a leviathan’s approach.
“Well,” said Vashta. “As soundly as they can, I suppose.” She rubbed her tired eyes and sniffed. “Will you and your signum be at the banquet tonight?”