Sicarius slanted her a faintly bemused look.“Starcrest.”
Her toe bumped a step, and she caught herselfon the railing. “Fleet Admiral Starcrest? Really? I picture youmore as a warrior general than a brilliant naval strategist.”
They reached the third floor and anotherempty hallway.
“You believe I lack intelligence?” Sicariusasked.
Amaranthe jerked a hand up. “No, no.” It hadbeen some time since he had thrown a knife at her, and she did notwant to give him a reason to consider it again. “It’s justthat…ah, you lose to me three out of four times when we playStrat Tiles.”
“Because you cheat.”
“How do I cheat?” she asked, trying to readhis face to see if he was irked or merely giving her a hard time.She never should have given him permission to tease her.
“You talk,” Sicarius said.
“Talking isn’t cheating.”
“It is when you seek to wheedle my strategyfrom me under the guise of learning from my greaterexperience.”
She blushed. She hadn’t realized he sawthrough that so easily. Though it had worked.… Several times.
“I should be flogged, no doubt,” Amaranthesaid.
A rare gleam of humor entered his eyes.“Perhaps.”
Amaranthe counted doors until they reachedthe flat she had been observing, the one she hoped belonged toRaydevk and his wife. The building could very well house otherfamilies with two young sons.
She pressed an ear against the door beforeknocking; she did not wish to interrupt a second round oflovemaking. Voices murmured, male and female, the words too low tomake out. They did not sound ardor-filled.
She knocked. Out of habit, she straightenedher uniform and patted down her bun. Looking the part of aprofessional enforcer might no longer be a requirement, but sometics failed to die.
The door opened, and a moon-faced womanleaned into the gap. When she spotted the uniforms, her eyesbulged. Even a rookie could have interpreted the guiltywe’re-caught expression.
Amaranthe stuck her foot into the gap, lestthe woman’s first instinct be to slam the door shut and lock it.The woman stepped back, but bumped against one of the piles offurniture, boxes, and clutter that were used to delineate separatespaces in the single room.
“Peaceful evening,” Amaranthe greeted. “I’mCorporal Lokdon.” The name was sewn on her name tag, so she darednot change it, but she said it quickly on the chance the woman readthe newspapers. Amaranthe nodded to Sicarius. “And this is CorporalJev.” Or so his uniform said. “We have a few questions for yourhusband, ma’am.”
“Who is it, Pella?” a man, presumablyRaydevk, asked. “One of the boys? They weren’t supposed to comeuntil nine.” He snickered. “Or is it old Ms. Derya complaining thatthe fire escape isn’t a suitable place for sex play? Again.”
Since the woman-Pella-seemed stunned withindecision, Amaranthe pushed the door open. The smirk on theminer’s face dropped. He held a book-a journal? — in his hands, andhe hid it behind his back. Yes, the guilt hung in the air like smogaround a factory. Though that meant it was probably good that shehad come, it also made her fairly certain these weren’t themasterminds behind…anything.
“Mister Raydevk?” Amaranthe asked. “We have afew questions for you.”
“I’ve done nothing illegal,” he said.
“Good.” She smiled. “Then we’ll be able tofinish quickly.”
“Uh, right.” Raydevk eyed several of thecabinets and clothing-draped stacks. Seeking somewhere to stash hisjournal?
“Mind if we come in?” Amaranthe asked.
Sicarius invited himself in, slipping pastAmaranthe to stand inside the doorway. Pella stepped, no, stumbledbackward. Hm, Amaranthe might find Sicarius’s appearance heroic inthe uniform, but he still intimidated others. The cold unwaveringstare perhaps.
“Thanks,” Amaranthe said brightly. Shestrolled in and displayed her warrant oh-so briefly to Pella.“Corporal Jev has orders to search the premises. I hope this won’tinconvenience you terribly.”
“Search?” Raydevk’s voice squeaked. “Whatfor?” His eyes darted about in his head, searching again. Stilltrying to get rid of that journal? He focused on a credenza in acorner by a cook stove. “Can I get you a drink?”
“No, thanks,” Amaranthe said.
Regardless, he darted for the credenza,opened a door, and withdrew glasses and a bottle of applejack.“I’ll just have a taste, if you don’t mind.”
Loosening one’s tongue was not a particularlygood idea for a liar-a possibly criminal liar-faced with enforcers,but Amaranthe saw no reason to object. Raydevk met his wife’s eyes,widening his own in some signal.
“Why are you folks here?” Pella asked.
“A group of miners has been implicated in aconspiracy against the athletes at the Imperial Games,” Amaranthesaid, trying to surprise reactions out of Pella and Raydevk. Shedid not truly expect these people to have much-if anything-to dowith the kidnappings, but one never knew. “The missing athletes, tobe precise.”
Pella glanced at her husband and rushed tosay, “We don’t know anything about that.”
Raydevk had his back to everyone, ostensiblypreparing a drink, but he froze at Amaranthe’s words. He jerked hishead at Pella and she burbled on, giving some story about the menwinning time off at a company lottery and simply going to the Gamesto relax.
Amaranthe barely listened. She was watchingRaydevk. Still fiddling with his drink, he tried to hide hisactions as he set the journal on the credenza and opened it. Hecoughed to cover the noise he made ripping the top sheet off. Heused the movement of returning the bottle to a shelf to slip thatpage into his pocket.
“Corporal Jev,” Amaranthe said. She trustedSicarius had seen the inept legerdemain and hoped he interpretedher head tilt as would-you-be-so-kind-as-to-retrieve-that-for-me.“Begin the search.”
Sicarius gave her a hard look, no doubtwondering why they were dickering around instead of simply takingwhat they needed. She flicked her fingers, hoping he would playalong a little while longer. These people were not experiencedcriminals, and they would likely give her everything they knewwithout the need for force.
“You’re not going to disturb the children,are you?” Pella asked.
Amaranthe had forgotten they were sleepingbehind one of the walls of clutter. She trusted Sicarius with herlife, and she resented that doubt curled into her at the idea ofsending him in to deal with a couple of kids on his own, but whathe had shared of his history did not lead her to believe he wouldbe good with them. Granted, the order to dump decapitated heads onthe floor with five-year-old Sespian watching had been EmperorRaumesys’s command, but still.
“We’ll check them last,” Amaranthe said.Together. She hoped Sicarius did not read the reason for herhesitation in her words. She trusted him. She did. She just figuredthat even at his most innocuous, he would scare children.
“Mister Raydevk, where do you work? BlackPeak?” she asked while Sicarius went through shelves and drawers inthe room.
“Yes.” He took a swig of applejack, though hehad appeared more relaxed before the alcohol touched his lips.
Yes, Amaranthe definitely wanted that paper.“Then it’ll be easy enough to check up on this story about alottery and winners.”
Raydevk froze again, the amber liquid to hislips. He recovered and shrugged. “I imagine so.”
Pella scraped her fingers through her hairand chewed on her lip.
“You and other miners have been seen at theImperial Games a number of days this week,” Amaranthe said. “Careto explain what you’re doing there?”
“Just watching the athletes and enjoying mytime off.”
Amaranthe decided to try talking aboutherself instead of asking questions. It might put the man at easeand make him more likely to slip with his comments. “It’s fortunateyou got that much time off. My father was a miner. He neverreceived more than a couple of days off in a month.” Though he hadonce come all the way into the city to watch Amaranthe’s race eventhough he had to get right back on a train to make it to work thenext morning.