‘Thank you,’ de Almeida said to Cripps.
‘Don’t thank me,’ Cripps replied curtly. ‘It wasn’t for your benefit; he was disrupting the proceedings.’
De Almeida nodded wordlessly as Cripps turned on his heel and headed back down to rejoin Father Cheng, who hadn’t so much as turned around throughout the altercation. Luc had little doubt he was nonetheless aware of everything that had just taken place.
<I want to talk to the Ambassador,> Luc said as de Almeida took her seat next to him once more.
She allowed herself a brief sideways glance at him. <I’m already working on making arrangements for precisely that. You might be interested to know Ambassador Sachs was working very closely with Vasili on the run-up to Reunification.>
<He was?>
She nodded, very gently. <They had regular meetings up until just a few days before Sevgeny’s body was discovered, as a matter of fact.>
On the stage, the final eulogy came to an end. People were already sharing muttered conversations as they began to move out of the auditorium and towards the parked fliers.
De Almeida stepped away to speak to one or two people, but it was clear from their uneasy expressions that they were disinclined to spend too much time speaking with her.
He glanced towards Ambassador Sachs, who was now in conversation with Cripps. Something about that perfectly reflective mask made his skin crawl. When he followed de Almeida down to the front of the auditorium, he had the uncanny sense the Ambassador was watching him, but with that mask it was impossible to tell exactly where his gaze fell at any moment.
<Gabion.>
He glanced back over at de Almeida. <What?>
<You can rule out the Ambassador as a possible suspect,> she replied, leading his data-ghost across the grasslands towards her flier. <It seems he was at a function held in his honour at the exact same time Vasili was killed.>
<What did Borges mean when he said something was going on? Something that people weren’t being told about?>
She sighed. <The honest answer is that I don’t know what he meant.>
<I don’t believe that.>
<It’s true. I . . . > She stopped and looked around. Luc did the same; they were amongst the last to leave, and even if someone had seen her speaking to someone who wasn’t there, they might simply have assumed it was a private conversation and left it at that.
‘We’re free to talk out loud now,’ she said, switching away from script-speak. ‘No one’s going to overhear us.’
<You’re sure?>
She glanced around with a furtive expression. ‘I never feel comfortable using script-speak, even if I have to.’
Luc activated his data-ghost’s audio circuits, but kept the volume dialled down to not much more than a whisper. ‘Go on, then.’
‘There are rumours,’ she explained, ‘of secret negotiations between the Coalition and some members of the Eighty-Five. Negotiations that none of the rest of the Council were ever told about.’
‘And that’s what Borges was referring to just now?’
She nodded helplessly. ‘For all I know it’s just a rumour and nothing more, but once you put an idea like that in the head of a man like Borges, no matter how tenuous, it becomes dangerous.’
‘But what kind of negotiations?’
She shrugged. ‘I have no idea, assuming the story is even true.’
‘All right, then what about Javier Maxwell? Why would Borges want him dead so badly?’
She scowled. ‘It doesn’t really have to do with Maxwell at all, it’s more to do with what he represents. Borges is scared because Cheng’s hand is being forced over Reunification.’
‘Forced? How?’
‘By the same tide of popular opinion that originally made it possible for him to seize control of the Temur Council – a tide that has now turned the other way, in favour of Reunification.’ She kept her voice low as she spoke. ‘Even without access to instantiation technology, people throughout the Tian Di are living better and longer lives than at any time since the Abandonment. The days when the colonies had to struggle to survive, when desperately stringent measures were needed – those days are long gone, and everyone in the Tian Di knows it. Now they want the same things we in the Council have – and Father Cheng hasn’t given them any adequate reasons why they shouldn’t have the same things sooner rather than later.’
‘Then why doesn’t he just give them to us?’
‘Cheng is old. We all are. The mistake was believing that as long as things stayed the same, we’d have stability. Instead, we have stagnation, but Cheng doesn’t seem to understand that. He had to be forced into agreeing to Reunification.’
‘What forced his hand?’
‘There are plenty of indicators showing that without radical social change, the Tian Di might break up. There might even be civil war. The evidence was convincing enough to persuade the majority of Councillors to agitate in favour of Reunification. And for all his power, Cheng can’t do anything without the vast majority of us backing him.’
‘And Borges?’
‘Men like Borges would be more than happy to maintain the current status quo forever, even if the rest of the Tian Di burned. He doesn’t want change, and neither, I think, do most of the Eighty-Five.’
‘In that case, given Vasili was actively working towards change, surely Borges would make a good suspect for his murder?’
‘Our mutual cup overflows with potential suspects, wouldn’t you say?’ she said.
‘That’s why I’m going to need full access to Vanaheim’s security records, Miss de Almeida.’
She stared at him like she hadn’t quite heard him right. ‘You’re not actually serious, are you?’
‘Quite serious. I need access to any and all data relating to the movements of everyone in Vanaheim over, say, the last few days – and preferably the last several weeks. I also need access to the personal records of everyone on the Council.’
She laughed disbelievingly. ‘And you really think I would give you that much?’
‘If you don’t,’ he said, ‘I don’t see how I’d be able to do my job properly. I can’t possibly make an accurate assessment regarding Vasili’s murder until I first have a good idea of the circumstances and events surrounding his death. Without that context, how can I possibly clearly identify a motive that might give you the identity of his killer? And everything you’ve just told me makes it clear that there’s a lot I still don’t know.’
Anger flashed across her face. ‘I’ll take the idea under consideration,’ she replied, her voice clipped. ‘But any specific information you need I can get for you immediately, upon request. You don’t need direct personal access.’
‘Without it, I’m flying blind,’ he countered.
And what about Father Cheng? He wanted to ask. Are we treating him as being above suspicion?
But he was still too afraid to ask that question.
‘Here’s what I can do,’ she said. ‘I just sent Ambassador Sachs a request for a confidential interview that you’ll conduct.’
‘Won’t a request like that make him suspicious? What if he tells someone else about it, and Father Cheng finds out you’re carrying on your investigation in defiance of his orders?’
‘I told the Ambassador it was all part of an overall review of our security measures in the wake of Vasili’s murder. As far as he’s concerned, you’re just someone who works for me, period. He knows nothing of your background, or why you’re really here. But it’s also a chance to find out why he met with Antonov. In the meantime,’ she added, ‘I want you to go home and wait there until you hear from me.’
‘I understand,’ Luc replied wearily, but even before he had finished his reply she had cut the connection. The last of his words echoed dully inside the tiny cubicle, back in Ulugh Beg.