“So what do you suggest?”
“If the problem is what she might know, then the solution is simple,” Miri said. She unlocked one drawer, and from there, released a panel underneath her desk. She thumbed through the folders inside that secret niche, finding the right one. A plan to handle Amaya, as well as several other problems that had been brewing. If Altarn was so intent on action, now was as good a moment as any to move forward. She handed it over to Altarn. “We discredit her, and thus disempower her. And from there, she will be easy to discourage from further prying. Why kill her when we can make her feckless?”
“This is why I like to deal with you.” Altarn took the folder as she stood up. “You always have a plan, and I do relish the way your mind works.”
“Here to serve, you and the country, however I can,” Miri said. “Please leave the way you came and try not to disturb me here again.”
“I do not promise,” Altarn said. She looked back down at the uniform. “It’s not that bad, is it?”
“I’ll arrange for a seamstress to visit your home, discreetly,” Mirianne said. “She will be efficient. I know you have many initiatives on your plate right now, and your time is always something I respect.”
Altarn shrugged and went out the secret door.
Miri sighed. She knew something like this would come, but it didn’t matter. She had plans in place for all of them. Amaya, Jerinne, the ones at the Veracity, and of course, Dayne. Especially Dayne. It would break her heart, but when she needed to destroy him, she was prepared.
Chapter 4
DAYNE DID NOT HAVE A proper shield. He had the one the Parliament had given him, hanging on his wall. Far more useful as art than as protection. It was metal, and it was painted in Tarian gray and silver, but it was cheap, light, and flimsy. Dayne would still put it on his arm when he dressed in uniform, for no other reason than it did look appropriate. But he hated the thing. It was a reminder of his counterfeit posting. Still, he was going to meet Haberneck’s people in Dentonhill, so it was best to look the part.
He was putting it on his arm when a knock came on the door. “Come,” he called, expecting Haberneck. Instead, Jerinne came in, in her full uniform, but lacking the shield.
“It looks like you’re about to get into some business,” she said. “Need some company?”
“You looking to make yourself useful?” he sent back at her. “Shouldn’t you be—”
“Every other third-year is with their mentors, who are getting protection details with Parliament members.”
“Ah,” he said. “Well, I’m about to head across the river with—ah, there you are.”
Haberneck had walked in. “Are we ready . . . oh, Miss Fendall. Are you joining us?”
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Dentonhill,” Haberneck said. “And I should apologize for earlier—”
“Not your fault,” Jerinne said, her tone a bit clipped. “Don’t worry. What’s in Dentonhill?”
“Missing children,” Dayne said.
Jerinne nodded. “Of course, however I can help.”
“Glad to have you,” Dayne said, double-checking the strap on his sham of a shield. “Let’s go.”
Haberneck had arranged a carriage, which took them across the river and dropped them off on a drab-looking corner, with high, windowless brick tenements in every direction.
“Dreary,” Jerinne said. “But nothing is on fire.”
“On fire?” Haberneck asked.
“I helped out the Constabulary in Aventil a few weeks ago. The gang war going on there leaves some buildings just . . . smoldering. It’s very strange.”
“Aventil has a serious gang problem,” Haberneck said, as if it was a fact. “It’s rather tragic.”
“That’s what I saw,” she said. “But I heard Dentonhill was a lot more crime-ridden.”
“It’s not that simple,” Haberneck said. “It does have a drug problem, but that stems from the lives of the people here. Most of them are just desperate folk, trying to do good work, but the work isn’t there. So, they turn to ways to escape their pain, and that leads to the drugs.”
“I’ll never understand that,” Jerinne said.
“So who are we seeing?” Dayne asked as they approached a tenement.
“This is Elvin, distant cousin, and his wife Gabrelle. Well, it’s their home, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they have other neighbors in their flop.”
“They know we’re coming?” Dayne asked. “I don’t want to impose.”
“I’ve warned them,” Haberneck said. “Which is why I expect there will be others there. Several kids have gone missing, so the parents are gathering together.”
“Have you gone to Rainey about this?” Jerinne asked. “She was—”
Dayne shook his head. “I know she was working on a case that led to missing children. This may be connected. If it is—”
“I was going to visit her place later tonight,” Jerinne said. “I’ll tell her what’s up.”
Dayne gave her another look. “Why are you going there?”
“Her daughter’s my friend,” Jerinne said. “I like to see her.”
Dayne understood. “Her daughter is the glove girl at the Majestic,” he said. “You’re sweet on her.”
“That—” Jerinne said, her voice instantly defensive. Then she softened her tone. “That isn’t the only reason. Not that anything is happening there. Or even would. I don’t know. It must be easier for you.”
“I don’t know about that,” Dayne said. “Saints know, I feel at sea with Lady Mirianne.”
“I thought you two were great,” Jerinne said. “I mean, she dotes on you.”
“And I adore her,” he said. “But that doesn’t change the fact that our worlds do not align. I definitely feel she is keeping me at length from part of her life. I don’t know how to reconcile that.”
“Love finds a way,” Jerinne said. “Isn’t that what all those pennyhearts say?”
“Yes,” Dayne said quietly. He had read too many of them, first when he was learning how to read with Miri as children, and now as a way to fill the time in the long hours where nothing was asked of him.
They approached the apartment door, where Haberneck knocked
