“No, I only saw . . .” Mr. Lun rubbed a hand over his face. “He caught the thieves and took them.”
“Wait. Hetookthethieves? If he took them, how did you know a theft was planned?”
“Because he told me.” Mr. Lun swallowed again. “He left me a message on the floor in front of the case of kurline the thieves intended to steal.”
“He left you a message on the floor?” the King asked, his stare narrowing.
Mr. Lun nodded.
I sat back and held his stare. “It was in blood, wasn't it?”
He nodded again. “A lot of blood.”
“When was this?”
“Four days ago.”
I lifted my brow. “Four days. Four? You're certain?”
“Yes, of course, I'm certain. It was a harrowing experience. Four days ago.”
I wasn't assigned every murder, but I liked to know about them, so I scanned the daily reports. The Chelli had been burned. Could he have been drained first? Yes, but that was after Hallaxgral left me a message in the warehouse. The same went for Greishen, and the Brujai woman hadn't been drained of blood.
At last, I said, “There were no bodies found drained of blood within that time frame.”
“Nor will there be. He's too smart for that. If he kills someone, they are never found.”
I tapped my lip with my pencil. “You're certain it was blood from a person, not an animal?”
Mr. Lun blinked. “Uh. Oh. Well, no. I didn't . . . I wouldn't even know how to check that.”
“I could have checked. If you had reported it to the Talons. Any Eljaffna talon or claw would have been able to tell you.”
“Oh.”
“What did you use to clean the blood?” the King asked.
“I don't know. The cleaning crew took care of it. Probably soap and water.”
The King looked at me.
I snapped my notebook shut and stood up. “Show me where this message was left.”
“Yes, of course.” Mr. Lun got to his feet and led us out of his office. “It was in the warehouse. This way.”
The King's guards fell into position around us. And when I say us, I mean the King and me. Not Mr. Lun. He walked a few steps ahead of our protective circle.
“Mr. Lun, what did the message say?” I asked around the biceps of a Dragon knight.
“It said, Justice has been served. You're welcome.”
“Rather vague.” The King looked at me.
But I was busy processing. “That was all? Nothing else.”
Mr. Lun cleared his throat. “Well, the rest of it didn't make any sense.”
I slipped past the two knights in front of the King and grabbed Mr. Lun's arm. “What did it say? Tell me the exact words if you can remember them.”
