Nobody answered him. Kane and Fletcher had already lunged for the door, both with weapons in hand. Zaria exchanged a bewildered glance with Jules. He inclined his chin, and in unspoken agreement, they followed.
The front of the shop was deathly quiet, the shadows more foreboding in the wake of the scream. The door was open; Zaria could see the dark outlines of Kane and Fletcher in the street just outside, silhouetted by the dim moonlight. It was another moment before she realized they weren’t alone.
Not exactly, anyway. There was something at their feet. A shape—a human one—huddled on the damp cobblestones. Zaria’s breath tangled in her chest.
“Wait,” Jules said through his teeth, grabbing her forearm. “We don’t know who else might be out there.”
Presumably hearing the words, Kane turned around. His gaze latched onto Zaria’s, and what she could see of his face was drawn, tense.
“Louisa’s dead,” he said, but Zaria knew it wasn’t the woman’sdeath that had perturbed him. Even as her heart plummeted and bile rose to meet it, she was focused on the object in his raised hand. A single slip of paper, held between two fingers like the winning ace in a fraught game of cards.
And itwasa card, Zaria realized.
A business card.
KANE
Kane watched Zaria’s expression shift from horror to understanding, then back again.
He didn’t need words to convey the significance of the business card. They were all intimately familiar with it by now.
The Curator, it read.
Because of course it did.
Kane had noticed it at once, a single point of stark white against the dark fabric of Louisa’s dress. She’d died instantaneously, with only enough time to emit a single shriek before the alchemological bullet tore through her chest. It was a perfect shot. Clean. Precise. Almost as if she’d been shot straight on at close range.
Zaria emerged into the street on unsteady legs, but Kane could tell from the taut line of her jaw that her teeth were set. She was good at that—pushing down her fear, her horror. He supposed it came with the territory.
“I don’t understand,” she said, her wide brown eyes dropping to Louisa’s limp form. The woman was positioned on her back, her arms and legs as straight as if she’d simply been lying down. Her mouth was slightly open, as were her glassy eyes. Fletcher closed them from where he knelt by her body, frowning at the hole in her chest. Shimmering smoke still rose from the wound in gentle wafts.
Kane found himself swallowing once, then twice. He thought of Cecile’s death, and how affected Zaria had been. This was different, of course, but he was gripped by an inexplicable desire to provide some semblance of comfort this time. To handle it better. Tobebetter. But then Jules came up behind Zaria, touching his fingertips to the curve of her shoulder, and Kane forcibly shoved the thoughts away.
“Louisa knew them,” he said, desperate to break the silence. “The Curator, I mean. We could have justaskedher. We could have solved all of this.”
Zaria was still staring at the woman’s body without appearing to see much at all. Her gaze refocused only when she lifted it to Kane’s face, though that bleak quality remained. “What makes you so sure?”
It was Fletcher who answered, brushing off his trousers as he pushed to stand, the set of his mouth grim. “Look at how her body is positioned. She wasn’t trying to flee, and she wasn’t targeted from behind. Whoever her attacker was, the two of them were facing each other.”
“That doesn’t necessarily mean they were acquainted,” Jules objected. “It’s dark out—they obviously saw Louisa, but she might not have seen them.”
“She did,” Kane said.
“You can’tknowthat.”
“Yes, he can.” This was Zaria, her support of Kane seeming to surprise even her. He did his best to repress a jolt of pleasure. “Weheard her scream. That means she saw the attack coming. Had she been caught unawares, she would have died too quickly to make a sound.” Zaria bit her lower lip, shrugging apologetically at Jules. “You know how these alchemological guns work.”
To his credit, Jules wasn’t displeased to be corrected. “Fair enough. Okay, so the two of them were face-to-face. Probably at close range.”
“Definitely at close range,” Kane supplied. “I’d say they were in the midst of having a conversation, in fact. And did you see the way Louisa kept checking the time? She was expecting this person.”
Zaria lowered her voice, although there was no one around to hear. “Do you think their conversation had anything to do with us?”
Kane was positive it did, in fact. He scanned the abandoned street for the umpteenth time. “I think we ought to take this elsewhere. Fletch, can you put her in the shop?” He indicated Louisa, and Fletcher nodded.
“You want to move her body?” Jules said, his tone suggesting he found this plan absurd.
“Would you prefer we left it in the street for anyone to happen across it? Better to move her inside. Her husband can report her murder when he returns.”
