“Not the IAW, maybe.” Simani nibbled on her bottom lip, fingers flying across her phone. “But it has to be someone from that meeting…”

“Which meeting?” Ruban asked, trying to get a peek at Simani’s screen.

“The one at the IAW headquarters earlier this year. You know?” She prompted, poking Ruban in the thigh. “The one you and Ashwin attended right after the Kanla Park lynching.”

Ruban frowned. “Practically the entire Cabinet was present at that meeting, Sim. What makes you think it was one of them?”

“Because the more I think about it, the more I feel somebody stalled the investigation into the Kanla Park incident. Deliberately.” Simani looked up from her phone, dark eyes solemn. “Particularly how HAVA got its hands on that reinforced sifblade. For a piece of technology that’s so closely guarded and monitored, it doesn’t make sense how quickly they forgot about such a serious breach in security.

“The only way to explain it is that somebody was actively trying to sweep it under the rug. Somebody who was present at the meeting, and knew the connection between that reinforced sifblade and the Central Ragah Division. Perhaps it was the same person who’d bribed Siyal to smuggle the sifblade out to HAVA, in the first place.”

Vikram hummed. “Those are also some of the only people in the country who know the truth about the Vaan Alliance. That the government didn’t originally know Ashwin’s true identity.” He glanced at the Aeriel, his spectacles glinting in the light from the fluorescent tube overhead. “That they were essentially blackmailed into spinning that tale.”

For once in his overly protracted life, Ashwin had the decency to look abashed.

“Not one of our finest moments, that.” Ruban said grimly. “But if we can confine ourselves to the people present at that meeting—”

“It does narrow down the list of suspects, doesn’t it?” Simani said. “Now, all we have to do is figure out who among them had the means – and the incentive – to manipulate the events at Komini Fair to frame Ashwin.”

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“The more relevant question might be who didn’t have the incentive,” Ruban muttered.

One by one, they combed through the personal histories and professional backgrounds of each of the attendees. Some of the information they needed was publicly available, others required more sophisticated excavating. Still, there was much that remained outside their reach, despite their best efforts.

Of all the people who’d attended the meeting, Dr. Visht seemed to have the least reason to work against Ashwin. As one of the two seniormost scientists at Sifco, he cared little about politics. His only priority was the advancement of the reinforced sifblade research. And Ashwin had all but offered himself as a guinea pig for that research, so long as the alliance panned out. Visht had no reason to shoot himself in the foot by sabotaging said alliance.

Among the remaining attendees, Rifaq Nazir (the defence minister) and Dhriti Pathak (the senior secretary of defence) had been openly hostile to the alliance. But would they have been so open about their opposition, if they were conspiring in secret to sabotage it? Especially if they were willing to go as far as killing a Hunter to achieve their ends. Wouldn’t it make more sense to put up a front of amicable acceptance, if only to divert suspicion away from themselves?

IAW Director Lohit Raizada and Chief Hunter Unnati Jha were the two people at the meeting Ruban was most familiar with. They’d worked closely together on several occasions, and he had a great deal of respect for both. It was difficult for him to imagine either of them capable of such cold-blooded betrayal.

But, as Simani pointed out, they were also the two people who could most easily have tampered with the assignment roster. To make sure that Siyal would be deployed to the same Hunt as Ruban and Simani. Nobody would question either of them for making some minor reassignments, especially during an emergency. And the sudden attack on the Central Ragah fair would certainly have qualified as an emergency.

That left Prahlad Kujur, Jheel Sen, and Hiba Asrar. Respectively, the ministers of commerce, external affairs, and the cabinet secretary.

Hiba was barely a month away from retirement.

And Ruban couldn’t imagine why either Jheel or Prahlad would risk their careers, not to mention their freedom, to try and frame Ashwin by having Simani killed.

Prahlad had seemed perfectly satisfied with the feather disbursement deal Ashwin had offered him. And while Jheel might have plenty of reason to be unhappy with the Vaan alliance, she’d never struck Ruban as the reckless, hotheaded type. She’d be more likely to file a review petition in parliament than plan a murder.