Hel's story made sense. It was exactly how Lowe had heard this sort of thing worked out. The 'Out of Bounds' squads were rockstars; right up until the moment, they very much were not. Hel's team wouldn't be the first team to be royally fucked over by the Council and wouldn't be the first to seek bloody retribution.

"I guess you've been sending her death threats?"

"Absolutely. As often as we could get access to her post."

Lowe finished off his share of the sandwiches and sat back. "You had in your squad?"

"No." Hel dropped her eyes. "It turns out the High Priestess was more focused on spectacle than thoroughness. My baby sisters survived the fire. Physically, at least."

There wasn't much more to say about it than that.

With a nagging feeling he was missing something, Lowe tried to put the events at the Celestial Temple together. One of Hel's sisters, or both of them, had slipped away from her notice and sought out d'Avec. That fitted with what he knew about - they were nothing if not single-minded.

After hours, they'd have a chance of breaching security - particularly if Hel had managed to exercise some kind of control over their Skill choices. The issue with most was that their uncontrollable rage was as unfocused as it was destructive. If their big sister had convinced them to select something like Infiltration or Sneak Thief, then, in the absence of at a time the High Priestess would usually have vacated her chamber, he could see how they could have got in.

The fact that the High Priestess did not stay in the Celestial Temple overnight made the Third Floor unusually vulnerable.

Lowe thought about the vision Gravalk had given him. Although he could imagine a set of circumstances in which a pair of would have a chance to tear a Level 67 to pieces, that wasn't what had happened here, was it? There had been no bringing their own brand of chaos and destruction to d'Avec's chamber in what Gravalk had shown.

So, he could see them arriving after she had died - with the not having their usual measures in place to keep them out - dropping one of their gloves when Big Sis arrived to get them out of there. And he could see the woman sitting opposite him risking a second break-in to get rid of the evidence they'd left behind that they had been there.

Likewise, if there was any suggestion of involvement in the death of the High Priestess, he could see why the powers that be would want things closed up tightly.

No one needed that sort of panic on the streets of Soar.

Against that, no vision from the Fire Demon - a god about to make a fast descent down the hierarchy of the Celestial Temple - was going to be believed. had a special place in the collective moral panic consciousness.

"What are you thinking?" Hel asked, leaning forward over the table.

"That - and it might be the sandwiches talking - I think you're on the level."

"So what next?"

But something was bothering Lowe—a little itch on the edge of his thinking. "Hang on. You say one of your sisters dropped a glove. Do you mean whilst they were in the High Priestess' chamber?"

"Yes. So they tell me. If you have experience with , you will know they don't have the imagination to lie. They're both clear that it was left behind when I pulled them out."

Lowe pulled up Grid View. He'd repeatedly examined the crime scene over the last few days and never seen a glove anywhere. No, there was nothing there. It was as he'd thought.

"Hel, there was no glove there when I arrived."

"That makes no sense. Why would someone remove evidence? Particularly if it could be used to point the guilt to someone other than themselves?"

Lowe had no answer to that.

*

The two of them talked into the early hours.

By the time Hel let herself out, Lowe was certain that no one in her little group had anything to do with either of the murders. The psychology was all wrong: with a bond that strong, it was all for one, one for all.

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And the use of water to explode d'Avec . . . no. That didn't seem like the sort of satisfying conclusion to things that the wronged 'Out of Bounds' squad would be looking for.

Or, as Hel had put it, "we wanted to watch the bitch die slowly."

"Are you sure you are okay?" Lowe asked Mylaf as she swooped in to clean up the used crockery.

The smiled as, with a clash of porcelain, the dishes washed themselves and then were directed back to their place in the cupboard. "Honestly, Mr Lowe, I was quite missing the experience of being violently assaulted by an intruder. It was truly a regular occurrence in the service of the mistress."

"Seriously?"

Mylaf nodded. "She was a good mistress, but I understand she was a difficult person outside the house."

"To the extent people would regularly break into her home and attack you?"

"May I sit, sir?"

"Of course. I'm not all about the whole 'yes, sir', 'no, sir' thing. Can we find a way to keep the pastries coming and the cleaning happening but ramp up the informality?"

Mylaf tilted her head to one side. "You are an unusual man."

"It's been mentioned."

"Well, sir - sorry, what would you like me to call you?"

"Jana's fine."

"Well . . . Jana. The mistress was exceptionally driven. After losing both of her parents so young - "

"You mentioned that before. Do you know what happened to them?"

"I do. It's just - " Mylaf paused - "I assume you will treat all this discretion?"

"Mylaf, I had my arm cut off a few hours ago, and the only person who seemed remotely bothered was the high-level assassin who did it. I could be the least discrete person in the whole of Soar, and I'd still have no one to gossip with."

"Fair enough. It is not like this is entirely confidential, anyway. The official story, to my understanding, is that they were killed in an explosion on their way back from work. As , they had been contracted to one of the bigger energy companies."

" were killed in an explosion? What happened? Did a sun go supernova?" Lowe's brain caught up with his words. "She killed them?"

"Wholly accidentally. It appears that Gravalk identified her at birth as a future High Priestess. Unsurprisingly, she found herself with more power than she could handle for most of her youth."

Lowe tried to imagine carrying the weight of murdering your parents, regardless of how accidental the conflagration was. "Is that why she stayed in the family home rather than living in the Temple?"

"I think so. Certainly, she never showed any inclination to move to better premises despite the rise in her status."

"What about what Hel said? Do you think d'Avec would have slaughtered their families?"

Mylaf took a moment to respond. "I think, if her god had asked her to do something, there is very little the mistress would not have done. Besides, if the Council determined something needed to be done, I well imagine she would have put herself forward to enact it. She was singularly driven to raise herself up the ranks of the Temple."

"Why?"

"I guess to make it all worthwhile."

Lowe could see that making a sort of sense to Gianna d'Avec. There were acts he had undertaken in his first few years with a Class that would not stand scrutiny so many years down the line. He'd never massacred anyone's family, but he was self-aware enough to know that in the wrong circumstances and with the right pressure, a younger him would have made a poor decision.

He thought back to the High Priestess's last will. "Would it surprise you to know," he asked Mylaf, "that d'Avec was leaving the majority of her money to charity?"

"Not at all, Mylaf's smile was sincere. "She always said she wanted to do more for those in the undercity. Her efforts there were the main reason unhappy people kept coming to the house. Her altruism in that regard was not appreciated by those who preyed in the shadows of those streets."

Lowe thought on that. "Do you have a theory as to what happened to her?"

"I think," Mylaf began and then stopped. "I'm sorry, sir, it is not my place to give you advice."

"I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't interested, Mylaf. Of everyone I've spoken to, you are the only one who has a good word to say about her. I think your opinion on this matter is pretty important!"

The tapped her fingers on the kitchen table in an odd beat. "No, I suppose you wouldn't. All I can say is that the mistress had something on her mind in the week before her death. She was working much later each night and seemed out of sorts when she was here. There was very little that she would not share with me, Jana, but those last few days were different. She was remote. Distant. I think whatever was keeping her at the Temple for all hours had something to do with her murder. That's what I think. And now I should go to bed."

Lowe was left alone as she abruptly vacated the kitchen.

He sat there silently for a few minutes. He couldn't help but think he had enough of the pieces of the puzzle now to begin to see the shape of things, but the image refused to swim into focus.

With a growl of frustration, he flicked off the light and took himself to his own bed.

*

Hel waited in the shadows outside of the apartment complex.

It hadn't needed her years of experience to identify the eyes in the darkness watching the building Jana Lowe called home.

She'd liked the man. Liked his directness, which was rather refreshing in her line of work. He seemed to have believed her story, which was true enough in its own way. Certainly true enough to escape detection by whatever buff that had been able to put into her food.

And there was no judgment when he heard about her sisters.

There were four watchers, she decided. All were in their low to mid-30s, and none of them had a particularly threatening class. Doubtless, they were there to ensure Lowe didn't further his investigation.

Being dead was a pretty effective break on such things.

They'd become pretty animated when the light in the kitchen switched off, but she waited until they made their move towards the Inspector's door before she acted. Just to be fair.

They didn't get within four feet.

*

A series of low thumps disturbed Lowe's sleep, but after listening for a few seconds, he rolled over and was back snoring in no time.