Page 46 of Bannerless (The Bannerless Saga 1)

“Only a couple of years.”

“You liking it?” Tomas asked. He’d been focused on eating. Easy to forget about him, and Ariana blinked as if surprised that he’d spoken.

“I do. I like helping. I want to fix problems before they start, if I can.”

“But some problems are a little harder than others,” Enid said.

The woman lowered her gaze for just a moment. “I think we do well enough. Under usual circumstances.”

“And the rest of the committee? What do they think?”

“I’m sure they feel the same way,” she said.

Enid still wasn’t even sure how Ariana felt. Not really. “So you and Philos aren’t usually so at odds with each other?”

Ariana paused to pour herself a cup of water from a nearby pitcher. Enid let her have the moment to think, but was considering how she might press. Get the woman to make an accusation.

“We do all right,” she said. “Pasadan is stable, isn’t it? We get along well enough to keep everything running.”

“Except that you called us here to investigate a murder.”

“I didn’t think it was a murder,” she said softly.

Enid leaned in, and Tomas rested a hand on her arm. Just a brief touch, then he pulled back. Reminding her to be patient.

“Then why did you send for us?”

“I . . . I disagreed with Philos.” She looked ceiling-ward and sighed. “Philos does not see the town’s committee as a collaboration between equals. He expects Lee and me to . . . defer. I was tired of it.”

“If he’s so hard to get along with, why doesn’t anyone vote for a change?” Enid said.

“He’s . . . popular.” She gazed steadily across the table. “He’s . . . quite political and makes sure that people will support him. Convinces everyone they need him.” Her puckered smirk told exactly what she thought of that.

“Makes it hard to stand up to him, I imagine.”

“Someone has to,” she said.

“Do you know why he’s so set against having Sero’s death investigated?”

She knew—Enid knew that she knew. The way her expression didn’t so much as flicker, the way she straightened and spoke her words carefully. “I imagine . . . he doesn’t like having investigators around. You challenge his authority.”

A simple, straightforward answer. “And do we challenge your authority?”

Her smile tightened. “I’m not sure I have any, not really.”

Deflecting attention. Enid took a chance. “Do you remember where you were, what you were doing, that morning four days ago—or rather five days ago, now?”

Finally, the woman looked startled. Her hands clenched over each other. “You can’t think I had anything to do with Sero. I’m the one who wanted an investigation.”

Enid’s voice was bland. “Which might be a very good way of deflecting attention from one’s self. If you had something to hide.”

“No, I’m not hiding anything. I was just as shocked as anyone when the body was found. I didn’t do anything—”

“Not saying you did. It’s just a routine question. Helps us get a picture of what else was happening. So where were you?” Tomas had taken out his notebook, as if recording her testimony.

Ariana nodded. “All right. Okay. I was at home, working. Baking, I think. Ask anyone from my house. Tull, or . . . or Dak. We were all there when Arbor came to get Tull.”

“Dak was at the house that morning, too?” Enid narrowed her eyes. Dak had said he was away, that he didn’t get home until the next day.

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