Terry sprang to his feet. "I'll go accept their offer right now!"
"Eat first. I'll go with you afterward."
Hungry, Annan polished off the food, praised Cook several times while he was flattered, and went out with Terry.
“We should find a chance to lure Cook back to Free City,” Annan said, still savoring the meal.
Hadn't the old Court Director brought Cook with him? Nobles certainly knew how to live well.
Annan knew the Shadow Brotherhood fairly well. They were hardly good people, but they followed a code of sorts: reason with the strong, fists with the weak.
They rode to the Hara Gang, where the Brotherhood's contact was waiting.
Annan glanced at the gang members on guard and those coming and going. Every one of them was missing a little fingernail.
The contact was a middle-aged man who looked like a merchant, without a trace of an assassin about him. He recognized Annan and showed his reasonable side. "Young Miss Olmedo, I never expected this matter to reach you..."
"I've dealt with your people before, so let's get straight to it. Who was the dead man?"
"Well..."
Annan pressed him. "I can leave it alone, but I have to ask. How do I know you didn't kill someone from the Blade of Freedom?"
"We certainly didn't!"
"I say you did."
Annan gave a masterful display of arrogance.
The contact's expression darkened. "Young Miss Olmedo, this matter has nothing to do with the Purification Court, does it?"
"Nothing to do with us? This is the Purification Court. We handle what the City Guard handles, and we handle what they can't."
The contact relaxed instead. Annan's reaction fit his prejudice against the Purification Court and confirmed that they knew nothing; they had stumbled upon the matter by chance. "But it