Page 28 of Mercy Written in Blood

"What?" he asked.

"You were polite."

"I am always polite."

"You threatened a building inspector last month."

"I politely explained the consequences of delaying safety work."

"You asked whether he preferred both kneecaps facing the same direction."

"He understood the metaphor."

Ayako sipped her tea.

"You should contact the Accord."

Haruki's expression did not change.

"I don't know what this is."

"That has never stopped them taking an interest."

"It may be nothing to do with them."

"It has old bones, sealed records and a symbol nobody recognises."

"That describes half the temples in Takamori."

"Those temples are not beneath your warehouses."

Haruki opened the photographs again. The white lotus filled the screen.

"I'll contact them if the historians find something relevant."

Ayako watched him.

"You don't like them."

"I don't dislike them."

"You dislike being told where your authority ends."

"Most people do."

"The Accord's authority began before yours."

"That does not make it better."

"No."

The single word held no argument. Ayako rarely defended institutions. She defended realities. The Accord existed. Whatever Haruki thought of its secrecy, its rules or its habit of entering a situation only after everyone else had done the dangerous work, it remained part of the city's balance. Haruki had grown up knowing there were doors the Ishida Family did not open, questions they did not ask, bodies they surrendered without paperwork. The arrangement had protected Takamori for generations. It had also ensured that Haruki spent much of his life being told there were truths he was not entitled to know.

He turned his phone face down.

"Historians first."

Ayako set down her cup.