Page 117 of Zenith Tower

The clerk and stewards withdrew. The lock did not turn, but their shadows remained beneath the door.

“You came yourself,” I said.

“They stopped answering the substance of my letters.”

“So you crossed the bridge.”

“After they denied two requests for witness access. Refusing the third while I stood in their receiving office would have required more conviction than anyone there possessed.”

He removed his gloves and laid them beside the leather case. His hands looked older too. I had known those hands around a pen, a cane, the arms of the Ashford chair. I could not remember seeing them empty.

“What did they tell you?”

“Very little. They did, however, put it in writing.”

He opened the case.

Inside were copies of Council responses, each page marked with the date, receiving office, and name of the clerk who had certified it. He placed the first in front of me.

Delphine Moreau is no longer resident at Zenith Hall. Her educational record has been resolved under Article Seven.

“She is alive in this building,” I said.

“I know. Your letter made that clear.” He set down another page. “The Council declined to provide a transfer order, destination, or receiving signature.”

The next response concerned Sadie Corwin.

Case resolved. No further inquiry warranted.

“Nothing else?”

“Nothing. No death entry. No discharge. No office willing to claim custody of her after Zenith Hall closed the file.”

The third page refused an independent healer for Kieran because his condition remained “material to active review.”

I read that sentence twice.

“They put it in writing,” I said.

“Yes.” My father’s mouth hardened. “I sent copies to two other Council seats before I crossed the bridge. Neither belongs to a friend of mine, which may make them more useful. If these answers change later, there will be a record of the first version.”

I looked up at him.

The pages did not ask me to forgive him. They gave us something we could use.

“You followed every question I sent.”

“You told me not to spend the Ashford name on you alone.”

“That has never stopped you from ignoring me before.”

“No.”

He did not defend himself. Without the familiar argument, my anger had nowhere to go.

“I filed for suspension of the emergency control order this morning,” he continued. “No further isolation, suppression, or bond procedure until an independent accounting is made.”

“They’ll deny it.”