Page 164 of Mercy Written in Blood

"I see."

"You see nothing."

"I see considerably more than I did thirty seconds ago."

"What happened?"

Kael resumed his seat. He picked up his tea as though Renji had not abruptly risen.

"The Ishida Family followed an anonymous lead to an abandoned warehouse in the freight district."

"Was anyone injured?"

"No."

Renji remained standing. Kael noticed that too.

"What did they find?"

"An emptied operational site."

"Unveiled?"

"Almost certainly."

"And Haruki?"

"Unharmed."

The tension in Renji's body eased. Not entirely. Enough. Kael took another drink. Renji sat slowly.

"You said he was at the warehouse."

"He was."

"You allowed that?"

Kael lowered the cup.

"I specifically prohibited it."

"That has never been an effective method of controlling him."

"You say that with unusual confidence."

"He ignored medical advice repeatedly."

"Of course."

"That is the extent of my knowledge."

"Renji."

"What?"

"You are sitting in the same chair he used."

Renji looked down. He was. At some point after Kael entered, he had moved from the armchair beside the window to thedining chair opposite him. Haruki's chair. There was no reason it should matter.