The afternoon free period had been running for eleven minutes when the swordsman lowered his gaze.
He had been standing at the east corner since the period began, facing the wall with the sort of concentration that made staring at concrete look like a meaningful activity. Proxy had been watching him from the middle of the yard for the entire eleven minutes.
Nyx had been beside him for most of that time, holding his sleeve between two fingers with her usual impossible steadiness. Neither of them had spoken because speculation before evidence was just another way to waste oxygen.
Then the swordsman looked down.
The debris around the grate had been cleared during Jinx's first cleanup assignment. Three days of weak regrowth hadn't been enough to disguise the difference. The concrete around the frame was cleaner than the surrounding surface by exactly the amount necessary to attract the attention of someone already looking for irregularities.
