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Hawk looked at Gaunt, who shrugged. Hawk sighed and got to his feet. "All right, Fisher, let's take
another look." She nodded, and got to her feet. Hawk glared round at the guests. "Everyone else, stay
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here; that's an order. I don't want anyone leaving this room till we get back. Come on Fisher."
They left the parlor and went out into the hall, closing the door behind them. Gaunt and his guests sat in
silence, lost in their own thoughts. After a while, Visage stirred uncomfortably in her chair, then rose
suddenly to her feet.
"I really think we should stay here," said Gaunt. "It would be safer."
"I have to go to the bathroom," said Visage quietly, her cheeks crimson. "And no, I can't wait."
"I don't think you should go off on your own," said Dorimant.
"Quite right," said Lord Hightower. He turned to his wife. "Why don't you and I go up with her? Just to
keep her company, so to speak?"
"Of course," said Lady Elaine. "You don't mind, do you, dear?"
Visage smiled, and shook her head. "I think I'd feel a lot safer, knowing I wasn't on my own."
"Don't be too long," said Gaunt. "We don't want to upset Captain Hawk, do we?"
Lord Hightower snorted loudly, but said nothing. He and his wife got to their feet and followed Visage
out of the parlor. Dorimant stirred uncertainly in his chair. He would have liked to go with her too, to be
sure she was safe, but the poor girl wouldn't want a crowd following her to the toilet. Besides, the
Hightowers would look after her. Dorimant sank back in his chair and tried to think about something else.
He felt a little better, now that Hawk and Fisher knew about the evidence he'd been concealing. Even if it
didn't seem to have helped much. He glanced surreptitiously at Katherine. How could she have done it?
To kneel beside her dead husband, and drive his own dagger into his chest; Dorimant shuddered.
"The wineglass worries me," he said finally. "If the wine wasn't poisoned;"
"It wasn't," said Gaunt flatly. "I tasted some myself."
"The wine;" said Katherine suddenly. Everyone looked at her. Katherine looked into the empty fireplace,
frowning. "William didn't drink much, even at private parties. It was a rule of his. He'd already told me
he'd had enough for one evening; but he had a fresh glass of wine in his hand when he went upstairs to
change. So who gave him that glass; ?"
"I don't remember," said Dorimant. "I wasn't really watching." He looked at the others, and they all
shook their heads.
"I'm sure I saw who it was," said Katherine, frowning. "But I can't remember; I can't;"
"Take it easy," said Stalker. "It'll come to you, if you don't try and force it."
"It's probably not that important anyway," said Dorimant.
Hawk and Fisher checked the kitchen thoroughly from top to bottom, and found nothing and no one.
There were no hidden passages, no hiding places, and nothing that looked even remotely suspicious. Not
that they'd expected to find anything. Hawk and Fisher had just needed an excuse to go off on their own
so that they could talk in private. They leaned back against the sink and looked gloomily about them.
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"Hightower was right," said Fisher. "Much as I hate to admit it. The truthspell didn't get us anywhere.
The new angle on Blackstone's death is all very interesting, but we're still no nearer finding his killer."
"Maybe," said Hawk, "and maybe not. I wouldn't know a clue if I fell over it, but I know a guilty face
when I see one. Hightower's hiding something. He was jumpy as hell when he first discovered we were
all stuck here for the night, and he was almost in a panic at the thought of a truthspell. There was
something he didn't want to talk about;"
"You didn't ask him many questions," said Fisher.
"He wouldn't have answered them if I had."
"We could have leaned on him."
Hawk smiled. "Do you honestly think we could make Lord Roderik Hightower say one damned thing he
didn't want to?"
Fisher smiled reluctantly. "I see your point. Besides, there's no actual evidence that whatever's worrying
him has anything to do with the murders. Old soldiers and politicians always have something to hide.
After all, you asked him if he killed Blackstone and Bowman, and he said no. Didn't even
hesitate."
Hawk scowled, thinking. "How do we know Gaunt actually cast a truthspell? Maybe; No. No, it
worked all right; I tested it myself."
"Maybe he only cast it on you," said Fisher.
"Maybe. And maybe we're both getting paranoid."
"There is that."
"Let's get back to the parlor," said Hawk. "I don't like leaving them alone too long. I'll hit them with
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