"If there is a Lady," One-Eye said. "Won't be much pumpkin if the Dominator broke through."

"Don't even think that." For no sound reason I had convinced myself that the Lady had won. Mostly, it was wishful thinking, I'm sure. "Kingpin, we're going to visit that ship tonight. What about Darling?"

"Like I said. I don't know."

"You were supposed to look out for her."

"Yeah. But she kind of vanished."

"Vanished? How?"

"Not how, Croaker," One-Eye said, in response to vigorous signing from Silent. "How is irrelevant now. When."

"All right. When, Kingpin?"

"I don't know. Nobody's seen her since the night before Raven died."

"Bingo," Goblin said in a soft, awed voice. "Damn your eyes, Croaker, your instincts were right."

"What?" Kingpin asked.

"There's no way she would have disappeared beforehand unless she knew something was going to happen."

"Kingpin," I said, "did you go look at the place they were staying? Inside, I mean."

"Yeah. Somebody got there before me."

"What?"

"The place was cleaned out. I asked the innkeeper. He said they didn't move out. They was paid up for another month. That sounded to me like somebody knew about Raven getting croaked and decided to clean his place out. I figured it was that Asa. He disappeared right after."

"What did you do then?"

"What? I figured you guys didn't want Bullock back in Juniper, so we got him charged with Raven's murder. There was plenty of witnesses besides us saw them fighting. Enough to maybe convince a court we really saw what we said."

"You do anything to trace Darling?"

Kingpin had nothing to say. He stared at his hands. The rest of us exchanged irritated glances. Goblin muttered, "I told Elmo it was dumb to send him."

I guess it was. In minutes we had come up with several loose ends overlooked by Kingpin.

"How come you're so damned worried about it, anyway, Croaker?" Kingpin demanded. "I mean, it all looks like a big so-what to me."

"Look, King. Like it or not, when the Taken turned on us, we got pushed over to the other side. We're White Rose now. Whether we want it or not. They're going to come after us. The only thing the Rebel has going is the White Rose. Right?"

"If there is a White Rose."

"There is. Darling is the White Rose."

"Come on, Croaker. She's a deaf-mute."

One-Eye observed, "She's also a magical null-point."

"Eh?"

"Magic won't work around her. We noticed that clean back at Charm. And if she follows true for her sort, the null will get stronger as she gets older."

I recalled noting oddities about Darling during the battle of Charm, but hadn't made anything of it then. "What are you talking about?"

"I told you. Some people are negatives. Instead of having a talent for sorcery, they go the other way. It won't work around them. And when you think about it, that's the only way the White Rose makes sense. How could a deaf and dumb kid grow up to challenge the Lady or Dominator on their own ground? I'll bet the original White Rose didn't."