"Maybe once the rest of your company gets here. The city will have to be controlled. The Duke and his incompetents couldn't manage that."

I stood there looking expectant. Sometimes that will con people into telling you more than they plan.

"The city will go up in flames if it's not buttoned up tight when the truth comes out. Why do you think the Custodians are so determined to keep the Catacombs thing hushed? Several thousand citizens have relatives who went into that monstrosity. That's a lot of people who'll get very irate about the souls of loved ones being lost."

"I see." I did a little. It took a certain willing suspension of reason, though.

"We're going at this from a different angle," she told me. "I'm taking charge of your investigations. Report to me daily. I'll decide what you're going to do, and how.

Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am." Only too well. It was going to get that much more difficult to keep her and Raven apart.

"The first thing you'll do is set a watch on the castle. And if that doesn't shake something loose, I'll send Feather down there. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am." Again, only too well.

I wondered if Whisper suspected we were working at cross-purposes.

"You can leave. I'll expect you back tomorrow. With something to report." "Yes, ma'am."

I went straight back to Elmo, fuming. He should have faced her, not me. Just because I'd sort of taken over.

I was with Elmo barely long enough to tell him what had happened when a messenger came from Bullock. He wanted to see me right away.

Bullock was another problem. I'd become convinced he was smarter than he put on, and was almost as sure that he suspected we were up to more than we admitted.

I eased into his cubicle in the secret police headquarters. "What's up?"

"I've made a little headway on the Catacombs raid. Result of pure stubborn footwork."

"Well?" I felt pretty curt about then, and he raised an eyebrow. "Just had a face-to-face with my boss," I told him, which was as near an apology as I cared to come. "What have you got?"

"A name."

I waited. Like Elmo, Bullock liked to be coaxed. I was in no mood to play that game.

"I followed up your notion about rented wagons. Turned up the name Asa. A wood-gatherer named Asa was, probably, working through the hole I showed you. A man named Asa spent a number of old coins, but before the raid on the Catacombs. A man named Asa worked for Krage before he and his men disappeared. Everywhere I go, it's Asa-this or Asa-that."

"Anything to connect him with the black castle?"

"No. I don't think he's a principal in anything. But he must know something."