Gabriel held my coat out for me. “And he’s asking for you to get him released.”

I took the coat and tossed it onto a chair. “Are you crazy? I’m not going to help him get out of jail. This might not be the ideal method of keeping tabs on him, but at least if he’s being held by the mortals, he won’t be able to stir up who knows what trouble.”

Gabriel picked up the coat again and slung it over my shoulders. “Have you forgotten Jian?”

“Not in the least. Magoth probably won’t help us with the problem of finding Chuan Ren and getting her released.”

“You don’t know that for certain,” Gabriel argued.

He had a point, dammit.

“I don’t like it,” I said, allowing him to push me toward the door. “There must be a way we can keep him in custody and still get assistance in the matter of Chuan Ren.”

“I doubt if he’d agree to lend any aid without some in return,” Gabriel pointed out.

“Well, there you are!” Sally said, bustling into the room with a large carrying bag. “You picked a fine time to do a disappearing act! Did you hear? Magoth is in trouble, and the poor dear needs our help. We have to get out to him on the double. He’s probably being tortured even as we speak!”

I thinned my lips as Gabriel escorted us out of the suite. “Let’s take the scenic route to the rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Geneviève. Maybe a few thumbscrews and bamboo under the nails will make him more agreeable.”

“May, for heaven’s sake,” Sally said, rolling her eyes as she hurried ahead of us to the elevator. “They don’t use thumbscrews and bamboo anymore. Now it’s all high-tech. They’ll probably attach a taser to his genitals or something.”

She paused, looking thoughtful.

“Somehow, I have a feeling Magoth wouldn’t consider that torture so much as foreplay,” I said, getting on the elevator, Gabriel and his two bodyguards following.

“I admit, it does sound rather . . . intriguing . . . ,” she said, clearly lost in thought, only just managing to get into the elevator car before the doors closed.

Unfortunately, the ride to the fifth arrondissement didn’t take that long, Tipene being familiar with the area. Twenty minutes hadn’t passed before I found myself standing in the police station, reading with interest a notice about an attached crime museum. “It says they have a real guillotine blade,” I told Gabriel. “I’d like to see that.”

“A guillotine blade? Is there a torture section, as well?” Sally asked, pushing me aside to read the notice. “There’s nothing I love more than a good torture exhibit, unless, of course, it’s the actual practice itself.”

“What say we have a quick tour before we have to see Magoth?” I suggested.

A corner of Gabriel’s mouth quirked.