Blood shrugged. "We were never really close. I feel a bit guilty about that

now.

To be honest, Andrew didn't have a lot of character, but to go like that..."

He

sighed. "Hard to believe it was only yesterday. Time doesn't pass, you know,

it

stretches. Especially when you're drunk. The newspapers will doubtless make

him

out to be another of the Ripper's victims, but I don't believe he was. The

M.O.

didn't match, and serial killers generally stick to the same pattern. Poor

Andrew looked as if he'd been torn apart by some wild animal. Won't know for

certain till I see the lab results."

"Is there any way you can get hold of them right now?" asked Wyrdrune.

"Yes, I expect so," Blood said. "Danny Shavers is a good man, he'll cover for

me. Why? What are you thinking? You suspect Carfax?"

"You're a cop," said Wyrdrune, "you tell me."

"There's absolutely no evidence against Mm," Blood said. "Not even

circumstantial."

"But what does your instinct tell you?" Wyrdrune said.

"My instinct is telling me to be very leery of your lot," said Blood. "If I

antagonize a man in Carfax's position—"

"Just what exactly is his position?" Wyrdrune asked. "Is he actually a lord?"

"Well, difficult to say," said Blood. "Since the Collapse there's been

nothing

like Burke's or Debretts. Records have been lost and no one really pays very

close attention to that sort of thing these days. The House of Lords is more

a

gentleman's political debating society than anything else, and only a handful

of

the so-called 'old aristocracy' go in for it. And even they probably couldn't

stand very careful scrutiny. I suppose, to anticipate your next question,

that

given enough imagination, money, social contacts, and the right sort of

manners,

one could easily phony up a title. Or simply buy one outright."

"And Carfax has plenty of money, and his parties undoubtedly provide him with

all the social contacts he needs," said Wyrdrune. "Seems interesting that no

one

knows exactly what he does or where he came from, doesn't it? I wonder if

anyone's ever seen his passport. For that matter, I wonder if there's even a

record of his entry into this country."

"You're an extremely suspicious young man," said Blood. "Ever think about

becoming a policeman?"

"Not even once."

Blood smiled. "It's like that, is it? Still, I should think if he'd gotten

into

the country illegally, the press would have ferreted it out by now. They all