She looked at him warily. "If you screw me over on this . . ."

"Hell, it's up to you, Ginny. You either trust me or you don't."

She thought about it for a moment, then took the film out of the camera and gave it to him.

"Thanks," he said.

"This means you owe me, Loomis."

"Okay, within reason."

"I can quote you that the girls were both killed by necromancy?"

"No. You can quote me that there were runic symbols carved into the bodies."

"Did Ramirez detect trace emanations?"

Loomis sighed. "Yes."

"Well, isn't that the same thing?"

"You can draw your own inferences, Ginny. But you can only quote me on the facts."

"Can I quote you that yoususpect necromancy was involved? Thatis a fact, isn't it?"

Loomis sighed again. "Very well. I suppose there's no avoiding it."

"Then you're going to be questioning local adepts?"

"Yes. We've already started."

"Who have you talked to?"

"No comment."

"Come on, Joe. Give me a break. You said you were going to level with me."

"I said, within reason."

"I'll probably find out anyway, you know."

"That's up to you. But if I tell people I'm going to question them in confidence, then it's going to stay that

way. When I give my word, I keep it."

"All right. That's fair. What about Ramirez? Is he taking part with you in the questioning?"

Loomis hesitated. "No."

"Considering the fact that he's a sensitive, don't you think he should?"