"You'll be a great help, Paul," said Merlin. "You know this town and we don't. And you are a man of

position here. You can open doors for us, if need be. My greatest concern is that you not be exposed to

any unnecessary danger. Until the killer is found, at least one of us should be with you at all times, for

your own protection."

"You'll be a great help, Paul," said Merlin. "You know this town and we don't. And you are a man of

position here. You can open doors for us, if need be. My greatest concern is that you not be exposed to

any unnecessary danger. Until the killer is found, at least one of us should be with you at all times, for

your own protection."

Before the others could reply to his invitation, the phone rang.

"Excuse me," Paul said as he got up to answer it. He picked it up and said, "Ramirez." And then, "Oh,

God. Yes, of course, I'll come. Oh, all right. I'll be waiting. Thank you."

"What is it?" Kira asked, seeing the expression on his face as he hung up the phone.

"There's been another murder," he said heavily. "Exactly like the last one. They found the body in the

river. Lt. Loomis is sending a police car for me."

"One of us should go with you," Merlin said.

"How shall I explain it to Loomis?"

Wyrdrune shapechanged.

"Tell him that I'm an old classmate of yours from school, visiting from England," Modred said. "I'm an

adept who's gone into police work, an inspector at Scotland Yard."

"He'll most likely check," said Paul uncertainly.

"That is why I've chosen Scotland Yard," said Modred. "We have a trusted contact there, Chief

Inspector Michael Blood. We've worked with him before. He knows about the Dark Ones and can be

counted on to cooperate. We can call him from here and warn him to prepare a cover story for me."

"I'll call him right now," said Kira. "May I use your phone?"

"Of course," said Paul.

"In the meantime, we'll have to think up some sort of cover story for the rest of us," said Merlin.

"You could be tourists or visiting adepts," said Paul. "There's supposed to be a conference of corporate

adepts next weekend, a convention running in conjunction with the fiesta."

"The fiesta?" Wyrdrune asked, changing back to his own form.

"The Fiesta de Santa Fe," said Paul. "It's a three-day festival held the weekend after Labor Day. It's a

very old tradition, celebrating the Spanish reconquest of Santa Fe by Don Diego de Vargas. The major

event is the burning of Zozobra, a forty-foot effigy of 'Old Man Gloom.' As dean of the College of

Sorcerers, it's my task to animate Zozobra."

"And then youburn him?" Broom said incredulously.