"I'm sorry, Paul," said Loomis. "It's nothing personal. I'm only trying to do my job."

"Yes, well . . . I was about to offer Ginny a drink. Would you like one as well?"

"Not while I'm on duty. Besides, we haven't got the time," replied Loomis. "We've still got a lot to do

tonight. I told your girlfriend that if Cornwall comes back, I want to see him, pronto. She said, 'Yes, sir,'

and saluted me." He grimaced. "I trust shewill give him the message?"

"Oh, I think you can count on that," said Paul.

Loomis grunted. "Right. Let's get on with it. Ginny, where can we drop you off?"

"I thought you said I could come along," she said.

"To confront Cornwall with your accusations, yes," said Loomis. "But he's obviously not here and I'm

not about to have a reporter tagging along while I question suspects."

"Joe . . . I thought we had a deal."

Loomis stopped by the door and gave her a patient look. "Ginny . . . you're getting a lot more out of me

than any other reporter in town. Don't push it, okay?"

He opened the door and held it for her. She shrugged with resignation and went outside. Loomis held

the door and glanced at Paul. "Sorry to take you away from your friend, Paul," he said. He smiled. "You

keep surprising me. Hell, if I had a girl like that to come home to, it would be Christmas every night."

"Joe . . ." Paul paused on the steps outside the door. "What Ginny said about Michael . . . Look, there

has to be some mistake. Perhaps she got her signals crossed or there was some kind of computer error

or something, but—"

"Whatever it is, we'll find out," said Loomis, interrupting him. "One way or the other."

Paul frowned. "What does that mean, 'one way or the other'?"

"It means I'm not taking anything at face value," Loomis replied. "Maybe Ginny got her information

wrong. If that's the case, then we've got no problem. But on the other hand, if she'snot wrong, then that

means your friend Cornwall pulled the wool over your eyes as well as mine. And that puts him right up on

top of the suspect list."

"You can't be serious!" said Paul. "Surely, you don't thinkMichael could be the necromancer?"

"Look, Paul," said Loomis, "by your own admission, you haven't seen him since the two of you were at

school together. That's a pretty long time. A lot of things can happen to a man over a period of time like

that. And there's the fact that the killing started about the time he came to town."

"I can't believe it," Paul said. "There's no way that Michael could be the necromancer! It's impossible.

Besides, he was with us when the necromancer struck tonight, remember?"

"Nothing is impossible," said Loomis. "He didn't go along with us on the questioning tonight. He stayed

behind in the car, with Sgt. Velez. And Velez said he didn't talk much. Just sat there quietly, as if he was

concentrating on something."