"She did not see their faces any more than Hawk and Teige could," Luu mused to Vlad. No one around them seemed to notice their conversation, too busy murmuring amongst themselves. "...One of them cut their hand, but a healer could have fixed that by now...but if we could get into the crime scene, perhaps they left blood behind."

Vlad was still trying to clear his ears. "What about the knife?" he asked. "Or that ring?"

"The knife looked like an ordinary straight ceramic blade. But the ring...maybe we--"

Suyan's thin voice drew a hush over Luu and Vlad and everyone else.

< ...Am I...dead? >

Hawk had not said anything since Suyan had finished her recollection; he hadn't even looked around at the crowd, and he didn't now. Instead, he heaved a deep sigh.

"Yeah," he said.