"You can't be compelled to tell a truth seer what you don't know," Vlad said pointedly. "You see what I'm getting at, right?"

Hawk looked at him. "Yeah," he said after a moment, and then turned back to Luu and Dina with a shrug. "Look. It's just, I was told we could get the machete right to the Treiha. An' that even if it belongs to a cop, the Treiha would still go after 'em. So..."

He trailed off. Luu regarded him with some scorn. "Who told you that?"

Hawk gritted his teeth. "I can't tell ya that," he said. "You'd just have to trust me, I guess."

"Ah, well," Dina said irritably. "You showed such great judgement last night, after all."

Luu snorted. Before Hawk could retort, Vlad spoke up again.

"You might be right about the Treiha, hon, but the cops have already made it pretty clear to me that they don't give a shit about this murder."

Hawk frowned. "How's that?"

"They practically told me, when they made me come out this morning to identify the victim."