Ace sauntered in, clad in a tan flight suit and boots as if she were about to hop into a fighter plane. She wore neither dark glasses nor wig. Nor did she assume any pretense at being meek or quiet.

"Radio?" Daria asked.

"Sure. I called in reinforcements. The telephone's still dead, right?"

"I suppose so." Daria answered.

"It is. The line's been cut unless I miss my guess. Well, gather 'round, everybody. I'll the explain the mouse."

She bumped a chair on the way into the common room. Using her hands to orient to its contours, she sat in it.

"Mouse? Blech. Why?" Mario made a sour face and plopped his solid bulk into a spare seat. Daria claimed one next to him. Trevor perched on the hearth.

Mariam returned with a glass of water and sat next to me. In slow motion she offered the glass and in slow motion I wrapped my own fingers around it, though my eyes rested more upon her face than upon the glass cylinder we exchanged.

"Wait," said Daria. "The phone line's been cut? Why, that's terrifying. And when do the reinforcements, as you call them, arrive?"

Ace Carroway's lips curved in a pleasant expression. "Let me re-introduce myself. I'm Cecilia Carroway. I'm in town in connection with the trial of Darko Dor."

Lazar still patrolled by the piano. He said, "You captured him."

"Well, not me alone, of course. After the war, he styled himself 'The Mongoose' and set about restarting it from a base further east. Once we figured out it was really Darko Dor we went in and got him, long story short. We didn't make it out unscathed, though. Most of my associates are recuperating from wounds right now. And I came away blind."

"How did that happen?" I said.

"Darko Dor injected me with something. It's filled my eyes with black sediment. We don't have much of a clue how the poison works and it might very well be permanent."

"How awful," Daria's face twisted in revulsion.

"It doesn't compare to the worst he's done. Remember the gas attacks in France and Belgium?"

At those words, I'm sure we all did recall. The gas attacks shocked the allies and Darko Dor had proudly masterminded those indiscriminate massacres.

Mario said, "Who is outside with the gun? Is it a bounty hunter or an Ottoman patriot?"

Her flight-suited shoulders shrugged. "I don't know. Another unsolved mystery. Bartel, I am so sorry you were grazed." She did not look at me, because she was blind, but her head swiveled in my general direction. Her irises were almost the same color as her golden skin, and they, too, reflected the dancing firelight and seemed to glow.

"No apology necessary. Only a chained man could move slower than I did." I sipped water.

"When do reinforcements arrive?" persisted Daria.

The corners of Ace's eyes wrinkled. "I don't know exactly. Within the hour. We should simply sit tight."

Daria shuddered. "What a horror of a day."

Mario laid an arm across her shoulders. This time she did not shrug it off.

"That brings us to the mouse," I said. "And, I presume, to the murder of George Raptis."

Carroway rocked back in her chair. "Mm, hm. I proposed to the Inspector here that a venomous snake had bitten Raptis."

"I hate snakes," Mario said.

Mariam giggled. She sat so near that I felt her warm body shimmy. She said, "You hate all animals, I think."

Mario didn't deny it. "I had a mean older brother."

"What makes you think it was a poisonous snake?" Trevor asked.

Ace said, "It was a team effort. My primary contribution was knowledge that the poison the Inspector tasted was likely a cytotoxin. Several snakes use that family of venoms"

Eyes drifted my way. My eyebrows shot up. "I should share my observations? That's irregular."

"Oh, please?" Mariam fluttered her eyelashes at me. "It will help pass the time."

I guzzled more water to gain thinking time, but one thing was clear: there was no prosecutable case. Even if I knew which of these six had done it, what evidence did I have that jury could believe? Not a thing. Even if one of them confessed outright, a competent defense lawyer could destroy the confession's credibility.

I rolled my eyes to the ceiling, then said. "All right, but first I want to know who sat next to George Raptis at dinner last night."

"Me," said Daria.

"I also," said Trevor. His hands were clasped, but a finger moved, stroking across the smooth metal of his ring. His wedding ring.

A chill ran through me.

Mariam nudged me. "Well?"

"Oh. Where were we? Right. Evidence for a snake. Well, the existence of poison became obvious when I put some on my tongue. But Raptis did an odd thing before he died."

I wet my tongue with Mariam's gift of water. All eyes were on me, even the patrolling soldier's.

"He clutched at a candle and drew a wavy line of wax on the floor. I spent a while thinking it was the symbol for water, but Ace suggested it might represent a snake."

"And the cats," prompted Ace.

"Yes, our odd plague of cats is another item worth considering. Cats hunt snakes. I presume they can smell them. So the neighborhood cats want inside this house so that they can hunt."

"Mamma mia," Mario said. "Can it be true?"

Daria's brows knit together fiercely. "So, someone brought a poisonous snake?"

"A snake trainer!" Mariam clapped her hands. "Who is it?"

I held up a hand in the stop gesture. "I cannot be sure, though I have my favorite pick. First, let me tick off the checkboxes. A murderer must have means, motive, and opportunity. If the means was delivery of poison via snakebite, then everyone had opportunity if they had imported a snake. One would slip the snake into Raptis's room and hope that the bite would occur."

"Do snakes just bite people like that?" Daria's fingertips danced at her mouth, as if she was nibbling on her nails.

Ace put in, "Snakes are attracted to the scents of their prey, and also vibrations."

Mariam sat straight with a jolt. "Wait. You think there is a snake on the loose?" She snatched her feet from the floor and hugged her knees.