"You liked it?" Albert asked suspiciously.

"Certainly. The combination of tastes and textures was superb, although I did feel that there was a little much grease. The ketchup made it quite extraordinary."

"Ah well, don't argue with a good dollop of ketchup, I say."

"Indeed, that would not be very productive," Vetinari agreed politely.

Albert inspected Vetinari for a moment. "I'm to tell you not to go looking up what's happening to your city in the library either."

"Ah. Which library would this be?"

"Third door on the right. I expect you'll be wanting to look around the place now, so I'll just get on with the dishes."

Vetinari stepped out of the kitchen and towards the third door on the right.

Cheery let a drop of blood fall into the vial on her workbench. The solution turned blue.

"Well, what does that mean, Corporal?" Vimes asked.

"It's blood (1), sir."

"I guessed that already."

"I have to do all the routine tests, sir. (2) This one's for alcohol." Another drop of blood fell into a vial. The solution immediately turned bright red. Cheery looked at it worriedly.

"Sober as a judge, no doubt."

"No sir," Cheery said nervously, "He must have been highly inebriated to get a result like that."

"That's not right, Corporal. I was speaking to him at the time of death and he was certainly not drunk."

"I'll do the tests again, sir. The sample might have been contaminated, but . . ."

"But what, Corporal?"

Cheery looked uneasy. "If it was contaminated, it was immediately after the murder, sir."

"Corporal Littlebottom! Are you accusing me of tampering with the evidence?"

"Er, no, sir."

"Well, why not?"

"You're not drunk, sir, so it can't be your blood."

"Oh. Couldn't I have poured a bottle of whisky over him?"

"No, sir. The alcohol mixes differently with the blood, sir" She lifted a different tube from her desk. "This is the other sample. It's almost impossible for this one to have been contaminated." She dribbled the blood into a vial. The drop fell to the bottom of the vial and began to spread along the base. "He was sober, sir. I would venture that the contaminant is the murderer's blood."

"Hells, Corporal, I would have noticed a drunk murderer."

"With all due respect, sir, I would have expected you to notice any murderer. This one must have an unusual tactic. I'm doing the adrenaline tests now."

"Which tests?"

"Adrenaline, sir. It comes from the Latatian and means 'thing that makes you run faster'." She dripped the blood into a vial. The clear liquid turned milky. Cheery waited for a few seconds, then tapped the vial cautiously. The milky liquid remained unchanged. "There's no adrenaline, sir. I think we can assume he didn't see anything to alarm him."

Vetinari stepped into the library (3). A quiet, but persistent scratching permeated the room. He browsed for a few minutes before opening the book he wanted.

Vimes watched as Corporal Littlebottom continued the tests. These results were more routine than the earlier ones, but they weren't making anything clearer.

He read for a few more minutes to satisfy himself that Vimes was handling matters adequately, before moving on to the next biography.

Drumknott filed a copy of the letter he had sent to the guild heads. He didn't trust Commander Vimes to handle the diplomacy of the situation, despite what His Lordship believed.

That was to be expected, Vetinari thought. He returned the volume to the shelf and moved on.

Rosie Palm reread the letter she had received from the patrician's offices. She sighed. Vetinari had understood Ankh-Morpork. He would be impossible to replace.

Mrs Palm would be useful while he was gone. Vetinari read a few more lines and replaced the volume. He continued browsing. It was almost as convenient as being back in his office.

Frank took another swig from the bottle. Mr Jenkins said it was high quality wine, but Frank reckoned it was a waste of money. Still, if Mr Jenkins was paying him to drink, he wouldn't complain. Even all the business about climbing down the chimney in the dark was worth it. He was getting pretty rich by now and if Mr Jenkins didn't want his daughter to know about it, what business was it of his?

Frank hiccupped and began to sing. He was drinking fine wine and had a pocket full of dollars. Mr Jenkins even said he wouldn't get a hangover. He said Frank had already had the hangover. Frank didn't bother to wonder what that meant before he went swaggering down the street, looking for girls.

1 It may also have been soap, due to the little known fact that the easily identifiable alchemical properties of blood are also present in some cleaning agents.

2 Although it is necessary to test that a substance is blood and not, for example, paint, it is not considered necessary to ascertain that it is not soap.

3 It was a dark, black room.

A/N: As always, thanks to Virtuella for beta reading and to everyone who has reviewed.