Sunny experienced a small flash of annoyance, then tried to remind herself that Spencer was a trained law enforcement officer and this was not an instance of being talked down to simply on the grounds of being female. But she let him go first.

What greeted them on the other side was not another corridor or a staircase or even a room that would logically match this house. It looked to be a one-room hut. In the middle of the floor lay the lifeless bodies of two children, a boy and a girl, neither of them a day older than three. The man who knelt over them was large and looming, built like a former athlete with powerful arms and a midsection that had already run to fat. He held a piece of chalk in one hand, in the other an ornate knife of his own.

Otokoto Ginny had died nine years ago. These children had been saved nine years ago. But there they were.

Black Hat took them in, a skinny white Lamb and a little Leopard girl. "This is the best you can do, girl?" The question was all sneering laughter.

Sunny didn't know if she could go any paler, but she felt the blood drain from her face.