SARA searches the pavement for even the vaguest of footprints in the black ash, for even the smallest specks of blood.
Satisfied that she's picked up what seems to be the killer's trail, she leads KAT and DORGIO, along with four of the gendarmes, off to the east.
The other two gendarmes fall in behind the hound-master and his boy assistant, joining DORGIO and RAEN on the search for Benn's missing children. Their trail leads them further south.
Within a minute of parting, no one in either group can look back and see the glare of torches carried by the other group, separated as they are by clouds of ash blown down the street.
Another minute and even the noise of the others has gone.
Only the night winds now, only the trail and the hunt.
...
HUNTING THE KILLER
SARA, KAT, DORGIO
SARA finds more blood drops.
It's spotty, with breaks of several yards.
If the blood spoor runs out...
But she can also look about the neighborhood by torchlight, and hazard a guess as to where in the black maze of alleys and tenements a fugitive murderer might run and hide.
The intermittent trails thins till Sara is really just guessing. But before it runs out, it turns in a circle, leading back west, toward the river.
The gendarmes thrust their torches ahead, peering into the gloom. Fog pools in a dip in the street, rolling toward the party and then receding , like waves lapping at a shore of stone.
''Looks like we're getting closer to the water'', one man says.
One of the gendarmes edges closer to Kat and Sara.
"Are you alright, mademoiselles? You're weeping!"
And so they are.
KAT feels
SARA
DORGIO
SEARCHING FOR THE MISSING LITTLE ONES
BENN AND RAEN
The dogs sniff at the pavement, stalking on slowly at first, then straining at the leash, then barking and pulling in different directions.
''Something's wrong." The hound-master calls his beasts to heel. He walks round and squats by them, whispering to them.
After a moment, he rises, and says,
"They've caught a new scent. I think it's not your killer. Something else. Animal, most likely. Lots of crisscross trails. I can try to get them back on the right trail if you'd be pleased to bring me those blankets and clothes, monsieur." He looks to Benn.