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Carlos whispered to him again. "Lord, that is highly alarming. Please ask her for more details."

Hector didn't need to be told either of those things. "How exactly did your two bodyguards disappear?"

"Ah--well, one moment they were there, and the next they were not," she said. "We looked all over the airport, but we were unable to find them."

"Okay, but--" Hector hesitated. He wanted to be careful with what he said, but he needed better clarification. Was she actually talking about people vanishing before her eyes? Probably not, right? And broaching the subject of invisibility was more likely to alarm everyone in the group. He decided to rephrase his question. "...So let me make sure I understand. One moment, they were there, then you turned away? And then when you looked back, your bodyguards weren't there anymore?"

"Yes, that is correct." The Secretary sounded mildly confused, perhaps wondering why he was asking for clarification on something so simple.

Okay, so probably not invisibility, then. For a second there, he'd gotten flashbacks to both Dunehall and the Gaolanets' Estate. In a background thought process, he wondered if the Scarf would work as well on detecting invisible aberrations as it did on invisible Sparrows.

"Lord," came Carlos' voice again, "ask her how well she knew her bodyguards."

Hmm. Hector could see where he was going with that question. "How well did you know these two bodyguards of yours?"

The Secretary looked suddenly even more confused. "I... not very well, I suppose." And she blinked. "You're not suggesting that they..." For whatever reason, she left that sentence unfinished.

Hector, however, had another question for her that she might not like very much. "Is it possible that the Beast didn't get them? That they just left on their own?"

Her posture stiffened somewhat. "What are you implying, Lord Goffe?"

Hmm? Was he approaching a sore spot? "I'm just trying to understand the situation here."