When Henry returned to the room, he only found Firmin's body still there and a trail of blood droplets into the hall, where it disappeared. He instructed two of the men to take care of the body, then led the others in a search. A draft alerted him to the open door at the top of the stairs to the roof, and he saw scratch marks where the pirates' craft had been anchored. How had they evaded the guards on the deck? When he went down to check, he found the two guards snoozing, their heads on their chests, an empty bottle of rum and a pack of cards on the small table between them. He almost woke them to berate them, then smelled the bottle. A chemical odor alerted him to the fact that it had been tampered with. But by whom?
He steeled himself. He would have to go to Viero and admit failure. An
