The sedan pulled away from the Grand Palace with Croft's black envelope still tucked inside Leo's jacket, and before the car reached the end of the block, he opened the system market."Sovereign," he said under his breath, keeping his eyes on the back of the driver's head. "I need to see what people are hiding. Is there anything for that?"The red interface unfolded in the air in front of him, and the familiar voice rolled into his head with open amusement. "You are asking for a skill? Not paper money, not a larger hotel room, but an actual skill?" The Sovereign made a sound that might have been a laugh. "I may need a moment to recover.""Is there one or not?""There is a basic appraisal function. Two hundred points."[Purchase Skill: Eye of Truth][Cost: 200 System Points][Effect: Reveals true market values, hidden debts, physical condition, and lies in the people and documents you examine.]Leo pressed confirm. A cool pressure settled behind his eyes, and when he blinked it away, t

Leo had the hotel driver drop him at the bottom of the hill and walked the rest of the way up to the Leroy estate. As far as the Leroys knew, he was still a man who couldn't afford a bus ticket, and until the auction tomorrow night, he wanted them to go on believing it.The guard at the front gate recognized him from fifty feet away and kept his feet up on the desk. "Service road, Leo," he called through the window, pointing with his coffee cup toward the side of the property. "Mrs. Leroy's orders. Your stuff's out back by the garage. The rubbish truck comes at ten, so I'd hurry."The service road ran along the outside of the garden wall, past the greenhouse and the pool house, and ended at a concrete yard behind the garage where the staff kept the bins. There were three of them lined up against the wall, and Leo knew what he would find before he reached them, because a sleeve of his old work jacket was hanging over the lip of the nearest one.Four years in this house, and everything