"A plague on both your houses!"— "Romeo and Juliet," William Shakespeare
Blakely phones Philomon at the tower, and then Atoziel and Boriel, to pass on a hypothesis. Perhaps the sorceror knew that people were waiting for him at the airport, invoked some demonic help, crash-landed the plane and just walked off. This is agreed to be possible.
When Blakely gets back into the plane, Keel hands him a small black bag that was found wedged under a collapsed chair in first class. He inspects both bag and contents carefully, the prize being a knife sheath. Everything gets dusted for fingerprints.
Atoziel and Boriel meanwhile, having been bounced by the police cordon, meet Excel and Dr McKenzie, who is worried to distraction about his wife. A little surrepticious phoning is done to Blakely, who locates her. She appears to be OK, mostly, and is tending to three children. Blakely interviews her, getting the distinct impression that she is holding herself together for the children's sake. Their babysitter and two other children were killed, but she managed to hide the others.
Shelley McKenzie does have some interesting information for Blakely, and thence Strang and Keel. After the crash, she saw a man wielding a knife, rampaging through the survivors. His left arm may have been broken, and he was mad. She is quite definite on that point; he was happy as he killed.
Shortly after this, Magariel phones Blakely and points out that he might be able to track Raposo if there is anything suitable present, such as the knife sheath. Blakely suggests showing up as Maggie Ryan, and the two concoct a suitable reason for her "work experience" to have been extended. Blakely also passes back news from the Tower; the smug man's licence plate turns out to be fake. Maggie duly turns up and starts helping inside the plane.
It is noted that the wounds on the dead people aren't consistent with knives. "They wouldn't be," says Strang, causing instant interest from Keel and the angels. Strang explains that Raposo was a sorceror, and the property of the knife that it perverts evidence. Keel is frankly sceptical, Magariel surruptitiously phones Helophel with the speaker muted so that she can resonate on him. Strang is insistent that Keel can't take on the sorceror sensibly, and that the knife has its secrets — meaning both senses that are obvious to the angels. He doesn't know that anyone else is after Raposo. He is also an expert at circumlocution. He does however give out his business card, which describes him as an "occult investigator."
Helophel is slightly distracted at the start of the phone call by spotting PC Wells and WPC Herald being grabbed by some South American people and pointed to another (South American) victim. The pair do their emergency ambulance thing, leaving Helophel to concentrate on the call. A short while later she is further distracted by hearing weak cries near the fuselage. Investigating, she finds a weak, wounded old man cradling a dead old woman. Helophel gets them to one of the "field hospital" vans and joins the search for more victims.
Magariel meanwhile gets to work on the sheath, determining that its creator was human and is still in the US, and that it was made for a specific knife. He is also fortunate in that the brochure for the Sheridan Hotel in the bag has some doodles on it, enough to get a lock and to reveal to the artistic eye that their creator was excited, anticipating something important.
Blakely receives yet another data-dump from the Tower, which confirms the Dagger's ability to pervert clues. Philomon also gives the short briefing on Strang; he is an unaligned, apparently self-made sorceror, as arrogant as they usually are, and should be avoided.
Armed with the information and Magariel's lock, the angels make their various excuses and leave, piling into the van and heading towards the Sheridan. Atoziel, Boriel and Helophel wait outside while Blakely and Magariel go in and book a twin room for two nights. The receptionist makes quite sure that they want a twin, not a double. They are on the sixth floor, and determine that Raposo is on floor 3, in room 322 they think. The plan is for the others to buy a trunk and an appropriate maid's costume; Boriel will then deliver the trunk with Helophel inside it to Blakely and Magariel, while Atoziel delivers a package to Raposo; at least those are their excuses to the front desk.
This all takes some time to set up, and shortly before Atoziel pulls up, Magariel recognises the Demon Policewoman walk in to the hotel. Plans are hatched rapidly.