Thou madest him lower than the angels
To crown him with glory and worship— Psalm 8, v 5
Through the miracles of modern technology (also known as letting Atoziel play with the DVLA computers), the late Inspector Jones' car is found to be registered to a Reginald Morley. Further digging reveals that Morley is a licensed Private Detective, and phoning his number gets an answerphone message. Atoziel and Helophel pay a visit, since they have lots of keys from the demons' pockets, and search the place. Morley turns out to be the Habbalite, judging from photos on his ID, but there's nothing terribly interesting at the office. They pass the news back to the other angels, who do a little light plotting of their own.
That evening, Boriel goes drinking with the rugby foursome. They are all pretty nervous as Harry updates them on Wells' condition, and the news that he is a police officer causes some outright panic reactions. They do all come to the conclusion that sitting tight is about their only option, particularly once Harry explains that the people they met have agreed to keep them out of things as much as possible. Boriel tries to probe a little about Jono's earlier visions, and is met by silence. The guys really don't want to talk about it, and alas the Malakite is too blind to get a decent resonance on any of them.
Magariel spends her early evening talking to Jenny on the phone, generally reassuring her that all is well. The gesture is very much appreciated, and the girls spin the conversation out until Magariel decides it's time for her to go to the Cenotaph offices. She does this and, as previously arranged, examines the artefacts that Helophel retrieved.
The Will Shackles seem to be a standard issue Game relic, level/3 (so pretty nasty in game terms — Hello, you're going to do what I say now). They are still owned (in Symphonic terms) by the Balseraph, so they could be used to track him and conversely he will still know where they are. Haramine, the Cherub Seneschal of the Cenotaph, is less than enthused by that thought, but Magariel begins making plans for a trap once the Balseraph comes out of Trauma.
The golden noose is a much rarer relic, something crafted by the demon Ivrafel according to Magariel's attunement, and is also "owned" by the Balseraph still. Magariel confirms her previous hypothesis that it is meant for dragging celestials into celestial form, but is still uncertain as to what would happen if it was tried on a human. Neither party might go celestal, or it could conceivably rip the human's soul out of his body, killing him. Not really something Magariel wants to try out.
The angels gather again, and Boriel performs the Song of Affinity on the hair samples that Blakely gathered earlier. Nothing happens, which is a touch peculiar; the whole of which the strands of Herald's hair are part is no longer the same as it was. It is theorised that Herald has been completely taken over by an Ethereal force. When Blakely reports this in, the suggestion is taken very seriously, and Blakely is told to get extreme if the Song of Exchange is involved.
Helophel and Magariel ascend, using the Cenotaph Tether, to deliver their reports and put some plans into effect. It is now about midnight, and Magariel's first business is to report Morley's role details to some fellow Windies for them to play with. Rolebusters promptly swing into action, particularly when Janus himself turns up and asks who wants the lookalike vessel. Amidst the congratulations, Magariel makes a pitch for the Celestial Song of Opening, the Song that opens someone's mind to reason again, on the grounds that he will need something like it to repair the Weavers' marriage.
Meanwhile Helophel has been debriefed further by Michael. Acting on Haramine's report of Helophel's problems with Destiny, Michael demanded information from Yves himself. Now he has a headache too, and is none the wiser; Yves has backed up his Servitors, and insists that the CI5 men's destinies should not be discussed with anyone. Sigh.
Helophel then discusses her immediate problem, and is allowed to take a contingent of Michaelites up into the treetops to unfold the second plan. Magariel will attune ownership of the noose and try to bring Wells up for a severe case of death. A lively betting pool as to who will get in the killing blow starts up.
Back in the Corporeal realm, Atoziel finds the security on the Burns Unit too tight for him to risk slipping in. Foiled from another attempt to use his Seraph attunement, he turns back to computerised info gathering. First he sets up someone of Herald's description as a wanted terrorist, flagged as very dangerous, do not approach. Then he starts work on the rugby players' backgrounds; unless he gets distracted, by morning he should have a pretty good idea if they have roles or are the real McCoy.
Magariel returns to earth, this time in his male vessel. After some medical attention from Blakely, he disguises himself and slips into the hospital as a cleaner. Eventually he gets himself into the Burns Unit, sneaks the noose around Wells' sleeping neck and tries to go Celestial. Nothing happens, except that the policeman on guard spots both him and the noose. The officer calls in an confronts Magariel, taking the garotte off him. Magariel Celestial Motions is subtly out of the officer's pocket and legs it, going celestial when he is well clear on the stairs. Appearing next to his Heart, he yells don't shoot and dives sideways, dodging the couple of trigger-happy angels who will get a chewing out from their commander later. Mercifully whichever Malakite packed celestial C4 under Magariel's Heart is more restrained!