"I think, whether you say I heard it from the Antichrist or anyone else, that the assumption will be the same. Once we leave here, Heaven will know what I know." Gabriel was sober about this point: he hadn't exactly been open about his relationship with Belial, but he had never directly lied about it, and he didn't care to start now if he could possibly avoid it. However, he needed some reasoning for his unexpected detour, as well.

"I could say I'd been keeping an eye on him while we were both at the manor." Quite the understatement, perhaps, but not entirely untrue. Like Crowley, he spoke almost as though he were rehearsing the words for future recitation. "He left suspiciously, without warning, so I followed as soon as there was sign of him. And then you, like you said, followed the trail only to find the wrong being. That puts both of us back at the beginning, I believe."