Not technically. That was a line of questioning for another time -- in the meantime, Castle's grasp of the situation spoke for his familiarity with this sort of situation.

"A good question! The water department was rather vague on that point." Conan's expression is petulant, but he remembers that he's talking to a new arrival and judiciously ammends his statement. "Have you had the experience of talking to totally grey citizens? They don't mean to be unhelpful, I'm sure, but the information they can give is -- limited."

They're nearing the manhole cover now and Conan kneels beside the open hole. "Cursory examination suggests that the usual volume of water is depleted, probably because of the run of fine weather we've had, which resulted in the hand coming to light. Ah, I didn't mention earlier, but it was grey -- one of the faceless citizens."