[... better. Damian wouldn't put it past his Father for some of it to have been real, anyway.]

Information, of course. At a party, you have the opportunity to observe people who know one another that you might not have been aware of, and whom you may engage in conversation that may lead to things slipping out. Some that they did not know, some that you did not.

In a place like this especially, it may be that many people know pieces of information that make no sense unless put together with the pieces that others know.

[That's something a journalist would be doing, wouldn't it?]