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You could always try to use the real-life Jesuits' way : since the gods know the truth of mortals' thoughts, you say the beginning of a true sentence aloud, then end it in your mind. The total result, as known by the gods, is the complete and utter truth. What was heard and understood by mortals may be a very different thing.
But then Zone of Truth and similar effects do not force you to correct a misunderstanding ;-)
Example : I did not steal the diamond (silently : two months ago). True, since I stole it last night.
you say the beginning of a true sentence aloud, then end it in your mind.
If you're allowed to do that, then the zone of truth spell would be completely useless.
There's also another method you can use... Do something so manifestly absurd that even if you tell them truth, they'll never believe it. [.....]
That's awesome, really awesome !
Sounds like the above -- evasions and such -- are great applications of the Bluff skill. If this charismatic character is a spellcaster, perhaps he could (with your permission) research a spell that lets him put some of his memories in a crystal or something...
There's already a spell that does this. I just can't remember the name of it.
It extracts memories and stores them in a crystal until the crystal is broken.
Points in linguistics, because who really prepares tongues anyway.