‘That’s because they ain’t looking for a man. They say it was a woman. Some say it was that grand lady used to come here with you.’

‘Whoever says that is a liar,’ said Gerutha sharply.

‘Oh, I know it!’ Alethea cried. She beckoned her two visitors closer with a long, gnarled fingernail, so close Gerutha could smell her rotting teeth. ‘Because I saw him.’

‘Who?’

‘The man that did it. Yes,’ she nodded slowly. ‘They found the poor fellow’s corpse not two streets from this spot. Did you know that?’

‘What do you mean you saw the man that did it? How would you know it was him?’ asked Domnicus.

‘I was right there. Just there, look!’ She pointed to a murky corner along the street where Gerutha could make out a small heap of dirty rags. Evidently Alethea’s bed. ‘I couldn’t sleep that night, I remember. It was that cold. And then I hear footsteps coming up from that end. Slap-slap – and I’m thinking, “Hey there, someone’s in a hurry.” I look up and he stops right there on that corner.’ She pointed to the entrance of another alleyway twenty paces or so past the wine shop. ‘That’s when I saw his face. No woman. No! A moonbeam settles right on his face and he glanced upwards for a second and I saw his eyes. Dark as the Devil’s, they were. And his jaw – sharp as a knife. That face – oh, it chilled me to the bone. I’d never forget it.’

Gerutha exchanged an uncertain glance with Domnicus. ‘You’re sure it was the same night.’

‘What do you think? I ain’t no simpleton.’

‘There was another man found guilty of treason,’ said Domnicus. ‘He was steward to Lord Arbasdos, the curopalates. He had a long beard dyed red—’

‘No, no, no! No beard, I tell you. You listen to old Alethea. Here – you want proof?’ She suddenly turned her attention to her filthy robes huddled about the stumps of her legs, and soon produced from their fragrant depths a curved dagger, some six inches long. It was in poor condition and stained black all over. ‘He dropped it.’

‘The man?’

‘The killer, you mean! He tossed it right there in the gutter.’ She pointed at the revolting stream of effluent oozing down the side of the lane. ‘I saw him do it, and fished it out after he’d gone.’

‘Let me see.’ Alethea passed it up. Gerutha breathed a sigh of relief when she realized she had never seen it before in her life. For an awful moment, she had feared she would recognize it as one of Lilla’s possessions.

‘Why didn’t you tell someone,’ asked Domnicus, ‘if you saw all this?’