“I stood for a long few moments gazing at her as she looked back at me, and then the young Adonis told her softly that the plait was complete and the diamond clasp applied to the end.

“She turned around and gave him what appeared to be a very large amount of money and said, ‘Go out, enjoy yourself, you’ve done well.’ He bowed and backed out of the room, as though he’d been dismissed by the Queen of England, and then he was gone.

“ ‘So you find him beautiful, do you?’ she asked.

“ ‘Do I? I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Everything charms me. As a human being I was an enthusiast. Now I think I’m losing my mind.’

“She rose from the cushioned bench and came towards me, and then she took me in her arms. ‘All the wounds I inflicted, they’ve healed. Am I right?’

“ ‘Yes, you’re right,’ I said. ‘Except the wound no one can heal, the one I inflicted on myself, that I killed the innocent young woman, that I murdered her at her own wedding. No one can heal that. And no time will heal it either, and I don’t suppose it should.’

“She laughed. ‘Come, let’s join the others,’ she said. ‘All your grandfather knows is how to play chess. He was a raving poker player when I first met him. He beat me at it, if you can believe it, and that Rebecca, she was cagey too, I tell you, and don’t go moping after her, but I must tell you—about the bride, I’ve had the most splendid night.’

“Within moments we were in the big room with the ominous and empty gold cage at the end of it. I pictured a giant bird inside it. Certainly I hadn’t looked like a bird. I thought of Caravaggio’s Victorious Cupid. Had I looked a little like that?

“ ‘I must tell you what happened,’ Petronia went on, drawing the attention of Arion. ‘It was the best luck. The bride’s father and husband, you know, were first-rate killers, and of course the little minx knew it, so salve your conscience with that if you wish, Quinn. But they sent an armed guard here tonight, some four bravos as we used to call them, because we were recognized, it seems, and you can imagine the fun I had with them. Now it doesn’t please me to bully mortals, no matter what you think to the contrary, Quinn, but there were four of them.’

“ ‘And where are they now?’ said Arion. He sat at the table with the Old Man, who was looking at the chessboard. I sat between them.

“Petronia walked up and down in front of us.

“ ‘Gone, into the sea,’ she responded. ‘In their car, over the cliff. Like that. It was nothing. But the fighting here before I disposed of the bodies, now that was a class act.’