Zidarov shrugged. ‘I had to be. You worked so hard to keep your past life a mystery. I didn’t know why you did that, at first. I thought you were just private. Now I think it was a way of coping. You erased her, just like you erased your family name. You could have kept that, but you didn’t, just like every other part of your old life, because every time you heard it, it reminded you of her. That’s just what I’m guessing. It had the effect of erasing her from the city entirely. Nobody knew. Not Mordach, not Adeard, nobody. I wonder if she deserved that.’

‘Not your judgement to make.’

‘No, not my judgement. But if I’d known earlier, if I’d asked the question earlier, I could have done more good. See, the one thing that bothered me, once I began to piece things together, was why you didn’t just take over the Vidora’s operation yourself – why you involved us at all. I can see it was neat, to have us do your dirty work, but then you probably had the muscle to get at least a slice of it yourselves, if that’s all you were after. But then I found out about Ianne, and how much you hate this business, and I realised the truth – you were never trying to take it over. You were trying to get it stamped out forever. You wanted every Vidora cell in the city to feel the heat, feel it so hard that they’d quit the trade for good. And you knew that only we had that kind of firepower. So there was the neatness of it all – you’d stiff Adeard and Mordach, you’d burn down their little business venture, and you’d end up safe from any possible revenge.’

Udmil gave him a nod of mock congratulation.

Zidarov reached into his coat, and withdrew a dataslug. He tossed it over to her, and it rolled down the seat cover.

‘But, for all your cleverness, you’ve been a fool,’ he said. ‘You jumped out of bed with one snake, and ended up with another. Avro Lascile doesn’t share your high-mindedness. I’ve been to one of his warehouses. I put the footage on here – you can see for yourself what he’s been doing. Our friend Vermida was in on it, too, so you can be sure who’s been keeping it all going behind your back.’

For the first time, Udmil looked genuinely at a loss. ‘That’s not possible.’

‘Why? Because he told you he was on your side? Because he shared your moral outlook? Because he loved you?’ Zidarov snorted, though that was a mistake, as it made his head nearly split apart. ‘You played us, and he played you. He’s got big plans. I went up to the suborbitals, and saw just how big they are.’