‘Will you have a seat, probator?’ she said, motioning to a wooden chair placed at a narrow desk. The only other furniture in the chamber was a hard cot, on which she sat, her little legs almost leaving the floor.

Zidarov sat down heavily, and opened his collar some more. ‘You chose this place?’ he asked.

‘I like it,’ she said. She had a sweet, almost girlish manner to her. Zidarov thought she looked simple. ‘I can see much of the city, at night. I can see the lights from my room. I can imagine what goes on, down in the valley.’

‘It’s not all good.’

‘Oh, I know that. But my prayers travel far, up here.’ She smiled again, just as sweetly. ‘They are needed, in Urgeyena, yes?’

‘No doubt about it.’ He began to recover his composure, and got his dataslate out. ‘I need to speak to you, sister, about a man I believe you knew. Adeard Terashova. Am I right that you and he were… friends?’

‘Adeard. Yes, we were. What has happened?’

‘He’s missing. I’m trying to find him. He seems to have known a lot of people, but none of them have been able to help me much.’ He wiped a line of sweat from his forehead. ‘They knew him, but they didn’t know him – do you know what I mean?’

‘Oh, yes.’ She placed her hands together on her lap. ‘That was the way with him. With all of them. They could call on a hundred souls a night, but by the morning it would all be forgotten again. That was the way they lived. But, he is missing… that is bad. I had no idea. Will he be all right?’

Zidarov thought of the finger. ‘Hopefully. The sooner I find him, the more likely that is. What makes it harder is that he’s still a mystery to me. I spoke to his family. I spoke to those he worked with. But I don’t know him. I don’t know what made him work. So I’m running on hunches.’ He sat back in the chair, making it creak. ‘None of them much good.’

‘I can tell you all about Adeard.’

‘Were you… close?’