Matthew heard the half-shout, half-sob echoing in his head as he came up from sleep. He lay on the bed staring up at the canopy and watching the low shadows of the fire dance. His body was one huge ache. Were the two corpses really in that closet over there? Yes, they were, and much work was to be done to get into that house on Endsleigh Park Road.

He heard footsteps on the floorboards in the other room. What time was it? The bedroom’s lanterns gave off the same glow as before and it was difficult to tell how much of the whale oil had been burned. He felt as if he’d just thrown himself on the bed scant minutes before and he was still wrecked. But the footsteps meant Julian was moving about, and that cry meant … what?

Matthew mostly slid off the bed rather than sitting up. When he got to his feet the floor seemed to pitch like a ship in a wild storm, but that passed soon enough. With his balance under control he went out into the other room to find Julian standing before the window staring out at an overcast, snow-covered morning that might be anywhere from six o’clock to eight. The snowfall appeared to have stopped, but the city beyond the glass was a vast panorama of gray shapes crusted in shades of blue.

Julian glanced quickly at Matthew and then back out the window. He was fully dressed and had his cloak and his tricorn on.

“Did you cry out?” Matthew asked.

Julian didn’t reply at once. Then: “I don’t recall.”

His voice was strained. Its timbre made Matthew think of Julian’s reaction to the woman in Adderlane whose child had been sacrificed. “Do you have some kind of condition I should know about?”

“No, and no,” said Julian. His gaze was aimed upon the city before him, and Matthew had the impression that Julian was looking—somewhat fearfully—at an old enemy.

“What time must it be? Is the sun even up?”

“I doubt we’ll have much sun today. I think it’s just after six. You should go back to bed.”

“What’s this about?” Matthew asked.

“It’s about the fact that I am awake and I am going to take a walk.”

“A walk? In this weather?”

“Good for the soul,” Julian replied, with a slight grimace that might have passed for a smile. He turned away from the window. “I would think a servant will be bringing another supply of hot water sometime this morning. You might expect a knock at the door, I’d say in an hour or so.”