As Firebaugh blabbed about his medical education, his invaluable experiences at the Royal College of Physicians under the watchful tutelage of the esteemed doctors Crippen and Jekyll, his short practice as a general physician and then his interest in chemical research that had led him to heading up the asylum at Highcliff, Matthew thought about his end of the bargain with Professor Fell.

Going to Italy and finding Brazio Valeriani, whose father Ciro had from supernatural sources fashioned a mirror that would supposedly call up a demon and put its caller in an imprecise and possibly dangerous command.

Ridiculous.

Fell was losing his mind to put such stock in a story like that.

Cardinal Black—if he still lived—was equally insane. Likely born that way.

But the fact was that Fell had already gone to great effort to try to find the mirror. He had kidnapped the opera star not for herself, but because her makeup artist Rosabella was cousin to Brazio and had some knowledge of the family.

Matthew recalled a conversation with Rosabella before he’d left for Adderlane, when she was telling him she had attended her uncle Ciro’s funeral in Salerno and had spoken to Brazio there.

He asked how old I was, she had said, and I told him thirteen. He said … I think I’m remembering this right … that thirteen was a good age, especially for Amarone.

Amarone? What does that mean? Matthew had asked.

The answer: It’s a red wine, very strong.

Brazio had a particular interest in wine?

She had shrugged. I just remember he said that.

Matthew had not been able to let this go. It seemed he was on the edge of something vital. He had asked, Was Brazio living with his father when Ciro hanged himself?

No, I believe he had to travel from somewhere.

Why do you say that?

He came two days late, Rosabella had replied. The funeral was delayed until he got there.

Did you tell that to the professor?

Yes. He asked if Brazio had been living in Salerno or had travelled there. I told him just the same as I’m saying now. Also that my mother and father had not heard from Brazio for years and they didn’t know where he was living.

Let me guess what happened next, Matthew had said. Professor Fell asked you to write down a list of the people present at Ciro’s funeral?

Correct. There were five others besides myself and my parents.

But he doesn’t know Brazio mentioned the Amarone? Matthew had waited for her to answer with a shake of the head. Why do you think your cousin might have mentioned, of all things, a variety of wine?

I have no idea, she’d said with a shrug. Unless … he works in a vineyard somewhere.

Matthew had nodded. Yes. A vineyard somewhere.