They passed a grand central staircase that swept up like angel wings to the second floor, then the burned man brought them through a set of double doors, into a drawing room with huge windows that looked out on to the sunset and the river that sliced through the hills. An old man stood by the window, his hands clasped behind his back. He had probably been waiting for them in this exact pose. He was, quite obviously, a dick.

The old man turned. He may have been tall once, but age had shrunk him. His white hair was sparse on top and unkempt around the ears, but the rest of him was neat and orderly. His suit was three-piece and he had a folded handkerchief in his top pocket. He wore small glasses.

“Mayor Jesper,” said Novak, walking up to him. Jesper did the politician’s handshake – shaking with one hand while grasping the elbow with the other.

“Chief,” said Jesper. “Good of you to come. Officer Thornton, Officer Ortmann, nice to see you again.”

“Mr Mayor,” Lucy said, while Ortmann nodded respectfully.

Novak stood aside, allowing Jesper a clear view of Amber and Milo.

“And these are our visitors,” the mayor said. “Mr Sebastian, you are a demon also, are you not?”

Milo didn’t say anything, and Jesper chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes. So what do you say we dispense with the usual bullshit and skip straight to the question-and-answer section, eh? What did he offer you?”

Amber frowned. “What did who offer us?”

Jesper shook his head. “No, no, we are dispensing with all that, didn’t you hear? No ducking of the questions will be permitted.”

“I’m not ducking,” said Amber. “Who are you talking about?”

“This will go better for you if you cooperate,” Novak said.

“I’m trying to,” said Amber. “Listen to me – no one offered us anything. You seem to think we’re here for some specific reason, when really we’re just running as fast as we can from those men on the motorcycles.”

“The Hounds of Hell,” said Jesper.

He knew of them. Of course he did. “Yes,” said Amber.

“You’re running from them, you say? Are you sure you’re not working with them?”

She frowned. “What? No. Christ, no. Why would we be? I don’t understand any of this. What do you think we’re here for?”

“I know what you’re here for,” said Jesper. “You’re here to kill me.”

She stared at him. The only response that occurred to her was, “No, we’re not.”

“What did he offer you? Eh? What do you get if you kill me?”

“Seriously,” Amber said, “we’re not here to kill you. We hadn’t even heard of you until a few hours ago. We were told this town might be a safe place to hide from the Hounds. That’s the only reason we came.”