Teresa fished a peanut from the bowl and placed it in her mouth. It had a rancid taste, though perhaps it was the bile rising in her throat.

“You know how to survive, do you?” she said, echoing his words. “Perhaps you should tell that to Valent’s widow; it seems her husband never got the memo.”

The mayor hurled an insult at her, and with a furious swipe of his hand knocked everything off her table. Her tankard shattered in a spray of foam and beer as it hit the floor, while the peanuts rolled away underneath the chairs and benches.

Teresa sprung to her feet, shooting one glance at her squad to warn them off from getting involved.

“Don’t you fucking dare do anything like that ever again,” she said, enunciating every word. “I will not tolerate aggression. Have I made myself clear?”

Something in her tone persuaded the mayor it would be better to desist. Teresa knew she could be much tougher than people imagined when they first saw her. And if there was one thing she was no longer prepared to countenance, it was violence.

The man seemed to calm down, though he was still breathing heavily. His friends put their arms around his chest and quietly encouraged him to leave.

“The ski season has just begun and the Christmas holidays are around the corner,” he gritted out. “Any damage to our reputation now means empty hotels and deserted ski slopes.”

He was trying to justify his actions. It was a partial retreat. Teresa allowed him to vent.

“And what are we going to do about the fifth of December, huh? How are we going to celebrate the eve of Saint Nicholas’s Day? We’ll have worshippers dressed as the devil coming down from the mountains to the village, and we usually expect hundreds of tourists. But what’s the point of a parade if there’s no one around to watch it?” he continued.

Teresa listened patiently to his arguments. The mayor had good reason to be worried, but the police’s priority was to protect the locals and deter curious tourists.

“I am not sure you understand how serious the situation is, Mayor. A man has been killed in broad daylight, along one of the paths favored by hikers,” she said. “He was physically strong, yet he wasn’t able to defend himself. He didn’t even have time to try. The killer clawed the victim’s eyes out; we still haven’t found them. A woman has been attacked on her way home from work. She’s missing part of her face, too.”

Silence had fallen over the pub.