I closed the lids, and tilted his head so I could inspect the damage. I’d used a full metal jacket, so the exit wound was small. Thankfully, the little spillage there had been had fallen on the spread of papers that had been under his chair. I placed these in the bag, and then got to work cleaning the wound thoroughly - I didn’t want remnants of matter brushing against the carpet when I moved him.

Then there was the bullet itself: it was embedded in the wall behind where Chief had been standing, to the right of the Georgian fireplace. I managed to jimmy it out and cleared the resulting dust with the other corner of the dishcloth. Now I had to find a way to hide the mark. The bookcase would have done the trick, but I didn’t have time to move it, and anyone who had visited Chief in recent weeks would spot such a large modification to the room’s layout anyway. On the other hand, anything I could easily shift would be moved by an investigating team later on, if it came to that.

I settled on the piano, which stood about a hand’s width to the right of the mark. It was on a carpet, one of Chief’s finest Afghans. I got down on my knees and pulled it, a fraction of an inch at a time, towards the cornice. After a few minutes, I had it in place. I left it a couple of inches short of the wall to make it less obvious, but the mark couldn’t be seen unless you were right above it.

I continued my tour of the room, searching for anything either of us had touched. I threw both tumblers and the Becherovka bottle into the bag, along with the ashtray, the unfinished egg sandwich and the Slavin file. As I executed the moves - pick this up, clean that, check this - another part of me circled over the scene and wondered how I was capable of it. Why I was doing it. What I had become. But the machine in me drove on . . .

I climbed the staircase and negotiated my way along the narrow corridor to Chief’s bedroom. From a quick sweep with the torch, it looked cramped and rather untidy. I took a few summer suits from the wardrobe and stuffed them into my bag with a couple of lightweight shirts, underwear, socks, and a couple of pairs of shoes.