“What kind of an operation is this?” shouted the king when it became apparent that Ward’s body had entirely vanished from the waiting room.

“It must have been stolen,” Bolton said.

“Who’s stealing bodies? I want him found—now!”

The king’s attendants scattered in search of Ward’s corpse. So did everyone who worked at the Point. This meant Clarence and the king were suddenly alone.

“Calm down, Your Highness,” said Clarence, which annoyed the king.

“Why’s everything going wrong all of a sudden? Everything’s going wrong.”

“It must all be connected. It can’t be a coincidence.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s all happening at the same time.”

“But that’s what a coincidence is, isn’t it? It’s things happening at the same time.”

“Trust me, Your Highness. When we find the connection we’ll be able to solve all these problems.”

The king grunted, then returned his attention to the body on the trolley that was not Ward. “What’s wrong with his face?”

“He’s dead.”

“Apart from that. There’s just something . . . off about him.” The king grew increasingly agitated.

“Lie down,” said Clarence.

“What?”

“Lie down.”

“On the floor? It’s all dirty.”

“Use one of the spare trolleys.”

“But they’ve had dead people on them.”

“They clean them afterward.”

“I can’t do this in the middle of a public building.”

“Who’s going to see? They’re all busy looking for Ward.”

The king sighed, clambered onto a spare trolley, and lay facedown. Clarence hopped from trolley to trolley, making his way to the king’s side. With claws carefully retracted, Clarence stepped up onto the king’s back and kneaded his shoulders with his paws.

“Ohh that’s good,” said the king.

“I knew that was what you needed.”

“I’m finding this all really stressful.”

“Understandably.”

“I just wish I understood why it was all—Wait, go back. There’s a knot just there.”

Clarence shifted his paw. “There?”

“No. You had it a second ago. Bottom of the shoulder blade. That’s it. Aaaah. Ow!”

“Sorry, does that hurt?”

“Yeah, but in a good way. What do you think they’re up to?”

“Who?”

“Whoever’s doing all this.”

“I can’t imagine.”

“I mean what are they trying to achieve?”

Clarence didn’t answer. He just kept kneading.

The king was silent for a few moments, then said: “Do you think there are too many people?”

Clarence stopped kneading. “Why do you say that?”

“I’m just trying to think of what’s changed, what might have made people unhappy so they attack me and burn stuff down. The main thing is there are more people now and the city’s bigger. Maybe the bigger the city gets, the . . . smaller people feel.”

“What utter nonsense.”

“No need to bite my head off.”

Clarence paused. “We can’t let the city stagnate. It has to grow.”

“But how can you know—”

The conversation ended because the door opened and Saori walked in, flanked by her operatives. She saw the king lying on a trolley with Clarence perched on his back and she clearly felt she’d interrupted something she shouldn’t have.