A faint wheeze escaped the commissioner, and his dark coat shifted as signs of life crept back into the body.

“Men! Please!” I cried.

“You think I’m crazy?” Jackaby continued. “Then let me burn the hat.”

“Yes, because that doesn’t sound crazy at all.”

“If I’m crazy, it’s just a hat. It burns. Nothing changes. Then you kill the poor beast. If I’m right, then burning the hat will destroy Swift, the monster behind all of this, and you’ll see what magic has been at work here. Either way, you get your murderer.”

Marlowe thought about this for a long moment, and my heart thudded as I considered leaping up and throwing the bloody thing into the flame myself. Pushing off from the tree trunk, I immediately realized that leaping was not an option. The smallest exertion sent pain hammering through my chest and left me reeling. My vision swam and I sank back to the dirt.

“We’re too late,” intoned Jackaby with sudden sobriety. I struggled to focus my eyes in the direction of his voice. “See for yourself, Marlowe. Swift is on the move . . . God help us all.”

I choked, whipping my gaze back to the spot where the villain had lain, willing my blurry vision to crystallize. Marlowe spun around as well, that much I could see, and then he swiveled slowly back to Jackaby.

“No,” Marlowe said evenly, with the forcibly patient tone one uses with a small child. “He’s right there.” My eyes found the gray shape in the dark at last. Swift had not moved.

“My mistake!” chirped the detective. “Oh dear, in my excitement I seem to have dropped the fellow’s hat.”

The ruby red derby perched atop the tower of sticks, tongues of flames licking the brim. For a moment the hat seemed immune, the fire even dimming a little beneath it, and then it began to crackle. The feather fizzled to nothing in one rapid puff, and the ribbon was suddenly alight. The thing popped and cracked violently as syrupy drips fell into the heart of the fire, which sizzled and spat. The derby smoldered, and thick, black, greasy coils of smoke rolled off it in a plume that darkened the stars. At last it burst into flame. Swift screamed.