“It’s possible, certainly—but we have reason to suspect we are looking for a man, and a man of property,” Jackaby said. “Hatun claims to have gotten a good look at the murderer. The creature she described may or may not actually exist, but I believe she was there as our villain attempted to flee out the window. He left his traces on the windowsill, but not on the balconies below, which corresponds with her account. Now, if you were a cold-blooded killer, capable of tearing a hole through a grown man’s chest, would you be worried about facing a hobbling, gray-haired old lady?”

“I suppose not.”

“Ah, but if you could not see who or what awaited you? Then, like our cautious fiend, would you not find an alternative escape, just to be safe? If the culprit looked down upon the alleyway and saw nothing, as Hatun says, then that shawl of hers may have the power to alter perception, after all. If the villain could not see Hatun, then he has a home, and if he has a home, we can be confident it is within New Fiddleham, and if he dwells within New Fiddleham, then not a soul in the city is safe.” Jackaby finished at a rush, and stopped, at last, to breathe.

I wanted less and less to be out and about finding lodging tonight. “But why should he begin to hunt in New Fiddleham?” I asked. “Maybe this was a special circumstance. Bragg was onto him. As you said, the reporter was probably only killed because he had begun to piece together the other murders.”

“You mean, as we’ve just been doing?” Jackaby asked with a raised eyebrow. “I see your point, but the killer must have known his plot would only delay things for so long. Now he must know that he is at the end of his free rein. Like a caged goose, he will be more erratic, more unpredictable, and more deadly to anyone caught up in the trap with him.”

“A goose?” I asked.

“Yes. Geese are terrifying. Whatever the metaphoric animal, we who have taken up Bragg’s research find ourselves most squarely in the creature’s sights. I think it may be prudent to heighten the building’s defenses, and our own, until this affair is over. It’s only a matter of time before the villain gets wind of our inquiries around town and pays us the same visit he paid Arthur Bragg.”