“It could have been a Zodiac one, possibly. Or it could have been perfectly innocent,” Kim said, with a frown at Will that clearly communicated he would have gone for the lie of omission.

“It could be, yes. But I spoke to a chap from the Private Bureau today—”

“I beg your pardon?” Kim said. “What the hell do you mean, you spoke to the Bureau?”

“—and he said there’s several Zodiac they haven’t yet accounted for. Out there, not arrested. And—”

“Just a moment. You think this man Fairfax was one of—of my father’s people?” Phoebe asked, very calmly. “I didn’t recognise him from the photograph.”

“You wouldn’t have known most of them,” Kim said. “Waring didn’t let one hand know what the other was doing.”

“They kept secrets,” Maisie put in. “Lived double lives.”

“Indeed. But let me repeat—”

“Hold on, hold on,” Will said. “I hadn’t finished. The thing is, it’s not just that Zodiac are still out there. They’re coming back.”

Kim’s entire body locked still, a cat that had just seen a mouse scuttle by. “What?”

Will repeated what Merton had told him. Kim’s eyes were blazing by the time he’d finished. “My God. My God.”

“But you put a stop to them,” Phoebe said. “Wasn’t that what it was all about before? They were meant to be stopped!”

She put out a hand. Maisie grabbed it. “And what are they up to that this man couldn’t be part of? They wanted to spread some awful disease to whole cities before, so what is it now?”

“That’s for the Private Bureau to discover,” Kim said, voice quelling at her note of alarm. “They have a number of well-trained and well-supported agents who will be working on this, and they won’t need or want me sticking my oar in. The relevant point here is that if Fairfax was Virgo, and if someone is trying to revive the organisation, and eliminating members who have cold feet—if this was, in fact, a Zodiac killing—”

“Oh, no, no,” Phoebe said. “Surely not.”

“Not what, Fee?”

“Not Chingford. He can’t be one of them. Daddy wouldn’t have trusted him to ring for sandwiches.”

Will’s jaw dropped. Kim said, “I...didn’t mean that. Dear God. No, I can’t see it. He’s every bit selfish enough to join, but far too stupid and loud-mouthed to be let in.”

“Darling, you’re bewildering me. If Fairfax was killed because he was one of them, by one of them, but Chingford wasn’t one of them—”

“Then maybe Chingford didn’t do it,” Maisie said. “Is that what you meant, Kim?”