I will confess I was envious of Martha, and the life she was looking forward to with her husband-to-be, but that was not the motivation for what I did. She was not my target, any more than Colin was.

Once upon a time I had the means but not the fortitude to kill Mrs Dempster. However, by the time I had the fortitude, I had come to realise that I did not so urgently wish to end her life. I had seen people slip away, oblivious of their fate, and she did not deserve such mercy. I wished Mrs Dempster to suffer. It remained my intention to kill her, but first I wanted her to see everything she cared about destroyed.

FIFTY-THREE

here was a cold mist enveloping Edinburgh, the kind that caught in one’s throat with every breath and made one wish for high winds to disperse it. When he was a schoolboy, on such days Raven would often climb Arthur’s Seat or Salisbury Crags, as sometimes it was possible to get above the fog. Not only was the clear air a relief, but it was quite the spectacle to look down upon the clouds. It was even possible to imagine that Edinburgh had vanished, and that there was no city hidden beneath the shroud of grey. No Callum Flint to entangle him in criminality, no Archie Banks to request of him that he end his life.

Nor were his worries confined to Scotland any more. He had received another letter from Henry late yesterday, and though correspondence from his dear friend was always welcome, there had been little in it to comfort him.

I understand now why Gabriela has fled. The police returned yesterday, and I finally learned the identity of the man slain in the alley. His name was Javier Salazaro, and, as suspected, the man was no vagabond. The name was not familiar to me, but Liselotte informed me that Gabriela’s estranged husband is called Ignacio Salazoro.

It seems that Ignacio regarded Gabriela as an ongoing source of shame and disgrace, living what the police described as an immoral life. It appears Javier came here seeking to abduct her and return her to his brother’s household.

Given his status and influence, there can be little question but that Ignacio now knows the name of the man who thwarted those plans, and who killed his brother.

Raven recalled Dr Ziegler saying that you could judge a man by the calibre of his enemies. He reflected grimly that this at least indicated he was finally going up in the world.

He hoped that Gabriela’s disappearance was an effort to avoid a subsequent attempt rather than evidence of a successful abduction, though it angered him that she should be forced to uproot herself just to maintain her autonomy. No husband should consider a wife his property.