“Our landlady leaves much to be desired,” I explained. “She locks the door at sunset and has informed us that if we are not inside by that time, we will not get inside at all.” I realized then that I had a problem. I could not be locked in all night, but I needed some reason to impose more on Mary’s hospitality.

“Actually…” I paused thoughtfully, as though it were only just occurring to me. “I would hate for some crisis in Victor’s health to happen in the night and be unable to receive word of it or rush to his side. Mary, you have already done so much for us, but could I beg one further favor?”

“Of course. You need not even ask. You are welcome in my home this night and any others you might need. Though I have only one spare bed.”

“I can sleep on the floor,” Justine offered.

“Nonsense. We have a perfectly good room we have already paid for.” I paused again, exaggerating my thought process for their benefit. “I need to pick up some new clothes for Victor so he has clean items for the morning. I will buy them—I have no desire to go back to his residence! Mary, could you see Justine back to the boardinghouse and safely stowed inside? And then I will meet you back at your house to be available should Victor need me. It should only be for this one night, after all. Tomorrow we will have a much better sense of how quickly he will recover.”

Both women accepted my perfectly sensible plan, though Mary seemed alert to how often I had sent her and Justine away together. But it worked. And it was a plan that situated me closer to the river, in an unlocked room, with no dear friend highly attuned to me to startle awake upon my leaving.

I left Mary’s address with the doctor and waved Mary and Justine away in the carriage, then turned resolutely to face my unwelcome tasks.

—

There was a graveyard connected to the city cathedral, but that was too public and did not match the name of the one on Victor’s list. I once again slipped outside the walls protecting the good people of Ingolstadt—this time avoiding the gatehouse that had troubled me so the first time.

It was nearing sundown when I reached my destination. The trees were hunched over, weeping with accumulated rain. A one-room house on the edge of the meandering green expanse had a light in the window, and I knocked determinedly. At the last moment I drew my cloak closed to cover my dirty, bloodstained dress.

A man as hunched as the trees opened the door. “Can I help you?”