Crasis nodded. “They came in the back, the whole lot of them. Deacon Maybury, the idiot, had mentioned what I used to do for the Sanctuary, and they remembered. Of course they remembered. So they came in, threatened me, threatened my wife, my kids… What could I do?”

“We’re not blaming you,” Skulduggery said.

“So I did it. I made her into a frumpy little woman. It wasn’t my best work, but it would do for a few hours, which is all they wanted it for. Sorry if any of you were hurt, but I have a family to protect.”

“We weren’t hurt,” Valkyrie said. “But Deacon Maybury… he was killed a few days ago.”

Crasis looked at her for a moment, saying nothing. He swallowed, and nodded. “That’s a shame,” he said, his eyes drifting down. “He was… I’d like to say he was a good man, but he was… Deacon. I owed him, though. He’s the one who actually introduced me to Sarah. He’d asked her out the previous week and she’d laughed so hard she fell over. It was love at first sight for Sarah and me. So I owed him, I did. It’s a… it’s a real pity I’ll never get to repay him.”

Ryan tried opening his Coke quietly. It fizzed and they all looked at him. He blushed.

“Maybe you can repay him,” Skulduggery said, looking back at Crasis. “When you were working on Mercy, did any of them say anything? They have the Doomsday Machine hidden away somewhere and we need to find it.”

“Foe has the Doomsday Machine?” Crasis said, his eyes widening. “And Deacon was working with those guys?”

“He planned to sell the key to whoever paid him enough,” Valkyrie said.

Crasis stared at her, stared at Skulduggery, stared at Ryan, then stared at his hands. “It’s a good thing he’s dead,” he said. “Because if I had the chance, I’d kill him myself. I did hear something, actually. I heard Obloquy complain that there were always people around whenever they’d check on ‘it’. They never said what it was, but obviously it was the Machine. Mercy was supposed to stay still and quiet while I worked, but she kept moving and joining in with the conversation. She was joking that if their car broke down, they’d all have to get the Luas. She said they’d be riding the tram to the end of the world. I told her to shut up or I’d have to start again. I should have let her keep talking.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a street map of Dublin, would you?” Skulduggery asked.

“Uh, yeah,” Crasis said. “I think I have one somewhere around here.”