A short laugh escaped her. ‘That’s a start.’ She grasped my shoulder. ‘Remember, if you ever get tired of Binder’s bad temper, you can always do some work for me on the quiet. I run the voyant parts of the Old Spitalfields market. Ask for me any time.’

‘I’ll keep it in mind,’ I said, already knowing I wouldn’t. Moonlighting was illegal in the syndicate, and I doubted Jaxon would show mercy if he found me doing it.

‘Good.’ She gave my shoulder a squeeze and strode away. ‘See you around, sweet.’

It didn’t take long for Nick to wring all he could out of Didion – where Metyard had last been seen, where she had been going. We needed somewhere to plan the next stage of the hunt, so we took a cab to the teahouse in Turnmill Street, which was conveniently close to Farringdon tube station.

‘I don’t understand,’ I said to Nick. ‘What’s the point in us doing this if you just promised Metyard to Maria?’

He looked grim. ‘Jaxon’s keen for us to continue. Anne will be worth money, too. And Jaxon would still get Metyard for a good price; Maria will honour that.’

It was warm and sweet-smelling inside the teahouse. When we said we were friends of Ognena Maria, the owner gave us a table by the bay window, where we sat on velveteen stools.

The urge to pinch myself when I looked at Nick remained as strong as ever. When you form an image of someone in your childhood, it inevitably blurs and fades over time, but Nick looked almost exactly the same as he had at our first meeting. A little more care-worn; he was clean-shaven now, and wore pomade in his hair in the Swedish style – but otherwise, seven years had hardly touched him.

‘Hungry?’ Nick said.

I shed my coat. ‘Very.’

We took our time perusing the menu, which listed no fewer than forty types of tea. Nick went for ginger and apple, I went for orange blossom, and we ordered a few appetisers to share.

‘Let’s recap what Didion said.’ He took out his notebook. ‘He discovered Metyard at the site of Tyburn, where she was hanged. He hired an amateur binder, who failed to capture her.’

‘Didion is a binder, isn’t he?’

‘Yes, but Jaxon’s right about his cowardice. He never does a hands-on job if someone else can do it for him.’

‘And the attempt to capture her is what set Metyard off?’ I said. ‘She’d never gone on a rampage before?’