ANALYSIS (April 28): My most valuable clue is the fact that the assailant did not say anything to Mycroft, nor pause to “savor the moment.” A killer has no reason to hide their identity from a victim whom death will shortly silence. Many thousands of people want to kill Mycroft Canner out of revenge or hatred, but any of these would want to let the “monster” see the face of the avenger, and watch and lecture as the final moment came. This was, in contrast, a passionless execution, an attacker who wished to delete Mycroft as a [resource/factor], but did not care about the fact that this was the most hated criminal in the world. This rules out Hiveless Mardi Mojave, friends of the Mardi bash’ or of Apollo Mojave, the many persons morally agitated by Mycroft’s crimes, and any members and supporters of O.S. who might begrudge Mycroft’s part in its exposure. It also rules out Dominic, who might have stabbed Mycroft, changed their boots, put on a heavy overcoat, and returned to stab Mycroft again, intending that they survive and pass on a misleading story, but Dominic, who harbors such passionate envy of Mycroft’s privileged access to dominus Jehovah, would certainly have paused to enjoy the second stab as they enjoyed the first. Even a professional killer would, I expect, pause for reflection while executing Earth’s most famous amateur, and the possibility of a hired assassin is more thoroughly eliminated by the knife. A professional might choose such a clumsy and traceable tool in order to seem an amateur, but said professional would never, knowing the handicap presented by a single-bladed weapon, use the knife so clumsily as to inflict the comparatively minor injury which accounts for Mycroft’s survival.

The attacker, then, is an amateur at homicide. They do not care about what Mycroft has done (which eliminates a large slice of the human race), but about what they will do, either the history they are writing, or their work for dominus Jehovah, the Emperor, etc. The attacker also reached Mycroft faster than Sniper could, whose followers Dominic had intentionally tipped off. Thus the assailant must either have been spying on Mycroft, or on Dominic, or must have had access to Sniper’s contacts, and been in a position to arrive faster than Sniper themself. Finally, the assailant was with Mycroft minutes before Mycroft’s contact with Sniper, on the same day Sniper disappeared. The assailant may well have continued to spy on Mycroft when Mycroft was with Sniper and Tully Mardi. It is therefore possible, though far from certain, that this assailant either authored, or at least witnessed, Sniper’s fate.

I will therefore set a series of traps.