Chapter Five
The house of Radinka Nartovich was in the city’s old quarter, but it was not among the crumbling, neglected buildings that lined some of the streets there. Hers was of moderate size and well maintained, its facade carved and gilded and gleaming with fresh paint. Miss Nartovich was by no means poorly off.
It also bore an air of vacancy which troubled Konrad immediately. His acute senses detected no sign that anybody had passed that way in a day or two, and the lingering silence struck him as cause for concern.
He was not surprised when no one answered the door, though he knocked a few times. Glancing around at the empty street, he proceeded quietly to the back of the house. The rear door was locked, but a touch of his Malykant’s fingers soon dispensed with that obstacle, and
