Chapter Four
Konrad parted ways with Nuritov and Nanda soon afterwards. The inspector returned to the third crime scene, Nanda choosing to accompany him. Konrad sent Ootapi with them.
He and Eetapi went to The Malykt’s temple, and the morgue that lay beneath. Albina Olga’s body had arrived. She lay, cold and still, upon one of the narrow tables, laid out ready for burial.
Konrad surveyed the vacated corpse with mixed feelings. She made for a pitiful sight: by all appearances a kindly old woman, carried away with holiday spirit, a cheerful figure in her jaunty red clothes. But the ragged mess of her throat, the dried blood staining those same garments she must have donned with such joyous anticipation this morning… it was impossible to feel that her death was anything but a tragedy, what
