Wigson was unmarried, worked at the National Provincial Bank in Haymarket, and lived in a serviced flat in Holborn. He was in his mid thirties; he saw service in the war, but nothing remarkable.

Looking at the site shows a different colour of “shine” from what was seen in Rotherhithe: it covers the walls, surrounding where the body was found. (But there’s very little blood.)

Miss Allen can make arrangements for viewing the body. It’s distinctly cut about, with multiple wounds that would have been fairly immediately fatal, and they’re all round the body, not just from one side. There’s some magical trace, similar to what’s in the alley. Lin Tan reckons the damage was done with a large knife or cleaver, just possibly an axe; certainly by a pretty strong or very well-trained person, and there’s no particular reason to assume more than one weapon. Most of the attacks are on the upper body. Gertrude can see no sign of perimortem bruising, or of defensive wounds. The group starts thinking about a cloud of knives.

He’d had a reasonable supper, and there’s no reason to assume he was intoxicated. His clothing is consistent with his job, not particularly dandified; there was no wallet found on the body.

The team plans to go on to check his belongings…