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‘Yes,’ I confirmed gently.

‘I’d like to take it. We’ll burn him later tonight, and then he’ll…’ She started to sob. ‘He’ll be free,’ she managed.

‘Of course,’ I said. I hesitated then added, ‘I know this is a difficult time, but I wondered if we could talk a little first?’ I waited until she nodded then asked, ‘Did Alfgar have any enemies?’

She shook her head. ‘Al was such a kind, honest guy – he’d do anything for anyone. If something was wrong, he wasalways the first to volunteer to fix it. Honestly, he was salt of the earth.’ Her bottom lip wobbled again as she tried to hold her shit together. ‘I don’t know how I’m going to live without him, raise our children without him.’ She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes. ‘This is a nightmare.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I repeated uselessly. ‘We’re working hard to find out who did this to him.’

‘We all know who did this to him.’ She sounded rather bemused that I hadn’t been let in on the secret. ‘The hag,’ she whispered, looking around in fear as if Matilda was going to melt out of the walls at the mention of her name.

I resisted the urge to tell her you had to say Matilda’s namethreetimes to summon her. Not everyone valued knowledge the way that I did. ‘Have you ever spoken to her?’ I asked.

Alana shuddered, ‘Goodness, no.’

‘Did Alfgar?’

‘Absolutely not – he was petrified of her. Rightly so, it seems!’

‘Did he talk about anyone being … unkind about you?’

She blinked wide eyes. ‘About me? Why would anyone be unkind about me?’

‘You’re not a dwarf,’ I murmured.

‘No, but I’m shortlike one! That’s what attracted Al to me in the first place – that and my name. My parents call me Al, too – Al and Al, together forever.’ Her voice hitched. ‘We named all our children Al as well. Alexander, Ally, and Alistair.’ She rubbed her chest like her heart hurt; I suspected that it did.

What was becoming clear was that Alfgar hadn’t told his wife about the prejudice he’d faced from being in a mixed marriage; he’d been protecting her from reality, a reality I was about to dive into with Faran Ashton. Now I’d met Alana, I found I was quite ready to go toe-to-toe with the twat.

‘Could I have Al now?’ she pleaded. ‘We’d like to burn him tonight,’ she repeated.

‘Of course.’ I rose, retrieved the body-bag and passed it to her.

‘Thank you,’ she said, her voice barely audible, then she turned and walked away carrying her husband’s head.

As she left, Gunnar swept in. ‘Everything okay with the fender bender?’ I asked.

‘Yeah, just a little damage. No one was hurt.’ He seemed in a good mood, which was great because I was about to ruin that.

‘Cool. Er … Shadow ate your lunch.’

Gunnar glared at thecat who was now sitting casually on Fluffy’s bed, licking his paws. ‘That little monster! This isn’t the first time.’

‘It’s not?’

‘No, he got in the habit while you were at the academy. I had to start locking everything up. I must have left too fast and didn’t think about it.’ He paused. ‘I’m giving that cat a job. He owes me.’

‘He does,’ I agreed readily. ‘Totally. He’ll make it up to you.’

Gunnar looked at Shadow and sighed. ‘He’s a pain in the ass.’ He turned to me, ‘Anything to report?’

‘A lot, actually.’ I filled him in on Leif’s email, Connor’s plan and my brief meeting with Alana. ‘Faran Ashton is due in any minute now.’

‘Good.’ Gunnar banged his hand down on the counter, making me jump. ‘I hate bullies,’ he growled. ‘I’ll sit in for that one.’

‘No problem. I’ll set things up.’

I hustled into the interview room, prepared the recording equipment and placed some water on the table together with three plastic cups. I wasn’t a fan of bullies myself; I’d had my fair share of them growing up. Ignoring them, like my mum had advised me, had rarely put an end to the torment but Mum had never been willing – or able –to intercede on my behalf. And now it was too late for any intercessions on Alfgar’s behalf.