“He acted as though you intended to do him harm,” Katarina countered, but she was only half aware of what she was saying. Something was wrong. Some instinct prompted her to keep this man here and keep him talking, instead of calling the authorities like a sensible person, because she had seen something wrong.
“I intended to stop him, that’s all.” The white-haired man’s face twisted. “I failed. It seems I do nothing but fail, I make it all worse with every step, but I was only trying to prevent him escaping.”
It was true enough, the soldier had been intent on escape. Katarina replayed the sequence in her head, recalling each movement as though it were a stage direction. The soldier had used violence to facilitate his escape. He had thrown the older man into the door so hard it had rattled
