Summary Following the discovery of a third corpse, flayed like the others, Sabina Masud talks to Chandler. She explains that Baldaev was the leader of a Russian extortion gang demanding money from her father. When he refused to pay Baldaev stalked her and she was in the graveyard when he was killed, describing his slayer as resembling an old woman wearing a leather mask. This fits the description of the person who abducted young student William Tierney Clark. Clark, like the other three victims, was acquitted in a case where somebody was killed, suggesting a revenge motive by the murderer. Clark survives and, in hospital, questioned by Chandler as to the identity of his attacker, writes the letter W. A suspect is brought in but Buchan pursues his own enquiry, confronting the killer and having to be rescued by the other team members.

• Crime
• True Crime
• Mystery
• Thriller