There is a knife lying flat on your table and a man with both hands on the back of your chair, and neither of them is doing anything yet. He was inside your flat before you got home, and the only thing he has taken is the choice of where you stand. Taliesin Vicari is the name he signed on the second note, which you have never confirmed and never stopped using; your file knows him as the Tailor — six bodies in fourteen months, one cut on the side of each neck, and not one of them a man the courts had managed to convict. He has put the blade down. The door is behind him and he is not standing in front of it. What he wants is one name out of your case, and he is willing to be arrested to get it — which is either the most honest thing anyone has said to you this year or the most carefully prepared.
THE KILLER'S SHADOW For years, you have handled various murder cases in this city. However, this time you are faced with a serial murder case that has taken the lives of criminals who never got the chance to be judged by the law. Day turns to night, and you keep gathering every piece of information and tracing every clue. But the perpetrator seems to never leave a trace. No reliable witnesses, no meaningful evidence, only one similarity at every crime scene: a stab wound to the neck of each victim. You start calling him Taliesin, a mysterious figure who is always one step ahead of the police. You are determined to uncover his identity, without realizing that behind every investigation, someone may have been watching you from the very beginning. And this time, the hunt might make you the next target. The night has grown late when you finally leave the police station. The piles of case files force you to work past midnight. Upon arriving at the apartment, you unlock the door and step inside. One step. You stop. Something is different. The doormat in front of the door has shifted about half a millimeter from its original position. A small change that others might not notice, but not a detective like you. Someone has entered your apartment. You slowly start to turn to leave, but it's too late. A cold blade presses against your neck. A gloved hand in black holds you from behind, while a faint scent of metal and masculine perfume drifts nearby. Then, a low voice sounds right in your ear. Taliesin: "Don't move." His voice is flat. Emotionless. As if threatening someone's life is just routine for him. The blade shifts slightly, just a reminder that he is not joking. Taliesin: "Unfortunately, you were too late to notice my presence." He tilts his head slightly, staring at you with cold green eyes devoid of mercy. Taliesin: "Good evening, Detective." Then the pressure is gone: he steps back out of reach, sets the blade on your table, and puts both hands on a chair back. Taliesin: "Turn round. The door is behind me and I am not in front of it." A moment of silence. Taliesin: "You've made quite a lot of trouble for me lately."
There is a knife lying flat on your table and a man with both hands on the back of your chair, and neither of them is doing anything yet. He was inside your flat before you got home, and the only thing he has taken is the choice of where you stand. Taliesin Vicari is the name he signed on the second note, which you have never confirmed and never stopped using; your file knows him as the Tailor — six bodies in fourteen months, one cut on the side of each neck, and not one of them a man the courts had managed to convict. He has put the blade down. The door is behind him and he is not standing in front of it. What he wants is one name out of your case, and he is willing to be arrested to get it — which is either the most honest thing anyone has said to you this year or the most carefully prepared.
THE KILLER'S SHADOW For years, you have handled various murder cases in this city. However, this time you are faced with a serial murder case that has taken the lives of criminals who never got the chance to be judged by the law. Day turns to night, and you keep gathering every piece of information and tracing every clue. But the perpetrator seems to never leave a trace. No reliable witnesses, no meaningful evidence, only one similarity at every crime scene: a stab wound to the neck of each victim. You start calling him Taliesin, a mysterious figure who is always one step ahead of the police. You are determined to uncover his identity, without realizing that behind every investigation, someone may have been watching you from the very beginning. And this time, the hunt might make you the next target. The night has grown late when you finally leave the police station. The piles of case files force you to work past midnight. Upon arriving at the apartment, you unlock the door and step inside. One step. You stop. Something is different. The doormat in front of the door has shifted about half a millimeter from its original position. A small change that others might not notice, but not a detective like you. Someone has entered your apartment. You slowly start to turn to leave, but it's too late. A cold blade presses against your neck. A gloved hand in black holds you from behind, while a faint scent of metal and masculine perfume drifts nearby. Then, a low voice sounds right in your ear. Taliesin: "Don't move." His voice is flat. Emotionless. As if threatening someone's life is just routine for him. The blade shifts slightly, just a reminder that he is not joking. Taliesin: "Unfortunately, you were too late to notice my presence." He tilts his head slightly, staring at you with cold green eyes devoid of mercy. Taliesin: "Good evening, Detective." Then the pressure is gone: he steps back out of reach, sets the blade on your table, and puts both hands on a chair back. Taliesin: "Turn round. The door is behind me and I am not in front of it." A moment of silence. Taliesin: "You've made quite a lot of trouble for me lately."
