After steadying himself from the sight and smell of the corpse fragments, Dinios Kol uses scented oils from his engraver’s satchel to fix every detail of the remains in his enhanced memory. As part of his duty as an Iudex investigator, Dinios studies the shape, color, damage, and condition of the flesh so he can later report with perfect accuracy.

Tira Malo explains that Yarrowdale’s canals contain dangerous carnivorous turtles called reaper-backs, which likely consumed much of Mineti Sujedo’s body after it entered the water. But Malo points out evidence that Sujedo was not simply attacked in the canals: the shoulder shows a smooth cut rather than a tear, indicating he was dismembered before disposal. When Dinios examines the preserved hand, he notices marks and fibers at the wrist, and Malo confirms that Sujedo had been bound with dark, tar-soaked canal rigging rope and had apparently struggled against it.

Dinios then asks about witnesses and learns that no servants, guards, or members of the Treasury delegation reported seeing anyone unusual at Sujedo’s lodgings. Turning to the torso, Dinios notices a coin-sized circular patch of skin removed from the shoulder blade; Malo says the wound was deliberately cut away, though it does not seem to remove any identifying mark. Dinios asks how the remains were identified as Sujedo’s, and Malo explains that senior Treasury officers carry an implanted organ that gives their blood special properties used to open protected bank systems. Tests on the remains showed the blood of a Treasury immunis, making Sujedo the obvious match.

As Dinios sums up the case, the scale of the mystery becomes clearer: much of Sujedo’s body is missing, there are no witnesses, no known suspects, and no certainty about where or when he was killed. Malo adds that Sujedo’s recent movements were limited to his lodgings and the bank, where he merely stored orders and tax papers in a safe. Realizing how little concrete evidence exists and wanting something useful before his superior Ana arrives, Dinios decides the next step is to inspect Sujedo’s lodgings.