 Fandorin gets a new boss, Ivan Brilling, a sophisticated detective familiar with modern investigative techniques.Brilling believes that the murder is the work of a terrorist organization called "Azazel" that is operating in Moscow.He sends Fandorin off to interview Lady Astair, whose Astair House has now acquired Akhtyrtsev's fortune along with Kokorin's, because both students left all their assets to Astair House after Amalia Bezhetskaya encouraged them to do so.