Terence “Digger” Malley is one of the original suspects Strike suggests that the Met investigate in connection with the arrival of the severed leg. Malley is a professional criminal in the Harringay Crime Syndicate who Strike busted in 2008 for running a drug ring. Strike’s testimony against him was anonymous, but he is worried that somehow the London gangster found out it was him.

Strike suspects Malley at first because he has a habit of lopping off enemies’ body parts and sending them to other enemies. He soon discounts Malley after he confirms from Shanker that he’d never discussed Strike with his fellow criminal. Plus, the severed leg delivered with song lyrics “seems pretty subtle for the likes of Digger,” Strike concludes.