So that explains why Dem'mit was blamed for her death, and why he was so determined to prove she did, in fact, survive the blast.

Also, either that Gralt had a very long reach, or Dem'mit has more than one powerful enemy gunning for him. As he's the type to put his fingers in some unwanted pies to get justice, that would not at all surprise me.

As has been shown in quick scenes at the end or beginning of chapters, apparently he's infringing on a crime syndicate, and they're attempting to get rid of him. This appears to be their third(?) try, but I don't think they'll do the whole "three failures and we stop" thing that some more honourable semi-bad guys do.

Yeah. They're going to keep trying. Organized crime doesn't stop just because the first couple hitmen miss. They'll never quit until he takes out the boss, or until they succeed.

It was a neat little assassination attempt, too. They intended her to fire on Dem'mit so he'd run for cover, and had the cover pre-sighted. Too bad for them the one that went in there was their errand girl rather than him, but since she failed, she was a loose end anyway.