“We thought he could be,” Wreath replied quickly. “His ascension through the ranks was unheard of. It was impossible. He was a prodigy. The darkness was…it wasn’t just in him. It was him.”

They turned a corner and followed a passageway to its end, Skulduggery leading the way without appearing to.

“And then he left,” Skulduggery said. “And joined Mevolent’s army. I bet that still rankles.”

“So you’ve been without a Death Bringer ever since?” Valkyrie asked.

“Yes,” Wreath said. He looked at Skulduggery. “Is that why you are here then? So you could make this clumsy attempt to embarrass me?”

“At first,” Skulduggery said. “But now I’m curious as to what trinket you’ve misplaced. Oh, look where we are. What a nice coincidence.”

They had arrived at a small chamber with wooden shelves at odd angles. The two Necromancers within fell silent immediately. Skulduggery went to step inside, but Wreath took hold of his arm.

“We didn’t ask for your help,” he said firmly. “This is a Necromancer affair.”

“It was here though?” Skulduggery asked. “Your trinket? Why don’t you tell us what has gone missing and I’ll tell you who took it.”

Wreath smiled thinly. “You’ve worked it out already?”

“I am a detective.”

Wreath took a moment then nodded to the two Necromancers and they left. He stepped back as Valkyrie joined Skulduggery in examining the room. “The missing object is a sphere, about the size of your fist, set inside a cradle of obsidian.”

“A Soul Catcher,” Skulduggery said.

“One of the last in existence,” Wreath nodded.

Valkyrie frowned. “Does that do what it sounds like it does? Why would you need to catch souls?”

“The Soul Catcher was used to trap and contain an individual energy,” Wreath told her, “to stop it from rejoining the stream. It was a barbaric punishment that we have long since outlawed.

“The last time an inventory was carried out was a month ago. If it was indeed stolen, it could have been stolen a month ago or it could have been stolen yesterday. The simple fact is, however, I can’t see how any thief could have got this far into the Temple without being seen.”

“Oh, it was definitely stolen,” Skulduggery said. “But the thief didn’t use the door.”

Valkyrie looked at him. “So who stole it?” Skulduggery pointed up. She clicked her fingers and raised her hand, the flames flickering across the patch of cracked and crumbled ceiling, large enough to fit a man through.

“Sanguine,” Valkyrie said.

Wreath frowned. “Billy-Ray Sanguine? What would he want with a Soul Catcher?”

“This is just a guess,” Skulduggery said, “but maybe he wants to use it to catch a soul.”

17 DEAD MAN TALKING

17
DEAD MAN TALKING

V aurien Scapegrace was dead and Billy-Ray Sanguine had killed him.

Scapegrace was pretty sure that’s what happened anyway. He couldn’t remember all of it.