I reached down. McAllister tensed, but I wasn’t going for one of my knives. Instead, I pulled the ebony tube out of a pocket on the front of my vest. I set it on the desk and scooted it forward, then turned it so he could see the sunburst rune glinting on the side.

“When I first went into the vault, I had no idea what Clementine was after,” I said. “There were lots of treasures in there. Art, jewelry, paintings worth tens of millions. But all she wanted—all you wanted—was this. You didn’t want anything else from the museum, not even the jewels that Clementine took from the partygoers. No, all you were after—all you needed—was this one little tube.”

McAllister’s face pinched even tighter than before, the flush in his cheeks taking on a fiery tomato tint, and I could tell that he was struggling to control himself. So I decided to be a good guest and answer his silent questions.

“It took me a few minutes, but I figured out how to open it,” I said. “And I know what’s inside. In fact, I’ve spent the last few days reading and rereading Mab’s will. Quite a bit shorter than I thought it would be. But fascinating all the same for what it says—and what it doesn’t.”

“And what do you think you’ve figured out from it?” he sneered.

“Why you wanted Mab’s will so badly,” I replied. “I must say I’m a little shocked that she didn’t leave you a little something-something for all your years of loyal service. But you aren’t mentioned in the will at all. She didn’t leave you a nickel’s worth of anything. No cash, no land, no personal property. Not even so much as a silverstone pen or a cheap gold watch. No wonder you were so pissed.”

McAllister stared at the tube, his cold, furious gaze locked onto the sunburst rune. “You have no idea what it was like working for her. Being at her beck and call night and day for years—years. Constantly knowing that one wrong word, one wrong move, and she’d kill me with her Fire magic right where I stood with no warning and no sympathy. Mab wasn’t even particularly clever. She was just strong. All that power, all that magic, all that money. She could have done so much with it. But she never could think big enough.”

I’d thought Mab had dreamed plenty big, since she’d practically run Ashland, but I didn’t contradict McAllister. Even he had a right to rant here at the end.