‘I’m saying that the defacing of Tanomariel’s corpse was probably a smokescreen,’ DeShelle said. ‘It was the eye that was important. Tanomariel’s gets removed and anti-mutant screeds are cut into her flesh. These two mystery Navigators are killed and their eyes are removed. Zulantis was burned to death, and I’m willing to bet that no one looked too closely at any of his eye sockets to see what was left in there. And Avomarr was tipped into the river. Five Navigators have been killed, three have definitely had their warp eye removed, and two conceivably could have done and we just don’t know.’

‘All right,’ Krane said. He was clearly following her logic to an extent. ‘But how does this relate to someone walking through walls?’

‘This is ritual activity,’ DeShelle said, chewing her lip nervously. She was walking a very fine line here. ‘People who kill for themselves, not for hire or self-preservation, have routines. They do things the same way. It might be the same method of murder, or the same method of disposing of the bodies, or something. The only constant here is the removal of the warp eye. This means something to whoever is doing this – this is the most important thing, possibly more important than the deaths.’

‘When you say “ritual”,’ Krane said slowly, ‘do you mean a ritual for the person? Or do you mean… something else?’

‘You know the sermons as well as I do,’ DeShelle told him, although that probably wasn’t true. She didn’t know Krane’s background, but the scholam had been very thorough with her knowledge and retention of the Imperial Creed. ‘We’re warned about the heretic, the alien– ’

‘And the mutant,’ Krane finished grimly. ‘You think we’re dealing with a witch?’

There was no mistaking the disgust in his voice. It wasn’t surprising, since even sanctioned psykers were treated with fear and suspicion, except perhaps by those who dealt with them every day. But the difference between a sanctioned psyker and a wilder witch was similar to that between a Navigator and some claw-handed, three-eyed mutant from the Smog Deeps: one was tested and validated, and served the God-Emperor, and one was an aberration that must be purged for the good of humanity.

DeShelle tugged at her collar again. ‘It would explain a lot. Untrained psykers often don’t understand their powers, and attribute them to the performance of ritual acts. I’ve certainly heard tales of psykers who can pass through solid objects.’

‘You know a lot, DuVoir,’ Krane said. The words were delivered neutrally, but DeShelle heard the question behind them. She smiled self-deprecatingly.

‘I’m older than I look. And I had a… very thorough education.’

‘Where?’

The word was a touch too sharp and too isolated to be merely a casual question asked by one colleague of another. DeShelle kept her smile in place.