I bobbed my head and breathed out. ‘Yep,’ I said. ‘Let’s go.’

Chapter Nineteen

It was lucky that Tobias Worth-Jones was as much of a stickler for work as Winter. Even though it was lunchtime, he was at his desk munching on a sandwich while trying to read through some magically enhanced papers. And people wonder why I’m happy not to work at the Order.

When he caught sight of us, Tobias’s eyes widened and he stood up. He still had a mouthful of bread but that didn’t stop him talking. ‘Adeptus Exemptus Winter! What brings you over this way?’

With every word, I was sprayed haphazardly with particles of food mixed with saliva. I didn’t try and save his dignity by pretending it didn’t happen; instead I made a show of wiping my face and looking disgusted. Unfortunately the effort was lost on Worth-Jones; as per usual, it was Winter who got the message.

He got straight to the point. ‘Your signature is on a personnel file that has been removed from HR,’ he barked. ‘We need it. And we need to know why you took it in the first place.’

Tobias appeared unconcerned. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘Oscar Marsh,’ I interjected helpfully. ‘You logged out Oscar Marsh’s file.’

‘No, I didn’t.’

‘It’s definitely your writing, Tobias,’ Winter said. ‘I’d recognise that scrawl anywhere.’

‘When was this?’

‘March tenth.’

Worth-Jones rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ‘I did go to HR then,’ he said slowly, ‘and I did check out a file but it wasn’t Oscar Marsh. It was for one of my own witches.’ He pulled a face. ‘A disciplinary matter, alas. Although I can see why there would be a mix-up, given it’s Marsh’s file that you’re here about.’

Winter stilled. ‘Why? What do you know about Oscar Marsh?’

Tobias blinked. ‘Oh, Diall complained about him vociferously.’

I tried to think when I’d ever used the word ‘vociferously’. Nope. Couldn’t do it.

‘What exactly did Adeptus Diall say?’ Winter demanded.

‘Oh, that Marsh was frequently late and had turned up drunk on one or two occasions.’ He chuckled. ‘Although who amongst us hasn’t done that?’

I put up my hand. ‘Me,’ I said. ‘I’ve never done that.’

Worth-Jones still didn’t look at me. I brought my hand down and examined it. No, I wasn’t invisible.

He continued. ‘I think the biggest issue is that Marsh is incredibly weak at magic. He shouldn’t even have been admitted to the Order in first place. Plenty of people with smatterings of magic manage without actually becoming witches.’ He shrugged. ‘Marsh is still Adeptus Minor though. How he managed to gain that position, I’ll never know.’

Diall’s grubby fingers were over everything. Winter didn’t say anything like that to Tobias, however. He remained strictly on point. ‘Do you know anyone who knew Marsh personally? We need to find his address.’

‘Trumpton Avenue.’ Tobias thought for a second. ‘Number twenty-two, I believe.’

Winter stared. ‘How on earth do you know that?’