‘Thanks, Iq,’ I said distantly. He murmured a response and I hung up.

Brutus had started clawing my thighs with sharp little jabs. ‘There’s no point getting comfortable,’ I told him.

His ears twitched and he swung his head round towards me. ‘Out?’ he enquired. ‘Again?’

I sighed. ‘Again.’ Goodness only knew why; I should be doing as I’d been told and vegging out on my sofa. But Winter might need my help, whether he wanted it or not. ‘If you thought that someone was being set up, where would you look for proof that they were innocent?’ I asked.

Brutus blinked at me. I gently nudged him off my lap and stood up. ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘That’s what I was thinking too.’

Chapter Twenty-Two

By the time I got back to the Order, the sun had gone down. I left my taxi on a double yellow line – it was close to where I wanted to be and I was unlikely to block anyone in at this time of night – and picked my way through the shadows and between the dark buildings. I tried to remain hidden; I didn’t want to bump into Winter until I was ready. I was so intent on looking for him that I almost collided with another group of witches walking in the opposite direction.

‘Hey, it’s Ivy Wilde!’

I smiled at Weathers, the receptionist from Geomancy, and glanced at his other two companions, Bethany the tea lady and Rebecca, the unfriendly receptionist from HR. ‘How’s it going?’

Weathers was grinning from ear to ear. ‘Brilliant! How about you? I hear you’ve charged someone with stealing one of the Cypher Manuscript volumes.’ He shook his head. ‘I can’t believe someone would be so audacious as to nick one.’

‘Who is it?’ Bethany asked, peering at me through the dim light. ‘Who’s the culprit? I can’t believe someone would dare to steal such power. It had to be a Second Level witch, right? Otherwise it’s just not plausible.’

‘I wouldn’t believe everything you hear,’ I said. ‘Gossip is unreliable.’

Weathers’ expression dimmed slightly. ‘They’re not Second Level?’

I wagged my finger at him. ‘I didn’t say that, now did I?’

Rebecca flashed me an unexpected smile. It was the first time I’d seen her look happy. ‘You’re funny,’ she burbled. ‘The truth always comes out in the end. He’ll finally get what’s coming to him.’

I wondered how much she actually knew. How did she know it was a man who was in custody? All the same, I had better things to do than shoot the breeze. ‘Indeed.’ I smiled at them to indicate that I needed to move on. They understood, sidestepping out of my way and murmuring farewells. I breathed out. I probably ought to watch where I was going.

I continued until I reached the now-familiar squat structure of Human Resources. A few lights were still on inside and some red robes were visible through the windows. I wandered round, trying to not be too conspicuous but probably failing miserably. A few of the faces inside were familiar but I didn’t know them well. Even brown-nosing Tarquin appeared to have disappeared for the evening.