‘It didn’t hurt him, Price,’ Winter said. ‘You hurt him. You killed him.’

Price dropped to his knees and started to sob. ‘I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to. Oh God, please help me.’ His shoulders started to shake and he covered his face with his hands, unable to say another word.

Winter had no sympathy. He reached into his car and drew out a set of handcuffs. ‘Adeptus Major Price,’ he intoned. ‘You are under arrest by proclamation of the Hallowed Order of Magical Enlightenment. Any attempt to use magic to provoke, conceal or avoid taking responsibility for your actions will be held against you, regardless of your guilt or innocence. You are entitled to legal representation and to apply to the non-magical courts for consideration.’ He snapped the cuffs round Price’s wrists and pulled him up to his feet. Then he glanced at me. I gave him a smug smile. Yeah, I’d solved Diall’s murder.

In your face, Order Boy. In. Your. Face.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Winter drove Price back to the Order headquarters in his car while I followed. It was probably just as well the poor murdering witch didn’t have to travel with me because I turned up the music so it was blaring out deafeningly. Yeah, it was the middle of the night but so what? I’d just solved a murder. I deserved it. Of course, that didn’t stop Winter glowering at me when we finally arrived back at the Arcane Branch building.

While Price was being processed and the police were informed, Winter drew me into a small room down a narrow corridor. I looked round. ‘Is this your office?’ I enquired. ‘It’s kind of pokey. You should try out for Human Resources. I hear there’s an opening.’

He ignored my words. ‘What did you think you were doing back there?’ he enquired icily.

‘Your job,’ I said, hopping up onto his desk and swinging my legs. ‘I’m kinda hungry now though. You got anything to eat?’

Winter gritted his teeth. ‘You could have been hurt, Ivy. If Price had turned on you…’

‘He tried and he failed. He was never going to get the better of me. And I never would have managed it if you’d not used culver root to try and get rid of me.’

‘A cornered animal…’

‘Yeah, yeah. My methods might have been unorthodox but I got results. Quit complaining.’ I punched him lightly on the arm. ‘All’s well that ends well.’

‘Is it?’

I looked at him. ‘You believe that Price was telling the truth about the Cypher Manuscript,’ I said. ‘That it was deliberately left in his office by someone else and he just panicked when he found it.’

Winter didn’t say anything.

‘It’s possible,’ I admitted. ‘He doesn’t appear to have the intellectual power to put a plan like stealing Volume 9 into place and the way it was nicked was pretty damn intricate. It didn’t take much to get him to confess, either. It was as if he wanted to tell me what he’d done. But if Diall took the Manuscript, he might have planted it in Price’s desk because he wanted to get rid of him. His little protégé wasn’t working out as well as he’d hoped and he wanted to get rid of the dead wood. Instead, he just ended up dead himself.’