‘You’re a Practicus,’ Winter murmured. ‘Although you’re clinging on by the skin of your teeth after several complaints against you. It’s been alleged that you were responsible for the attack on several young Neophytes last year.’

I watched Winter. ‘I thought you didn’t know him.’

He raised a shoulder. ‘I looked him up after your enquiries.’

I was impressed. There must be benefits to being a workhorse who jumped on every little detail.

‘So?’ Bell End yelled. ‘Those were trumped-up charges!’ He jerked his chin in my direction. ‘She has kidnapped me.’

Winter knelt down and I wondered if he was going to free him. Instead, he returned the gag to its original position. ‘He’s quite annoying,’ Winter murmured.

I could only agree. Winter straightened up. ‘So,’ I said, ‘they broke in. I went to confront them and,’ I shrugged, ‘they ended up like this.’

He nodded as if I’d just told him that it was raining outside. I let out a silent sigh of relief. I hadn’t realised how important it was that he believed my version of events until right at this moment. ‘It’s smart that you didn’t tell the police. We need to keep this within the Order.’ He looked around. ‘Where are the herbs they were carrying?’

I pointed to the side table. Winter picked up each bag and examined it carefully. A muscle throbbed in his cheek. I hoped that it wasn’t me he was angry with. Returning the herbs, he moved to Alice. She was still shying away. Winter gently unfastened her gag and tilted her head towards him. ‘You were here to bespell Eve Harrington.’ It wasn’t a question. ‘Tell me why.’

Alice wouldn’t meet his eyes; she was genuinely afraid of him. I glanced at Winter with renewed interest. Apparently his reputation was greater than that of a talented investigator who worked too hard.

‘Come on, Alice,’ he coaxed.

It looked as if she would remain as stubbornly silent with him as she had with me but then her chin wobbled slightly and her shoulders dropped. It all came pouring out. ‘It was Diall,’ she said, referring to Eve’s mentor. ‘He told us to come here and sprinkle around enough herbs to attach themselves to Eve so that she could be tracked wherever she went. We knew there was only a short window of time when we could do it.’ She flicked her eyes towards me. ‘We thought she was still out at work. Our intention was not to hurt anyone.’

Considering how much of a fight the pair of them had put up when I’d confronted them, I found that difficult to believe.

‘What reason did Diall give for this?’ Winter asked. There was a dangerous edge to his voice that made me step backwards. No wonder he was a skilled investigator; all he had to do was ask a question and his air of menace encouraged immediate and full disclosure. Handy trick.

‘He wanted to know what you were doing,’ she admitted. ‘By tracking Eve we could track you. He’d found out about the binding spell that was going to be put on you and he knew its terms. There was no chance that you’d work separately.’ She sighed. ‘I don’t know where Eve Harrington is. If you’re worried about her, I suggest you start questioning that one.’ It was obvious she meant me. I snorted. I wasn’t the evil witch around here.