‘How about his office at the Order?’

‘The Ipsissimus has people searching it right now.’

I gnawed on my bottom lip. ‘Do they know what they’re looking for?’

Winter ran a hand through his hair. ‘They will if they find it.’

And if they didn’t find it, the Order were going to have to tell the world that it was missing. They couldn’t keep something like that hidden for long. Instead of pointing out the obvious, I focused on something else which had been bugging me. ‘You didn’t like Diall, did you?’ I said quietly.

He pursed his lips. ‘For someone who professes not to care about the Order, you certainly pay attention.’

I didn’t comment. It might be entirely irrelevant to our case but I still wanted to know the reason behind Winter’s antipathy for his now dead colleague.

He sighed. ‘Second Level witches like myself are involved in the recruitment and promotion of others. For example, we sit on the board that decides whether witches like your neighbour are permitted to move into the next Level. Obviously the Third Level members have the final say but our opinions still carry weight. Adeptus Exemptus Diall had a bad habit of speaking up for those whose skills were not always up to par. I’ve been pushing to launch an investigation into his machinations for quite some time.’

I was intrigued. ‘Why would Diall do something like that? If he recommended someone who couldn’t do the job, it would surely come back to bite him in the arse.’

‘I have a theory.’ Winter fell silent.

I waited for him to elaborate further; when he didn’t, I prodded him. ‘Well? What’s your theory?’

‘It’s moot now.’

‘You don’t know that.’

‘I have no desire to speak ill of the dead. Or of a fellow witch.’ Winter’s manner was stiff and unyielding. No, that wasn’t going to work.

‘Winter,’ I said, ‘this might have something to do with our investigation.’

He snorted. ‘Unlikely.’

‘You’re too close to the subject matter because you’re emotionally involved. You need an objective ear.’

‘As much as you enjoy objecting, Ivy, I don’t think it could ever be said that you’re objective.’

The blue-eyed one certainly had a way with words. ‘Go on. I won’t tell anyone.’ I crossed my fingers and held them up to prove it. ‘I promise.’

Winter muttered something under his breath. ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘Diall was ambitious.’ He said it with a flourish, as if it would explain everything.

‘Er, I hate to break it to you, but just about every Order witch is ambitious.’

Winter rolled his eyes at my inability to understand his point. ‘He was encouraging lesser members into positions they shouldn’t have held so that in the future they would be more likely to support him in return.’ He paused. ‘Or so I believe. Adeptus Exemptus Diall could be very persuasive when he wanted to be.’

I considered this. ‘So couldn’t one of those so-called lesser members have killed him?’