‘Why would you bite the hand that feeds you?’

‘Because,’ I said softly, repeating my earlier point, ‘every Order witch is ambitious.’ I skipped round him to avoid a ladder propped up against the wall of my building.

Winter’s mouth twitched. ‘It’s a possibility,’ he finally conceded.

‘Ha ha! You see? I can do this.’ I stretched out my arms. ‘I can be an investigator extraordinaire.’

‘It’s a theory. And not a very plausible one either.’ Winter stopped walking for a moment. ‘It’s important not to believe too strongly in any one idea without concrete evidence. Otherwise you start looking for evidence to fit the theory rather than the other way around. There are no shortcuts in this line of work. And ambition isn’t a bad thing. The desire to succeed and do better is what drives society forward.’

‘Not everyone can be Ipsissimus. What drives society forward is having a strong backbone of people willing to do the jobs that their leaders don’t want to dirty their hands with.’

‘Like driving taxis?’ he asked drily.

‘Okay, maybe not that. I was thinking more like cleaners and binmen and herb collectors. Those sorts of jobs, although people do need to be able to get around when they need to. But you have to see what I mean.’

‘I do,’ he answered. ‘But you have to see what I mean too.’ He opened the main door and held it for me while I ducked inside.

I wrinkled my nose. ‘Yeah, okay, I suppose I do.’ I glanced at him and smiled. ‘Look at us,’ I marvelled. ‘Next we’ll be skipping along hand in hand.’ I turned left for the lift while Winter went immediately for the stairs. Oh well, you couldn’t have everything.

We re-grouped upstairs then walked into Eve’s flat. Although Bell End and Alice barely stirred, Princess Parma Periwinkle and Harold sprang apart. It looked to me as if they’d only been grooming each other but I couldn’t be sure. I reckoned Brutus would be pretty annoyed if he knew. That was until he emerged yawning and looking pretty darned self-satisfied from behind a nearby cushion. Alrighty.

Winter looked from the cats to me and back again. We shared a moment of amusement and then got to work. I went for Bell End while Winter focused on Alice.

‘How’s it hanging?’ I enquired. Bell End glared at me. I smiled, entirely without humour. ‘Let me guess. You want to be freed immediately. This has all been a terrible misunderstanding.’

Winter loosened Alice’s gag. ‘Would you like something to drink?’

She licked her lips. ‘Just let us go.’

‘We’ve been to see your boss,’ I told Bell End. His eyes flew up to mine. My smile grew. ‘I thought that would get your attention.’

‘Did you tell him about us?’ Alice demanded. ‘Does he know we’re here?’

‘Unfortunately not,’ Winter replied. ‘On account of the fact that he’s dead.’

While Winter studied Alice’s reaction, I did the same to Bell End. He appeared momentarily alarmed then he relaxed, as if he’d decided that we were lying.