‘What gives?’ I growled. ‘You abandon me as soon as I get here and now you’re trying to kill me?’

My cat yawned and began to wash himself. I scowled. I didn’t have time for this.

‘Magic man,’ Brutus said as I started to turn away.

I looked back. ‘You mean Bellows? Your new owner?’

I received a scathing look in response. Clearly, Brutus didn’t believe anyone owned him. In that, of course, he was absolutely correct. ‘Fish.’

I raised my hands helplessly. ‘Am I supposed to understand what that means?’

Brutus licked his lips. Given that he wasn’t using his usual refrain to demand food, I suddenly understood. ‘Oh. He gives you fish.’

‘Good fish.’ His whiskers quivered. ‘Give fish.’

I gazed at him in exasperation. ‘Do I look like I’m carrying a string of mackerel with me? Some familiar you are. You’re supposed to aid me in my magic quests, not piss off at the first chance of a deluxe meal.’

If Brutus could have shrugged, he probably would have. ‘Magic man no magic.’

Yeah, I probably wasn’t surprised at that. All the same, I wanted to double-check. ‘You’re sure?’ At least if Bellows possessed no real magical abilities, he could be struck off the list of necromancer suspects. That meant there were only about a hundred thousand people left to investigate if I included everyone in the town, all the outlying villages and the cast and crew involved in Enchantment. The way things were going right now, I had to take every success.

Brutus sniffed, as if he wouldn’t deign to answer. It was fine for him to repeat the same things over and over unnecessarily but when I asked him to do it for me, he took the hump. Contrary cat.

‘Bad man.’

I froze. ‘Trevor Bellows is a bad man?’

Brutus yawned again. Then he turned his head to the right. There was a rustle in the trees. The zombie. It had to have come back. I swallowed hard and flicked a warning glance at my cat. ‘Get back,’ I warned. ‘This could be bad.’

There was another rustle and Winter appeared. I exhaled loudly in relief. He stared at me. ‘What’s wrong? You look as white as a sheet.’

I opened my mouth to answer but Brutus got in there first. ‘Bad man,’ he said.

For a fleeting moment, Winter looked hurt. ‘Me?’

Brutus sighed and stood up, walking away with his tail waving violently in the air as if he couldn’t bear to be near either of us.

‘I think he meant Bellows,’ I said.

Winter’s mouth flattened into a grim line. ‘Then he’s right. Trevor Bellows is a very bad man indeed.’ He gave me a look filled with meaning that I couldn’t interpret then reached into his jacket and withdrew a small manila envelope. ‘Here,’ he said.

The expression on his face and the tone of his voice made me take the proffered envelope with considerable trepidation. Winter put his hands into his pockets and looked away whilst I slid out the contents and examined them. It was a series of glossy photographs, obviously taken in sequence.