Christina and Reynard – they’d taken the stuff that looked valuable – possibly over a period of weeks. Then one day the Faceless Man pops down to check on his booty, or maybe he had a burning desire to brush up on his basic thaumatology, and finds that the door is locked.

Let’s assume the key he’s got doesn’t work for some reason – he burns the lock, steps inside and finds half his stuff’s been jacked. So Action 1 for me – fingerprint team for the corridor and the room, because nobody wears gloves all the time.

Next the Faceless Man’s going to go ask Wanda the manageress just who she’s been letting into the storerooms, possibly using seducere to fog her memory, or maybe she’s a much better liar then we thought. So Action 2 – re-interview Wanda, this time under caution plus two, which leads us onto Action 3, trace the rest of The Chestnut Tree’s staff and interview them as well.

Rule of thumb for lowly constables – once you’re up to three actions it’s time to kick the buck upstairs.

12 The 100 Metre Nonchalant Stroll

12

The 100 Metre Nonchalant Stroll

‘And you didn’t think to try pushing the door open first?’ asked Professor Postmartin.

I said nothing, mainly because he was the fourth person to ask that, after Guleed, Nightingale and Stephanopoulos.

Postmartin looked remarkably dapper in his noddy suit and was supervising approvingly as the SOCOs carefully catalogued the evidence with their hoods up and their masks on. Mind you, the Professor probably thought all books over five years old should be handled in this fashion – particularly by undergraduates.

I stayed in the corridor and tried not to get fingerprint powder on my sleeves.

‘Have you found anything else interesting?’ I asked.

‘Interesting, yes,’ said Postmartin. ‘How significant – I don’t know. Your hypothesis that this was the repository for the last offerings of the hanged is charming, but unsupported by the evidence so far.’

‘Any copies of the Principia?’ I asked.

‘Two in fact,’ said Postmartin. ‘One of them quite rare.’

‘But physically damaged?’

‘I’ve seen better kept copies,’ said Postmartin. ‘But the marginalia in one edition is quite fascinating.’

‘Christina Chorley and Reynard Fossman couldn’t read Latin,’ I said. The Second Principia, the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Artes Magicis, had never been published in English – as a deliberate policy to ensure that only people of the ‘right’ sort read it. ‘They didn’t recognise it for what it was – it probably just looked like a tatty old book to them.’

‘They understood the importance of the ledger,’ said Postmartin.

‘Yeah, they did, didn’t they?’ I said. ‘Which implies an outside source of information, doesn’t it?’

‘I’m afraid it does,’ said Postmartin and went back to his cataloguing.