“No,” said Jamie at once. “Edward’s never met you. He has no idea you exist, or that you’re involved in any of this. If he sees you, he’ll find a way to pin something on you, too. What you should do is get in the Broomstick and get the hell away until all this blows over.”

“Until which part blows over?” Mika asked sarcastically. “The part where the girls get shipped off to someone named Peony? Or the part where you’re all standing up in court accused of murder, witchcraft, and who knows what else? Seriously, why would I go?”

“You should,” said Ian, and the others nodded.

Mika glared at them. “You’ve decided now is the time to protect me? Really? Why?”

“Because you’ve been protecting us since you got here,” said Terracotta.

“Because we want you to be safe,” said Altamira.

“Because we love you,” said Rosetta.

Jamie shrugged at her as if to say, Yes, that.

She was not going to cry. She was not.

Putting an arm around Rosetta’s little shoulders, she said, “I’m not going anywhere. Except into that shed.”

“Mika, that might not be wise,” said Ken, his brow creased with concern. “He’s strong, angry, and likely to lash out in his panic.”

“He’s not a mythical monster or an angry mob with pitchforks,” said Mika. “He’s just a man. And considering he just saw a skeleton prancing around in a dead woman’s clothes, the very least I can do is spin him a tale that’ll stop him from trying to institutionalise the girls.”

“Fine,” said Jamie curtly. “I’m coming with you, though.”

Altamira hugged Mika round the waist. “Be careful. I’m a bit scared of Edward. He was so nice and polite when he first came in the house, and then he got really big and angry and mean.”

“I promise you, there is no universe in which that man is going to bring any harm to you,” Mika said fiercely.

She turned on her heel and crossed the garden to the shed, Jamie just a step behind her. She undid the lock on the door, opened it, and stepped inside.

Mika could see at once why Altamira had found Edward Foxhaven intimidating. He was a tallish, broadish white man in his late forties or so, and he probably would have looked perfectly respectable if it wasn’t for the way he swivelled to face them when they walked in, red-faced and sneering. Then there was the fact that the shed was nigh on destroyed, tools flung at the walls, the wood chipped.

Edward’s mouth twisted at the sight of Jamie. “There you are. I wondered where you’d got to. Busy hiding a different corpse?” He tossed Mika a brief, dismissive look. “Who’s that? The new maid?”