Page 44 of Horn of Winter

I laughed and lightly touched my cup against his. “Have you got the contact details for this ice witch?”

“His name is Harold Gould, but he’s not likely to talk to someone like yourself.”

I frowned. “Why not?”

“Guild edict. No talking to anyone about guild business without guild permission.”

I sighed. “Then we go through the guild.”

“Or I could talk to him,” he said. “The cost will be another morning tea, complete with coffee and sticky buns.”

I laughed. “Deal. Thank you, Win.”

He nodded, and the conversation moved on. He regaled us with stories of past exploits, and Darby and I returned in kind, telling tales of the strange things that had happened at both the hospital and the tavern. We left on a promise to visit the next week.

The rain had eased by the time we got back outside, though the wind promised more would be unleashed in an hour or so. Once we were back in Darby’s mini, I dragged out my phone and googled the guild’s webpage. Once there, I flipped over to their listings page and scrolled down the list. “Well, Winter’s right. There’s no other ice witches listed, and only one storm witch—a man by the name of Harper Jones. There’s no contact details, though. If Win can’t convince Gould to talk to us, we’ll have to go through the guild itself.”

“Might be better to get Sgott onto it.”

“Except he has to follow the rules and can’t use pixie magic to make them talk.”

“Yeah, but he has a database that can get phone numbers and addresses. You don’t.”

I grinned. “Which is where Mathi comes into it. He has full access to his father’s computer.”

She glanced at me. “Seriously? Why on earth has Sgott allowed that to continue?”

“Because he and Ruadhán are equal counterparts, and until Mathi steps out of line with the access, he can’t really override Ruadhán’s authority. He is keeping a close eye on things, and has restricted access to the night division files and cases.”

“Makes sense, though given Mathi’s father would still have that access, it’s also pretty pointless.”

“Ruadhán won’t do or allow anything that’ll set Sgott off. He very carefully walks the gray area between legal and not. Mathi is well aware of that.”

“I’m still surprised Sgott puts up with it. He’s generally a straight-down-the-line man.”

“He’s also very careful, and certainly wouldn’t risk jeopardizing an entire department without just cause and lots of evidence.”

Darby nodded. “You want to be?—”

Before she could finish, my phone rang, the noise so sharp and unexpected it made me jump slightly. I glanced down at the screen, saw it was Sgott, and hit the answer button. “Were your ears burning or something?”

“Burning ears would be welcome, given the situation right now.”

Alarm leapt through me. “What situation? What’s happened?”

“It’s the Lùtair Enterprises building—they’ve just come under an ice attack.”

Chapter

Seven

“Cynwrig’s building?”

“Aye, though none of the immediate family are likely to be there. Where are you?”

“With Darby, just heading onto Hoole Way.” I glanced at her. “Do you know where Lùtair Enterprises is?”

“Yes—I’ll get you there as fast as I can.” She paused. “Tell Sgott to warn his people and the cops there’s a bright red mini coming in hot.”

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