Page 101 of The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Spite & Spellwork

“I am aware that I am better suited to my current position,” Norton said in a clipped tone. “If you must know, it was my last case as a Mercy, and one I still regret to this day. However, I’m afraid that’s all I can tell you on the matter. The file is sealed.”

“Yes, about that…” Avery stood behind the chair opposite the Justice, but as she had not been invited to sit, she didn’t. “I need it unsealed.”

“No.”

Avery’s fingers dug slightly into the back of the chair. Calm breaths. “Allow me to explain. I have been tasked by the council to investigate a series of murders that, from what I can gather, are eerily similar to the murder I suspect that case was about. But I can neither confirm nor deny with certainty without reviewing that file.”

“I see.” Norton’s attention dwindled on her as if she’d commented on the weather. “My answer is still no.”

He was stubborn, he was irritating, but he still wasn’t Gideon. “Perhaps you do not understand the severity of the issue.” Avery tried to say it with a smile, but she feared it only gave her a vaguely menacing look. “John Hingley was brutally murdered in a very specific sort of way. Nearly two decades later, two people have been killed in an eerily similar manner. People, I suspect, who had some connection to John Hingley and whose identities are being protected from everyone but the killer, because that file is sealed. Which means your killer had some kind of access to that information. That seal prevents someone from speaking, not acting.”

“What I understand, Hemlock, is that your so-called victims sound like they are finally paying for their crimes.”

Avery’s gaze sharpened. So Patricia Aldridge’s file and John Hingley’s case were the same.

“And I will not jeopardize the safety that seal promises everyone involved for the chance it might make your job easier.”

“As I was saying, Advocate, that safety has already been breached.”

“If you’re so intent on saving them, find another way—for the love of fate, child, stop shuffling by the door and knock!”

A quiet yelp came from the other side, followed by a tentative knock, then opening of the door. Wide blue eyes peeked within, surrounded by a ginger halo of hair and accompanied by an unsure smile. Roxanne Egan, Velouette Radu’s assistant. “Forgive me for interrupting, Justice Norton. Mercy Radu wanted me to deliver tomorrow’s cases before you left for the day.”

Norton motioned for her to come forward with them. “You may go, Hemlock.”

“We weren’t finished speaking about this.”

“We are,” he said with a deep finality as Roxanne set the stack of files on the desk in front of him.

Avery briefly meditated on the satisfaction violently pushing that stack onto the floor would provide. She gave him a thin smile and a polite nod but stopped at the door as she followed Roxanne out. “Did the sentinels ever divine what was used to kill John Hingley?”

“We are done, Hemlock,” Norton sighed, pulling the top file, but he was waiting for Avery to leave before he opened it.

“It was not a hex,” said Avery.

That caught Norton’s attention. She could not see his eyes beyond the thick dark glasses, but his posture conveyed a kind of fear.

“Sealing away the information did not stop it from happening again. How does your sense of justice feel about that?”

The Justice sneered at her. “Close the door, you’re letting out the heat.”

Avery obliged but with perhaps a little more force than she initially intended, slamming it as she left. “Hateful man,” she muttered, fully aware that he’d be able to hear her. What she had not been aware of was Roxanne waiting for her.

“He takes some getting used to,” she offered shyly. “He’s just a little rough around the edges.”

“A mace is rough around the edges,” said Avery. “He’s insufferable.”

Roxanne stifled a laugh with her sleeve. “He can hear you, you know.”

“Good!” Avery called over her shoulder as they left the Justice Wing. “Can’t believe that man ever advocated mercy for anyone.”

Roxanne looked over her shoulder, still paranoid there was not enough distance between them and Justice Norton for him to not hear everything. “Velouette said he was a good teacher for a while, but it’s better he switched focus.”

Avery checked her pocket watch and considered for a moment. “Is Mercy Radu still around?”

Roxanne shook her head and tucked an errant lock of hair behind her ear. “She went home already, sorry.”

Still unable to attempt to mend that bridge, Avery felt her heart sink a little further. “Right.”