‘However,’ he continued, ‘I will reiterate what I told you on the first day. This course does not give you special licence to arrest Coldstream citizens. It does not allow you to interfere with ongoing MET investigations or to inveigle your way into the jurisdictional areas of other Preternatural groups.’
Fetch Mayhew sat up a little straighter. ‘Hear hear!’
‘You arenot,’ Montgomery intoned, acting like the councilwitch hadn’t spoken, ‘permitted to harm anyone in the course of your investigations, whether through magical means or otherwise. You do not suddenly have a licence to kill.’
I suppressed a grin. My licence to kill had lapsed when I’d retired from my position as an EEL assassin but old habits died hard.
Montgomery continued, ‘There are no circumstances where you should think of yourselves as the long arm of the law. Complete your final project and at best you will be considered private investigators although we may occasionally request your help across Coldstream with minor security matters. Any serious crimes that you uncover should always be referred to the appropriate authorities, whether that be the druidic board of governors, the witches’ council or the Magical Enforcement Team.’ He met my gaze. ‘Understood?’
We nodded. He cupped his hand to his ear. ‘I can’t hear you.’
‘Understood!’ we chorused.
He sighed. He knew we were lying;weall knew we were lying, but this was the game we had to play.
Montogomery placed his hands on the desk in front of him. ‘This has never been tried in Coldstream before now. Mess it up and it will never be attempted again. The onus is on you to follow the rules.’ He turned his dark gaze to Matty. ‘What have you learned about covert surveillance?’
The troll straightened and grinned. ‘Go for a long fucking slash first,’ she said. Montgomery winced. ‘Go for a long fucking slash first,sir,’ she added somewhat belatedly.
‘Anything else besides toilet habits?’ he asked.
‘Conduct a thorough background check first,’ Ruth said helpfully.
‘Observe your target from a safe distance,’ I offered.
‘Adhere to all legal strictures,’ Fetch Mayhew intoned.
Montgomery nodded approvingly. ‘What about communication skills? What have you learned?’
Kevin listed several techniques. ‘Active listening. Concise questions. Manage the flow of a conversation. Watch for non-verbal cues.’
‘Good. And report writing?’
‘Maintain detailed, accurate and clear reports at all times.’
‘What about conflicts?’ Montgomery demanded. ‘And tense situations?’
I answered. ‘Be prepared to deal with sensitive issues and emotional people. Always aim for conflict resolution.’
‘And what do we mean by conflict resolution, Ms McCafferty?’
I’d always found that a quick, clean kill resolved most situations. ‘Defusing problems before they start,’ I said aloud.
Montgomery sniffed. He couldn’t know what I used to do for a living but he did know something about my preferred ways of dealing with problems. ‘Indeed.’ He lifted his chin. ‘You have done well. We now move to the final phase of the course and your fieldwork assignment.’
He gripped the edges of the desk and leaned forward, his eyes glowing. ‘And to help you with this last section of the course, I have been granted special dispensation to provide you with samples of a new spell that has been specially designed for the MET.’
I sat up a little bit straighter. This was interesting.
I wasn’t the only member of the class who was intrigued. Everyone’s attention was focused on Montgomery; in particular, Marie Wicker and Fetch Mayhew were both leaning forward.
‘A new spell?’ Mayhew asked. ‘That anyone in this class can use? It can’t be very powerful then.’
Matty scowled on cue. ‘You only need to possess a littlemagic. You don’t have to be a fucking witch, fuckwad, in order to cast a spell.’
‘Perhaps not, but you have to be a witch in order to cast agoodspell,’ Marie murmured, for once on the same side as the Fetch.
Montgomery wrestled back control of the class. ‘Thisisa good spell,’ he said. The only indication of his irritation was the set of his jaw. ‘Anyone with a scrap of inherent magic can use it. But,’ he added forcefully, ‘not everyone isallowedto use it. In fact, few people are even allowed to know that it exists.’
