Miss Matilda,

I am Lamentations Bean, pastor in this town. I was hoping to run into you after church one day, but apparently you’re not the churchfaring kind. Do not worry, I do not intend to chastise you over the state of your immortal soul. I merely wish to make your acquaintance.

I know that you are officially here to guard against any further wizard attacks while you complete your training to become one of the Marshal’s hounds. But I suspect that you’re also here to watch over a certain figure of interest. Roger insists that I no longer need to concern myself with him because it’s someone else’s business now, and who else would that be besides you?

If so, I’d like to mention something I found unusual. Someone’s disturbing the graves. I presided over all five funerals in the wake of the wizards’ attack, and I remember Kellogg and Fry doing a mediocre job the day the Edwards were buried. I was busy with the other three burials at the time, but I thought to take my eldest, Hosea, and even it out when I had the chance, one early morning. Lo and behold, the grave had already been tidied. Not just leaves picked up or stones brushed away: the gravestone was crooked and now it is not. There was the soot of a lantern among the leaves. Someone is fiddling with corpses in the dark, and we both know who has a habit of tampering with flesh.

I would hope that this is helpful. I am a hypocrite, perhaps. For all my paranoia, I struggle to act directly against him. I dealt with his mother, but I was a young man then. It’s been more than twenty years. I have a family now, one that I keep neglecting in the name of this hunt. I have a congregation that needs me to be confident and stalwart in my faith, and everything about this Negro fills me with doubt. After only a few months of his presence, I feel drained; I’ve been trying to put him out of my head long enough to love my wife, my children, my congregation, my God. But you are young and bright and shameless. I have been praying for you often, that you may strike where I may not.

Finally, my wife would like to extend an invitation to dinner. I understand that you need privacy for your government training, but we’re all concerned about you being alone in the Edwards’ house. We cannot spare much with winter coming and six mouths to feed, but if you find yourself on our doorstep on any Sunday afternoon, I can promise that you will be fed.