Edmund is the "mondo mundane" twin brother of the stage magician, Zalman. It is difficult to picture much that is more removed from the glamor of illusion than accountancy, but this is how Edmund earns his livelihood, having had little interest or talent for magic beyond him and his brother occasionally doing a 'disappearing act' when they were children involving one disappearing and the other appearing at the other side of the room (Edmund noting that it only really worked for people who didn't know they were twins).