Page 21 of The Vampire and the Case of the Baleful Banshee

I patted her down briskly and checked her pockets. Nothing. ‘The houses that burned down – you’ve been to them, haven’t you?’

Her lips thinned. ‘You can’t prove that.’

‘Yes, I can,’ I said firmly. ‘Estate agents keep notes of appointments.’

Sidnee moved towards Aoife’s left to cut her off if she decided to run and the girl watched her with narrowed eyes. ‘Oh hell, no,’ she spat and took a step back.

‘Aoife, please,’ I said, channelling good cop for all I was worth. ‘We need to locate the gem then we can put this whole thing behind us.’ Behind my back I unhooked the magic-cancelling handcuffs, readying them for use.

Aoife took another step back – she was going to bolt! I closed the distance between us. Cuffs outstretched, I reached for her hand and … she disappeared. Fuck!

Sidnee looked at me, disappointment and excitement warring within her. She was thrilled that Aoife could teleport but frustrated that we’d let her get away. I was plain frustrated.

Looking skittish, Luke licked his lips. Since he didn’t have any handy-dandy teleportation magic, I grabbed and cuffed him. We’d interview him at the station; maybe Aoife would follow us there.

‘You’re under arrest for obstruction and aiding a felon.’ I read him his rights. If I recalled correctly from his father’s file – which I did – he was eighteen so I didn’t need his mother’s permission or presence to interview him. The woman had been through hell already, though, so I briefly updated her whilst Sidnee secured Luke in the Nomo’s vehicle.

She slammed the door shut and turned to me, a smile playing on her lips. ‘That was kind of epic.’

‘If we had the stone, I’d agree,’ I said drily. I felt like an idiot and a failure. I should have cuffed Aoife while I was searching her. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. I put it aside; I needed to channel my energy into finding Aoife and the stone, not beating myself up. There’d be plenty of time for stewing later.

Before I got into the car, I called Thomas and asked for a favour. To my surprise, he agreed easily and I hung up feeling pleased that something was going my way.

We headed back to the Nomo’s office to interview Luke. I hoped the arrest would rattle him enough to make him talk or that Aoife would be stupid enough to come running to help him. If she did, this time I’d have the damned cuffs ready.

Chapter 12

Luke Savik kept staring at his cuffed wrists, looking lost as he sat in the interview room. His girlfriend had landed him in a heap of shit and he’d lost his father not long ago. My heart went out to him, but I made sure it didn’t show on my face.

‘How old are you, Luke?’ I asked gently, as if I didn’t already know. I could remember everything from Lukas Savik’s file, including the ages of his children. An eidetic memory often felt like a curse, but it certainly came in handy at times.

‘I’m eighteen. I’ll turn nineteen at the end of the school year.’ School had started; Aoife was robbing the cradle a little here. She’d already graduated and he had one more year to go.

‘How long have you been dating Aoife?’ I asked, more out of nosiness than to further the case.

He looked at his hands. ‘We started dating last year when she was a senior.’

‘So you feel that you know her well?’

He nodded, looking miserable. ‘We both know that she has the gem, don’t we?’ I asked quietly.

He continued staring at his hands then glanced up. ‘Yeah, but I don’t know what she did with it.’ He looked at me properly. ‘She’s a good person.’

‘I’m sure she is. So tell me, why was she protesting about the barrier?’ I was genuinely curious.

‘She wasn’t!’

‘I have a photo of her at the scene of the protest. She was definitely there.’

‘Yes, she was but she was trying to get her mom to go home. She knows the monster is real – it killed my dad. Aoife knows we need the barrier. All of us do or it’ll kill us all.’ His voice warbled and there were tears in his eyes. He dashed them away angrily.

I squirmed in my seat and wondered if I should pat him on the shoulder. Sidnee would be better at this than me – I was uncomfortable with other people’s tears. My parents had never been fond of childhood tears or tantrums; they’d subscribed to the ‘children should be seen and not heard’ philosophy. As a child, I’d tried to earn their love by shoving my emotions down as deeply as I could. By the time I realised that nothing would ever earn me their love, I was already emotionally stunted. I don’t deal with feelings well.

Luke sniffed. ‘Aoife knows we have to keep the barrier up. She’s trying to save us all.’

‘So why did she steal one of the barrier gems?’ I asked.

He wiped his face with his sleeve. ‘She wants to keep it safe. She’s trying to save us!’

---