Page 41 of The Vampire and the Case of the Baleful Banshee

No doubt she’d busted the shutter mechanism to make it appear that someone had sneaked in, then she’d teleported into my home, sprayed the message, opened the windows to look like the intruder had escaped through them – and teleported out.

Luckily for everyone involved, I didn’t have the skills or inclination to drop the barrier. She could try and set me on fire if she liked but I had my own flames to bring to the table; I could fight fire with fire.

I had a few minutes before Luke was due to arrive, so I checked my phone. I had a text message from Thomas Patkotak, our resident supernat hunter: I stuck to him like glue, but he went straight home and stayed in bed for the next fifteen hours, exonerating him of any direct involvement in Sullivan’s death.

I’d half-expected that but I was still disappointed. If it wasn’t Nora and it couldn’t be Luke, who the fuck had killed Aoife Sullivan?

I dropped Thomas a message thanking him and confirming that he could stop monitoring Luke. He replied and said he’d bill the council for his time.

Luke appeared just as I was making another cup of tea, his eyes red-rimmed and his shoulders slumped. His whole body looked like it was curving in on itself.

I felt really bad for calling him in. According to Thomas, Luke wasn’t implicated in Aoife’s death and he’d also lost his father less than a month ago. Grief was his new best friend and my heart ached for him.

I took him into the interview room and started the recording. ‘I’m sorry for your loss – and I’m really sorry I have to ask you these questions at such a difficult time.’

He nodded. ‘I know. I want to help you catch whoever hurt Aoife. She was so amazing – she didn’t deserve this – no one deserves this. I can’t stop wondering if she died alone and in pain. If she saw it coming, if she was scared.’ His voice hitched. ‘I can’t stop thinking about her. I’ve barely slept.’

I understood; it wasn’t that long since I’d lost my nana and at least she’d lived a full life. I missed her but it was a different kind of grief. Luke was mourning Aoife’s potential, the future they might have had together. ‘It’s a hard time and I’m sorry to make it worse, so let’s get the questions over and done with as quickly as we can, hey?’

Luke gave a wan smile so I powered on. ‘Where were you Tuesday night between the hours of 10pm and 3am?’

‘I was home, asleep in bed.’ He sniffed and his eyes filled with tears. I pushed a box of tissue towards him.

‘Did you ever harm Aoife Sullivan?’ I asked.

‘No, never! I loved her.’

The tears really fell then and I felt like a total twat. ‘I’m sorry to ask this, Luke, but do you know anyone who would want her dead?’

He shook his head fiercely then stopped suddenly. ‘Maybe her dad?’

‘Her dad?’ Now I was confused because Nora had marked him as deceased on her paperwork. ‘Ms Sullivan indicated that he was dead.’

‘She might have wished he was dead but he’s not. He got out of prison.’

So Nora was a liar, liar, pants on fire. ‘Is he a banshee?’ Gunnar had said that he’d never seen a male banshee, but it was sensible to check.

‘No,’ Luke replied. ‘Banshees are always female. From what Aoife told me, when female banshees want to breed they find a powerful supernat male to procreate with. Sometimes it works out as a long-time deal, but most banshees don’t bother with marriage or family life. They just want a kid – a daughter, to be precise.’

It probably didn’t matter now, but Luke had confessed to me that his family weren’t powerful. Young love aside, he and Aoife probably wouldn’t have worked out in the long run.

‘Did Aoife have any non-banshee half-siblings?’ I asked.

‘She wondered about that. If she did, she didn’t know about them.’

‘Tell me more about her father. Is he in town? What’s his name?’

‘Aoife told me that he got back last week. He’s a powerful witch, and I think she said his first name is Curt or Cayden – something like that. I’m almost positive it begins with C.’

‘Did he have the same last name? Sullivan?’

‘No, I don’t think so. Banshees take the name of their family caste.’

‘Why do you think he could have killed her?’

‘Aoife was worried because she took something from him once and she wouldn’t give it back. She said he wasn’t a good guy and she always sounded scared of him. She said he was super powerful. I’m a total idiot – I can’t believe I didn’t think of him right away. You could have arrested him already!’ Luke was agitated, pulling at the sleeves of his shirt.

‘It’s okay,’ I soothed. ‘We’ll find him and speak to him.’

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