Page 42 of The Vampire and the Case of the Baleful Banshee

The last remnants of energy left him and he looked ready to drop. His hands were shaking and he was crying again. Time to cut him loose. ‘Thanks, Luke. If you think of anything else, please call me. You’re free to go.’

He left slowly, moving like a wounded animal. I went to see Gunnar and share the news about Aoife’s very much alive and supposedly nefarious dad.

My boss was looking harassed when I knocked on the door jamb. ‘Hey. I’ve got some news.’ I ran through both interviews with him. ‘Did you know that Aoife Sullivan’s dad is alive, and that she stole something from him?’

‘Well, now. I thought Nora said he was dead.’ He sounded interested.

‘She did, but Aoife confided in Luke that he wasn’t.’

‘You get a name?’

‘No. He’s a newcomer to town and his name could be Curt, Cayden or something beginning with C,’ I recited.

Gunnar grinned. ‘Good. We have records of any newcomers.’

‘That’s supposing he hasn’t been here before and registered, and that he’s come through the proper channels.’

‘True,’ Gunnar conceded.

‘Either way, we need to search the records. I’ll get Sidnee on it – she’s a wiz at that. And if Nora is covering for her ex, she’s moved up the suspect list with him.’

‘She’s a distinct possibility.’

I sighed. ‘She is, but something is telling me no. She has the means because she can teleport. She has the motive – she hates the barrier tax and she might have wanted to help her daughter ascend and try to bring it down. And Nora had the opportunity because that ability to teleport will be convenient when she’s at work. She’s also been caught lying about the dad, so we can’t trust her when she says her range is about a hundred feet.’

‘So what’s stopping your gut?’ Gunnar asked curiously.

I shook my head. ‘I don’t know. Maybe I struggle to accept a mum would kill her child.’

‘People do all terrible things for the very flimsiest of reason,’ he said darkly.

I thought of Fluffy, abandoned and starving in a bin. He wasn’t wrong. ‘How did it go with the council?’

‘As you can imagine, they’re up in arms. Someone has both gems and if we don’t get the gems restored soon, the barrier will fall.’

My scalp prickled. ‘Getting the gemstones needs to be our priority. There’s no evidence at the wind witch’s house – any evidence was totally incinerated, so we have to follow the trail for Aoife.’

‘Whoever killed her took the fire stone and used it to raze Wintersteen’s house and steal the wind gem. Even if your gut doesn’t like Nora, it’s all we’ve got to work with. We don’t have any hard evidence against her, but we do have plenty of suspicion. We need to find something – anything – and arrest her. If there are no more fires while she’s in the lockup, it’s likely we’ve got the right suspect. I think it’s time for an old-fashioned stake-out but with a dash of modern ingenuity.’ He looked at me. ‘Stop with the wrinkled brow and say it.’

‘How do we watch someone who can teleport? We’d never know how to find her.’

‘We’ll see if her alleged crimes are strong enough to get us a warrant to plant a camera in her house.’

‘That’s legal?’

‘It’s tricky. It’s usually only used with suspected terrorists, but if she has those gems and is trying to bring down the barrier that could be interpreted as terrorism. It depends on whether the council agrees. My gut says they will.’ He sounded grim.

The idea of planting cameras in someone’s home made me uncomfortable, but I had no other smart ideas about how to watch a teleporting supernat. We were too short-staffed for an old-fashioned stakeout.

Gunnar smiled. ‘Don’t worry, we won’t place them in her bedroom or bathroom, but we can put them in the living room and kitchen. We’ll also see if there’s a good spot for outside surveillance. I wish we had the budget for drones and extra staff with cases like this.’ He was right: if we were to keep the other two gemstones safe, we needed a bigger budget.

‘When are we meeting Liv about the remaining stones?’ I asked.

He rolled his head from side to side and puffed out a breath that moved his beard and moustache. Subconsciously he was limbering up to face her. ‘Two hours.’

‘Okay. I’m heading to lunch after I do the paperwork from the interviews. Any new applicants for the filing job?’

‘Haven’t checked. Why don’t you look at the computer for me? I’ll check the mail.’ Gunnar heaved himself out of his chair to head for the post office and I went to see if we had any email applicants.

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