Page 18 of The Vampire and the Case of the Cursed Canine

Gunnar glared at the phone, his face red with anger.

‘Well, shit. And we didn’t get a chance to ask her about the runes,’ I pointed out.

‘I’m well aware of that. We need to ask her in person so we can watch her face and see if she’s lying to us. Come on, let’s track her down.’

‘You think she’d lie to us?’

He snorted. ‘Do elves love archery?’

I paused. ‘I don’t know. Do they?’

‘They’re obsessed,’ Gunnar confirmed. ‘Let’s go to the funeral home first, and then her home. This time we take Fluffy.’

‘Agreed.’

Shadow was still snoozing, so we left him curled up. We were soon pulling back into the car park of the funeral home; this time it was empty. ‘I guess they all left,’ I said drily. ‘And no sign of Liv’s car.’

‘Nope.’ Gunnar parked up. ‘Well, let’s go make sure, do our due diligence.’

We climbed out, taking Fluffy with us. The rear door was locked, but after testing it Gunnar did his thing and it opened. We went down the hall and then the stairs. When he opened the double steel door, nothing but darkness and silence greeted us.

He found the lights and the fluorescent tubes flicked on, pouring a harsh light down onto the space. The whole place was empty and surprisingly clean; it had been swept, and the smell of bleach and disinfectant was heavy in the air. If any evidence of Jeff’s curse had remained, it was long gone.

I turned to Fluffy, ‘Can you find anything they missed in the clean up?’ I wasn’t optimistic.

He trotted around obligingly, sniffing at certain spots before returning and sitting silently in front of me. No barking, no wagging. He agreed: no one and nothing was left. Dammit. I ruffled the top of his head. ‘Good boy.’ He gave a single bark that I interpreted as, ‘Well, I did what I could.’

‘Let’s go,’ Gunnar said. ‘They’ve obviously got a second site and it’s probably already running.’

‘Any other place in a town this big?’ I asked.

‘There are tonnes of places they could use. There’s a bunch of warehouses on the waterfront, three large churches, several large houses, the fish plant, the cannery, Kamluck Logging, tents in the woods…’

‘Got it. Could be anywhere.’

‘Yup.’

I sighed. ‘So, without Liv telling us, or without an invite, we won’t find it again?’

‘It’s not likely.’ Then Gunnar’s phone rang and he looked down. ‘It’s the hospital.’

I leaned against the car and waited as he swiped to open it. He didn’t put it on speaker, so I waited until he was done. It wasn’t a long conversation but it was long enough for me to grow concerned.

Finally he hung up and looked at his mobile for a minute. ‘It was about Jeff,’ he said finally. ‘Apparently removing the runes didn’t end the curse like it did at the docks, though it stopped it ensnaring more people, so we did the right thing.’ He looked serious. ‘This is dark magic.’

‘A curse isn’t inherently dark?’ I asked incredulously.

‘Like anything, it’s a matter of degrees. The doctors have put Jeff in stasis so they can try and find a cure without the curse progressing. Unfortunately, they can’t keep him like that for too long. He’s in real danger – if the curse remains on him, his mind will fail and his body will follow. And then we’ll be investigating a murder.’

Chapter 11

We were both grim as we drew up to Liv’s house. It wasn’t too far from Connor’s but was set back, gated, and didn’t look so modern; the stone build had been deliberately designed to look old.

Gunnar didn’t press the intercom to alert Liv; instead he held the little keypad for a moment and the gate swung open. ‘Nice,’ I commented. A small smile curved his lips.

We parked on the gravel drive, but before we could climb out of the car Liv opened the front door. ‘Come to waterboard me in person?’ she asked archly. ‘I’m always willing to get wet for you, Gunnar.’ She licked her full lips.

She was wearing a see-through baby-doll nightdress and nothing else. Her hair was in a loose Afro and she looked untameable and wild; I could well imagine she’d be amazing in the sack. As I felt my cheeks grow warm, I looked away. Then it occurred to me that was probably her purpose in opening the door dressed like that: she loved to shock.

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