Page 45 of The Vampire and the Case of the Cursed Canine

‘So I heard.’ She looked amused. ‘He’s been a very naughty boy, but at least Gunnar will finally have to redecorate this monstrosity.’

‘I liked it the way it was.’

‘Of course you did.’ She waved a hand imperiously. ‘You have no taste.’

‘Hey!’ I objected, more out of principal than because I thought she was wrong.

Rather than ushering her into the interview room, I took her to Gunnar’s office. Two friends shooting the breeze. I sat in his big chair and she took the one across from his desk. ‘I don’t know what I can add,’ she said dismissively.

‘Tell me about who you interviewed and what they said. Anything that might help.’

‘Most of the vendors aren’t from here, so out of respect I won’t give you their names.’

I wanted to yell at her for being evasive but she was a councillor and I couldn’t afford to alienate her. ‘Any hints whatsoever?’ I asked.

‘None. The ones that saw the vendor get sick said he was fine one moment and collapsed the next. No one saw anyone cursing anyone else.’

‘You still won’t tell me where the market is so I can interview people myself?’

She scoffed. ‘If I did that, they’d never come back and several of us would be without an opportunity to procure items we need for our magic. So no, I will not.’

‘Liv, the cursed people almost died. Two were from our community. We have to protect our own.’

She fixed me with a condescending look. ‘And that’s why I interviewed everyone.’

‘But you aren’t a trained interviewer,’ I pointed out.

‘Bunny darling, neither are you,’ she laughed.

Touché. Annoyingly, she was completely right; I was due to go to the police academy in Sitka for training at the end of the month, but all I’d had was on-the-job training with Gunnar. ‘I have plenty of experience,’ I pointed out.

‘And so do I. Are we done?’ She stood up.

‘Are you meeting my mother later?’ I asked casually. If she came to pick up Mum, I could tail her to wherever they went.

‘Yes,’ she said impatiently, ‘and the other three witches. We need to sort out the gems because they’re dangerous.’ She looked at me intently. ‘As I said, I’m busy. I have to go.’

‘Fine. Thanks for coming in,’ I said begrudgingly.

She nodded curtly and left in a swirl of hot desert air, her way of punishing me, I guessed. The joke was on her because I loved the heat.

And things were about to heat up even more because I was going to follow her snooty ass.

Chapter 28

I dived into the car park. The Suburban was there, as was Sidnee’s car. She’d been sharing some lifts around town with Thomas and evidently hadn’t been in yet to fetch her car. She always left a spare key on the front tyre so that I could borrow it if I needed to while she was stuck in the office.

I cranked the engine then followed Liv as she drove to the only hotel in town and on to my house. With a car full of witches, she drove off again. Annoyingly, the destination was the one place I was pretty sure wasn’t holding the black markets: her funeral home.

I needed an inconspicuous spot to park so she wouldn’t notice me and I found one on the street, where it looked like I could be in any of three different businesses. As I sat back to wait, I texted Sidnee to let her know I’d borrowed her car to search for the black market.

I had no idea how long the witches’ meeting would go on for or what they were discussing other than something to do with the gems. I watched and waited for two bum-numbing hours, during which time Sidnee texted back and confirmed she was more than happy to lend me her car.

I was about to sneak out to see if Ernie had any more chai latte when I saw my mum and the others emerge from the funeral home.

Mum turned to walk back towards home, thank heavens: I didn’t need her coming over and noticing me. No doubt she was missing the gym, so she’d get her steps in when she could. The other witches climbed in Liv’s car. I’d have to be careful tailing her because she’d be dropping them off first – unless they were all headed to the black market. Could it be that easy?

I waited for her to drive onto the street then pulled out. She headed down the road that went to Kamluck Logging, ten miles out of town. She didn’t turn again until we were at South Harbour where the warehouses were. She wasn’t dropping the witches off at their hotel, so the chances were good she was taking them to the black market to purchase some of those ‘hard to get’ items she’d mentioned earlier. I’d probably been close to the market when I last searched here and hadn’t got far enough down the line of buildings.

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