Page 29 of The Vampire and the Case of the Perilous Poltergeist

‘Is Captain Engell really ex-MIB?’ I blurted out.

Marks frowned, ‘Where did you hear that?’

‘Around,’ I replied elusively. I didn’t want Danny to get into trouble.

‘Protecting your source like a good detective,’ he said drily. He studied me. ‘Yes,’ he said finally, ‘Engell used to be MIB.’

I bit my lip. That confirmed a whole other issue with Captain Engell. The financial angle was interesting, but the MIB had a whole lot of distrust toward supernaturals because they only dealt with supernats that had gone off-script. We weren’t inherently bad but the MIB hunted those of us that were, so the organisation no doubt had a skewed perception of all of us. Was Engell here with an agenda?

I bit my lip. Thomas was ex-MIB, and he was a good person. Maybe the captain was innocent.

It looked like I was off the hook for late night B&E because I didn’t have the background to know what I was looking at if this whole thing was financial. I’d seen a bunch of papers but nothing about them had seemed suspicious. Luckily it should be easy to find a forensic accountant who could interpret the numbers correctly.

Marks and I didn’t get a chance to talk more because the other recruits were coming in. We quickly put the rest of the room straight and, although we were missing a few recruits who needed more medical assistance, Sergeant Marks started his lecture on time.

‘We might not be going tonight,’ I whispered to Sidnee once we sat down.

‘Oh?’

‘Yeah. Sergeant Marks gave me some insight.’ I looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear and whisperedinto her ear. ‘They do the finances on site. Guess who does them?’ I didn’t wait for her answer. ‘Captain Engell!’

‘Damn.’

‘You any good at forensic accounting?’

She snorted. ‘My idea of forensic accounting is counting the dead bodies at a scene.’

I grinned. ‘Same. Sergeant Marks is going to try to bring someone in on the downlow, so no breaking and entering for us tonight.’

‘Roger that.’ She gave me a thumbs-up as Sergeant Marks started talking.

Chapter 25

With our night-time escapade on hold whilst we waited for Sergeant Marks to find an accountant, all I had to do was plan my next demonstration with Fluffy. I called Connor after my supernat class to go over the next day’s plan because I wanted his help. I was planning to do a demonstration of search and rescue and I needed someone to find. Connor was the obvious answer. He answered on the second ring. ‘Hey,’ I said. ‘How was your day?’

I could feel his smile. ‘It’s only just started but it’s all the better for hearing from you.’

‘I can’t wait to get onto a night schedule,’ I admitted. ‘I honestly miss it far more than I thought I would.’

‘The daylight exhaustion complicates things,’ he said sympathetically.

‘Exactly! Without it I’d probably enjoy the sun but it makes me feel rundown, like I’m about to be hit with the worst cold of mylife and I’m slogging through it. Normally I cope fine because I get to mix up my days and nights, but nine weeks of days are killing me. Well, they would if I wasn’t already undead. Kind of.’

‘You can see why some vamps don’t pay to buy the charmed necklaces. They’re expensive and a symbol of status, but even though they help us go in the sun no vampire actuallywantsto go out in the sun. Don’t get me wrong some vamps will still kill for one, so continue to keep yours hidden.’ I fingered my necklace displaying my two pendants, Nana’s triskele protection charm, and my daylight charm in the cheeky shape of a sun.

‘Now that makes total sense!’ I laughed. ‘And that leads nicely to my next question. How do you feel about helping me tomorrow in the daylight?’

He laughed. ‘For you, Bunny, I’ll even brave the sun. What do you need?’

I had an atrociously soppy smile on my face. ‘Fluffy and I are going to do a search and rescue.’

‘So you need someone to rescue,’ he interjected.

‘I do indeed.’

‘I’ll be your damsel,’ he promised.

‘You’re the best.’

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