Page 43 of The Vampire and the Case of the Perilous Poltergeist

Chapter 31

Danny, Sidnee and I stole fifteen minutes from lunch to look through more of the files. I was sure we were missing a lot by skimming but our time was so limited. Frustrated, I threw my file back into the case. ‘Any other names you recognize?’

‘Not in this one,’ Danny sighed. We both picked out another file.

Suddenly Sidnee yelped. ‘Hey, you guys! This one names several high-ranking politicians in Alaska, including one whom I’m assuming is Thorsen’s daddy.’

‘Fuck,’ I swore.

‘We’ve got to get this info to our Nomos,’ Danny said urgently. ‘This is big – it may need a meeting of Portlock and Ugiuvak. The only way we can work through this is together.’ He was right: this was way too big for us three to deal with alone.

I returned my folder to the case. ‘I don’t see Sergeant Marks’ name anywhere – I think he’s clean.’

‘Clean enough to bring him in on this?’ Sidnee asked.

I considered it for a minute but in the end I shook my head. ‘I think it’s safer if we keep it between us. This knowledge is dangerous and I don’t want to put Marks at risk, even if he’s clean.’ The sergeant’s comments about his job had stuck with me.

Danny nodded. ‘I agree.’

I licked my lips. ‘Connor pointed out that Fischer is going to be missing these documents soon, so we need to hide the case somewhere and get the documents out of the academy. We’ve only taken pictures of a quarter of the files so far – this is taking too long. The longer the files are here, the more danger there is that we’ll be found with them.’

Danny frowned. ‘What I don’t get is why they were stashed in a utility room behind some pipes.’

I’d wondered about that, too. ‘I think they were originally kept in Engell’s office. One of the desk drawers was emptied recently and there was no dust. I figure that when Petty hit the room twice, Fischer decided to hide them somewhere out of the way. Where better than the plant room that we’re not allowed to enter? You can’t have top-secret documents floating around in a poltergeist storm.’

‘That’s definitely possible. So where do we hide the documents until we can get them out?’ Danny asked.

I racked my brains. Everywhere except the TAC officers’ rooms was open to the recruits. Our footlockers and closets were supposed to be private but anyone could get into them if they wanted to; I could open a footlocker without much effort, and even humans could do it with the right tools.Think outside the box, Bunny,I said to myself.

‘The bathroom?’ Sidnee suggested.

I shook my head. Our bathroom was pretty open and it would only take two minutes to search.

She went on, ‘I was thinking where I’d avoid looking if I were a guy. I wouldn’t want to go into a woman’s bathroom. Throw a few pads and tampons around and they’ll turn tail, right?’

Danny snorted. ‘We’re not that delicate! I’ve pawed through worse in searches.’

I glanced at the clock: we had three minutes before our presence was demanded. ‘Okay, let’s go with misdirection. I have a rucksack with a load of pockets and one of them is concealed. Let’s put the contents of the files in there and shove some tampons and snacks in the other pockets. Hopefully nobody will dig around enough to find the hidden compartment. We’ll leave the rucksack in plain sight – nobody will be suspicious of something that’s out in the open. Then we fill the attaché case with loose papers and stuff it in a cupboard in the break room. If it’s found, nobody will suspect us because everyone has access to the break room.’

Danny whistled. ‘That’s pretty darned ballsy.’

Sidnee grinned. ‘It’s so bold, it might even work!’

We leapt into action. Sidnee pulled the documents out of the files whilst I dug out my rucksack. It was hot pink with an animal print on it; I freaking loved that bag because it reminded me in a good way of the glittering lights of London and the life I’d left behind.

I stuffed papers inside it as fast as they were handed to me. Once we’d finished, the rucksack was only half full so I put a jacket over the papers and threw in all the packaged snacks we’d saved and a bunch of Sidnee’s sanitary supplies. When it was full, I zipped the bag closed and went into the break room. Luckily it was empty; the other recruits had already cleared out and gone to class.

I leaned the duffel against one of the sofas, then opened a cabinet and shoved the attaché case full of fake papers to the back and replaced the food items in front of it.

‘Hey, Bunny?’ Danny asked quietly.

‘Yeah?’

‘Where did your nickname come from?’

Sidnee giggled.

‘When I was little, before I was a vamp, I was actually a shifter. A were-rabbit.’

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