Page 23 of The Vampire and the Case of the Hellacious Hag

‘Was Alfgar often there?’ Gunnar asked.

Leif looked upset. ‘No. There was no reason for him to be. He didn’t work the tailings.’ As Sidnee scraped the dirt into a bag, he watched with narrowed eyes, but he didn’t protest.

Once we’d finished with the front of the body, we asked for Baldred’s permission to turn him. He gave it and Leif supervised Gunnar and I as we gently rotated the body.

Although we looked carefully at every inch of Alfgar, Leif wouldn’t let us strip him to look for bruising or injection sites, and annoyingly Baldred upheld his objection. We had nothing but a bit of dirt and a single hair; however, they might help the dwarves drop Matilda as a suspect. I wasn’t holding my breath, though; Leif seemed fanatical in his hatred of the hag.

He was frowning. ‘She could have still set this up. I wouldn’t put it past her.’

‘Really? You think she has a TV down there and watches all the forensic cop shows?’ Sidnee sassed. ‘You think she knows about DNA evidence and planted the red hair?’

Leif’s face turned purple. I didn’t say anything though I did grin at Sidnee’s comment.

We finished what little we were allowed to do then Gunnar looked pointedly at Liv. His gaze wasn’t friendly; subsumed by evil spirits or not, she was still on his shit list for trying to harm Sigrid. I thought I’d seen a crack in his armour over Christmas when Liv had given him a sincere apology, but now I wasn’t so sure.

She took his meaning. ‘Leif, I suspect I can raise the body and ask it some salient questions. Would you allow that? I won’t destroy anything in the process.’

Baldred nodded before Leif could reply. ‘That will be acceptable. It would seem the most expeditious way of finding the murderer.’

Leif frowned darkly. ‘You swear that all parts of him will be preserved?’

Unused to being questioned, Liv raised an elegant eyebrow. ‘Of course.’

‘Father!’ Delvin objected vehemently. ‘That is out of the question!’

Baldred shot his son a quelling glance before turning back to us. ‘Proceed.’

Huh. I really hadn’t thought they’d allow it – but why not? Maybe Alfgar could tell us where his head was, and then he could move on to the afterlife.

‘I will go and prepare.’ Liv sauntered out.

‘I have no need to watch this,’Calliope said. She fixed Leif with a hard stare. ‘Keep me up to date.’

He grimaced, his default expression. ‘Yes, Miss Galanis.’

Calliope waved goodbye to Gunnar, ignored Sidnee and me, then went back to the office that she apparently kept at the mine. Maybe she came here when the stench of the fish plant became too much for her.

‘Leif will oversee matters here,’ Baldred said, leaning heavily on his cane. ‘I will go and speak with our people.’

‘I’ll stay to oversee things here,’ Delvin objected tightly.

‘No, no.’ Baldred patted his son’s hand. ‘Leif will do it. I have need of you.’

Reluctantly Delvin offered an arm, which the elderly dwarf took, and the two of them made their way slowly out of the room. Clearly Baldred had no desire to see an animated corpse and I got that, but frankly I was excited at seeing Liv do her thing. I’d only seen one failed attempt and her work with the barrier gems, so this was new.

She came back a few moments later, her hair tied back and her face serene. She set down her heavy bag on the floor next to the body then started pulling out objects; it was clearly a Mary Poppins’ bag because no way could an ordinary bag hold so much.

She encircled the stretcher with candles, crystals and herbs then shot us a sharp look. ‘Stay back.’ She eyedFluffy. ‘The mutt too.’ Fluffy growled at her and she winked cheekily at him. She loved nothing more than getting a reaction.

Liv placed crystals on Alfgar, one on each hand and foot, one on his belly button, others on his chest and above the neck where the forehead should have been – if it hadn’t been missing. Next she sprinkled the body with herbs, raised her hands above her head, threw back her head and started to chant.

Her oily magic pulled at me, tangling in my guts and urging me forward with its slimy fingers. Shuddering, I stepped back. Her death magic called to the undead parts of me and I wondered what it would do if I were a full vampire. Liv clearly knew I was different because her magic didn’t control me like it should have done.

As the hum of the magic increased, I shook my head to clear it and focused on Liv; I didn’t want to miss this. Unfortunately she was speaking in a language I’d never heard; it was probably a dead language because Liv was ancient. I knew she’d been born somewhere in or near Egypt, but every language evolved with time. I doubted even an Egyptian would understand the ancient tongue she was now using.

A hot wind swept through the room, blowing our hair and stirring the skirt of Liv’s power suit. She lowered herhands, then raised them again and spoke the only word that I’d understood so far: ‘Rise!’

I shuddered and tried not to gape as the headless corpse sat up and swung its legs over the edge of the stretcher.

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