Page 51 of The Vampire and the Case of the Hellacious Hag

I hopped out of the truck. ‘Okay, I’m calling Gunnar. Something stranger than murder is going on here and we need to work it out, like, yesterday.’

Shadow rubbed against my legs and put a foot on the lid. I rubbed his head. ‘Yes, you’re a good boy. I see the hatch. We wouldn’t have found it without you.’ He purred. My cat was going to be the death of me.

Gunnar was yawning when he answered his phone. ‘Bunny, what’s going on?’

‘We have another deaddwarf at the mine. Even stranger, we just saw a group of armed men disappear into a hatch under a tractor near the tailings pile.’

‘Armed? Describe them.’

‘Five men in camouflage with rifles – they were dressed like the ones we dispatched in Sitka.’ I paused. ‘Gunnar, I swear to you they’re MIB.’

He swore violently. ‘Donotgo down that hatch! We don’t know what’s down there and I won’t risk any of you.’

I was already considering charging right in; if we left it too long, the men could be anywhere in the sprawling mine. Fluffy was here, we could track them with their scent …

‘I mean it!’ Gunnar barked, interrupting my plotting. ‘Grab a CCTV camera from the back of the SUV and set it up out of sight. We need more intel before you go off half-cocked.’ He knew me so well.

I hesitated and Thomas looked at me sternly: he knew me, too. I huffed. ‘Fine. I’ll place the camera, but then we’re heading to the tailings. That’ll be the murder site.’ I hung up before Gunnar could protest further.

I relayed his instructions then went to get the camera. We placed it at a spot that gave us a clear view of the hatch and made sure it was concealed. As long as the tractorstayed put, we were golden. As back up, I placed a second camera in the trees to watch the tractor.

Once done, we checked out the truck that was blocking the road to see if we could move it. We could go around it but earth nearby looked soft and I didn’t want to get stuck. It was another mile to the tailings pile. I didn’t particularly want to walk with armed men around, but I had to see if I could find the murder site.

Thomas had taken the passenger side of the truck. ‘Keys!’ he announced.

I shook my head in disbelief: the keys were on the dash. This was just plain weird. The dwarves wouldn’t leave heavy, expensive equipment lying around with the keys in it; they had buildings where they parked this stuff when it wasn’t being used. The armed men must have stolen the vehicles to hide whatever they were up to underneath them ... but surely they realised the equipment would be missed?

I swallowed hard as a thought occurred to me: unless they had someone working with them in the mine, someone who would cover for the missing equipment?

Thomas moved the truck so we could manoeuvre around it and we headed up the road to find the site of a murder.

Chapter 31

The brief daylight had already waned, but it wasn't so late that everyone would have gone home from work; even so, the tailings area was completely deserted. It might have been because the road was blocked but that didn’t feel right because we’d managed to move the truck. Anyone who’d been down the road could have moved it, too.

Where were the workers who had to go back down the road to leave? I rubbed my hands up and down my arms to smooth the goosebumps that were threatening to erupt.

Thomas was on high alert. Before I knew it he’d also moved off, presumably in search of the armed men. Sidnee and I looked at each other then focused on our task. ‘Fluffy,’ I called. ‘Can you find the dead dwarf’s blood?’

He gave me a look that for all the world said, ‘Duh.’

I’d left Shadow in the SUV, but with the window broken and his crate melted he could come and go as he pleased. Despite that, he’d seemed happy to curl up and sleep which I found oddly reassuring. I was learning to trust hisinstincts, and his instincts right now said it was safe for him to snooze. A little of the tension left me. We were okay – for now.

Fluffy started searching methodically. Since we didn’t have dog-level noses – although I was pretty sure I’d smell blood if I got close enough – Sidnee and I looked around. The dwarf had bled out so there had to be a lot of blood somewhere. Humans had approximately five litres of the stuff; though shorter, dwarves were pretty stout and I guessed they’d have close to four litres.

I signalled Sidnee that I’d work one side of the tailings pile and she nodded and moved to the opposite side. We worked for about fifteen minutes before Fluffy’s bark caught our attention and we both hurried over to him. He was standing over a patch of ground, but his body language was uncertain.

‘Do you smell blood?’ I asked him.

He whined. I guessed that meant no. ‘Do you smell Evgard Appleton?’

He barked. He could smell the dwarf. I looked at Sidnee. ‘Where’s all the blood?’

Sidnee shrugged. ‘Dunno. Down the hatch?’

I choked back a nervous laugh. ‘Funny.’

‘We don’tknowhe died here,’ she pointed out. ‘That’s just supposition. Evgard had tailings’ dirt in his boots butthat doesn’t mean he was killed here, just that he was walking around here before he died.’

---