Page 79 of The Vampire and the Case of the Hellacious Hag

And me? I was going to capture myself a murderer.

Baldred looked weary, more stooped over his cane than I recalled from our previous encounter, and even then he’d been doing an impression of Old Father Time albeit his hair was still largely brown rather than silver.

I showed him and Delvin into the interview room, casually switched on the recording equipment and read them both their rights. Baldred’s eyes bored into mine andhis expression was resigned; I realised that he knew of, or at least suspected, his son’s involvement.

‘Thanks for coming, gentlemen,’ I started. ‘We’ve got a few loose ends to tie up.’ I smiled at Delvin. ‘Firstly, I wondered if you’d be good enough to donate some hair for forensic comparison to the hair found on Alfgar.’

‘How dare you!’ Delvin blustered. He made as if to stand up. ‘This interview is over!’

‘Sit!’ Baldred said, his quavering voice replaced with a cracking whip. Delvin sat. ‘You are going to answer this nice young lady’s questions,’ he ordered.

‘Officer Barrington,’ I said primly. I hadn’t gone through weeks of hard work at the academy to be called a nice young lady; I was an officer and damned proud to be one.

‘Of course,’ Baldred said. ‘Officer Barrington’s questions. Go ahead, officer.’

‘Thank you.’ I smiled at the Elder. Since the cat was well and truly out of the bag that this was not a light chat, I went in heavy. ‘I have a witness statement that confirms you colluded with the Knight Stalkers to remove the dwarves from the Chrome Mine.’

Delvin flinched when I spoke the name of the splinter group. Next to him, Baldred slowly buried his head in his hands. His son glared at him. ‘Don’t you dare act ashamedof me! I am the dwarves’ future! I have borne your ineptitude for too long.’

‘His ineptitude?’ I said, remembering my interview with Faran Ashton. ‘In letting Alfgar marry for love?’

‘It was a disgrace!’ Delvin pounded a fist on the table. ‘A dwarf from our family, marrying a human? An absurdity!’

‘Is that why you cut off his head? Was he so foul in your eyes he didn’t deserve an afterlife?’

He sneered at me. ‘I didn’t touch a hair on his head.’

‘Maybe not, but you were there, weren’t you? That’s why you objected so strenuously to Liv raising him – you were worried Alfgar had caught sight of you. You marked him out for killing, and you were there when his head was removed. You’re refusing the DNA sample because you know your hair will match the one we found on him.’

I searched Delvin’s face; his jaw was set and I knew he would refuse. I had to up the ante. ‘We can compel you, you know? Get a council order for the hair sample to be taken by force.’

He licked his lips. ‘I didn’t touch him,’ he reiterated. ‘You can't do anything to me!Ididn’t harm him.’

I leaned forward with a pleasant smile and lowered my voice conspiratorially. ‘There’s this charge, conspiracy to murder.’ I winked. ‘We use it when people plan a murder, even if their hands aren’t actually dirty. Like it or not,you killed your cousin. Someone else might have blood on their hands but you gave the nod, didn’t you? You chose which dwarf to kill. We have a witness statement and we have DNA evidence.’ Kind of. ‘You’re going away for this, Delvin, so you might as well tell the truth and give the poor families closure.’

He pinched his lips shut.

‘What did Evgard do to you?’ I asked. ‘Why was he on your shit list?’

Baldred sighed. When he raised his head, his eyes were wearier than anything I’d ever seen. ‘Delvin was always jealous of Evgard. When Evgard secured the position as head of the Miners Association, a position of great power, I saw his anger. His jealousy.’

‘Shut up!’ Delvin roared. ‘Shut up old man!’

‘When Evgard was the second to die, I suspected,’ his father went on unhappily. ‘So I ordered Leif to follow Delvin.’

Delvin stilled. ‘What?’ he hissed. ‘You ordered Leif to follow your own son?’

Baldred ignored him. ‘Leif has photos of him and some human soldiers putting heads on spikes and driving them into the ground.’

Delvin twisted and raised a fist as if to strike his father, but I leapt up and had him pinned to the table, his armpushed behind him. Vampire speed had its uses in an emergency. ‘I’d like to see those photographs,’ I said to Baldred.

He nodded. ‘Of course. I was going to bring Delvin before the dwarven council, but perhaps it is better that the Portlock council handle his sentencing.’

‘Father!’ Delvin screamed at him. ‘Don’t you dare abandon me to the council.’

‘It is you that has abandoned me,’ Baldred said sadly.

‘Delvin Simonson, you are under arrest for conspiring to murder Alfgar Simonson and Evgard Appleton.’ I smiled. ‘And the assault of Baldred Simonson.’

---