Page 18 of The Vampire and the Case of the Hellacious Hag

I covered the night shift, April worked the day shift and Sidnee covered the in-between, but we often worked at the same time if there was a serious crime. April would be going home right now but she could come in early to cover the end of Sidnee’s shift if she had to; alternatively, Sig could cover by CCTV. We all worked more hours than we were supposed to but we were still short-handed. We really needed Reggie to be Reggie sometimes so he could help out too, but the last thing he needed was pressure.

‘Okay, Gunnar, I’ll be there in ten.’

‘See you then.’ He hung up.

I turned to my canine companion. ‘Fluffy, we have a murder to solve. Are you game?’

He barked a yes. I patted his head and started to pull on my winter layers; vampire or not, it was colder than alawyer’s soul so I put on coat, boots and gloves – and this time, I remembered to wear my cleats.

It was still snowing and only the main streets seemed to get ploughed consistently. I wasn’t used to that much snow; despite movies that showed wonderful wintery landscapes, it rarely snowed in the UK.

I grabbed Fluffy’s lead and plonked Shadow in his pram, which he was quickly outgrowing. I wondered if they made prams for a twenty-kilo pet. I didn’t even know how big he would get; I’d read that male lynxes were around twenty kilos, but Shadow was an unknown cryptid that looked like a lynx with a melanistic coat. Who knew what hereallywas – or how big he would grow?

I opened the door to find that my front step and sidewalk had been shovelled. I blinked in surprise and looked around for the identity of my fairy snow shoveller. Sure enough a familiar white truck was parked across the street with a shovel handle sticking out of the back.

I beamed and waved as I walked over. Connor was in the cab, talking on his phone. He hung up and got out of the truck to greet me, a warm smile on his gorgeous features. It took my breath away.

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as he leaned down to give me a very thorough good-morning kiss; it was all too easy to get lost in his arms. Despite the cold, he was wearinga flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up because he knew I got so damned dreamy over those forearms of his.Murder, Bunny,I reminded myself.There’s been a murder.

It was a real effort to pull away from the safety of his arms. ‘Hey, thank you for the shovelling. You didn’t have to do that.’

He gave me that crooked smile I adored and shrugged like it was no biggie. ‘I was in town and I saw it hadn’t been done. Plus, it was my chance to see you before work.’ He winked. ‘You smell good enough to eat,’ he murmured, and suddenly my vanilla scent reminded me of Matilda and her doughnuts. I gave him a quick rundown of the previous day’s adventures, ending with, ‘And now there’s been a murder.’

His brow furrowed. ‘Who’s dead?’

‘I don’t have any details yet – I just got the call. But I have to head in early. Sorry about that.’

He smiled ruefully. ‘I never appreciated how hard it would be to date law enforcement. Getting our schedules to align is harder than solving a Rubik cube blindfolded.’

‘Have you ever solved one?’ I asked. ‘Normally, I mean. Because I’m not sure you need to add the blindfolded part to that sentence.’

‘Maybe not. Well, I’m glad I got to see you.’ He eyed me up and down. ‘You’re a treat for sore eyes. You look great.’

I grinned as warmthfilled me. ‘You do, too.’

‘How about after work, you and me, Garden of Eat’n?’

I beamed. ‘Can’t wait.’

He kissed me again and climbed into his truck. ‘Oh, I want you to know that John’s settling in well. I’m going to ask him to be my third.’

‘Third?’ I was surprised and pleased. John clearly knew his shit and evidently he was a first-rate minion, but even so he was leapfrogging a tonne of competent vampires. I knew that was because Connor really appreciated the fact that John had pretty much saved my life.

‘Yeah, he’ll fill in for Margrave when he isn’t available.’

‘Thanks for doing that,’ I said softly. ‘It means a lot to me.’ I leaned in for another kiss through his window.

What a great way to start my day. I should have been maudlin because of the murder but I positively bounced into the Nomo’s office. I’d seen my mate, and my friend John was being taken care of. This was already a good day, dead person notwithstanding.

Sidnee was already there, so I settled Shadow then she, Fluffy and I went into Gunnar’s office. ‘What’s up, boss?’ she asked, plopping into one of the two chairs in front of his massive desk. I took the other chair and we looked at him expectantly.

‘Well it’s a bit of a messy situation, which is why we aren’t already over there.’ Gunnar stopped and steepled his fingers.

‘What’s the situation?’ I asked impatiently.

‘The murder is at the mine. I’m waiting for Thomas to act as a go-between. As soon as he calls, we’ll head over.’

I leaned forward. ‘Why? Who’s dead?’

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