Page 53 of The Vampire and the Case of the Hellacious Hag

‘I need to speak to Gunnar. That interview with Goren, have you got notes on it?’

‘Better.’ He sounded pleased. ‘All of the interviews have been recorded. I’ll email a link to you both.’

‘Thanks. Connor … be careful.’

He sounded resigned when he said, ‘I’m not the one stomping on their heads right now. You be careful, Bunny.’ He hung up.

I turned to Sidnee, who was looking wan, then called, ‘Thomas! Sidnee needs you!’ I wasn’t sure exactly where he was, but moments later he ran out of the woods. He took one look at Sidnee and bundled her into his arms. ‘Hey baby, what’s wrong?’

She burst into tears. He held her close, rubbed her back and sent me a questioning look over her shoulder. ‘We think the armed men are MIB,’ I explained.

Thomas’s face didn’t change; he’d already suspected that.

‘Last year, Chris Jubatus tried to facilitate another buyer to buy your mine,’ I went on.

Thomas’s jaw tightened. ‘First I’ve heard of it,’ he said darkly.

‘The dwarven council decided to keep the offer to themselves but they rejected it anyway. Since they have thecontrolling interest, it wouldn’t have mattered ifyouhad wanted to sell.’

‘We could have shared our portion of the mine,’ he pointed out.

‘Did you want to?’ I asked curiously.

‘No. I like having multiple income streams.’

‘How much is your share?’

‘Liv, Calliope and I each have ten percent. The dwarves hold the remaining seventy percent.’

‘But the dwarves didn’t sell,’ I pointed out.

Thomas nodded grimly. ‘So the MIB decided to start a campaign, frame the hag and make the dwarveswantto leave the mine.’

‘Exactly.’

‘What if he’s here?’ Sidnee said quietly into Thomas’s shoulder.

‘Chris?’ I asked gently.

She nodded, her head still averted. ‘I’m over him, I swear, but I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to…’ She trailed off. ‘Fuck him. Just fuck him.’

Thomas stroked her back. ‘You can stay with me, at least until we’re sure he’s not in town.’

Sidnee drew back to look at him. ‘Are you sure? I can be real messy.’

He gave a lopsidedgrin. ‘Good thing I’m tidy, then, isn’t it?’

She smiled and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him.

I moved away to ring Gunnar. ‘You better not have gone down that hole!’ he said when he answered. So much had happened that it took me a moment to realise what he was talking about.

I laughed. ‘No, sir, I didn’t. And I’m damned glad about that.’ I filled him in on everything we knew – and everything we suspected.

‘I’d already ordered toxicology on Helmud Henderson,’ Gunnar said. ‘I’ll call again later and ask for them to test specifically for fisheye. Get your ass back to the office. We need a plan of attack.’

‘Yes, boss. En route.’ I hung up.

Sidnee was calmer. Thomas still had his arm around her delicate waist. ‘Did you see anything when you looked around?’ I asked him.

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