Page 19 of The Vampire and the Case of the Malevolent Mermaid

In the background a baby cried. ‘You at Anissa’s?’ I asked, being nosey.

‘Yeah.’

‘Hmm. Can she help the search at all? In case the girls are being hidden from view magically?’

‘Hold on.’ He put me on mute while he spoke to the shaman. Moments later he came back on the line. ‘She says Liv is your best bet – she can smash through most illusion spells.’

Of course she could. Liv was going tolovehearing from me again – and by now the pleasure of speaking to Gunnar would have worn off, leaving her grumpy and combative.

‘Okay, tell Anissa thanks,’ I said. ‘I’ll ask Liv to help. Sally said the girls were in the southern part of town, so start with the boats in the South Harbour.’

‘You got it. Give me an hour.’

‘Thanks. I owe you.’

‘No you don’t. Essie is a shifter. We’re on it,’ he said grimly. ‘See you, Bunny.’

Feeling better because I was actuallydoingsomething, I rang Liv. ‘Three calls in two days,’ she said when she picked up. ‘I feel so popular.’ Her tone was dry.

‘You’re my favourite necromancer in town,’ I started.

She snorted. ‘I’m theonlynecromancer in town.’

‘That must be lonely.’

‘We’re a rare breed,’ she said simply. ‘So how can I help you?’

I explained the situation and added a bit of flattery, telling her that Anissa had said she was the only one powerful enough to help us. ‘Well,’ she said, clearly preening, ‘I suppose I can help. I’ve nearly finished embalming Mr Stoniak. Give me an hour.’

‘Perfect. Stan’ll meet you at the South Harbour.’

She grunted and hung up. Some days I thought she was warming to me, other days not so much. Liv was a law unto herself.

Since I was calling prickly people, I decided to tackle another one. I took a deep breath and called the mine supervisor, Leif Ericsson. ‘What?’ he answered tersely.

Since he was dispensing with the niceties, I took the same approach. ‘A vampire and a shifter are missing. Sixteen-year-old girls. We have reason to believe they are confined somewhere dark.’

‘And you’re accusing us?’ he snapped.

‘No, not at all. But I’d like you to check the mines.’

‘Lady, do you have any idea how big these mines are? We’re talking at least a week of crawling around in the dark – and you may recall that we’re knee-deep in reconstruction from that last little disaster,’ he sneered.

‘I do recall,’ I said tersely. ‘I was there pulling bodies from the rubble, scraping every drop of blood from the earth so that you could give them their final rest.’

There was a beat of silence. ‘That you were,’ Leif said finally. ‘Fine. We’ll look for them.’ He hung up.

I blew out a breath; that could have gone better but, then again, it could have gone a lot worse. I rested Wilson back in his cradle.

‘Fun call?’ Sidnee asked.

‘Leif Ericsson. He said he’d help look for the girls.’

Gunnar ambled into the office. ‘Ladies,’ he greeted us.

Sidnee went to hug him, which gave us all pause. They had a complicated relationship, but at work she always kept things professional; that she needed a hug spoke volumes about her mental state. The mystery of the girls’ disappearance might be distracting her a little but it was clear she was still desperately lost. I hated seeing her like that.

Gunnar and I exchanged concerned looks over the top of her head. We needed to find Thomas – but we had to find the girls, too. I felt torn but at least the girls’ case was fresh and, more importantly, it washere.I had to focus on what I could control and right now that was the search for the missing kids.

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