Page 32 of The Vampire and the Case of the Malevolent Mermaid

‘I remember seeing the girls,’ Sidnee said softly. ‘They were tied up and they were crying. I remember going towards them and I felt so damned angry at whoever had done that to them. I felt myself just… The next thing I remember, I was standing over the body, with blood on my hands.’

‘Any idea how it got there?’

‘I don’t remember. I would have checked to see if he was dead.’ She met my eyes in the rear-view mirror. ‘That has to be it.’

I nodded encouragingly. ‘And then?’

‘I think I untied the girls.’

‘Right. Did you question them?’

‘No, not really. I’d just gotten their names when those three vamps showed up. They started accusing me, and I panicked and called you and Gunnar.’

‘When you got the call from the girls, did it come through the main office line?’

‘Yeah.’

Great. If the vamps had turned up at the location before Gunnar or me, it looked like they’d already put a tap on the phone or a bug in the office.

‘Gunnar will handle it,’ Sidnee said softly. ‘Everything will be okay.’ But her tone wasn’t convincing.

‘Yeah.’ I met her gaze. ‘I’m sorry, sweetheart, but you’ll have to go in the magic-cancelling cell for now. We have to follow protocol to a T so nobody accuses us of tampering with evidence.’

‘I know, Bunny.’ She sighed and I watched her sink back into the seat. She looked out of the window as the trees flashed by.

I wanted to scream, mostly because I wasn’t sure if my bestie really had murdered Donovan. Her mer side was currently unbalanced, and she had the strength, the rage and – even worse – a past with the dead guy. Most importantly, she’d been protecting two young girls who’d been tied up. If she’d acted in their defence, it was a lawful killing and we were all good; we just needed the girls to confirm it and we could let Sidnee go.

I was concerned about her lack of memory. I’d arrested a bunch of perps who’d said they couldn’t remember what had happened but this was the first time I believed it. And that worried me.

Another thought struck me as we reached the tarmacked road. I knew why the scene had pulled at me. Andrew Kamluck, a logger in the 1930s, and the one whom Connor had named his logging company for, had started the furore about the beast beyond the barrier. He’d been murdered in the exact same way as the mayor’s waste-of-space son-in-law: bashed over the head with an impossibly heavy piece of logging equipment.

I shivered. I’d been afraid of a barrier breach and the body was right at the edge of it.

Maybe this wasn’t as simple as Sidnee killing a kidnapper; maybe the beast had sneaked in.

Chapter 19

I had to search my best friend before putting her in the cell and, worst of all, I had to call Sigrid to let her know what was going on. Since she monitored the cells on CCTV and supplied the meals to those we incarcerated, she’d know soon enough what had happened to Sidnee and she didn’t deserve to find out by logging on remotely.

I explained briefly, expecting her to be furious with me for locking up Sidnee, but her tone was compassionate. ‘That must have been hard for you – it’s a lot to deal with. I have faith in Sidnee – she’d never have hurt someone who was unarmed. Donovan must have gone for her or the girls first.’ She spoke with such certainty that something in me eased.

‘I know you and Gunnar will get to the heart of this,’ she went on. ‘She’ll be free before we know it. Tell Sidnee I’ll make her favourite dinner then I’ll come and sit with her. You’ll find the real killer, Bunny. Sidnee will be exonerated. Everything will be okay.’

‘Yeah, it’ll be fine,’ I agreed. I felt better after talking to her: I always did. Sigrid was right. Sidnee didn’t kill Donovan – or if she did it was self-defence – I’d prove it and I’d find Kate and Essie.Hopefully Cadence and Casiah would shine a light on the whole affair as soon as they got over their shock.

Feeling restless after I’d completed the paperwork, I picked up the report April had printed out on missing girls – and went cold. There in black and white were Cadence and Casiah’s names. They’d been reported missing all right … butsevenyears ago.

I dragged up the memory of meeting them and that itch in my brain finally snapped into sharp relief. The girls hadn’t cast any shadows. Not a flicker.

A cold ripple crawled down my spine and my heart juddered. When I yanked out my phone and pulled up the photo I’d taken, my breath caught. Where the twins had been standing was nothing but a shaft of brilliant light as if the sun had burned a hole through the image. There was no sign of the girls, not even a blur; it was as if they’d never been there.

I called Gunnar and when he answered I blurted, ‘Cadence and Casiah are ghosts!’

‘Yeah.’ His voice was heavy. ‘I figured that out when they spoke in unison, told me “let us rest”, then disappeared. Gave me the heebie-jeebies.’

‘Holy fuck!’

‘Indeed. Luckily the vamps had gone to update Robertson so they didn’t see it happen, but we won’t be able to keep a lid on it for long.’

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