Page 33 of The Vampire and the Case of the Malevolent Mermaid

I frowned. ‘What did the girls say about the murder? What did they see?’ We couldn’t prepare a statement from ghosts that would help in a courtroom, but at least it might giveussomething.

‘They positively identified Donovan as the one that kidnapped them and fed them some MREs.’ MREs were Meals Ready to Eat, military ration packs. ‘They said a tall skinny one was also involved but he was always masked – they said he scared them most and he did bad things to them. I didn’t press as to what because I thought I’d have more time to question them.’

I closed my eyes; it was so hard to hear shit like that.

Gunnar continued, ‘Cadence was a weak fire witch, Casiah was a weak water witch. Both were easy targets.’

‘Gunnar, they were kidnappedseven yearsago. So how the hell did they call Sidnee?’

‘They didn’t,’ he confirmed gruffly. ‘I used Donovan’s fingerprint to unlock his cell phone. The call to the Nomo’s office was made from that.’

‘So a young female rang the Nomo’s office, summoned us and then ran?’

He’d reached the same conclusion. ‘That’s the person who really killed Donovan.’

‘We have to hope so. It makes sense. Sidnee was thrown when she arrived at the scene by finding two girls tied up, and it made her flip out and mer up. Then she found the body and calmed down as her training kicked in. She checked for a pulse, got blood on her hands and called us.’

‘It fits. Now we just need to prove it.’

‘If Donovanwasone of the kidnappers…’

‘Then we’re looking at Kate and Essie,’ he concluded softly. ‘Girls who had reason to harm him.’

‘Bingo. And hopefullythat means they’re free somewhere.’

‘You think they’ll run home?’ Gunnar asked.

‘I don’t know. If they killed someone, maybe they’d run the other way,’ I suggested.

‘The barrier,’ he concluded grimly.

‘Yeah, maybe. But this is all conjecture.’

‘It’s a damned good working theory. I’m nearly back at the office. We’ll question Sidnee together, then go back to the scene and see if we can’t locate a bunker nearby.’

‘We can’t rule out the beast,’ I pointed out. ‘Same MO as the Kamluck killing.’

‘Yeah. We need to check out the barrier. I’ll call Liv – she can meet us at the site and check it. See you in five.’

Things were finally cooking. Sidnee’s situation wasn’t great but I was starting to feel confident that we’d get on top of it, and soon. In the meantime I just needed to avoid the vamp team. Easy.

I used my five minutes before Gunnar bustled in to text a long update to Connor. I missed hearing his voice, but he was right that calling wasn’t sensible. It was a credit to my mate that his first response was:Is Sidnee okay?

She will be,I replied.

I have the king’s team hounding me. Stay away. I’ll get the heartbeat suppressing charm to you later on today.

My shoulders eased: that would help massively. I could avoid screwing up my face in a moue of distaste when I chugged my blood, but there was nothing I could do about my damned heartbeat.

I think they’re bugging the office or have a tap on our phone,I warned Connor.They got to the scene too quickly.

Standard MO,he replied.Be careful what you say in there.

Got it. Stay safe.

You too.

I had a feeling it would be easier said than done. For both of us.

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