Page 32 of Mystic Justice (The Other Detective #2)

Two weeks earlier I’d received a note from The Mystic Informer asking me to spill the dirt on Quintos, Carnforth and Katz. I’d done so, sharing a little more than was public knowledge but nothing too sensitive. If TMI was going to be a fixture of the Other realm, I wanted to be on their good side.

In turn they’d shared names of some women who claimed they’d been raped by Thomas Squiggins, a rich elite prick I’d tangled with when investigating the death of an ogre called Helga.

Squiggins hadn’t been arrested like the others, but I hadn’t forgotten about him.

I’d been contacting these women in my spare time and compiling statements.

I still had three women to speak to but then I’d be going after the bastard with everything I had.

Since those names, I hadn’t heard from TMI, so I was surprised when my phone beeped with an incoming message from them: Any comments on the Elemental Executions? We’ll be running a piece later today.

I grimaced and thought carefully about my reply. I didn’t want them to give the killers any more limelight, not yet, though there might come a time when that could be useful.

I replied: Hold the story for twelve hours, and you’ll get your comment. A full expose – if you just sit on it. We’re closing in but something from you might spook them. I hit send and hoped they’d hold the damn article.

As I looked at my phone, I noticed that I’d missed a notification from SPEL: a request for a meeting at my earliest convenience from DSU Thackeray. Shit. In Thackeray-speak ‘at my earliest convenience’ translated to ‘get your arse in here immediately’.

‘What’s up?’ Krieg asked.

‘I’ve been summoned to the station,’ I said grimly. ‘Thackeray wants to see me.’

‘I’ll drive you.’

‘You don’t need to. I thought you were due to do “you stuff” today. You said you freed up a couple of days and we’re on day three.’

‘I can give you another.’ He paused. ‘I want to see this through.’

I understood that. ‘This case may not have a fast conclusion,’ I warned.

He shook his head. ‘You have the scent now. You’re closing in on them.’

‘At best I’ve still only identified half of the killers.’

‘You’ll find the other one,’ he said. His absolute confidence in my abilities warmed me.

‘I will,’ I agreed, because there really was no other option.

‘Channing,’ I called. ‘Finish up here, secure the chain of evidence then meet me back at the station. Work with Ji-ho, dig into Jane Calder. We need to know about her family, her history – hell, get me her damned bra size. Anything and everything. You got it?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

I ignored the ma’am. We’d get there. ‘I’m going in to update Thackeray. See you back at the station.’

Krieg slung an arm around my shoulders. ‘Come on, let’s go.’ The weight of his arm around my shoulders was comforting and I let him leave it there, just this once.

I whistled to Loki and he joined us from the boughs of a nearby tree.

I’d been expecting him to wisecrack about barbecues or something equally distasteful, but he stayed quiet.

His energy levels seemed better but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong with him.

I’d find out what when I had some spare headspace. ‘You okay, Loki?’ I asked.

‘Added wolf to fire.’ He squawked and shook his head in disgust. ‘When we find bitch, we fight with fire. Burn, bitch, burn.’ He hummed ‘Disco Inferno’.

I could work with fire but air was the element that came to me most naturally. To work with fire I needed a match or a lighter, something to spark a flame that I could grow. Maybe I would fight fire with fire. Maybe I’d grab a lighter later; it was better to be prepared.

My instincts were telling me that Jane was our killer but we had nothing to back that up: no forensic evidence, no witnesses, no CCTV. I needed to be certain before I meted out terminal justice: feeling pretty sure wasn’t anywhere near good enough, not when lives were on the line.

I needed evidence, and for that I needed a stroll into Jane’s house. What we currently had wouldn’t be enough for the Common police, but the Other played fast and loose with the rules. All I needed was Thackeray’s consent and we could rock and roll.

The drive to the station was short and silent, for which I was grateful. My mind was pulling me in a million different directions, and it was hard to know which thread to follow.

When we arrived, I said to Krieg, ‘Go to my office. I’ll meet you there after Thackeray’s bollocking.’

‘He shouldn’t be telling you off,’ Krieg groused. ‘You’re doing a great job.’

‘Then why is Ruben dead?’ I shot back. I held up a hand to forestall his protests. ‘Never mind, never mind. I know. Not my fault.’ I pinched the bridge of my nose. ‘I’m on it. Just wait for me with Loki. Please.’

It was the please that did it. His eyes softened and he nodded, then gave a ridiculously good bird call. Loki flew to him and I started up the stairs to get my dressing down from Thackeray. I squared my shoulders and knocked on his door.

‘Come,’ my boss called.

‘Apologies for the delay in attending, sir. I was at a crime scene.’

‘I’m aware,’ he said mildly. ‘Fire for this death – you were correct about the elemental theory. Take me through it.’

‘Yes, sir. The team carried out a stakeout last night at Botany, which has been a common thread through all three cases.

Elvira and Bland stayed inside the club in uniform as a visible deterrent, with McCaffrey and Frost inside undercover.

We had the rest of the team operating surveillance.

Ji-ho had rigged up cameras throughout the premises, including the hidden back room from which we now believe Moss Hollings exited when she went missing.

‘At closing time, we ended our surveillance. At some point between closing the bar and returning home, we believe that Ruben Jones was abducted by the killer. Dr Potter is reviewing the body’s dental records to get a positive ID, but there’s little doubt in my mind that Jones is the deceased.

He was taken to Chester Grove, set on fire using a fire elemental’s flame and killed. ’

‘The dryads are coming up time and time again in this case.’

‘Yes, sir. Moss Hollings was taken from the Liverpool Grove but her remains were found in Grosvenor Park. All three bodies have been left in the same area.’ Frustration bled into my tone.

‘It’s too big a place for us to secure or even carry out surveillance.

With limited resources we can’t prevent the killer from carrying out their last kill as planned.

I suspect there’s some link to Jude Jingo – I think the killer is rather clumsily trying to frame him – but he has so many enemies that it’s almost impossible to winnow down a list of viable suspects. ’

‘Breakthroughs?’

‘We suspect that Jane Calder, the only fire elemental employed at Botany, is behind the deaths together with an unknown accomplice. Ji-ho and Channing are digging into her background now. McCaffrey is reviewing the footage Ji-ho took last night and looking at who Ruben Jones interacted with. Elvira and Bland are outside Jane Calder’s residence – she’s our chief suspect.

So far they haven’t seen any movement. With your permission, I’d like to storm the flat. ’

He nodded. ‘Agreed. Lots of threads. Pull them together, Wise.’

‘Yes, sir. Frost is speaking to the staff, trying to determine who is afraid of the earth in some way, whether it be caves or being buried alive.’

‘You’re trying to identify the next potential victim?’

‘Indeed.’

‘All right. If you locate them, put them in protective custody.’

‘Thank you, sir.’ More resources, more money, at least for this case, Thackeray wasn’t worrying about our bottom line, he just wanted results.

He studied me. ‘This is Unit 13’s first case and we can’t afford mistakes. With Krieg running shotgun, is your head in the game?’

I stiffened. ‘Yes.’ I dropped the ‘sir’ because the question pissed the hell out of me.

‘I had to ask.’

No you didn’t, I thought, but I kept my face impassive. ‘The Mystic Informer contacted me, asking whether we have any comment.’

Thackeray grimaced. ‘Sometimes it’s best to control the narrative. Throw them a bone. Choose it carefully and also when you throw it.’

‘Yes, sir. If that’s all?’

‘Not quite.’ He studied me again with eyes as old as a glacier. ‘You have a green light for a kill order on this one. Stop the killers, Wise – by any means necessary.’

‘Noted.’

He nodded again. ‘Then you’re dismissed.’

I left, shutting the door none too gently behind me. Time was pressing down on me and the last thing I needed was my boss breathing down my neck, too; I just needed to focus on the damned job.

Jane was the key; I was sure of it. And if I was right? It was time to smash this case wide open.