Page 5 of Mystic Justice (The Other Detective #2)

Chapter Four

Jingo excused himself and Fern soon afterwards.

The doppelganger had looked a little disappointed, and I got no small amount of satisfaction out of that.

For all his gentlemanly airs, he’d stolen Ash Aspen’s body by starting a feud, one that had begun when he’d killed a young dryad named Ivy Blossom with a pair of scissors.

Jingo was no saint; no matter how hard he tried to hang a halo over his head, I knew it was resting on devil’s horns.

When he’d gone, Loki descended in a graceful flutter and landed lightly on me. ‘Rude Jingo,’ he said, ruffling his feathers.

‘I know, bud. You okay?’

He did a little hop on my shoulder then his head twisted and he looked pointedly at Sam. ‘Loki poop?’ he offered, making me smile despite myself.

‘No point,’ Krieg rumbled.

‘Because Loki doesn’t need to be petty?’ I clarified.

‘No, because Radcliffe is suited and booted. A drive-by shit would have little effect. Save it for another occasion when it could have a far greater impact.’

Loki bobbed his head in agreement, while I shook mine in despair. ‘Males,’ I muttered.

Krieg pulled on gloves, and walked over to the body. Channing and I followed him. ‘Drowning,’ he pronounced. ‘A few hours ago at least. Not her own clothes. They tied her up thoroughly – bowline knots. They don’t come undone in water. They’re the king of knots.’

Channing blinked. ‘Knots have a hierarchy?’

‘Everything has a hierarchy,’ Krieg confirmed drily.

‘Oy.’ I nudged him. ‘He’s my partner to scrub the green from.’

‘I’m helping.’

‘So kind,’ I said drily.

He grinned. ‘The more capable Channing is, the more free time you’ll have.’

Hard to argue with that. ‘Scrub away,’ I joked.

‘I’m not that green,’ Channing protested. ‘Just inexperienced when it comes to murder.’

And the Other, I thought, but I didn’t say it; it would have been unnecessarily mean. I’d only recently learned that Channing was relatively new to the Other realm. He’d been introduced way too late and he was still playing catch up.

Instead I said, ‘Everyone’s inexperienced when they join Major Incidents Team. Being a beat cop isn’t the same as being part of MIT.’

‘No, it’s not,’ Channing conceded with a nostalgic smile.

‘I once intervened in a scuffle in town on a Saturday night. Chester was filled with drunken revellers and I was tangling with this guy who was feeling scrappy when a civilian rolled up to help. He helped me secure the offender and when I thanked him he said, “I’m always ready to serve Gotham.” Then he gave a swirl of his cape and ran away.

And that was when I realised he was dressed as Batman. ’

I grinned. ‘Batman saved you?’

‘Batman helped me,’ Channing corrected. ‘I saved myself.’

Krieg looked amused too. Look at us all, bonding over cosplay.

‘Where’s Batman?’ Kate Potter asked as she joined us.

‘Back in Gotham,’ Krieg said, straight faced.

‘Your Excellence.’ She bowed. ‘Is the victim one of yours?’

‘No, I was just in the area.’

Her lipsticked smile widened as she flicked her eyes to me. ‘Riiiight.’ She turned her gaze at the body. ‘Oh, you poor love. You didn’t stand a chance, did you? So young. Nineteen? Maybe twenty?’ She turned back and looked at me fiercely. ‘You’ll find this fucker, won’t you, Stacy?’

‘That’s the plan. Channing, have a look through SPEL and see if you can find a dryad that was reported missing that matches Jane Doe’s description. The pink hair should help.’

I watched as Kate started her on-the-scene observations.

She lifted the body carefully a few inches and peeled back a little of the smock to examine the lividity.

‘Dead less than twelve hours,’ she confirmed.

‘I’d say our young Jane Doe died last night sometime between 11pm and 1am’.

She frowned. ‘But there’s something off about the body.

I’ll need to do some tests back at the office. The energy is all wrong.’

I’d always assumed that Kate was a wizard like me because wizards were by far the most populous of the Other realm denizens, but now I wondered if I was wrong.

I couldn’t read energy or auras or anything like that: that tended to be a seer’s or a witch’s wheelhouse. I looked at her with renewed nosiness.

‘All right for me to remove the body from the scene?’ she asked Sam, who was still beavering away.

‘Sure.’

‘Great. Thank you.’ She went back along the gravel path then a couple of minutes later returned in her van, reversing it up the path so she could collect the deceased but not get so close that she’d disturb the scene. She parked up, hopped out and opened the back door.

‘I’ll lift her,’ Krieg offered, picking up the body in his gloved hands like she weighed nothing.

As he had with Helga, he cradled her gently, respectfully, then laid her in the open body bag on the wheeled gurney.

Kate zipped it up, secured it and checked that all the wheels on the gurney were locked; losing a body because it rolled out of the van would have been embarrassing.

She slammed the van door shut. ‘I’ll get started right away. I’ll ring if I find anything unusual but I’m confident that the cause of death is drowning.’

‘Thanks, Kate.’

She pushed her clear-rimmed glasses up her nose, gave us all a wave and drove off.

With the MOPs gone and the body disposed of, there wasn’t much for me to do other than let Sam crack on. He’d marked up everything obvious and now it was time to comb the ground for hidden clues.

‘Got a hit!’ Channing said suddenly. ‘Moss Hollings, reported missing almost four days ago. Twenty years of age, part of the Sefton Park grove.’

‘Good work,’ I said gruffly. I cleared my throat and looked at Sam. ‘Right, well. We’ll head off,’ I said to him. ‘Pass the death message.’

‘Right. I’ll let you know if I find anything of note.’ He didn’t look up.

‘Great.’

It stung more than a little to have a month’s worth of canoodling on the couch erased like it had never happened.

Sam might not have had a chokehold on my heart but that didn’t mean his complete and utter lack of interest didn’t hurt a little.

We’d been friends before we dated – at least I’d thought we were.

Maybe he’d been sharking me the whole time.

I walked away. ‘Asshole,’ Loki said in my ear, making me grin. The bird was smart: Sam was an arsehole.

When I reached Channing’s black Ford Fiesta, I looked at Krieg. ‘Lovely to see you,’ I said awkwardly, ‘but I have to go and tell some nice people that their daughter is dead. So … catch you later?’

He frowned. ‘Inspector, I said I was making the stars align, not just watching a shooting star. I’ve cleared my diary for three days so I can ride shotgun and I’ve cleared it with Thackeray. I’ll drive you, and Channing can drive his car and meet us at the parents’ grove.’

‘You cleared it with Thackeray that…? What?’ That my kind-of-boyfriend was going to hang out with me at work? That seemed more than a little insane: it wasn’t take-your-boyfriend-to-work day.

‘I’ve offered my services as a consultant to the MIT on condition that I assist only you.’

Despite myself, I was amused. ‘And you assisted me at the scene, did you?’

‘Did you know what sort of knot that was?’

‘No,’ I admitted.

‘Then I helped. Come on, climb in.’ He opened the passenger door of the Range Rover.

‘I can’t just abandon Channing!’

‘No, no. That’s absolutely fine,’ Channing said hastily. ‘You two … catch up and I’ll meet you there. I’ll text you the address.’ He messaged it immediately.

If I’d known how to navigate SPEL I could have found it myself but this was quicker all round. ‘Thanks,’ I muttered a shade sheepishly.

‘Sure thing, boss.’ Channing climbed into his car and drove off, gravel flying in his haste to not get involved in an argument between Krieg and me. He already knew me well enough to recognise that there would be one.

Once there were no witnesses, I narrowed my eyes and put my hands on my hips. ‘You can’t just speak to my boss then commandeer me for the day!’

‘I agree,’ Krieg said levelly. ‘You do important work and I would never dream of commandeering you. But I can act as your chauffeur for a couple of days without getting in the way. I want to get to know you properly, Inspector. Phone calls can only do so much – I want to spend time with you.’ His eyes softened. ‘Please.’

Oh hell. The High King of the Ogres was asking me nicely. My outrage melted away. Only an idiot would have refused his offer and I prided myself on my lack of idiocy. Besides, Krieg had resources and connections that I didn’t, so maybe he could be an asset.

I climbed into the damned car and he had the grace not to smirk in triumph. I pressed my lips together before I said firmly, ‘I want to be clear. The second you’re a hindrance, you’re out.’

He held up his hands. ‘I’m just here for the ride. You call the shots.’

I wasn’t sure that I did, but I appreciated the words all the same.