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Chapter Thirty-Three

‘Donovan,’ I said briskly. ‘What do you have for me?’ I hoped he’d say something that would help me forget about Fraser Banks, though it suddenly seemed unlikely.

‘Well, your friend’s got a lot of money,’ he replied. ‘He is crazy rich.’

‘I already know that,’ I lowered my voice. Fraser was still walking away and I couldn’t be too careful. The shifters I knew didn’t have exceptional hearing while they were in human form, but I didn’t know what type of shifter Fraser was. He could have powers I’d not come across.

I moved in the opposite direction as I cupped the phone and whispered, ‘What about those outgoing payments? That one was nearly a quarter of a million.’

‘It took some digging to get a name for the account you gave. The address it corresponds to is a business that belongs to a shell company, which is obviously a front. ’

‘You didn’t get a name?’ I said, trying to speed things along.

‘Now that’s not what I said!’ He sounded affronted. ‘I’m trying to make you see that this person he’s giving his money doesn’t want to be found.’

‘Who is it?’ I could hear the impatience in my voice but it had already been a very long day. I’d paid Donovan more than enough to get a straight answer.

‘The account belongs to a Ms Fatima Crawley,’ he said finally. ‘And that’s not the only money he’s sent her. In the last five years, he’s sent her nearly two million.’

‘Two million pounds?’ I whistled. ‘All to this same person? This Fatima Crawley?’

‘Yes. Does the name mean anything to you?’

‘No,’ I admitted. ‘It doesn’t.’ I hadn’t actually expected it to. A link to some of Witchlight Cove’s dodgy dealers would have been great, but I’d known it was unlikely. Well, at least with a name, I could start to some proper digging. Preferably the kind that didn’t require a shovel or a body bag.

‘Alright. That’s all I can give you for now. Hope it helps.’

‘It will. Thanks.’ I hung up on him – I didn’t have the headspace to deal with pleasantries .

I glanced down the beach at Fraser’s silhouette disappearing into the distance and I thought of his offer for me to take his key and let myself into his home. Had he been waiting for the offer to be reciprocated? It hadn’t felt like that at the time but it would make sense; it would be a way to get his claws into the Flame – metaphorically, at least. That had to be why he’d made the offer, because the only other reason was that his personality was as attractive as the rest of him and there was no way I could handle that right now.

When I arrived back at the station, Dove was in her civilian clothes picking something up before she headed out. Yanni was standing by my desk – the one that I’d barely sat at – and it looked like she’d been pacing. ‘Bea, what happened?’ she demanded. ‘We’ve had calls about you performing some crazy magic at Sonny’s.’

‘Crazy magic? Me?’ I scoffed. ‘Come on, Yanni, you know better than that.’ I gave a self-deprecating laugh that was only thirty percent bitter. Okay, fifty percent.

Her brows furrowed. ‘So what did happen?’

‘It was Old Jacobson. He saw me and absolutely flipped out. Honestly, that’s the truth. Fraser Banks saw and heard it all – he got caught in the crossfire.’

‘Is he okay?’ she asked with real concern .

Huh. She really did like him. That gave me pause, because I trusted her judgement. If Yanni liked him, maybe Maddie and I were off base. And I was totally ignoring how much that thought made me happy.

It was noticeable that she didn’t ask after my wellbeing, just about the ridiculously handsome shifter with the mysterious past and questionable wealth. Priorities, Yanni.

‘Yeah, Fraser’s fine.’ A slight pause filled the air before I spoke again. ‘Do you know anything about Old Jacobson? He seemed really freaked out. And he has power, a lot of it.’

She shook her head. ‘To be honest, that’s a total surprise. Most of us have never said more than a word or two to him, if that. He’s never caused any trouble, not until now.’

‘Not until I came back, you mean?’ I sighed. This was starting to feel too familiar and too coincidental: murder in Witchlight Cove right after I returned; Old Jacobson causing chaos for the first time. There was definitely a pattern and I was at the centre of it.

‘Are you okay?’ I knew instantly that it wasn’t the police chief who was asking, it was Maddie’s grandmother. The woman who had looked after me when my parents had died. Who made the best sausage rolls in the whole village and was impossible to beat in a game of Shithead. A woman of many talents, none of which included minding her own business. That was why we’d always got on: we were cut from the same nosey cloth.

‘I don’t know,’ I said truthfully. I struggled to find something else to think about. Luckily, I had just the thing: murder. ‘Honestly, I’d feel a lot better if we could get some evidence to help Mrs D. That’s what I have to focus on. Do we have any leads on Angelica yet? Or Toby. Has anyone seen either of them?’

Yanni squeezed my arm and let the personal stuff slide. She nodded briskly and dived straight into business. ‘There have been no sightings of Angelica, and we’re still following up leads on Toby.’

‘Isn’t it odd that both of our other suspects are missing?’ I asked.

‘It’s definitely unusual,’ Yanni agreed. Her acceptance caused a spark of hope in me.

‘Does that mean we can let Mrs D go?’ I tried.

‘Mrs D wants to stay in custody.’

‘ What ? Why?’

‘She’s shaken up and I don’t think she wants to be alone. She’s still very jumpy.’

‘Then let her stay with you!’ I suggested. I wasn’t the first waif and stray Yanni had helped out and she had plenty of room in that big house of hers.

‘I can’t do that, Bea, and you know it. ’

‘Then she can live with me!’ I folded my arms across my chest like the petulant teenager she knew so well, but even as the words slipped out I knew that was impossible. If Mrs D came to my house, she’d see that the Eternal Flame was gone.

‘No, she can’t,’ Yanni said matter-of-factly. ‘Amara wants to stay and I think it’s good for her. She’s here if we need to ask her more questions and it gives her a sense of security. Don’t try to take that away from her. We’re happy to keep her and she’s happy to stay. I promise she’s perfectly comfortable.’

Great. The murder suspect didn’t want to leave custody and the other two suspects I wanted to question had vanished. Textbook police work, really. I sighed. ‘I’d like to talk to Mrs D, if I could.’

‘Let her be for now. She’s upset so give her space. I’m sure you’ll be here when she wants someone to talk to.’ She touched my shoulder. ‘Look, you had a late night yesterday. I shouldn’t have asked you to come back so early this morning, not after the rough day you’d had. Why don’t you go home?’

‘I don’t mind covering the phones,’ Dove chimed in from her desk. She’d obviously been listening but she had an amazing skill of making herself near-invisible. ‘Sam’s working at the moment, and I’d like the excuse to get off earlier and be with him.’

‘Are you sure?’ I asked, surprised by her kind offer.

‘Absolutely. You’ll be doing me a favour. Though maybe I shouldn’t have said that. That way, I could ask you to cover some of my shifts in the future.’ She winked.

‘Just say when and where,’ I replied. ‘And thank you. I appreciate that.’ Yanni was right – though not about the lack of sleep. I was tired but, more worryingly, I was off my A-game. The shit in Sonny’s had rattled me more than I cared to admit and a few hours to get my head together would be appreciated.

‘No problem,’ Dove beamed.

I looked at Eva, who was once again lying on her back, sprawled out and already snoring, despite us having been back in the office for less than ten minutes. Oh, to be able to sleep in public.

‘Can you be back by seven?’ Yanni asked as I picked up my bag. ‘It’ll mean doing the night shift so someone’s here with Amara.’

Seven that evening: that meant six hours to eat, sleep and make myself feel a bit more human. That was something I could do.

‘Absolutely. I’ll be back at seven,’ I promised. ‘Ready to work.’ A quiet night-time shift would hopefully give me the chance to look into this mysterious Fatima Crawley.

Sleep, then time on the clock digging up dirt. It was a win-win.