Page 43

Chapter

Thirty-One

T he Redcap lunged forward, grabbed Quentin Hightower literally by the scruff of his neck and hauled him back to use as cover. He delivered a hard punch to the side of the witch’s head for good measure. ‘Drop the cane or your buddy gets it,’ he snarled.

As far I was concerned Hightower could look after himself, but he was pale and obviously dazed from the punch. He squeaked and kicked uselessly against Fitz Williams’ hold. ‘Help,’ he choked. ‘Help me.’

For fuck’s sake. ‘Use that damned rigor spell.’

Hightower’s eyes widened. ‘No. Not again.’

So much for his knight-in-shining-armour approach. I supposed I’d have to play hero yet again. It was becoming a nasty habit.

Williams tightened his hold around Hightower’s neck but he hadn’t thought through his actions.

If he killed Quentin Hightower, there would be nothing stopping me from killing him in return.

Hostage situations like this never worked out the way the perpetrator wanted and the Redcap would realise that in about three seconds’ time .

I adjusted my grip on the cane-cum-rapier, weighed up my options at lightning speed, then flicked the blade forward and scraped its tip along Williams’ bare wrist. The wound was deep enough to release plenty of bright-red blood that splattered both the wooden floor and the front of Hightower’s costly suit.

‘Bitch!’ Williams snarled as his grip on Hightower slackened.

I side-stepped and jabbed the thin blade at him again, aiming for his exposed flank. He twisted away in the nick of time and shoved Hightower towards me. The stunned witch staggered forward and sent me off-balance while Williams spun around and threw open his front door. Oh no, you don’t.

When I jumped over Hightower I landed badly, but I managed to snag the black material of Williams’ trousers with one hand. There were downsides to expensive clothing: the material was tightly woven and far less likely to rip even in my tight grasp.

He hissed and kicked, his boot connecting with my face with such force that my teeth rattled.

Ouch. That hurt. He shoved his hand into his pocket, drew out a bag and tossed the contents at me, but his aim was off and they hit the wall and exploded into a cloud of dark green smoke.

I jerked back but my skin was scorched in several spots as a few tendrils of the magicked vapour curled against me.

I heard Hightower groan, but he muttered a word and the smoke started to dissipate. At least he had some damned uses.

I avoided yet another kick in the face and used my free hand to smash down onto Williams’ right knee with enough force to make him shriek in pain. I couldn’t risk him escaping. Here in his house the battle was contained but anything might happen out on the street.

I released my hold on his trousers, scrambled up and jumped over him so I could close the front door, then I returned his kicks with one of my own and booted the side of his head. I could have killed him – it was a testament to my restraint that I didn’t – but at least he started moaning with pain.

Hightower had pulled himself to his feet.

He strode forward until he was straddling the Redcap’s fallen body.

It was a stupid move because Fitz wasn’t out for the count yet.

Before I could warn the witch, the Redcap thrust one leg upwards and connected with Hightower’s groin.

It was the witch’s turn to scream as he staggered backwards and clutched himself.

I twisted the blade and held it in front of Fitz’s eyes. One quick thrust and it would all be over for him. ‘How? How did you learn about the silphium?’ I demanded.

Fitz Williams glared. ‘Tell me,’ I hissed, lowering the tip of the rapier until it hovered an inch from his forehead.

His glare intensified. ‘The troll,’ he bit out.

‘Ravensheart came to me, thought I might be interested. He showed me a sample of the silphium but he was too stupid to know its true worth. When I realised what it was…’

‘You killed him,’ I said.

‘I did. I shouldn’t have done it.’

‘Because killing is bad,’ Hightower squeaked in a high-pitched voice.

Fitz rolled his eyes. ‘No, because I didn’t realise until it was too late that he only had some leaves. To grow more silphium, I needed seeds and Ravensheart didn’t have any.’

‘So you went searching for them,’ I said. ‘You went after Simon Campbell.’

‘I followed him to the market and watched him give a sample of silphium to that idiot.’ Williams jerked his head towards Hightower, who frowned. ‘I couldn’t allow that stupid witch to hand out silphium like it was candy to anyone who happened by.’

‘So you stabbed Simon and pushed him into the Tweed. ’

‘I stabbed him but I didn’t push him into the river,’ Fitz corrected. ‘It was muddy – it had been raining a lot. He fell in before I could search his body.’

Everything was starting to make sense. ‘So that was why you played your Redcap card. After Simon’s corpse was pulled out of the river, you wanted to search him and the easiest way to do that was to call in your buddies and make it a job.’

The Redcap grunted. ‘It was a waste of time. He didn’t have any silphium seeds on him. I found his keys in his pocket and used them to get into his flat, but there weren’t any seeds there either.’

‘So you went after Knox.’

A trace of pride flickered in his eyes. ‘I was smarter with him,’ he said. ‘I took my time. I questioned him.’

‘You tortured him.’

Williams snorted. ‘Much good it did me! He said that Campbell had the seeds but I knew that wasn’t true.

I’d already searched Campbell’s flat and I knew from the mortuary that there was nothing else on his body.

And then that damned Fetch started getting suspicious and came after me.

He said he wouldn’t say anything about the murders if I gave him the seeds.

’ He bunched his hands into fists. ‘But I didn’t have the fucking seeds. I couldn’t risk it.’

‘So you killed him too.’ I clicked my tongue. ‘Quite a little mess you’ve made for yourself.’

The Redcap’s eyes spat pure hatred. ‘Do you have them? Do you have the silphium seeds? They’ll change the world.

You have no idea about the powerful magic those seeds can conjure up.

It’s two thousand years since silphium existed and now it could be back.

The person who controls the supply will be rich beyond their wildest dreams.’

I smiled. ‘The seeds have gone.’

‘Bullshit! ’

When Hightower answered, his voice sounded more normal. ‘Kitty is perfectly correct. Simon Campbell had the only silphium seeds in existence. They must have gone into the river with him. There is no more silphium, not anywhere.’

‘You’re lying,’ Fitz snarled.

My voice was gentle. ‘You know he’s not. Unless any more silphium plants appear on top of Myrddin’s grave, there are only a few dried leaves in existence and that’s it. This is over for you now – it’s over for all of us.’

Quentin Hightower leaned over Williams. ‘You’re wrong, Kitty. It’s not over at all, not for this fellow. He will be locked up for a very long time.’

Damn it: if I’d been alone, Fitz Williams would have been dead. I hissed through my teeth but thankfully Hightower was too focused on his own achievement to notice.

‘For Mr Williams, this is the beginning.’ He beamed proudly. ‘You fought well, sir, but you are no match for me.’ He thumped his chest. ‘In the end, good prevails.’

I wished that were always true but I managed to smile at Hightower anyway. ‘Good work,’ I told him. ‘You were magnificent.’

‘I was, wasn’t I? I was right not to resort to another rigor spell.’ He nodded to himself. ‘You’ll learn from this, Kitty. One day, you might be almost as good at taking down the bad guys as I am.’

I was outside on the street, absently plucking cat hairs from my top, when Captain Montgomery approached. ‘Ms McCafferty,’ he said, greeting me with a nod.

‘Hello,’ I replied, cheerfully .

‘We’ve conducted an initial search of the property and uncovered some items of interest.’

‘Oh yes?’ I asked innocently.

‘We found a gun,’ he said. ‘It will have to be sent away to Glasgow for ballistics, but it appears to match the calibre of the weapon that was used to shoot Knox Thunderstick.’

‘My goodness.’

‘The concealed blade you discovered inside Fitz Williams’ cane seems to match the wound found on Simon Campbell’s body, although we haven’t confirmed that yet.’ He paused. ‘How did you know there was a lethal weapon concealed in it?’

Because it was where I would have hidden one if I’d been a Redcap. ‘I stumbled against it by accident,’ I said smoothly. ‘It was pure chance.’

‘Hmmm.’ The captain eyed me; he’d once been prepared to believe I was a harmless cat lady but I doubted he did now, more’s the pity. ‘We also found a photograph which we believe was taken from Ian Ravensheart’s property.’ He held up a sealed bag.

I squinted at the photo of four disparate friends: a nymph, a troll, a druid and a witch.

My gaze lingered on the image of Simon Campbell, the man who’d started me off on this entire investigation.

He was wearing jeans held up with a belt and a dark, slouchy jumper.

His right hand rested lightly on the large brass belt buckle.

‘Do you notice the background? Do you recognise where this photo was taken?’

‘I believe that’s Myrddin’s grave,’ I said. ‘Knox Thunderstick appears to be holding a plant.’

Montgomery nodded. ‘He does. I don’t recognise it. I wonder if it’s important, Ms McCafferty.’

I shrugged.

‘Hmm.’ He watched me for another few seconds then glanced over his shoulder at the MET officers trooping in and out of the house.

Two members of the witches’ council stood to the right, their expressions tight as they watched the action.

On the left, there were two equally grim druids, presumably representing the druidic board of governors.

‘We also found a small quantity of trevishate,’ Montgomery said. ‘And some magicked valerian.’

‘Goodness me! You don’t suppose those materials could have been used to blast off the doors of the MET office, do you?’

‘It’s possible. We’ll have to test them to be sure.’

‘Did you find anything else?’ I asked. ‘Any seeds, perhaps?’

‘Funny,’ Montgomery murmured. ‘That’s exactly what the witches and the druids asked me, too.’

‘Oh?’

‘The answer is no. There are no seeds but we did find a small nosegay that contains an interesting substance. Dried leaves of some sort. They appear to be quite powerful.’

‘Is that so?’

‘Yes, Ms McCafferty, it is.’ He continued to watch me. ‘It’s quite extraordinary what you’ve achieved. You have tracked down a prolific murderer and ensured they will never kill again.’

‘Me?’ I placed a hand on my chest. ‘Oh no, none of this was me. I was only tagging along. The real hero is Quentin Hightower – he is truly extraordinary.’

We both turned and looked at Hightower. He had gathered a small crowd around him and his arms were wide as he regaled his rapt audience with his tale.

‘I discovered a lethal blade concealed inside Fitz Williams’ cane.

As soon as I saw it, I knew the truth. I knew he was a stone-cold killer who had to be brought to justice. ’

‘Extraordinary,’ Montgomery agreed. ‘Extraordinary indeed.’

I smiled, then I spotted a pair of emerald green eyes gazing at me from beyond where Quentin Hightower was standing. Thane doffed an imaginary cap and bowed. I curtsied. We both straightened and grinned at each other.

‘I’ll take my leave, Ms McCafferty,’ Montgomery said. ‘But I expect our paths will cross again before too long.’

Before I could respond, he turned on his heel and walked away.

I didn’t bother watching him go. Thane had missed all the action yet again and would want to hear what had happened, but this was about more than a mere update report.

I wanted to enjoy a long, celebratory drink with my copper-haired werewolf. Suddenly nothing mattered except that.