Page 23

Chapter 23

Connor sent his workers back to their jobs whilst I pulled out the camera and photographed the scene. Once it was thoroughly documented we pulled on gloves, collected the skulls and secured them. Gunnar had the gruesome honour of collecting Alfgar’s head so it could be examined for evidence before being returned to the dwarves.

We knew they would demand it back as soon as they knew about it so we moved quickly; there would be no chance to send it to the lab. Gunnar opened the mouth and checked for anything unusual, any signs of poisoning, but there was nothing. It was the same with the eyes. Finding the head hadn’t moved the case any further along, though hopefully it had brought Alfgar closer to the afterlife.

After we’d finished our examination, we put the physical remains in a body bag and collected the poles. The whole process was gruesome. As I packed away the skulls, I noticed some differences that pointed to them not being quite human: they were larger, a bit more pointed at the back, and the eye sockets were bigger than a human’s. Were they dwarves?

I turned to Connor. ‘Why do you think this … message was placed here? Why not at the mine?’

He scrubbed his hands through his hair. ‘I’m not sure. The mine is over this hill. It’s a few miles, sure, but whoever is doing this is trying to make it look like it’s the hag. She could pass through the earth easily. I think another reason is that more witnesses could add pressure on the dwarves to leave the mine.’

‘Why would the vampires care?’

‘Some work in the mines,’ he explained. ‘Working in darkened tunnels is pretty ideal for us.’

Not for me, I thought, shuddering. All that earth pressing down…

Connor continued, ‘If the killer keeps targeting miners, there’s a chance a vampire could be the next victim.’

‘Are you going to order your people out, or put pressure on the dwarves to leave the mine?’

Connor smiled grimly. ‘Neither. No one tells me how to look after my people. I’m going to help you find this fucker.’

‘How?’

He thought for a moment. ‘You have hundreds of miners to interview and only you, Gunnar and Sidnee to do it. How about I organise and coordinate their initial statements? I can ask for alibis for the times of death then I can bundle up a list of all those you three need to look at closer.’

I blinked. ‘I could kiss you.’ So I did.

He grinned. ‘The next couple of days are going to be real busy, but another sleepover soon?’

‘Yes, please. And Sidnee is throwing a New Year’s Eve party, so that will be fun.’

‘Jeans and shirt, or suited and booted?’

‘The latter, I reckon.’

‘Got it.’ He leaned in and gave me a long kiss that made my toes curl. ‘I’ll start with the vampires I know, but fire me the list from Leif when it lands.’

‘Thanks, Connor. I appreciate you helping us.’

He winked. ‘Only doing my civic duty.’

‘Well, I’ll reward you in a very un-civic way.’ I winked back.

‘I look forward to it.’

I bent to pick up the black bag but Connor beat me, shouldered it and walked me back to the SUV. He put it in the back, opened the door for Fluffy, then eased me against the driver’s door and kissed me breathless. ‘Are you going to dance on the tables at Sidnee’s New Year’s party?’ he murmured, his hot breath tickling the shell of my ear. ‘Those are some of my favourite memories.’

My cheeks warmed. ‘I was very drunk last time.’

He ran a light touch down my arm. ‘Is that what it’ll take to see those hypnotising hips again? Because I can get you some ’shine real easy.’

I laughed. ‘I can take requests when we are alone, but I think drinking you under the table would be a lot more fun if I was under it with you.’

His eyes darkened. ‘Most definitely.’

‘I think I’ll stick with bad karaoke and only a few drinks at this party. We’ll let the others dance on the tables.’

He sneaked in one more kiss that I didn’t resist in the slightest, then I slipped into the driver’s seat and headed back to the office. I had a shit load to do; I didn’t care that it was the middle of the night, I needed to get things moving.

As I drove, I rang Leif and chased up the list.

‘You woke me,’ he groused.

‘Well now you’re awake, you can send me the list of all the miners that you promised me.’

‘I’ll get it to you first thing tomorrow.’

‘You’ll get it to me now, and you’ll contact them to tell them Connor Mackenzie and his team will be talking to them individually. Tell them to comply with his request for information and/or interviews.’

‘This is nothing to do with him,’ Leif hissed. ‘It’s a dwarf matter.’

‘He gets kind of involved when people put heads on his lands. Alfgar’s head was placed on a pole there.’

There was a long beat of silence. ‘You have his head?’ he said finally.

‘Yes.’

‘Where?’

‘I’m taking it to the office. When you get me that list, you can come and get it.’ Okay, I was playing hard ball, but technically it wasn’t blackmail, right?

Leif hung up and moments later my phone buzzed with an email from him. I pulled over to open it: it was a list of names, addresses and phone numbers. That asshat had been sitting on it this whole time! He was such a jobsworth.

I stifled my irritation and sent the file on to Connor so he and his team could start work. I made a note in the file that I would deal with Faran Ashton myself since I knew he had a beef with Alfgar.

When I rang him, he answered with a decidedly grumpy, ‘Hello? ’

Just once I wanted one of the dwarves to model the chirpier behaviour of the dwarves from Snow White. Would it kill them to emulate Happy or Doc once in a while? ‘Officer Bunny Barrington here, from the Nomo’s office. We need you to come in for an interview.’

‘Now? I just got in from my shift. I’m ready for bed.’

‘Now. Come in your pyjamas, if you want.’

There was an incredulous silence. ‘I’ll be there in thirty,’ he said finally and hung up.

Finally feeling like things were cooking, I slid my phone into my pocket and roared back to town.