Page 24

Chapter 24

Back at the office, Wilson was flashing again. There was a message from Gunnar: Caught a fender bender. Be back in a few. I hoped no one had been hurt in the traffic collision.

‘Shadow,’ I called. ‘We’re home!’ Fluffy and I went into the office to look for the sulky lynx. ‘Shadow?’ I called again then frowned at my dog. ‘Help me find him?’

Fluffy put his nose to the floor and sniffed around, finally leading us back to Gunnar’s office. I flipped on the lights and started searching. Besides Gunnar’s massive desk and chair, were some file cabinets and a small round table with chairs. I checked them all.

Just as I was about to leave, I heard a loud raspy purr: Shadow was in the office. Uh-oh. He was lying on an empty tinfoil wrapper under the desk. He had discovered Gunnar’s ham sandwich, which my boss must have abandoned when he rushed out of the office to join me at Kamluck .

I winced. ‘Shadow, did you eat Gunnar’s lunch?’ He purred. Oh boy. ‘Your funeral,’ I muttered. Sigrid’s food was sacred to Gunnar and I did not want to be in Shadow’s paws when my boss found out what he’d done.

The bell on the front door rang; it wasn’t Gunnar because he’d have come in the back. I went through to the front of the office and called out, ‘Hello?’

‘Hi.’ A beautiful red-headed woman was standing there. She was small, not much taller than five feet, and her eyes were red-rimmed. I recognised her instantly from the photograph in the threatening note: Alfgar’s wife. ‘I’m Alana Simonson,’ she said.

I softened my eyes and voice. ‘Nice to meet you, Alana. I’m really sorry for your loss.’

‘Thank you. The children are devastated – we all are.’ She closed her eyes. ‘Leif said you’ve … located his head.’

‘Yes,’ I confirmed gently.

‘I’d like to take it. We’ll burn him later tonight, and then he’ll…’ She started to sob. ‘He’ll be free,’ she managed.

‘Of course,’ I said. I hesitated then added, ‘I know this is a difficult time, but I wondered if we could talk a little first?’ I waited until she nodded then asked, ‘Did Alfgar have any enemies?’

She shook her head. ‘Al was such a kind, honest guy – he’d do anything for anyone. If something was wrong, he was always the first to volunteer to fix it. Honestly, he was salt of the earth.’ Her bottom lip wobbled again as she tried to hold her shit together. ‘I don’t know how I’m going to live without him, raise our children without him.’ She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes. ‘This is a nightmare.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I repeated uselessly. ‘We’re working hard to find out who did this to him.’

‘We all know who did this to him.’ She sounded rather bemused that I hadn’t been let in on the secret. ‘The hag,’ she whispered, looking around in fear as if Matilda was going to melt out of the walls at the mention of her name.

I resisted the urge to tell her you had to say Matilda’s name three times to summon her. Not everyone valued knowledge the way that I did. ‘Have you ever spoken to her?’ I asked.

Alana shuddered, ‘Goodness, no.’

‘Did Alfgar?’

‘Absolutely not – he was petrified of her. Rightly so, it seems!’

‘Did he talk about anyone being … unkind about you?’

She blinked wide eyes. ‘About me? Why would anyone be unkind about me?’

‘You’re not a dwarf,’ I murmured.

‘No, but I’m short like one! That’s what attracted Al to me in the first place – that and my name. My parents call me Al, too – Al and Al, together forever.’ Her voice hitched. ‘We named all our children Al as well. Alexander, Ally, and Alistair.’ She rubbed her chest like her heart hurt; I suspected that it did.

What was becoming clear was that Alfgar hadn’t told his wife about the prejudice he’d faced from being in a mixed marriage; he’d been protecting her from reality, a reality I was about to dive into with Faran Ashton. Now I’d met Alana, I found I was quite ready to go toe-to-toe with the twat.

‘Could I have Al now?’ she pleaded. ‘We’d like to burn him tonight,’ she repeated.

‘Of course.’ I rose, retrieved the body-bag and passed it to her.

‘Thank you,’ she said, her voice barely audible, then she turned and walked away carrying her husband’s head.

As she left, Gunnar swept in. ‘Everything okay with the fender bender?’ I asked.

‘Yeah, just a little damage. No one was hurt.’ He seemed in a good mood, which was great because I was about to ruin that.

‘Cool. Er … Shadow ate your lunch.’

Gunnar glared at the cat who was now sitting casually on Fluffy’s bed, licking his paws. ‘That little monster! This isn’t the first time.’

‘It’s not?’

‘No, he got in the habit while you were at the academy. I had to start locking everything up. I must have left too fast and didn’t think about it.’ He paused. ‘I’m giving that cat a job. He owes me.’

‘He does,’ I agreed readily. ‘Totally. He’ll make it up to you.’

Gunnar looked at Shadow and sighed. ‘He’s a pain in the ass.’ He turned to me, ‘Anything to report?’

‘A lot, actually.’ I filled him in on Leif’s email, Connor’s plan and my brief meeting with Alana. ‘Faran Ashton is due in any minute now.’

‘Good.’ Gunnar banged his hand down on the counter, making me jump. ‘I hate bullies,’ he growled. ‘I’ll sit in for that one.’

‘No problem. I’ll set things up.’

I hustled into the interview room, prepared the recording equipment and placed some water on the table together with three plastic cups. I wasn’t a fan of bullies myself; I’d had my fair share of them growing up. Ignoring them, like my mum had advised me, had rarely put an end to the torment but Mum had never been willing – or able – to intercede on my behalf. And now it was too late for any intercessions on Alfgar’s behalf.

Yes, I was ready to talk to Faran Ashton.