Page 17 of Veiled Justice (The Other Detective #1)

To my surprise, when we parked in GV Law’s car park Krieg donned some sort of leather tunic then removed a lethal-looking mace from the boot of the car. When he caught sight of my expression he explained, ‘They expect it,’ as he looped a heavy truncheon through a belt at his waist.

‘They expect you to walk around carrying a mace?’

‘Yes.’ He carried it by the handle with the head resting against his shoulder. He made it seem effortless, like it didn’t weigh a tonne, but the weapon was solid metal from the shaft right up to the murderous spiked head.

‘That has to be heavy,’ I commented.

He held it out to me and I braced myself and took it. Even braced as I was, my muscles shook as I struggled to hold it up and it took every inch of my strength not to drop it. Krieg removed it from my grasp a moment later before I could do something embarrassing like drop it on my toe.

Loki cackled with laughter. ‘Puny Pigdog!’

I ignored the bird and narrowed my eyes at Krieg. ‘You could have just said, “Yes Stacy, that’s fucking heavy”,’ I complained.

He grinned. ‘Most people learn better through doing.’

I rubbed my arms. ‘Sometimes I’m okay with just being told something.’

His grin widened. ‘No, you’re not.’

I put my hands on my hips and bristled – then realised I was absolutely proving him right. He laughed again. ‘Come on, Inspector Wise. Let’s go and smash some vamps.’

I slid him a glance. ‘Just so you know, in some local vernacular “smash” means “fuck”.’

He stumbled. ‘I meant kill,’ he added hastily.

It was my turn to grin. ‘I know. I’m just letting you know so you don’t strut around Liverpool threatening to smash everyone.’

‘Brings a whole new meaning to “Hulk smash”,’ he murmured, which made me snicker despite myself.

When we got into the building, Verona was sitting behind the sleek black reception desk. I knew it was Verona because she matched the description Channing had given of her, which was another point in his favour. She was also wearing a name badge, which was a bit of a giveaway.

She was dressed in black-leather trousers, a black corset and a leather jacket. Her white-blonde hair was pulled into a long plait and her stunning blue eyes were ice-cold as we approached. She looked like BDSM Barbie.

Since she was going for unfriendly, I met her vibe. ‘Inspector Wise, High King Krieg,’ I snapped. ‘Where can we go to talk?’

Her mouth twisted in a moue of distaste. ‘The boss wants to sit in. Go into his office. Ludwig is already in there.’

‘Excellent.’ And, because she hadn’t offered, I added, ‘A cup of tea. Milk.’

Her azure eyes narrowed further but she nodded. ‘You?’ she said bluntly to Krieg.

‘Coffee, black.’

I swept into the office without looking back.

It was light and airy, with windows on three sides, and its sparse furnishings had a cool, minimalist elegance.

There was a large rug on the floor, a few plants on either side of the mahogany desk and two chairs in front of it.

And that was it. All that space and nothing to fill it; it felt like Volderiss was bragging that he had money to burn.

Real estate in this section of town was pricey.

The man sitting behind the desk was Volderiss.

Like all vampyrs, he could choose how old he looked and evidently he was currently trying out ‘silver fox’.

His dark hair glittered with the odd silver strand and his eyes were a bright, piercing blue.

Charisma and strength rolled off him; he was clearly a born leader. Or perhaps a turned one.

The other man was pacing in front of one of the windows – and there was nothing imposing about him.

For all his height, square jaw and sandy blond hair, his shoulders were bowed like he was trying to make himself as small as possible, an impossible feat for such a large man.

He had to be at least six foot eight. His height set alarm bells ringing: a vampyr as large and strong as him could surely have carried a stumbling Helga outside, just as Ava had described.

‘Ludwig?’ I asked.

He started nervously and then froze. ‘Yes, that’s me.’

I smiled to set him at ease – at least for now. I was going for good cop to start with. I had no doubt that Krieg would step into the bad-cop role if we needed it. Or even if we didn’t.

‘Hi, Ludwig,’ I said warmly. ‘I’m Inspector Stacy Wise. It’s nice to meet you.’ I made a show of taking out my PNB. ‘What’s your full name?’

‘Ludwig Huber.’ He inched closer to Volderiss as if the seated vampyr would protect him.

‘Interesting surname. Where are your family from originally?’ I asked.

Ludwig relaxed a little. ‘Austria – but it’s been a few centuries since I was there.’

‘You still have the accent, though.’

‘I can’t shake it,’ he admitted with a shy smile.

‘You went to Quintos’s masquerade ball with Verona?’

‘Yes, we’re friends.’ His smile widened. ‘She asked me to go with her as back-up, to be her wingman.’

‘Had you met Helga Jónson before?’

‘No – and I didn’t meet her at the party either – but I saw her.’

‘And how did she look?’

‘Bored. She was bodyguarding Thomas Squiggins but nobody would dream of threatening him anyway, not with his dad and all.’

‘And his dad is…?’

Ludwig’s eyebrows shot up, ‘Well,’ he paused dramatically, ‘it’s Marcus Squiggins, of course!’ When my face stayed blank, he elaborated. ‘The owner of the Nocturne Circle?’

‘An invitation-only gentlemen’s club,’ Krieg murmured to me.

‘Women are allowed to attend,’ Ludwig interjected. ‘But they have to accompany one of the male members.’

‘How forward thinking of them,’ I muttered. ‘Positively progressive.’

Looking confused, Ludwig squinted at me. ‘She’s being sarcastic,’ Volderiss explained to him.

‘Ah.’

I pressed on. ‘Did you see what happened to Helga?’

‘No, but I saw her laying into Squiggins when he got too handsy with Louisa.’ He brightened. ‘I like Louisa. She’s often at Nocturne. She’s fun.’

I wasn’t sure the word ‘fun’ captured her boisterous spirit – she was a spitfire. Inviting the High King of the ogres to your father’s human-centric charity gala was a little more than fun. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say she would try almost anything to get Daddy’s attention.

‘But you didn’t see anything else happen to Helga?’

‘No.’ Ludwig shook his head. ‘I stayed inside at the bar. Verona told me to.’

‘She didn’t want you to go outside with her for the fireworks?’

‘She said they would bother me.’ His tone was matter of fact.

Ludwig seemed sweet and more than a little obtuse. ‘Would they have bothered you?’ I asked.

‘Probably. I don’t like loud noises. I watched from inside, but even so I didn’t like them much.’

‘Did everyone come back inside after the fireworks?’

‘Most.’ He shrugged. ‘Some people sneaked off for some fucking.’

I blinked at his bluntness. ‘Did Verona?’

‘I don’t know,’ he said guilelessly. ‘I was having sex with one of the waitresses in one of the side rooms. Turns out she was a fanger.’ He looked pleased.

I suppressed a grimace. A fanger was a vampyr groupie who got off on serving vampyrs – in a multitude of ways. ‘Did you see anyone else pair off?’

‘Your brother was with Ava Grey.’

I kept my face blank with effort. ‘I’m aware. Anyone else? Who was Verona with?’

He shrugged. ‘She was there to make nice with Mr Quintos, so mostly she was focused on him.’

‘But he wasn’t at the fireworks, was he?’

‘I don’t know, but I know he wasn’t inside at the bar. He could have been shagging someone somewhere else, I guess.’ He seemed unwilling to entertain the idea that anyone would sneak off for some privacy without some fuckery and frolicking involved.

‘Have you got any more questions, Inspector?’ Volderiss interrupted. He was a lawyer, and he knew I had nothing on Ludwig. I also believed Ludwig; he wasn’t smart enough to lie.

‘Nothing else.’ I nodded. ‘Thank you for your time, Ludwig. Please send in Verona.’

Ludwig was visibly relieved and all but ran to the exit.

When the door closed behind him, Volderiss turned to me and steepled his fingers.

‘It is worth confirming that I instructed Verona to get close to Quintos. His company has been working on synthetic blood for vampyrs. When he finally cracks the formula, it will be a momentous development.’

‘And you want to be on his good side?’

Volderiss smiled in a way that wasn’t very pleasant.

‘No, I wanted to have blackmail material on him. He has a less than sterling reputation and I need some weapons in my arsenal before I even think of doing business with him. The blood could become a game changer for us, but not if Quintos tries to charge us an arm and a leg. I need something to force him to be reasonable when all he can see are pound signs.’

Before I could respond, the door opened and in strode Dominatrix Barbie carrying a tray of drinks. ‘Do you not know how to knock?’ I shot at her, still leaning into the bad-cop vibe since that was what she seemed to expect. And would hopefully respect.

Verona ignored me. She set the tray down in front of Volderiss, doctored his tea, passed it to him then stood on his right, leaving us to help ourselves. She was obviously his right-hand man. Woman.

‘Lord Volderiss was just explaining that he ordered you to get close to Quintos through any means necessary,’ Krieg stated.

Surprise flickered across her face before she smoothed it away. ‘A little harmless flirtation.’

‘And did you achieve your objective?’ Krieg pressed.

She hesitated and her eyes slid to Volderiss. He gave a rueful nod. ‘I am bound by an oath of silence,’ she said finally.

I grimaced; she was bound by a magical oath and if she broke it her life would be forfeit.

‘You saw who killed Helga,’ Krieg growled.

‘I can’t answer that.’

‘You saw who killed Helga and they wrangled a vow from you to hold your silence,’ Krieg deduced.

I picked up my tea and sipped it. ‘And since you were there to get close to Quintos, it seems likely that the only one for whom you’d swear a vow is him. To get close to him. To get the blackmail material.’

Volderiss sighed. ‘I suspect she may have had the material already, but if she speaks or communicates about it in any way she will die.’ He turned to her, ‘And we can’t have that.’ His tone was heavy.

‘You can’t answer, but your body language can,’ I said to Verona. ‘Did Quintos stab her?’

Before she could stop herself, she jerked her head the tiniest amount to the left as if she were about to shake her head. She stopped herself instantly so the movement was minute, but even so she blew out a shaky breath.

‘You cannot question her further about the death,’ Volderiss snapped. ‘I won’t risk losing her to an oath-death, Inspector! You may ask your questions about the party. Nothing more.’

I grimaced but nodded obediently; he was a member of the Symposium and I couldn’t afford to make an enemy out of him or I’d find myself working a traffic rotation on the Isle of Skye. I studied the hard-faced blonde. ‘You went outside to watch the fireworks?’

She hesitated before nodding. She was clearly considering her actions and words carefully and something in my question had made her hesitant about her answer.

‘You went out to the fireworks for a short time?’ I amended my question.

She nodded more firmly.

‘A source told me that Quintos wasn’t at the fireworks. You went outside to the fireworks. Seeing he wasn’t there, you tried to track him down?’

She licked her lips before jerking her head in a nod.

‘And you found him.’

She nodded again.

‘Quintos was there at Helga’s death but he wasn’t the one that stabbed her,’ I stated.

She held herself rigidly still so that no movement could be read as breaking the oath that she’d sworn, but I knew I was right.

‘Inspector Wise!’ Volderiss growled in warning.

‘My apologies. One more question, Verona. Did you kill Helga?’

Her eyes flew open and her brow furrowed. She opened her mouth to give me an emphatic no then licked her lips again and swallowed. She wasn’t sure if protesting her innocence would condemn her under the oath she’d sworn. Interesting.

‘After the murder, you were heard saying “Good riddance”. Why?’

Next to me, Krieg growled. Verona pressed closer to Volderiss, much like Ludwig had done.

‘I meant no disrespect,’ she said hastily to Krieg.

‘I was trying to blend into the surroundings and not bring attention to myself. Oath-sworn as I am, I didn’t want the killers to take issue with my presence. ’

I hadn’t missed the fact that Verona had said Helga’s ‘killers’ – plural. ‘Is there any other comment or hint you can give us about the identity of Helga’s murderers?’

She looked at Volderiss for permission, and he nodded slowly. ‘If you think you can assist without compromising your oath and risking yourself then do so.’

She tugged on her blonde plait as she thought. ‘Helga wasn’t the only ogre I saw at the party,’ she said finally.

I frowned. ‘You saw Krieg afterwards?’

‘No, I missed his dramatic entrance. I was one of the first to be interviewed and I left after that.’

I looked at Krieg, whose jaw was tight. Verona was inferring that Helga’s killer had been another ogre.

Ava’s comment about the killer being tall rang true – and perhaps he was swaggering around with his hood up to hide his tusks.

Something about the suggestion set my brain whirring.

‘Did you see Tom Squiggins at the fireworks?’ I asked.

She shook her head. ‘Not at the fireworks display,’ she answered carefully.

‘Caspian Katz?’

Another shake.

‘Jameson Montague?’

She shook her head; no again.

‘Louisa Carnforth?’

She didn’t answer. Either she didn’t know or Louisa was part of her oath, too. If I believed her answers – and I did – then the boys had been lying when they’d said they watched the fireworks’ display together.

And maybe Helga hadn’t been the only ogre they’d hired.