Page 27 of Veiled Justice (The Other Detective #1)

By the time we’d finished the interviews with everyone, we had a similar picture to the one at Quintos’s affair: no one had seen or heard anything.

It was like trying to get a statement from people on one of the rougher council estates: either they were wilfully ignoring the crimes, or, more likely, magic had been used to keep the sounds escaping from the area.

If it were the latter, these crimes were premeditated.

I’d have put good money on that being the case.

Louisa gave a delicate but exaggerated yawn. ‘That’s everyone, Inspector. I trust you can now make your way off the premises? You can leave that beefcake behind, though. I have never seen one so well-proportioned.’ She winked. ‘Makes you wonder about his hidden proportions, doesn’t it?’

I gritted my teeth. ‘Give my best to your father. Shame he was taken ill and unable to attend.’

Her smile faltered. ‘Of course,’ she said when she recovered. She reached out and grabbed another flute of champagne. Her dress tonight was a dark navy, not as adept at hiding stains as black but close. I couldn’t see any blood on it but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there.

‘So what do you think?’ I asked. ‘Was your gala more successful than Quintos’s masquerade?’

She gave a tinkling laugh. ‘Why, of course it was! Just look around!’

To my total disgust, the party was still in full swing.

Once the partygoers had gone from waiting to be interviewed to having been interviewed, they had continued enjoying themselves with gusto.

To my poorly concealed outrage, it was apparent that some of them considered us part of their entertainment and were gossiping about who had interviewed them.

The fact that there was a killer amongst them didn’t seem to worry them a jot.

After all, the killer was murdering creatures, not witches, wizards and elementals.

‘Can I walk you to the door?’ Louisa asked solicitously.

‘In a hurry for me to leave?’ I asked.

Her smile widened. ‘Not at all, but I’m sure you have a very busy night writing up all those interviews.’

Now that I’d done my job, it was apparent that my invitation to the party had been revoked. That was fine with me. Ignoring her, I stalked over to Krieg and Channing. ‘That’s everyone. Let’s go. Apparently, we’re cramping their style.’

I appreciated Channing’s visible disgust at their callous behaviour.

‘Give me your notes,’ Krieg said. ‘I’ll get Hanlon to type them up.’

After a moment’s hesitation, I fished out my PNB and gestured for Channing to do the same. ‘Go home,’ I said to my tired partner. ‘Get some rest. We’ll meet in the office first thing tomorrow morning.’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

I watched him yawn as he climbed into a black Ford Focus and drove off. A flash of white caught my eye in the trees: Loki was fluttering nearby, keeping out of sight. I hoped he had some good news for me; Lord knows I could do with it.

Kate had just finished loading up the body as I went over to her. She flashed me a warm smile but her eyes were tired. ‘Long day?’ I asked.

‘And now a long night.’ She nodded at the van.

I sighed. ‘She can wait a while. Different wounds this time,’ I commented.

She brightened. ‘You have such a great eye! These wounds were made with a serrated knife and there were far fewer of them. Neither were there any defensive injuries on her hands.’

‘You think she was drugged, too?’

Kate nodded. ‘It seems likely. With all the greenery around her, all she needed to do was sink into a tree to be safe but instead she just lay there and died. I think she was unable to move for one reason or another.’

As Ed joined us, he caught the end of her comment. ‘I’m pretty sure the tiki torches have been enchanted.’

‘With what?’ I demanded.

‘I can’t be sure until they’ve been tested, but there’s a definite pull to them. I think they’ve had a siren song embedded in them.’

No wonder Ava had been pulled to them: they’d been spelled to do exactly that. ‘Get that confirmed, ASAP,’ I half-asked, half-ordered. ‘And test the torches from Helga’s murder scene, too.’

Ed clasped my shoulder. ‘You got it. With your brother on the line, it’s my number-one priority.’

Kate gasped. ‘Oh my goodness! How is he involved again?’

‘Rupert found the second body,’ I admitted. ‘Someone is setting him up as a fall guy, and I intend to find out who.’

Kate slammed her van door shut. ‘I’ll glug an energy drink and get right on this.’

‘You don’t have to—’ I started.

‘I’ve got your back, Stacy,’ she promised. ‘I’m on it. I’ll text when I have something to discuss. You’ll be up against the clock on this one.’

Didn’t I know it? Quintos’s comment hadn’t been idle: he’d be calling people, pulling strings and getting me kicked off the case so fast I’d get whiplash.

I touched her arm. ‘Thank you.’

‘I’ll message,’ she promised again. She gave me a jaunty wave as she drove off. No matter the circumstances, Kate was always beaming. You could rely on her to find the sunny side.

‘So will I,’ Ed told me. ‘I’ll work on the tiki torches first.’

‘Thank you.’

‘No worries.’ He gave me a fist bump and climbed into the SOCO van and drove off.

‘And you said you didn’t have any friends,’ Krieg murmured.

‘You were the one that said they were work colleagues,’ I shot back.

‘I stand corrected,’ he said mildly. ‘They care.’

I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat. ‘They do.’

We walked to his car and he held open the passenger door. I would never get used to that. He gave Loki enough time to flit in then slid in next to me and fired up the engine.

‘See anyone?’ I asked Loki quietly.

‘No,’ Loki confirmed. ‘Just dead one and rude Jingo.’ He hadn’t seen another dryad in the area.

It had been too much to hope for; the killer was long gone. That was one of the hardest things about finding a dryad assassin, they just sank into the nearest tree and they were home safe. They didn’t need a getaway car.

We’d barely pulled out when my phone rang: Detective Superintendent Henry Thackeray was calling me. Quintos hadn’t wasted any time. I answered briskly. ‘Good evening, sir.’

‘It’s not though, is it, Inspector?’ he responded crisply.

‘I’ve had better. And I know what you’re going to say.’

‘That’s because you’re smart, Wise. Your brother was at both scenes and I’m told he was covered in blood this time.’

‘Covered in blood is an exaggeration. He had some flecks of blood on his person from helping the victim.’

‘I hear you, but it doesn’t look good. Your objectivity is being called into question.’

‘You know I’m one of the best Inspectors you have.’

‘That’s why I’m stalling despite the huge political pressure to pull you off the case. You have twenty-four hours before I’ll have no choice but to do so.’

‘Thank you, sir.’

‘You have twenty-four hours,’ he repeated. ‘And Stacy? Find the damned killers. Fast.’

‘Yes, sir.’ I hung up and checked the time: it was just gone midnight. I blew out a long breath.

‘Want to talk about it?’ Krieg asked.

‘Not really.’

He nodded and we drove in silence for the rest of the way to my flat. As we pulled up outside, he finally spoke. ‘Someone’s framing your brother.’

I rubbed a hand across my face. ‘I know.’

Krieg undid his seatbelt and turned to face me. ‘You told Loki to search for a dryad.’

I froze. Fuck! He’d heard that? I tried my best to keep my face blank but I failed miserably.

‘Your brother was distressed,’ Krieg continued. ‘And then very angry at you.’

I said nothing.

‘He was angry because you slid into the dryad’s mind to find the face of her killer and you nearly died with her.’ He kept studying me like I was a puzzle that fascinated him. ‘You’re an unregistered subterfuge wizard.’

Fuck. Fuck. Fuckity-fuck. This was as bad as it got. Krieg was the High King of the Ogres, a powerful and deadly figure in the Other society – and now he knew my most closely guarded secret.

I tried to keep my breathing even and the panic off my face.

I could deny it but he hadn’t been asking a question because he was already certain.

In my experience when someone was certain about anything, no matter how wrong they were, they weren’t going to change their opinion regardless of how much evidence you showed them to the contrary.

Panic thrummed through me no matter how hard I tried to push it down. If he told the Connection what he knew …

Krieg was still studying me, no doubt watching the rapid breathing I couldn’t quite quash and the terror in my eyes.

Something rippled across his face that I couldn’t decipher.

‘You don’t need to fear me,’ he said softly.

I recognised the moment he made a decision of his own.

He blew out a breath and continued, ‘I’m an unregistered piper. ’

A piper is a magical creature who can speak to – and even control – creatures like phoenixes, unicorns and even ogres and dragon shifters. Like subterfuge wizards, they are almost universally distrusted and hated.

‘What?’ I blurted.

‘I’m half-piper, half-ogre. That’s why I don’t really have the distinctive physical abnormalities of an ogre – my mother was a piper and I’m a half-breed.

My mostly humanoid appearance has been a problem my whole life because it marks me out as a halfling.

I’ve had to fight to be accepted as an ogre.

If my people learned that the other half of me is piper, they’d rip the crown from my head and smash me to smithereens. ’

My mouth dropped open; I was gobsmacked that he was entrusting me with this. There was flirting – and then there was this. And what the hell was this?

Krieg smiled. ‘You can relax now. I have your secret, Stacy Wise, but you have mine, too.’

‘What game are you playing?’ I asked. What was I missing?

‘No games, Inspector. Not between us.’

I shook my head. He was many things but na?ve wasn't one of them. The denizens of the Other realm always played games. The only question was whether I was the pawn – or the Queen.