Chapter 22

I walked into work early and saw with relief that Sidnee hadn’t left yet. I wanted to make sure she was okay after our chat that morning.

Emotional and tired, I’d gone back to sleep after her visit. I’d slept fitfully, burning with guilt about how I’d treated both her and Connor. I knew I could make it up to one of them, at least.

Her eyes met mine as I walked in the main door, then she came flying around the high counter. We both said, ‘Sorry!’ at the same time and the awkwardness made me laugh. She started snickering, too.

‘Let me go first,’ I said. ‘I’m sorry about earlier. I know you’ve had it rough. My moaning was a wallow in self-pity and I shouldn’t have dumped it on you.’

She shook her head. ‘No, I came round and demanded that you talk about it. Friends are supposed to support friends. What I’ve been through doesn’t lessen what you’re going through. You have every right to your feelings and I acted like a schmuck. I shouldn’t have made it about me.’

We shared another awkward laugh as I touched her arm. ‘Look, Sidnee, you shouldn’t hold this stuff in. I know you must be hurting. You know I’m here, right? I’m a really good listener.’

She looked sombre. ‘Yeah, I know. Thanks, Bunny. I promise I’ll be ready to talk soon. Just give me a little more time.’

I nodded. ‘Whatever you need.’ I understood about needing time to work things through. That was basically what I’d thrown at Connor, and I was still confused about the knot of emotions I was feeling about the whole mess.

‘Bunny, are you there?’ Gunnar bellowed from the back office.

‘Yeah, boss.’

‘Come back here,’ he demanded.

I smiled apologetically at Sidnee. ‘Lunch later?’

‘Sounds good, see you then.’ She gave me a proper smile, and I really hoped that this time she wouldn’t cancel on me.

I dropped my bag on my desk and unclipped Fluffy’s lead. When I put Shadow down, he immediately went to Sidnee for a cuddle.

I went into Gunnar’s office. ‘Hey.’

‘Good evening, Bunny. Lab results came back on the hair strand found at Kostas’s house. It had a hair follicle and it was positive for Aoife Sullivan. We can prove that she stole the fire gem. Good work.’

Knowing that Aoife Sullivan’s body was being sliced up for an autopsy as we spoke eradicated any pride I might have felt. ‘Seems like too little too late,’ I groused. ‘I feel like I’m chasing my tail.’

‘You did great police work. It’s sad about Aoife, but don’t forget our focus. Let’s find the bastard that did this to her, and who in all likelihood stole the fire gem and probably the wind gem too.’

I nodded. It didn’t make me feel better that we were so far behind the game. We didn’t even have a suspect except for her nearest and dearest. ‘I’ve got appointments with her mum and boyfriend in…’ I looked at my phone ‘…an hour and twenty minutes.’

He nodded. ‘I’ve got a meeting with the council. Let’s divide and conquer.’ As I turned to go back to my desk he added, ‘We’re also supposed to meet Liv later to inspect the residences where the earth and water gems are being stored. They cannot be lost as well. So keep that on your radar – you should have plenty of time for your interviews and even lunch.’

‘Got it, boss.’

He gave a dismissive grunt and I left his office. Sidnee had gone for the day so I settled Fluffy and Shadow and went to see what she’d left for me. She and Gunnar had interviewed all the barrier protestors and I scanned their notes. I frowned at Sidnee’s call log. Hardly any calls were recorded, so it must have been a slow day.

I called Thomas and asked for a report on Luke’s movements, then answered a few emails, did some filing and watched some of the barrier protestors’ interviews. I finished with fifteen minutes to spare before Nora Sullivan was due to arrive. She’d been less than friendly when I’d made the appointment and I was dreading her dark looks and snarky remarks, but she’d lost her daughter and it wasn’t hard to understand that grief was making her lash out. She still struck me as a little uncaring but maybe I was bringing my own mummy issues to the table.

After prickly Nora I would have to face woefully sad Luke, and I didn’t know which one would be worse. I switched on the kettle for tea; that always helped to calm me. It was nearly ready when Nora came in. I added a cow’s worth of milk to my brew and walked out to greet her.

‘Good evening, Ms Sullivan. If you’d follow me?’ I took her around the counter to the interview room. ‘Would you like something to drink?’ I offered solicitously.

Glaring at me, she shook her head. Her yellow eyes looked pale and creepy under the fluorescent lights. I put down my cup and pulled out my tablet with the questions on it. ‘How are you doing?’ I asked sympathetically. Something about her rubbed me up the wrong way but I was working hard to be empathetic.

She shrugged. ‘I’m fine,’ she said abruptly. ‘Let’s get this over with.’

Fine with me. ‘Where were you on Tuesday night between the hours of 10pm and 3am?’

She stared daggers at me. ‘You think I murdered my daughter?’

I looked at her squarely. ‘Honestly, I don’t, but I must say you don’t seem as bereft as one might expect.’

She gave a sharp, rueful laugh. ‘Of course not! My daughter has ascended,’ she said triumphantly.

I blinked at her. I had no idea what she was talking about. My ignorance must have shown on my face because she explained. ‘Banshees have two life cycles. In our mortal shell we can procreate and live like other supernats, but our next life cycle is not guaranteed. Only one banshee in each family in each generation can ascend. And my Aoife was chosen.’ She sounded proud, not sad in the slightest.

Okay, so maybe that explained why she wasn’t devastated – though presumably it meant no earthly future for her daughter, no wedding, no grandchildren. Wasn’t that worth a little sadness? ‘What happens to those that don’t ascend?’

She shrugged. ‘They move on, leave this world like anyone else.’

‘What does it mean to be one of the ascended?’ I was curious what effect Aoife in her spirit banshee form could have on the physical plane.

‘Haven’t you ever heard of our kind, vampire?’ Nora sneered at me.

‘Of course I have, but I didn’t know about your double life cycle, or the one banshee per family per generation thing. Supernats are close-mouthed about their own species.’ I kept my voice matter of fact.

She huffed. ‘As a regular banshee, she’ll wail the deaths of an entire generation of the Sullivan clan. If she’s a strong banshee, she’ll be able to communicate with her loved ones, both friends and family. And if she’s exceptional, as I think she will be, she’ll be able to affect the physical world to some extent. She may even be able to communicate with people that she doesn”t have a strong emotional connection to.’

Aoife had appeared to us: did that mean she was super strong? I perked up a little. If she could communicate, perhaps she could tell us who killed her. ‘You say she could move things around. Is that like a poltergeist?’

‘It depends on how strong she is. We have a family story about my great-great-great grandmother. She was almost as physically present as I am.’

‘When I told you the news of Aoife’s death, you said there was already a Sullivan banshee.’

‘There is,’ she sniffed. ‘But from a different generation. I wasn’t sure if there’d been enough time between the last banshee’s and Aoife’s deaths, but evidently there was.’

I’d had no idea that banshees were so complex. Multiple lifecycles and some of the ascended-spirit banshees could impact directly on the world. I’d certainly seen and heard Aoife, but what I’d seen was a scared girl wailing about her premature death. She had seemed pretty fucking traumatised to me – but what did I know?