Chapter 24

Nora’s anti-barrier sentiments had been clear in all of our chats and I wouldn’t have put it past her to steal either of the gems, but despite her prickly demeanour I really didn’t think she’d harm her own kid. Me, however… I was ninety-nine percent sure she was the one who’d spray- painted a threat to burn me if I didn’t drop the barrier.

No doubt she’d busted the shutter mechanism to make it appear that someone had sneaked in, then she’d teleported into my home, sprayed the message, opened the windows to look like the intruder had escaped through them – and teleported out.

Luckily for everyone involved, I didn’t have the skills or inclination to drop the barrier. She could try and set me on fire if she liked but I had my own flames to bring to the table; I could fight fire with fire.

I had a few minutes before Luke was due to arrive, so I checked my phone. I had a text message from Thomas Patkotak, our resident supernat hunter: I stuck to him like glue, but he went straight home and stayed in bed for the next fifteen hours, exonerating him of any direct involvement in Sullivan’s death.

I’d half-expected that but I was still disappointed. If it wasn’t Nora and it couldn’t be Luke, who the fuck had killed Aoife Sullivan?

I dropped Thomas a message thanking him and confirming that he could stop monitoring Luke. He replied and said he’d bill the council for his time.

Luke appeared just as I was making another cup of tea, his eyes red-rimmed and his shoulders slumped. His whole body looked like it was curving in on itself.

I felt really bad for calling him in. According to Thomas, Luke wasn’t implicated in Aoife’s death and he’d also lost his father less than a month ago. Grief was his new best friend and my heart ached for him.

I took him into the interview room and started the recording. ‘I’m sorry for your loss – and I’m really sorry I have to ask you these questions at such a difficult time.’

He nodded. ‘I know. I want to help you catch whoever hurt Aoife. She was so amazing – she didn’t deserve this – no one deserves this. I can’t stop wondering if she died alone and in pain. If she saw it coming, if she was scared.’ His voice hitched. ‘I can’t stop thinking about her. I’ve barely slept.’

I understood; it wasn’t that long since I’d lost my nana and at least she’d lived a full life. I missed her but it was a different kind of grief. Luke was mourning Aoife’s potential, the future they might have had together. ‘It’s a hard time and I’m sorry to make it worse, so let’s get the questions over and done with as quickly as we can, hey?’

Luke gave a wan smile so I powered on. ‘Where were you Tuesday night between the hours of 10pm and 3am?’

‘I was home, asleep in bed.’ He sniffed and his eyes filled with tears. I pushed a box of tissue towards him.

‘Did you ever harm Aoife Sullivan?’ I asked.

‘No, never! I loved her.’

The tears really fell then and I felt like a total twat. ‘I’m sorry to ask this, Luke, but do you know anyone who would want her dead?’

He shook his head fiercely then stopped suddenly. ‘Maybe her dad?’

‘Her dad?’ Now I was confused because Nora had marked him as deceased on her paperwork. ‘Ms Sullivan indicated that he was dead.’

‘She might have wished he was dead but he’s not. He got out of prison.’

So Nora was a liar, liar, pants on fire. ‘Is he a banshee?’ Gunnar had said that he’d never seen a male banshee, but it was sensible to check.

‘No,’ Luke replied. ‘Banshees are always female. From what Aoife told me, when female banshees want to breed they find a powerful supernat male to procreate with. Sometimes it works out as a long-time deal, but most banshees don’t bother with marriage or family life. They just want a kid – a daughter, to be precise.’

It probably didn’t matter now, but Luke had confessed to me that his family weren’t powerful. Young love aside, he and Aoife probably wouldn’t have worked out in the long run.

‘Did Aoife have any non-banshee half-siblings?’ I asked.

‘She wondered about that. If she did, she didn’t know about them.’

‘Tell me more about her father. Is he in town? What’s his name?’

‘Aoife told me that he got back last week. He’s a powerful witch, and I think she said his first name is Curt or Cayden – something like that. I’m almost positive it begins with C.’

‘Did he have the same last name? Sullivan?’

‘No, I don’t think so. Banshees take the name of their family caste.’

‘Why do you think he could have killed her?’

‘Aoife was worried because she took something from him once and she wouldn’t give it back. She said he wasn’t a good guy and she always sounded scared of him. She said he was super powerful. I’m a total idiot – I can’t believe I didn’t think of him right away. You could have arrested him already!’ Luke was agitated, pulling at the sleeves of his shirt.

‘It’s okay,’ I soothed. ‘We’ll find him and speak to him.’

The last remnants of energy left him and he looked ready to drop. His hands were shaking and he was crying again. Time to cut him loose. ‘Thanks, Luke. If you think of anything else, please call me. You’re free to go.’

He left slowly, moving like a wounded animal. I went to see Gunnar and share the news about Aoife’s very much alive and supposedly nefarious dad.

My boss was looking harassed when I knocked on the door jamb. ‘Hey. I’ve got some news.’ I ran through both interviews with him. ‘Did you know that Aoife Sullivan’s dad is alive, and that she stole something from him?’

‘Well, now. I thought Nora said he was dead.’ He sounded interested.

‘She did, but Aoife confided in Luke that he wasn’t.’

‘You get a name?’

‘No. He’s a newcomer to town and his name could be Curt, Cayden or something beginning with C,’ I recited.

Gunnar grinned. ‘Good. We have records of any newcomers.’

‘That’s supposing he hasn’t been here before and registered, and that he’s come through the proper channels.’

‘True,’ Gunnar conceded.

‘Either way, we need to search the records. I’ll get Sidnee on it – she’s a wiz at that. And if Nora is covering for her ex, she’s moved up the suspect list with him.’

‘She’s a distinct possibility.’

I sighed. ‘She is, but something is telling me no. She has the means because she can teleport. She has the motive – she hates the barrier tax and she might have wanted to help her daughter ascend and try to bring it down. And Nora had the opportunity because that ability to teleport will be convenient when she’s at work. She’s also been caught lying about the dad, so we can’t trust her when she says her range is about a hundred feet.’

‘So what’s stopping your gut?’ Gunnar asked curiously.

I shook my head. ‘I don’t know. Maybe I struggle to accept a mum would kill her child.’

‘People do all terrible things for the very flimsiest of reason,’ he said darkly.

I thought of Fluffy, abandoned and starving in a bin. He wasn’t wrong. ‘How did it go with the council?’

‘As you can imagine, they’re up in arms. Someone has both gems and if we don’t get the gems restored soon, the barrier will fall.’

My scalp prickled. ‘Getting the gemstones needs to be our priority. There’s no evidence at the wind witch’s house – any evidence was totally incinerated, so we have to follow the trail for Aoife.’

‘Whoever killed her took the fire stone and used it to raze Wintersteen’s house and steal the wind gem. Even if your gut doesn’t like Nora, it’s all we’ve got to work with. We don’t have any hard evidence against her, but we do have plenty of suspicion. We need to find something – anything – and arrest her. If there are no more fires while she’s in the lockup, it’s likely we’ve got the right suspect. I think it’s time for an old-fashioned stake-out but with a dash of modern ingenuity.’ He looked at me. ‘Stop with the wrinkled brow and say it.’

‘How do we watch someone who can teleport? We’d never know how to find her.’

‘We’ll see if her alleged crimes are strong enough to get us a warrant to plant a camera in her house.’

‘That’s legal?’

‘It’s tricky. It’s usually only used with suspected terrorists, but if she has those gems and is trying to bring down the barrier that could be interpreted as terrorism. It depends on whether the council agrees. My gut says they will.’ He sounded grim.

The idea of planting cameras in someone’s home made me uncomfortable, but I had no other smart ideas about how to watch a teleporting supernat. We were too short-staffed for an old-fashioned stakeout.

Gunnar smiled. ‘Don’t worry, we won’t place them in her bedroom or bathroom, but we can put them in the living room and kitchen. We’ll also see if there’s a good spot for outside surveillance. I wish we had the budget for drones and extra staff with cases like this.’ He was right: if we were to keep the other two gemstones safe, we needed a bigger budget.

‘When are we meeting Liv about the remaining stones?’ I asked.

He rolled his head from side to side and puffed out a breath that moved his beard and moustache. Subconsciously he was limbering up to face her. ‘Two hours.’

‘Okay. I’m heading to lunch after I do the paperwork from the interviews. Any new applicants for the filing job?’

‘Haven’t checked. Why don’t you look at the computer for me? I’ll check the mail.’ Gunnar heaved himself out of his chair to head for the post office and I went to see if we had any email applicants.

Only three. I scanned through them. The first was a no: everything on the application was misspelt apart from their name – at least I hoped they hadn’t misspelt their name. The second one was spelled correctly, but there wasn’t much experience. However it was worth an interview because we were growing desperate. The last one gave me pause: April Arctos.

April was the bear-shifter mother of one of our juvenile delinquents whom we’d caught breaking into the Grimes brothers’ trading post and who’d taken fisheye. I’d met her a few times and she’d come across as bossy, controlling and competent. I moved her to the top of the list. She’d get us organised in no time, and right now it felt like we needed it.