Chapter 56

Gunnar came over and slung an arm around me. ‘Alright, Bugs?’

I gave him a flat stare but smiled despite myself. He’d jumped out of a window with me, so he got a pass today on calling me silly names. The cheeky grin he was sporting showed he knew it, too.

‘What are we going to do with them?’ I asked Gunnar, pointing to the Wintersteens. ‘It doesn’t seem fair to punish them when they were so far under the influence of the gems.’

‘Yet one or both of them killed Aoife and attacked Nora. Justice has to be served.’

‘Yeah,’ I agreed unhappily. ‘But then two kids won’t have parents.’

He looked at me with gentle kindness. ‘I also have compassion, as will the council when they go to trial. We’ll see what they say in the interview. We have to trust the system, that there will be empathy and mercy. This is one of the reasons why we are different from ped law. We have more than the usual mitigating factors.’

I understood but I still felt awful. This wasn’t as cut and dried as my other cases. Ginny might have been influenced by her brain tumour, and Jim by his love for her; Chris had his military loyalty and maybe the desire to make money. I could see their motivation and that they needed to be held responsible for their actions – they had made choices. This case felt different. Elsa’s behaviour had been influenced by an outside force. Although I could find a tiny bit of compassion for the others, all I felt for Elsa was compassion.

Gunnar was right: I needed to sit back and let the system do its things. The gems’ influence had to be part of the Wintersteens’ defence. I hoped that, away from the gems, they would come back to their senses, back to themselves. I had a feeling it wouldn’t be far for Mr Wintersteen to travel because I wasn’t sure he’d been influenced by the gems as much as a need to protect his family and his wife – and wasn’t that admirable? Though admittedly he could have done things differently. If he’d alerted Liv to his concerns for his wife… Shoulda, woulda, coulda.

I squared my shoulders. I’d done my job and now it was up to the system. I should be proud. Maybe Aoife would find some measure of happiness in her new life as the Sullivan banshee for her generation; she certainly hadn’t seemed unhappy when I’d seen her – actually, she was totally kick-ass now. But she’d had a whole life ahead of her with all of its possibilities, and that had been taken from her. It made my heart ache but I had to learn to let it go.

I leaned against Connor and he wrapped his uninjured arm around me as I sighed.

‘Go home,’ Gunnar ordered. ‘I’ll get these two processed and booked. Sidnee’s on her way to the office to take over.’

‘Sidnee? Is that wise?’ I asked.

‘Sig said she’s climbing the walls. The best thing for her is to be doing.’

I could understand that. ‘Okay, I’ll go home. Thanks.’

Gunnar started to walk away then turned back. ‘Bunny, it does get easier, I promise. But your compassion is part of what makes you good at this job. Don’t forget that, and don’t lose it.’

My heart warmed. It might have even given a grateful floppy beat. ‘Thanks, Gunnar. I’ll try.’

‘Night, Bunny Rabbit.’ His smile was full of affection. ‘Sleep well.’

‘And you. Night, boss.’

A red Mustang rumbled up the drive followed by a black Range Rover. Our ride was here. Lee Margrave parked the Mustang and chucked Connor the keys which he caught automatically with his burnt hand. I winced for him. ‘Blood?’ I called out.

‘In the Range Rover,’ Lee replied. ‘I’ll get it.’ He opened the back door and retrieved two bags. He handed one to Connor, who simply sunk his fangs into it.

The bag Lee passed to me had already been punctured by a straw. I flushed a little in embarrassment but took it. I struggled my way through the blood but I was grateful when, almost instantly, I felt the warmth and discomfort which meant my vampire healing was kicking in. My ass was feeling better already, though it still ached.

When we’d both finished, Connor passed the gem box to Lee. ‘You and Cody need to take the stones to the witches. The fire one goes to Kostas. Call Liv to see who’s taking the wind gem.’ He fixed Lee with a glare. ‘This time make sure that someone is on the fire stone 24/7. The guard will have a daylight charm – it’s passed on rotation.’

Margrave’s eyes widened. ‘Yes, sir.’ He took the box and climbed into the Range Rover.

‘You want me to drive the Mustang?’ I offered.

Connor smiled. ‘No need. I’m good as new.’ He showed me his newly healed hand.

My jaw dropped. ‘Wow. That was insanely fast.’ How come my butt still hurt when he was all healed up?

‘The older you get, the quicker you heal.’

‘And how old are you?’

He smiled. ‘Old enough. If you want to drive the Mustang though…?’

‘Hell, no. I hate driving on the other side of the road. I’m getting used to it but I don’t enjoy it.’

‘No worries, I’ll drive. Come on, Fluffy, you can sit in the footwell.’ Fluffy hopped to his feet, also looking forward to going home and having a meal and a restful sleep.

We drove to my house and parked outside. ‘Come in?’ I asked Connor.

‘You bet.’ He turned off the engine and walked around the car to open my door.

‘Such a gentleman,’ I mocked gently.

‘I’m a product of my era,’ he winked.

‘Which was…?’

He grinned. ‘You know it’s become a game to see how long I can keep my age from you?’

‘Challenge accepted,’ I smirked. I’d be checking out his Portlock records before you could say ‘case solved’. ‘Want some food?’ I offered. ‘I heat up a mean microwave meal.’

‘That’d be great.’

I wrinkled my nose. ‘It won’t be great, but it’ll be food.’

‘Food will do nicely.’

He sat in my kitchen whilst I bustled around feeding Shadow, Fluffy and then us. ‘So, another case under your belt,’ he said.

‘Yup. It sucked and I’m glad it’s over – now it’s your problem. Yours and the council’s.’

He laughed. ‘Yeah, but now we can both let it go. It’s tomorrow’s problem.’

‘I like that idea. I want a bath, a cuppa and you. In no particular order.’

‘The bath should be top of the list. Your mud problem is now mine.’ He grinned.

I looked at him; sure enough, he was covered in mud where I’d touched him. Fluffy was also mud covered. I sighed, then winced. ‘Your poor car.’

‘I’ll get it detailed.’

‘Well, before we can relax in that tub together, I’d better wash Fluffy and lock up and…’

He stopped my mouth with a kiss. What felt like a lifetime later, he let me up for air. ‘We will wash Fluffy and lock up. It’s you and me now, Bunny. You don’t have to be alone anymore.’ He paused. ‘To be clear, you can be alone any time you want. Any time you say, I’ll go…’ He looked uncertain.

‘For the love of God, stay.’ I pulled him down for a long kiss. ‘Stay, stay, stay.’

‘Well, you’ve twisted my arm,’ he mumbled against my lips.

I’d have taken him mud and all at that point, but he was as good as his word. He helped me scrub the dog and then the bathroom. He noticed the holes in my jeans and spent half an hour picking birdshot out of my butt so it could heal properly; no wonder it had still been hurting. He made me drink more blood to allow me to heal completely, then made a cuppa to my taste.

My phone rang. Since it was Gunnar, I answered. ‘Everything okay?’

‘You bet. I thought you’d want to know how Nora’s nail got under Aoife’s body.’

I sat up. That had been bothering me. ‘Hit me.’

‘Elsa was trying to frame her and she went through Nora’s bins to find some evidence to plant. She was hoping for a hairball from a brush or some old clothes that had been thrown out, but instead she found some torn-off acrylic nails. She grabbed one, but then a neighbour came out and she had to run away before she was spotted.’

I sighed as the last mystery was solved. ‘Not a keelut, then.’

‘Not a keelut,’ he agreed. ‘Elsa has confessed to Aoife’s murder. Like you suspected, she was planning on stealing a gem from Connor and using Aoife’s banshee spirit to make a new cursed gem. With the confession on the record, it’s just a matter of sentencing.’

‘And the council will factor in the possession?’

‘As I said, that’s the council’s mess to deal with. I just wanted to lay that mystery to rest for you.’

‘Thanks, I appreciate it. Night, boss. Love to Sig.’

‘She sends it back. Sleep well, Bunny.’ He rang off.

Connor had run me a deep, hot bath. I stripped off my clothes and climbed in, and he kindly let me soak for a few minutes before he joined me. Sharing a bath wasn’t the most practical thing in the world for tall people, and we were all knees and elbows. ‘I need a bigger bathtub.’

He kissed my shoulder. ‘Mine is huge. With jets.’

‘Next time, we bathe at yours.’

‘Deal.’

We scrubbed ourselves clean then we went next door to the bedroom where we got very, very dirty.

Later, warm, naked, and satiated, I felt like the world was mine.