Chapter 9

I had to wait until my next shift to see if Liv had replied to Gunnar’s question about teleportation. I hustled into the office half an hour early because my curiosity was getting the better of me.

Sidnee was at her desk and Shadow was on her lap. He gave a squeak and hopped down to say hello to me. When I stroked him and gave him a scruffle under his chin, he let out a loud purr and wound himself around my legs. ‘I bought you tuna,’ I whispered, ‘so you definitely can’t be mad at me.’

Affection duly dispensed, Shadow went to Fluffy’s bed. Fluffy went over so the two of them could lie together. They were super sweet.

‘Are you okay?’ I asked Sidnee casually. ‘How are things?’

‘Busy. I spoke to a couple of the protesters – my notes are on the system. Nothing interesting to report back, I’m afraid.’ She looked glum, so unlike her usual sunny self.

‘You sure you’re okay?’ I asked.

‘I’m fine.’

‘You’re not. Since Chris—’

‘Bunny, I do not want to talk about Chris,’ she snapped. ‘Just leave it. I’m processing, okay?’

I’d never heard her snap before. I felt awful – I hadn’t meant to upset her, I just wanted to be there for her. Man I sucked at this friendship shit.

Sidnee blew out a long breath. ‘I’m sorry. You and Gunnar are both kind of hovering around me. I get that it’s from a place of love, but I’m dealing in my own way.’ She managed a tight smile. ‘It’s been a long day. The phone’s been ringing off the hook – you know how it is. I’m ready to clock off now you’re here. You mind if I go early?’

‘No, you’re good. Go ahead.’

She packed up and left without saying goodbye to Gunnar. I knocked on his door and went in, Liv suddenly taking a backseat in my mind. ‘I’m worried about Sidnee,’ I announced.

Gunnar sat back in his chair and stroked his beard. ‘Me too,’ he admitted. ‘I hate seeing her this way.’

‘She seems down.’

‘She has reason to be,’ he pointed out gently.

‘Of course she does.’ I wasn’t dismissing what she’d been through with Chris, but I was worried. ‘Has she talked to you about it?’

‘No, nor to Sigrid. And Sig’s been trying.’

‘Me too,’ I admitted. ‘She keeps blowing me off for lunch, and just now she basically lost it with me and told me to mind my own business.’ I was paraphrasing, but that’s how it had felt.

‘She’ll come round,’ he said.

‘I’ve never really had friends,’ I admitted uncomfortably. ‘Am I doing enough? Should I do more?’

His eyes softened. ‘You’re doing great. Sometimes people need space. She knows she’s loved and supported, and she’ll talk to us when she’s ready. We need to keep on being there for her.’

‘Okay. Thanks.’ I cleared my throat and changed the topic to a more comfortable one like terrifying necromancers. ‘Did Liv get back to you?’

‘She sure did. She says the only ones she knows that can teleport are banshees.’

Bingo! I was buzzing with excitement as things fell into place. ‘Gunnar, the fires and the theft – they’re linked. They have to be! A banshee teleported in, snatched the fire jewel and now random fires keep starting? It has to be because of the jewel!’

‘I reached the same conclusion. I’ve asked the council for a search warrant.’

I grinned triumphantly; we might even get this case wrapped up by the end of my shift. ‘So besides teleporting, what else do you know about banshees?’ I asked. ‘Are there any male ones?’ What little lore I knew was from the pedestrian world, but in fiction banshees were always female.

‘I honestly don’t know much about them, but I’ve never heard of a male one. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist – you know how closely each species guards their secrets. It’s possible that male banshees exist but don’t have the same colouring as the women, or it could be a wholly female race.’

I’d thought banshees were spirit creatures, not physical beings like the two I’d met. I figured the folklore and the reality were rather far apart, and I was doing my best to cut down on making assumptions. ‘Our whole case is pretty flimsy. Circumstantial.’

‘It is,’ Gunnar agreed. ‘But I’ve sent the evidence from the scene to the lab, plus the extra hairs you got after the interview. Fingers crossed both have DNA attached.’ He grimaced; he obviously didn’t think it was likely.

‘What are the chances of an intact hair root?’ I pressed.

‘Honestly? Slim to none, but we have to try. Hopefully we’ll get the search warrant and find our missing gem. That’s more important than building a solid case right now. We need to get the barrier back to full strength before the beast realises it’s weak.’

I swallowed hard; that would be my nightmares come to life. ‘Yeah. I hear you,’ I said faintly.

The phone rang so I went back to my desk. When I answered it, someone hung up. I tried to redial but the number was withheld. Weird.

For the next hour I read through Sidnee’s notes of her interviews with the other protestors, but nothing jumped out at me. I checked the phone log but it was blank. I frowned; Sidnee had said she’d had loads of calls, but if that were true she hadn’t noted a single one. That wasn’t like her: she was meticulous. My worry about her deepened.

Gunnar burst out of his office looking triumphant. ‘We’ve got it! Let’s roll!’

‘The warrant came through?’

‘Bingo!’ Gunnar looked like the weight of the world had been taken off his shoulders; like me, he was expecting to have the fire gem in its box and safely returned to its pillar by the end of our working day. Things were cooking!

I had two known barrier protestors, hairs at the scene and a supernatural race with the ability to teleport. It was the perfect trifecta: means, motive and opportunity. I’d have the thief in jail and the barrier back up and running in no time!

I was almost giddy. Easiest case yet, I thought smugly.