26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Connor told me what he knew about the missing recruit. Liam Smith had been a supernat from Ugiuvak, the other supernat town. I blinked at that: Danny worked for the Nomo’s office there so he must have heard about Liam going missing.

Occasionally Danny had seemed so incredibly competent and knowledgeable that I’d thought that he really didn’t need the academy except for some rubber stamping. Was he here to dig into Liam’s disappearance? His weird reaction in the mine suddenly had a whole new meaning and questioning Danny moved high up my to-do list.

My mind was whirling when I said goodbye to Connor and hustled off to join Marks’ next class: he’d forgive me being late because he knew I’d had to deal with my dog. I slid in at the back of the room and forced myself to focus. The class was interesting but I was still relieved when it ended because questions were burning a hole in my brain.

The room emptied quickly as everyone rushed to lunch. I signalled for Sidnee to stay behind so I could tell her and Marks about Petty. When I recounted the episode with Petty, Marks looked grim. ‘I’ve found a forensic accountant, someone discreet. They’ll fly in tonight,’ he said softly. He looked around to double-check that everyone else had gone. ‘Captain Engell is teaching after lunch, so I’ll try to sneak into his office then and look around.’

‘Shouldn’t we wait for the accountant?’ I asked.

‘I probably won’t recognize anything, but it might be my only chance to dig into Petrovich’s file. At the very least I can take some photos of the financial files for the accountant in case we can’t sneak him into the office. That will be difficult because Captain Engell has been staying up late to catch up on the books.’

‘When does he leave his office?’ Sidnee asked.

Sergeant Marks shrugged. ‘He says around ten. I’m usually gone by then, so I don’t know precisely.’

I knew that because we wrapped up our supernat classes with Sergeant Marks at nine. Regardless of his plans, I was rapidly forming my own. Marks hadn’t mentioned Liam Smith going missing – maybe he didn’t know. Either way, it was time for a vampire and her mermaid sidekick to snoop around after lights out. Okay, at first blush the mermaid thing didn’t seem ideal, but Sidnee could turn her eyes black so she could see in the dark depths of the sea; her night vision was excellent, which made her the perfect lookout.

Marks continued. ‘I guess we’ll worry about it if I can’t find anything.’ He sighed.

I had one last question. ‘Did you know someone called Liam Smith?’ I asked casually.

‘Sure, he was one of the supernat recruits last year.’ He looked disappointed. ‘I thought the lad had potential but he dropped out. Not everyone can handle the pressure. Still, it’s better that they find out here than after they’re sworn in.’

I smiled. ‘You’re right, I’m sure. Well, let us know how you get on with the accountant,’ I said firmly. ‘We’re leaving it in your hands.’ Like heck we were.

As we left. Sidnee slid me a sidelong glance. ‘We’re not leaving it in his hands?’

I grinned. ‘Nope.’

‘Who’s Liam Smith?’

I filled her in on what Connor had told me as we hustled up to our room so I could grab some gazpacho blood to guzzle before lunch. ‘You don’t trust Marks?’ Sidnee asked as I glugged down my coppery meal.

I wiped my mouth. ‘It’s not that I don’t trust him, it’s more that I don’t trust anyone right now. All we know is that someone is trying to destroy the academy. Petty died here, and Liam disappeared. Sergeant Marks brought up the financial angle. He might be right – it could be embezzlement and maybe Engell is cooking the books. We need to check if he was a temporary TAC officer when Liam Smith was here. I don’t know what’s going on yet, but I think the answers are in that office, the one the poltergeist hit first. I’m going in tonight. Are you game?’

She nodded firmly. ‘Absolutely. I’m your ride or die. Something is fishy, and not in a tasty way. I’m with you on this – I’m not sure who to trust, apart from you. I’m doubly not sure about an outside accountant because that could be another way to throw us off the scent. The accountant might tell us everything is hunky-dory when it isn’t.’

‘I hear you. Tonight, then?’

‘Tonight,’ she agreed. Her tummy let out a long rumble, making me giggle.

‘Hungry, Sid?’

‘Shut up!’ She nudged me. ‘Not all of us get tasty snacks in a fancy fridge! Teacher's pet!’

I snickered. ‘It’s not so much that I’m a teacher's pet, rather that Fischer doesn't want me to go into a bloodlust state and kill everyone. Small things like that.’

‘Yeah, that would be frowned on. Best keep the vamp fed.’ With that decided, we headed to lunch.

It felt like a long time until lights-out, especially as we were stressing about getting caught, but we needed our shot at that office. Even if we didn’t understand the financial documents, we needed to determine who was trying to harm the academy. Aoife had said someone didn’t have the academy’s interests at heart, but what exactly did that mean? I hoped we’d find a clue; any clue would do.

I felt completely blind, like I was stumbling into who knew what, and I hated feeling ignorant. It wasn’t something I’d experienced often because my prodigious memory allowed me to recall everything. With the added complication of Liam Smith’s disappearance, the stakes had suddenly risen. Two recruits had vanished, and though Petrovich had been found he was dead. My stomach clenched. It didn’t bode well for Smith.

I spent the day trying to get Danny on his own to question him about Liam Smith but someone was always around and I didn’t want to raise their suspicions. I’d told Sidnee I didn’t trust anyone, though that wasn’t strictly true: I trusted her and I thought I trusted Danny. He’d always had my back where Thorsen was concerned and he’d called out Polk when he’d bullied Jones, not to mention lending me his handkerchief when my nose was bleeding like Niagara Falls. Annoyingly, I still hadn’t managed to get it laundered and return it to him. I was carrying around the thing like a bloody memento, but at that moment laundry was low on my list of priorities.

Engell’s afternoon class was as boring as his others had been he was dull as dishwater though he seemed competent and friendly enough. As class ended, he called out, ‘Barrington, see me after class.’

The class made a juvenile ‘ooooh’ sound like I was in trouble and I rolled my eyes, making them laugh. ‘You wanted to see me?’ I asked pointedly when we were alone.

As he studied me, he suddenly looked younger, sharper and more dangerous. He flashed me a shark’s grin. ‘You know Patkotak?’

Surprised, I answered, ‘Yeah. You?’

‘Yes.’ He leaned forward. ‘Is there anything you want to tell me?’

I blinked, nonplussed. ‘Like what?’

‘Like about the damned poltergeist wreaking havoc on the academy?’

‘Oh, about that? Nope.’ I kept my tone light.

Clearly frustrated, he sighed and sat back. ‘Speak to Patkotak. You can trust me.’

Really? I could trust him like the gingerbread man could trust the fox.

He sighed again. ‘Dismissed,’ he barked when it was clear I wouldn’t engage further.

I stalked out, eager to get to my supernat class. On the way, I spotted Thorsen’s broad frame crowding someone. I moved closer to see who he was bullying this time: Eben. ‘Hey,’ I said loudly. ‘What do we have here? A budding bromance?’

Thorsen shot me a hate-filled glare and stalked off without a word; I considered myself lucky. I turned to Eben. ‘You okay?’

He glared and pushed past me without a word of thanks. Charming.

‘You’re welcome!’ I hollered at his back, but he ignored me. I grimaced; maybe he was upset at having a woman rescue him from a bully, or maybe he was upset that I’d joked about a bromance between him and Thorsen. Maybe next time I rescued someone I shouldn’t insult them at the same time, but it had been Thorsen’s fault; something in him brought out the worst in me. Everyone else seemed to think the sun shone out of his ass, but all I could see was the darkness in him.

When I filtered into our ‘remedial’ class, Eben was already sitting down and Margi was perched at the front. I looked at Marks and mouthed ‘later’. He gave me a slight nod.

As always, I was excited about my supernat class. This one was about dwarves and I could have listened for hours.

‘You’ll know all about dwarves,’ Harry teased Danny. ‘You’re a proper gnome, aren't you?’

Danny’s expression went flat. ‘Good thing we’re friends,’ he muttered, ‘or I’d kick your ass.’

‘I’m missing something,’ I said. Danny was a huge beast of a man, which frequently amused me since he became extremely small when he shifted into a raven. But I didn’t think there wasn’t anything gnome-like about him – although I had no idea what magical gnomes were like. I’d only met the garden variety that Mum thought were terribly gauche.

‘You’re always missing something,’ Eben jibed, his tone still distinctly unfriendly. Okay, so maybe I’d accidentally threatened his masculinity by rescuing him as if he were a damsel in distress. Should I apologise? I’d been trying to help.

Marks’ voice cracked out like a whip. ‘Enough! We’re getting off course. Barrington, a gnome is a derogatory term for a person from Nome.’

Danny looked exasperated. ‘It’s a lame joke about our height.’

‘I thought you were from Ugiuvak?’ I was confused: Danny had definitely said he was from Ugiuvak.

‘I live there now,’ he assured me. ‘But I was born and raised in Nome.’

‘Okay… But you’re really tall and gnomes are short, right?’ I pointed out. He’d said it was a height joke.

‘Most of us are,’ Danny said. ‘It’s like calling a giant “Tiny”. It’s hilarious, it never grows old.’ His voice was laden with sarcasm.

I grinned, enjoying learning some in-jokes. Marks rapped his knuckles on the board. ‘We are here to talk about dwarves, not gnomes. Eyes front and centre, mouths closed.’

‘Walk me to my dorm later?’ I whispered to Danny as the class was wrapping up. Looking intrigued, he nodded. Apparently he hadn’t been oblivious to my glances during the day. ‘I need to speak to Marks,’ I went on. ‘Wait for me outside with Sidnee. I won’t be a minute.’

I waited until the classroom was empty before approaching Marks. ‘Anything?’ I asked without preamble.

‘Something,’ he said grumpily. ‘All the files for Petrovich’s year are missing. The files for the years before and after are still there.’

‘And the financials?’

‘I took a tonne of photographs for the accountant so I hope he can spot something. There was an empty drawer, though, and it looked like it had been cleared out recently.’

‘Engell is a neat freak,’ I pointed out.

‘Undoubtedly. I’ll get the files to the accountant and let you know if anything leaps out at him.’

‘Great.’ I paused. ‘Why are you letting me help you?’

He gave a wry smile. ‘Firstly, it’s clear you’re going to look into it with or without me. Secondly, if we identify Engell as the culprit, you can take our evidence to Fischer for me and that way my job isn't on the line if we’re wrong.’ He looked serious. ‘I like my job at the academy because I get to help promising young supernats make a positive impact on the world. That’s more important than Engell stealing a few thousand dollars. What I do matters .’

I nodded. ‘It does. Thanks for being frank with me. You find the evidence and I’ll be your fall guy.’ I paused. ‘Engell pulled me in at the end of the class. He said we had a mutual acquaintance.’

‘And?’

‘Sidnee knows the acquaintance too, but he didn’t call her in.’

‘You think he was trying to pump you for information?’

‘Maybe. I haven’t been terribly subtle about my investigation. Anyone can check my library history and see what I’ve been looking into.’

Marks grimaced. ‘Keep your eyes open and keep walking around in pairs.’

‘You got it.’ I gave a mock salute and went to join Danny and Sidnee. Danny nodded in greeting then jerked his head towards Sidnee. ‘You trust her?’

‘Fully,’ I confirmed.

By silent agreement, we ducked into the other dark classroom. As Sidnee took up a position at the edge of the door to watch for interlopers, Danny switched his focus back to me. ‘You’ve been trying to get my attention today. What’s up?’

‘Liam Smith.’

Danny tensed. ‘What about him?’

‘He was from your village.’

‘He was.’

‘You knew him?’ I pressed.

His expression was grim. ‘He was a friend.’

I studied him. ‘Apparently he dropped out from here but never made it home?’

Danny’s jaw tightened. ‘He didn’t drop out, I swear it. The records said he had, but we spoke the night before he went missing and he was real enthusiastic, overflowing with praise for Sergeant Marks.’

‘Marks in particular?’ I asked.

‘Yeah. I got the vibe that Marks had taken him under his wing. Marks is a bear shifter, same as Liam, and Liam really looked up to him.’ Danny’s voice choked up.

I patted him on the shoulder. ‘So that’s why you’re here? You’re already a detective, aren’t you?’

‘Damn right,’ he confirmed. ‘My Nomo made out like there was a disciplinary issue and he wanted me sent back to school to re-learn all the basics.’

‘But really you’re undercover?’

‘You bet. And something fucking stinks. Liam never mentioned an active poltergeist. And…’ he paused ‘…I found this in the old mine.’ He pulled out a ring. ‘It was Liam’s. Whatever happened to him, he was down there.’

‘A squad challenge?’

‘Maybe,’ he conceded. ‘But I can’t help but feel that he was Hansel and Gretel-ing.’

‘Leaving clues for you,’ I mused.

‘Something happened to Liam and that something happened here at the academy. And I’m going to find out what.’

I licked my lips. When I’d found Connor in the mine, I’d felt a fear that was off the charts. Connor had said hybrids could feed off auras, so what if I could sense emotions, too? The fear had been so overwhelming; what if it hadn’t been my fear but the fear that someone held there had experienced? Someone like Liam Smith.

I kept my suspicions to myself because I couldn’t even begin to express them without revealing my hybrid status, and if that came out it would be a death warrant. Instead I told Danny everything I’d learnt about Engell and Marks and what I knew about Petrovich.

Then I told him that Aoife had said someone was working against the academy’s interests and reminded him of Petrovich’s threat – or warning – that we were all going to die. Finally, I told him about Petty’s comment about saving our souls and that I didn’t know whether it was a warning or an entreaty.

All I knew was that something dark was going on. And we were going to get to the bottom of it.