Page 67 of Sacrifice
“Didn’t run into Mallory? White, middle-aged man. Red hair.”
“No.”
“Are you sure? Mallory liked to hang around the river. He’s got form. I wouldn’t have put it past him to approach you.”
Eve stared at him for a long moment. “I don’t know what you’re getting at.”
“James Mallory was a known sex offender, Miss Areli. Pretty girl like you, wandering alone in the dead of night. It would have been a gift.”
Incredulity was building in Eve. She looked between Michaels and the constable. Neither was giving anything away. “Are you suggesting I was asking to be attacked?”
Thorne produced an evidence bag and placed it in front of her. “Do you recognize this?”
It was an iPhone zipped inside a plastic bag. The cover was a distinctive bright yellow and there was a small web of cracks to the top left of the screen. It was also smeared with blood. She gawked at the bag. “Jesus, where did you get that? It’s mine. I’ve been looking for it everywhere.”
“Can you explain how this came to be at the murder scene?” Thorne asked.
Eve’s jaw flapped as she flailed around her brain for words. There was a slice of time she couldn’t remember.
“We’ve compared the prints against yours. They match. The blood is that of the victim.”
Eve shook her head, trying to clear it. “I don’t understand how–”
Michaels leaned forward and stopped the tape recording.
Perhaps, at last, this was going to make some sense.
“What do you remember of that night?” he said, pushing the evidence bag towards her. She was still staring at her phone and now tears were welling in her incredulous eyes. It had been one mad thing after another. She was angry at being snatched from her home. Her senses reeled from being turned up to eleven and now down to zero. She was confused beyond measure. Her phone had been in her coat pocket.
“Nothing other than being in the water,” she muttered. “I’ve never met this, Mallory.”
Michaels nodded. “I know, but after that little demonstration on the tube, I can’t have you wandering aroundunprotected.”
Eve squinted at him, her mind clearing as she realized what he was saying. “So, you’re going to frame me for a murder?”
“I can hold you without charge for forty-eight hours, seventy-two if I go to the Super. That will be long enough to keep you safe.”
She tried to read him, tried to penetrate the veil. Instinctively, her hand went to her pendant and Michaels’ eyes followed. She pulled at the open neck of her shirt, trying to cover it up, but it was too late. She bit at her lip, annoyed with herself.
“The star, did he give you that?”
“Mallory?”
“Forget Mallory. Lucien Knight. Did he ask you to wear it?”
Defiance settled across Eve then. “So, we are back to Lucien. You’ve really got a bug up your ass about him, haven’t you?” They stared at each other, and Eve saw violet glimmers shining deep in Michaels’ eyes. “I know what you are,” she said at last.
Michaels huffed out a laugh and leaned back in his chair. “Enlighten me.”
“You’re a lackey. A prison guard. Following orders and trying to keep Lucien chained.”
He looked taken aback by that. She ploughed on. “We are meant to be together, Lucien and I. Ishtar and Elham are going to be reunited.”
“Gods, and you were doing so well. Had me worried for minute.”
“What?” Michaels was really starting to piss her off.
“Did he give you the Star of Ishtar and tell you that you are a goddess?” Michaels asked, learning forward, putting his arms on the table.
