I put my finger to my lips in an elaborate gesture of sharing a secret. In theory, he could be a suspect; he certainly had the means to kill me, if not the motive. However, he would have been thoroughly questioned last night and I didn’t sense any sort of threat from him. The fact that he’d deluded himself into thinking I’d deliberately faked my own death as part of some crazy police plot helped with that. It’s fascinating what we can make ourselves believe when we need to.
‘Did you see anyone else hanging around the church last night?’ I asked, focusing on facts rather than forced delusions.
He didn’t hesitate. ‘No. Only you.’
‘And afterwards? After you found me?’
‘There was no one. I checked your pulse and couldn’t feel anything, so I called an ambulance straight away. The sirens drew a small crowd. As soon as the paramedics went to work on you, I came in here to give them space. The police spoke to me, but I wasn’t much help. You’d only given me a nickname and they had nothing else to go on.’
I gazed intently at him. Reverend Knight might have been only feet away when I was being murdered, but he hadn’t seen a thing. He knew even less than I did. ‘Thank you for your time,’ I said finally.
Relief spasmed across his face; he couldn’t wait to get rid of me. He was in shock right now, but that shock would turn to fear as soon as I left. And quite possibly fury. My very existence would threaten him.
He glanced around and then, his voice quavering, said, ‘Him. Outside. Is this to do with him?’
‘The vampire?’
Reverend Knight flinched.
I thought of Tony and his text message. ‘No,’ I said quietly. ‘This is all about humans.’
Chapter Eight
Further investigation of the crime site would have to wait until I was certain of solitude. At this point, it didn’t really matter – it was obvious where I had to go next.
The only reason I’d been at St Erbin’s Church was because Tony had lured me there. Then he’d failed to show up. It didn’t take a detective to know that he was suspect numero uno – a child would have sussed that. I might not want to believe that he’d killed me, but I wasn’t naïve enough to think that the police were all shining heroes. Corruption existed everywhere.
The only thing that gave me pause was lack of motive. Try as I might, I couldn’t think of any reason why the old detective would want me dead. One minor werewolf fuck-up wasn’t sufficient reason for murder. Still, I knew I’d learn a great deal from the expression on his face when I walked in through the door of Supernatural Squad. It was quite possible that I’d solve my own death within the next ten minutes.
I was also aware that I should be careful. Tony might well try to attack me again. At this time of day, though, both Liza and Fred would also be in the building. It wasn’t remotely credible that all three of them could be involved.
I furled and unfurled my fists as I ran through various scenarios in my head. Whatever happened next, I was ready for it.
I strode into the Supernatural Squad building, marched down the corridor and burst into the main room on the ground floor. Liza glanced up with nothing more than vague interest; Fred didn’t bother removing his eyes from the television screen.
‘Where’s Tony?’ I demanded.
‘He’s not come in today,’ Liza said. ‘I thought he was out with you.’
I stared at her. She didn’t look anything more than mildly surprised to see me – and neither did she look like she was lying about Tony.
‘Fred, have you seen Tony today?’ I demanded.
He barely stirred. ‘Nope.’
I stalked forward until I was standing between the sofa and the television. With considerable reluctance, Fred met my eyes.
‘I have not seen him,’ he said, enunciating every word. He sighed. ‘Look, I know you’re full of enthusiasm and excitement, and you want to do great things, but this,’ he flicked his hand around the room, ‘this is what life is like in Supernatural Squad. You should enjoy the peace and quiet while you can.’
I stayed exactly where I was. ‘Have you phoned Tony to see where he is?’
With what appeared to be a great effort, he pushed himself up to a sitting position. ‘A woman was killed last night at St Erbin’s Church,’ he said. ‘A Jane Doe. He’s probably over at CID right now, arguing why we should get the case. He’ll lose.’
I couldn’t stop myself. ‘You don’t care that some poor person was killed right on the edge of our territory?’
For the first time I saw a flicker of emotion on Fred’s face. ‘Of course I care. But if it was a supe that did it, then the supes themselves will find the perp and deal with him – or her. If it was a human, CID will take the case from us. There’s nothing for us to do. There never is.’
I ground my teeth together and counted to ten. ‘I’ve lost my phone,’ I said. ‘Is there a landline I can use?’
