Page 126 of An Archer's Redemption

He looked up at one of his men working at a desk across the room. “Edward. Hey, Edward!”

The man didn’t flinch, just kept scribbling on a parchment.

“No one’s Gifts are working. They haven’t for a bit. How did you do that?”

Keelan leaned forward and whispered, despite my magic barrier guarding our words, “There’s a lot going on, and we’re neck deep in it. We can’t talk about parts of the investigation, but what brought us here may be the key to securing the new Queen’s throne from danger.”

The lawman leaned back and whistled. “The Queen? Really?”

Keelan nodded, then launched into his prepared explanation detailing what we knew about the attacks in the other cities and the one on the Queen. He left out the whole Irina-has-returned side of the investigation.

“And now you want to know more about the bird we sent, about that last killing?”

Keelan nodded again. “That’s right. As crazy as it sounds, your witness’s story fills in a lot of holes for us.”

“Crazy is right, but explain something to me. Why would the Order and their Priests do something like this? Most of the people have come to love the Priests. Those who don’t at leastrespect the work they’re doing. Why go after the Queen—or any of these people, for that matter?”

“We’re hoping your witness, or someone in town who knew the victim, can help us with that. We might also want to talk again with anyone who knew your first victim, Hershel.”

“That’s right. Town was torn up over his death, now one of his best friends gets killed. It’s just too much.”

Keelan’s eyes narrowed. “One of his best friends? The victims knew each other?”

“That’s right.” Kerr nodded. “You think there’s a connection?”

“I don’t know, but it’s another piece, and there’s been too many pieces showing up for them not to paint a picture at some point.”

“All right, where do you want to start?”

Keelan thought a moment. “Right here. I’d like to talk with your officers who dealt with the latest killing first. Then we can move on to witnesses and acquaintances.”

Kerr gave a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Solid plan. I’m starting to see why you’re Melucia’s famous top cop now.”

“Not sure I deserve all that.” Keelan shrugged. “I’m just trying to protect people best I can. Who should we start with?”

Kerr pointed to several uniformed men. “Take your pick.”

The Constables were friendly and helpful, offering detailed accounts of their investigations and interviews, all of which resulted in more questions than answers. Keelan thanked them, and we moved on to a witness list the Chief provided us, complete with locations and directions.

“Wait,” Keelan said as he read through the list. “Liam? Is that the same Liam who works at the inn?”

“And the same Liam who’s Hershel’s son. That’s right,” Kerr confirmed.

“Huh,” was all Keelan said.

Kerr offered to accompany us as we left the constabulary, but Keelan waved him off, and we made our way to the first name on the list.

Four hours later, Keelan and I were down to the last name: Liam.

As we strode toward the inn, Keelan turned toward me. “Did you sense anything from those people we just talked to?”

I cocked a brow. “Sense anything? What do you mean?”

“You know, feel anything strange? Get a tingling sensation, say, between your shoulder blades?”

“Are you feeling woozy again? That’s the strangest thing I’ve heard all day—and we’re arse deep in strange already.”

Keelan grunted a chuckle. “I’m talking about sensing truth, like I could do before the Gifts vanished. You remember my bees? How they’d sting just below my neck? You teased mefor yearsabout calling it that. That only happened when somebody was hiding something or lying.”

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