Page 61 of Aberrant Monsters
“Stick to the story,” Quentin said. “Answer questions with yes and no wherever possible.”
I pushed the blanket off my lap. “Let’s get this over with.”
sixteen
It was my first time in a human PD interrogation room and the scent of human made my head hurt.
Yeah, they had a distinct smell, musky and sharp, like fear or apprehension. The one sitting in the seat opposite me was a prime specimen, though. Wiry, athletic build, salt-and-pepper hair, and piercing gray eyes that attempted to look into my soul.
His colleague, a young woman with a dark bob and deer-in-the-headlights look sat waiting patiently with a notepad and pen. Quentin sat to my left and Devyn to my right.
The man nodded at the woman, who hit the play button on a recording machine.
“Interview commencing at 11:42,” the man said. “Detective Peterson and Officer Pleasant present and interviewing August Vera, who is accompanied by Quentin Winslow, handler with the Yaga Order, and Devyn Silvercrest, officer with the Night Guild. Miss Vera, do you know why you’ve been asked to come in today?”
“Yes. Miss Silvercrest explained it to me.”
“Okay, so you were seen heading into the station at 9:39 p.m. Our missing people followed at 9:41 p.m. Neither you nor the four men made it onto the train or back out of the station.”
“That’s not true.” I met his eyes. “I left when I saw the guys come onto the platform. They had a negative vibe. It unsettled me so I took the east tunnel out of the station.”
He frowned. “The east tunnel?”
The woman leaned in. “It’s the old railway line. No longer in use.”
“It links to Bently Station,” Devyn said.
“That station is no longer in use.” Peterson’s eyes narrowed.
“I know.” Devyn gave him a thin smile.
The corner of his mouth lifted. “No active cameras either.”
“I don’t appreciate your insinuation, Detective,” Quentin said.
“And I don’t buy your ward’s story,” Peterson said. “Why head off down an abandoned train line to get away rather than just head back up the way you came.”
I leaned my elbows on the table. “Don’t play dumb with me, Detective. You know exactly why, just like you know how many supes have been attacked, molested, even killed by your kind. The protected species has claws, and it delights in using it on the supernaturals your government laws aim to protect them against. So yes, I chose the long, difficult route rather than risk being accosted by four human males on an empty fucking platform.”
“I don’t appreciate your tone, Miss Vera,” Peterson said.
“And I don’t give a damn.”
His lip curled. “Four men are missing, and it’s my job to find out what happened to them. You were the last person to see them, and frankly I don’t believe your story.”
“Then what do you believe?” Devyn asked. “That a five-foot-four rift walker took on four six-foot-plus human males.”
“She’s a New Blood.”
“Arift walker,” Quentin said, “whose only supernatural ability lies with tracking eldritch monsters.”
He sat back in his seat and tapped his pen on the desk. “Yes, the invisible monsters your Order keeps telling us we’re at threat from.”
“Invisible to you, not to a rift walker,” Quentin said. “Aside from the sight, a rift walker has no other abilities: no super strength, no laser-beam eyes, no ability that would account for the disappearance of your humans.”
“Do you have any evidence to suggest foul play?” Devyn asked.
Peterson pressed his lips together. “We’re making inquiries.”
