Page 9 of Mystic Justice
‘About … us?’
He smiled. ‘Nice to know there is an “us”, but no. About the case.’
My cheeks warmed. ‘I’m thinking someone kidnapped and murdered a dryad,’ I said sarcastically. ‘Kate said the magic was off. If she’s right, I wonder if she’ll find runes on Moss Hollings.’ Dark-magic practitioners drew on their victims’ magic by using their pain or life force to bolster their own. If Moss’s magic was hinky, someone or something had interfered with it. To my mind, that meant only one thing: witches.
‘You’re thinking black witches?’ Krieg asked.
‘Evil witches,’ Loki chimed in from a headrest in the back, his favourite spot in Krieg’s car.
‘Definitely evil,’ I agreed. ‘Murder by the light of the full moon? That tends to be an evil witch’s MO. They love a ritual.’ Technically, we were a couple of nights from the full moon, but we were certainly in the waxing gibbous phase and there was plenty of light to murder by.
I frowned. ‘But witches usually like a little more pain – the more pain their victim suffers, the greater the witches’ magical reward. There’s often a lot of blood spilt at a dark-magic killing and there wasn’t any here.’
‘Fear is also a factor in dark magic,’ Krieg pointed out, drumming his hands on the steering wheel. ‘Many fear death by drowning and if her fear was heightened, the magical boost would have been significant. There were two sets of footprints – but that doesn’t make a coven.’
‘No. Perhaps a male and a younger male acolyte? Or a male and a female?’
‘The second set of footprints were smaller and narrow,’ Krieg agreed. He waited a beat. ‘Elves use runes. Sometimes vampyrs do, too.’
‘True,’ I conceded, ‘but with vampyrs you’d still expect blood to be spilt.’
‘Blood everywhere,’ Loki said helpfully.
Krieg shook his head. ‘Blood in theirstomachs. But there was no sign of blood being spilled so it’s likely we’re looking at witches or elves.’
‘We don’t even know if she was runed yet,’ I chided. ‘When Kate checked the lividity she didn’t see any runes and nor did I.’
‘There could have been invisible runes.’
Invisible runes were incredibly expensive compared to their visible counterparts because the potions required to paint them were far more expensive. Unfortunately, almost any witch in any coven would have access to invisible rune potions. If therewereinvisible runes, that didn’t narrow down the suspect pool a jot.
‘Or they might not have been there at all,’ I cautioned. ‘You can’t become fixated on a single theory. All we know is that someone drowned Moss Hollings.’
‘Why?’
I grinned at him suddenly. ‘Now you’re thinking like a cop.’
‘There’s no need to be insulting,’ Krieg said mildly, making me snicker. Loki burst into squawks of laughter.
Krieg ignored us both and rubbed his bottom lip thoughtfully. ‘Both hands on the wheel,’ I warned.
A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes. ‘Or what? You’ll cuff me?’
The thought of the hugely powerful man in cuffs before me temporarily short-circuited my brain. I coughed and hoped he’d mistake my fake choking fit for the reason my cheeks had turned bright red. He didn’t buy it. As his eyes hovered at the neckline of my shirt he murmured, ‘I wonder how far down that blush goes?’
I shot him a disapproving look. ‘We’re working, not flirting.’
‘I maintain we can do both. We’re nothing if not experts in efficiency.’
‘If we were experts in efficiency, we’d have managed to see each other during the last two weeks,’ I pointed out.
‘I had some fallout to deal with.’ His tone was immediately serious, all hints of flirtation gone.
‘After Einar’s death?’
‘Exactly. He was running a faction, getting ready to challenge me and lead a coup. I expect he planned to use the money from Helga’s death to grease palms. Instead, Einar’s death has disrupted the revolution and his pals don’t know who to back next. It’s led to some chaos and a few challenges, though I think I’m starting to get through to them.’
I sat up straighter. ‘They’ve been challenging you?’
