Page 33 of Veiled Justice
She licked her lips before jerking her head in a nod.
‘And you found him.’
She nodded again.
‘Quintos was there at Helga’s death but he wasn’t the one that stabbed her,’ I stated.
She held herself rigidly still so that no movement could be read as breaking the oath that she’d sworn, but I knew I was right.
‘Inspector Wise!’ Volderiss growled in warning.
‘My apologies. One more question, Verona. Did you kill Helga?’
Her eyes flew open and her brow furrowed. She opened her mouth to give me an emphatic no then licked her lips again and swallowed. She wasn’t sure if protesting her innocence would condemn her under the oath she’d sworn. Interesting.
‘After the murder, you were heard saying “Good riddance”. Why?’
Next to me, Krieg growled. Verona pressed closer to Volderiss, much like Ludwig had done. ‘I meant no disrespect,’ she said hastily to Krieg. ‘I was trying to blend into the surroundings and not bring attention to myself. Oath-sworn as I am, I didn’t want the killers to take issue with my presence.’
I hadn’t missed the fact that Verona had said Helga’s ‘killers’ – plural. ‘Is there any other comment or hint you can give us about the identity of Helga’s murderers?’
She looked at Volderiss for permission, and he nodded slowly. ‘If you think you can assist without compromising your oath and risking yourself then do so.’
She tugged on her blonde plait as she thought. ‘Helga wasn’t the only ogre I saw at the party,’ she said finally.
I frowned. ‘You saw Krieg afterwards?’
‘No, I missed his dramatic entrance. I was one of the first to be interviewed and I left after that.’
I looked at Krieg, whose jaw was tight. Verona was inferring that Helga’s killer had been another ogre. Ava’s comment about the killer being tall rang true – and perhaps he was swaggering around with his hood up to hide his tusks. Something about the suggestion set my brain whirring. ‘Did you see Tom Squiggins at the fireworks?’ I asked.
She shook her head. ‘Not at the fireworks display,’ she answered carefully.
‘Caspian Katz?’
Another shake.
‘Jameson Montague?’
She shook her head; no again.
‘Louisa Carnforth?’
She didn’t answer. Either she didn’t know or Louisa was part of her oath, too. If I believed her answers – and I did – then the boys had been lying when they’d said they watched the fireworks’ display together.
And maybe Helga hadn’t been the only ogre they’d hired.
Chapter 17
Krieg put the mace in the boot of the car but kept on his leather vest. It was annoyingly sexy.
I dug out my phone and saw a message from Channing:Ji-hosaid the phone was a burner. All it had was a text message with the time and address of the party. He traced the number that it came from and that was from a burner too. Both phones were bought with cash. Dead end.
And Einar?I replied.
Working on it. He’s Krieg’s contemporary, in his early forties. He has a less than savoury reputation – had charges raised and dropped against him on multiple occasions.
What type of charges?
