Page 44 of Veiled Justice
And now I had another dead body on my hands.
And my brother would be the main suspect.
Chapter 23
I called Ed and Kate. The two crime scenes were too damned similar not to be linked and I wanted the same teams working on them both, exhaustion be damned. I hoped Channing had hit the hay nice and early, but I doubted he’d had much sleep since it was only just shy of 10pm.
The murderer had struck far earlier tonight. Too eager? I hoped so, because eager often meant sloppy and fingers crossed that meant mistakes had been made. Two deaths in two nights – would there be a third one tomorrow? Or without the huge socialite parties, would the killer pause his murderous campaign?
The problem was that the dryad I’d seen in the victim’s mind hadn’t attended Quintos’s party: Quintos hadn’t hadanydryads there. The MO looked the same but Verona had definitely implied that Helga’s killer was an ogre rather than a dryad – though she’d also implied there was more than one killer. And dryads could move in and out of trees: just because we hadn’t seen one didn’t mean one hadn’t been there. Damned oaths of silence.
Without my briefcase, I had no tape to cordon off the area, no booties to avoid contaminating the scene. The feeling of not beingin control made me itch. Ed would have to set up the cordon when he arrived.
Once again it was wholly Other, which made it a helluva lot easier. Mixing Common and Other meant that he and I had to come up with reasons to talk to each other away from the other SOCOs, so a while ago we’d come up with a fake mutual love of weird sports. Today, though, we wouldn’t need to talk loudly about cheese rolling or lawnmower racing.
I looked up to see if he’d arrived but instead saw Ava comforting Rupert. His hands were shaking as he stared at the dead body. ‘Get my brother a whisky,’ I said to Krieg.
Krieg jerked his head to someone: Hanlon. ‘Get her brother a whisky.’
Hanlon melted away to do Krieg’s bidding and I grimaced. I hadn’t even noticed him. So much for my vaunted police-trained observational skills. Where the fuck had he come from?
‘Maktel,’ Krieg ordered, ‘wait at the entrance for the SOCO and ME. Guide them to the area on their arrival.’
I only realised I was still on my knees when he held out a hand to help me up. I wanted to take it but mine were drenched with blood so I pushed myself up instead. ‘Thanks for the offer,’ I muttered.
I wiped my hands as best I could on my ruined gown then opened my bag and photographed the crime scene with my phone. Ed would do better with his camera when he arrived, but I always took some when I was first on the scene.
The crowd of partygoers were moving closer, rubber-necking over the dead body. A surge of anger rose in me and I let myselfride it. ‘Get back into the marquee!’ I barked. ‘This is a crime scene. Remain inside. Your statements will be taken shortly.’
They drifted inside but I saw more than one person take a photo of the body before they left. I had told Krieg that I believed most people aimed for good, but sometimes I just despaired.
Rupert had a little more colour in his cheeks after knocking back the whisky, but although he’d stopped shaking he was still visibly upset. Ava was wan and grim-faced; she’d connected the dots and realised the implications of them finding two dead bodies. They were heading for the chopping block and she knew it. It was interesting that she’d reached that conclusion first, because you’d have thought my lawyer brother would have made the connection; then again, he practised civil rather than criminal law.
I took out my notepad and pen and wrote the date, time and location. Then I wrote my brother’s name at the top. ‘Talk to me,’ I said to him. ‘You were at the bar when I last saw you.’
‘We got a drink.’
‘What?’ I asked briefly. When he looked blank, I expanded. ‘What did you drink?’
‘I got an old-fashioned, Ava got a bellini.’
‘How much did they cost?’ I asked, more to get him into the rhythm of question and answer than because I actually wanted to know.
‘They were free,’ he explained. ‘It was a free bar all night.’
Of course it was. ‘What happened next?’
‘Ava wanted some fresh air. Not “fresh air”fresh air.Just some actual fresh air.’
‘I got it.’ Theydidn’t go outside to shag. I turned to Ava. ‘What made you want to go outside?’
Her lips pinched. ‘Louisa Carnforth was being catty. She made a comment about people that belonged here and people who were just plain rich.’ She gave a small shrug. ‘She was pointing out that I’m not old money, just the daughter of a wealthy lawyer.’
‘Averywealthy lawyer,’ Rupert interjected. He stared at her. ‘You didn’t tell me she said that.’
She patted his arm. ‘It was a bit of girly bitchiness, nothing I can’t handle.’ She frowned. ‘It’s odd, though. Louisa and I have always got on well. I suppose she was showboating for some of the others.’
‘Who?’
