Page 2 of Skulk of Foxes
I sighed. ‘It was me who gave him the idea. All this is my fault. If I’d not told him that rowan poisoning enabled me to maintain a glamour for hours rather than minutes, he wouldn’t have known. He couldn’t have pretended to be Mendax the damned dragon. We wouldn’t have almost handed the stupid sphere over to him.’
‘If it wasn’t for you,’ Morgan said, ‘this demesne would already have been destroyed. You’re a hero.’
Well, there was that. ‘I knew that part all along.’ I half smiled. ‘I’m truly wondrous.’
Morgan held my gaze. ‘One day you’ll realise that’s actually true.’ He leaned over and brushed my lips with his. ‘The police want to question you. We’ll need to work out what you’re going to say.’
I tried to shrug, although it was remarkably awkward from the position I was in. ‘I know what I’m going to say,’ I said. I attempted a weak grin. Morgan raised a questioning eyebrow. ‘I’ve got amnesia,’ I whispered to him. ‘I can’t remember a gasbudlikin thing.’
‘I’m not sure that’s much of a defence.’ His expression was grim. ‘We can’t afford for you to be locked up for a quarter of a century for murder.’
‘We?’ I enquired. ‘Or you?’
His eyes held mine. ‘I think you already know the answer to that.’
I ignored the momentary ripple of delight in the pit of my stomach and lowered my voice. ‘But I deserve to be locked up, Morgan. I did decapitate that bogle. The video proves it. And more to the point,’ I added, ‘if I’m locked up then so is the sphere.’
I’d barely finished speaking when there was a sharp knock at the door. Whoever was outside didn’t bother to wait to be granted access, however, so the knock was a wasted effort.
Morgan growled at the sight of the sharp-suited couple holding up their badges. Apparently he and they were already acquainted.
‘I told you,’ he said, with a protective air that made my toes curl in delight, ‘I require some time alone with my client first. She’s only just woken up and she’s in a position of extraordinary vulnerability. This is not the place for an interrogation.’
‘Perhaps,’ the woman said, ‘she should have thought of that before threatening the city of Manchester.’
Morgan’s face darkened. ‘All she did was fire a gun into the air.’
‘An illegal gun.’
He held his ground. ‘It didn’t belong to her. She took it from her assailant. It was self-defence.’
‘All the more reason for us to talk to her,’ the woman’s partner replied calmly. ‘We need to keep her safe.’
‘By handcuffing her to a hospital bed?’
‘It’s just procedure. Besides, there’s also the question of the video evidence we’ve received. And her confession at the crime scene in front of the library. She said that she had already killed.’
‘Video evidence that could easily have been doctored,’ Morgan returned. ‘And she was under great duress when she said that.’
The three of them were putting on quite a show. Under any other circumstances, I’d probably have been rather entertained. I tried to scoot upwards to make myself more comfortable but the authorities obviously weren’t taking any chances. The handcuffs were far too tight and all I could manage was to shift up an inch or two on the pillow.
I shook my head from side to side in a bid to look like the glamorous sex kitten I knew I was, adorably mussed-up after a long sleep, instead of pale, chained up and with bed hair. Neither of the police officers appeared impressed. I suspected they were simply jealous.
‘In any case,’ the policeman said, ‘you have no right to be here.’
I blinked. ‘I can leave?’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Not you.’ He jerked his chin at Morgan. ‘Him. We have searched and found no one on the Barristers’ Register to match you. You’re not a lawyer. Therefore,’ the officer smiled unpleasantly, ‘you have to go.’
‘She is entitled to legal representation!’
‘Then go and find some.’
Morgan opened his mouth to argue some more. It was rather heartening given that, not all that long ago, he’d have quite happily allowed the police to lock me away forever. All the same, I interrupted him before he could begin his tirade. It was for his own good; he’d only feel bereft and useless when I talked my way into a life sentence without his help.
‘It’s fine, Morgan,’ I said softly. ‘I’ll deal with this. I’ll answer their questions. You stay focused on Rubus and what he’s planning.’
Neither police officer would have made a great poker player. Their stoic expressions cracked when I mentioned Rubus’s name. Aha.
