Page 8 of Skulk of Foxes
The only sound in the room was the ticking from the large clock on the wall. It continued to tick and fill the air until I couldn’t stand it any more. I opened my mouth in a silent scream of frustration and horror and jerked pointlessly against my restraints until at least the rattling muffled the blasted noise.
I turned to Viburna. ‘I don’t understand,’ I said, fully aware of the tremble in my voice. ‘I don’t understand what any of that was.’
She met my eyes. ‘Neither do I.’ Her mouth flattened grimly. ‘But I’d bet my life that you gave yourself amnesia. Whatever you drank, that must be what caused it. You did it to yourself.’
‘I had to forget,’ I whispered. ‘I had to forget that I killed him.’
Viburna shook her head. ‘No. From the way he was acting, he knew what he was getting into. Actually, I don’t think you did kill him. I don’t think those two coppers do, either.’
‘But…’
The door re-opened and Mulroney and Jones stalked back in. This time neither of them sat down. ‘You discharged a firearm in a public place,’ Mulroney said.
‘And that is a criminal act,’ Jones added.
Mulroney clenched and unclenched his fists. ‘We are dropping the murder charge. But we will not forget the rest. However, your doctor is outside. He has documentation that proves you are mentally unbalanced and belong in a hospital.’ He let out a short, humourless laugh. ‘After all, you did tell us that you were a faery.’
Viburna stiffened visibly. Fortunately, both Mulroney and Jones were focused on me and didn’t notice.
Jones continued. ‘You are to be released into your doctor’s care and will remain on bail for the time being. You arenotto leave the city of Manchester for any reason. There may be other charges to follow. Someone will be along shortly with the paperwork. Your belongings will be returned to you before you leave. We will be in touch.’ They both whirled round and made for the open door again.
It took me a moment to react. ‘Wait!’ I screeched. ‘You saw the video! I gave Charrie something that killed him. His death is my fault. You have to charge me now!’
Mulroney halted. ‘New evidence has come to light,’ he said over his shoulder. ‘We’ll give your barrister the details.’
‘I shot a gun in the city centre!’
‘You shot into the air.’
‘I’m an illegal immigrant!’
‘Your doctor has proved otherwise. He has identification for you.’
‘I mutilated a corpse!’
‘Corpse desecration is not, alas, a crime under English law.’
He had to be kidding me. ‘But…’
‘You’re being released on bail, Ms Hatter. Be thankful.’ He glanced at Viburna then at me again. ‘Anyone would think you wanted to be locked up.’ He continued on his way.
I clutched at Viburna’s arm. ‘Who in gasbudlikins is this doctor? Is he one of ours? Does he work for Morgan?’
She was even paler than before. ‘I don’t know.’
‘You need to do something. They can’t just let me walk out of here with that damned sphere. Rubus will—’
The white-coated figure of Carduus appeared in the doorway. The mad faery scientist, loyal only to one man. ‘Rubus will what?’ he enquired with a nasty smile.
My stomach dropped. Getting shot by armed police was better than this. Being cuffed to a hospital bed while fully unconscious was far,farbetter than this. Truthfully, taking a dip in a swimming pool of sewage and getting my hair caught in the filter so I slowly drowned wouldn’t be as bad as this.
I squared my shoulders. I was Madrona, the maybe-not-murdering-after-all Madhatter. I’d find a way to swim out. And hopefully drown arse-badgering Carduus in the process too.
Chapter Three
The best way to attack this situation was to make some noise. Without further ado, I started to scream at the top of my voice. The piercing noise bounced off the walls until I reckoned it sounded as if I were being dismembered limb by limb.
Mulroney was back in an instant. ‘What on earth is going on?’
