Page 38 of Brimstone Bound
I just stared.
Barnes strode in, gazed at Tony’s corpse and sighed. ‘Such a shame.’ She tutted and glanced at us. ‘The hotel has given us the room opposite to use as a base. Come on, you two. It’s time we had a little chat.’
***
Wilma Kennard knew what she was about; she’d already sent coffee and sandwiches to the hotel room. I grabbed a cup and gulped it down, then sat awkwardly on the edge of one of the twin beds. DSI Barnes and Lukas took the chairs.
‘So,’ Barnes said, looking at me, ‘obviously these are far from ideal circumstances. Explain briefly what has happened up to this point.’
I drew in a breath. ‘Tony didn’t show up for work today. I went round to his flat, found it turned upside down and tracked him here.’
‘Yes.’ She sniffed. ‘I saw your logins on the system and your request to track his phone. You’re not supposed to do that on your own, you know. You’re not qualified yet.’
The last thing I was going to do was apologise for investigating Tony’s disappearance. I met her eyes and shrugged. ‘I don’t think this was an accident. I think Tony was killed deliberately.’
DSI Barnes glanced at Lukas. ‘What do you think?’
‘I concur with D’Artagnan’s assessment.’
Her eyebrows shot up. ‘D’Artagnan?’
I looked away. ‘It’s what Tony called me.’
A tiny smile lifted the corners of her mouth. ‘Did he, indeed?’
‘I’m sure you know by now what us supes are like with names,’ Lukas said. ‘At least when it comes to people we don’t know very well. But in any case, D’Artagnan here has left out the most important information.’
I stiffened. Wait a minute.
‘What’s that?’ Barnes asked.
‘DC Brown is not the only police officer who died recently.’
‘We don’t need to cover this!’ I snapped.
‘Actually,’ Lukas said firmly, ‘we do. DSI Barnes, I take it that you heard about the woman killed at St Erbin’s Church?’
‘Yes.’ Her lip curled. ‘I also heard that we are no further forward identifying her, and the pathology team are delaying the post-mortem.’
Lukas pointed at me. ‘Meet Jane Doe.’
I folded my arms and looked away. Great: the fanged freak had just told my boss that I was the walking dead. Whatever happened to me now, there was no chance that it would be good.
‘Pardon?’
‘Your cute little trainee had her throat cut and her skull fractured,’ Lukas said. ‘I saw her corpse myself. Twelve hours later, she woke up very much alive and without a single wound on her.’
Barnes stared at me.
‘Did you know this was going to happen?’ the vampire asked.
She flinched. ‘No,’ she whispered. ‘I had no clue. Have you tasted her?’
He smiled, clearly amused. ‘I don’t think we’ve reached that stage in our relationship yet.’
I flicked my eyes from one to the other. ‘What the fuck is going on here? Are you discussing drinking my blood? And why on earth would DSI Barnes have known what was going to happen?’ I got to my feet, raising my voice. ‘What the hell is this?’
‘Sit down.’ Barnes sighed. ‘There’s no great conspiracy here.’
