Page 40 of The Dark Hiss of Magic
‘Stay where you are!’ shouted the other. ‘You’re under arrest!’
Seriously? ‘We didn’t kill him,’ Thane protested. ‘Wefoundhim.’
‘Are you the ones who made the anonymous report about his body?’
Thane’s eyes narrowed. ‘Anonymous report? What anonymous report?’
Both MET officers glared. ‘If you didn’t make the report then you must have killed him.’
What kind of screwed-up logic was that? ‘If we killed him,’ I said, irritated, ‘why would we come back to the scene of the crime?’
‘That’s what killers do,’ the first METidiot said.
Not the professional ones or the ones with an ounce of sense. ‘You’ve been reading too many crime novels.’
‘I’m a trained officer,’ he sniffed. ‘I’ve done all the courses.’
Yeah, yeah.
The second MET man scratched his chin. ‘She doesn’t look like a killer.’
‘Thank you,’ I said.
His colleague rolled his eyes. ‘Anyone can be a killer. Besides,’ he gestured to Thane, ‘the wolf might have done it.’ He looked at me. ‘Has he coerced you into joining him on a killing spree?’
For fuck’s sake. This was ridiculous.
The man pursed his lips. ‘We’ll find out more when we interrogate you down at the station.’ He snapped a pair of handcuffs on Thane’s wrists then did the same to me. I smarted with embarrassment; in all my years as an assassin I had never been arrested.Never. And yet now I was being dragged away when I’d not actually done anything.
The druid singer snapped his fingers. ‘Wait!’ We all looked at him. ‘I remember his name now,’ he said. ‘It was Jackson. That was the witch who questioned Knox yesterday. Daniel Jackson.’
My stomach dropped. I was still staring at the druid when the MET officers hauled both Thane and me down the street.
I hopedthat we’d be interviewed as soon as we arrived at the MET lock-up; I wanted to clear my name as quickly as possible so I could get out and find Fetch Jackson. I’d known the bastard witch was suspicious, but the fact that he’d tracked down Knox Thunderstick a full day before he’d identified Rory Taggert’s body made him suspect numero uno. He had questionsto answer. Hard questions. There was every likelihood that he’d killed Knox. I couldn’t imagine why, but I couldn’t shake the thought now that it had been planted.
Instead of being taken to an interview room, Thane and I were shoved unceremoniously into a cold cell. ‘Hey!’ I protested. ‘This isn’t right! Just interview us and let us go!’
Thane added his voice to my complaints. ‘We’ve done nothing wrong. The faster you clear us, the faster you can get out there and find the real killer.’
‘We’ve contacted Captain Montgomery,’ the MET officer said. ‘He’s been selected as lead investigator for this case. When he arrives, he will question you.’
‘When will that be?’ I demanded.
The answer was annoyingly smug. ‘When he gets here.’
‘I’m a single parent,’ I yelled through the bars. ‘I’ve got a family to feed!’ I pointed to Thane. ‘He’s the same! Our kids will be hungry!’
‘You should have thought of that before you murdered an innocent druid.’ The officer spun on his heel and stalked off. So much for innocent until proven guilty.
Thane’s brow creased with worry. ‘Tiddles is little more than a kitten. I can’t stay out all night. She needs me.’
‘Exactly.’ I growled and thumped my fist against the bars in frustration. I didn’t have time for this shit.
I sighed deeply, marched to a corner of the small cell and sat down on the edge of the bed. I hadn’t expected to be in any sort of danger today so I hadn’t left my usual letter on Dave’s doorstep with instructions for if I didn’t return. I crossed my fingers and hoped that he’d notice that I wasn’t there and he’d take care of the cats. There wasn’t much I could do about Tiddles, though.
‘We’ve met Montgomery before,’ I said. ‘He takes his job seriously. We won’t be kept here for long.’
A languid voice echoed towards us from another cell. ‘You wanna bet? You’re not the only ones in here waiting to be questioned. We’re all waiting for Captain Montgomery. The turnkey told us he’s on the other side of Coldstream.’
