Page 58 of The Dark Hiss of Magic
The captain gave her a long, assessing look. ‘Very well,’ he said finally. ‘Those terms are reasonable.’
Especially given Harriet’s Truth-Seeking skills. Regardless of what happened to Fetch Jackson, she would at least learn the truth about what had happened to Knox. She might even learn why he’d been killed, though I doubted that Jones would offer an actual explanation.
I felt Thane’s eyes on me once more and I nodded. ‘One more thing,’ he said, speaking loudly.
‘Youcannot come to the interrogation,’ Montgomery said.
‘I should think not!’ Hightower blustered for no reason whatsoever.
‘That’s not what I was going to say.’ Thane smiled, thoughit didn’t reach his eyes. ‘There are two more victims that we believe Fetch Jackson has killed.’ You could have heard a pin drop. ‘Simon Campbell, a young witch who was a friend of Knox’s, and Ian…’ He looked at me again and I shrugged. ‘We don’t know his last name. Ian the troll. Both their bodies are at the Mathers Street mortuary.’
‘Ravensheart,’ Harriet whispered, her face pale. ‘Ian Ravensheart.’ She stared at Thane. ‘What about Adrienne? She’s the fourth member of their friendship group.’
‘Tell us where she lives,’ I said. ‘We’ll check on her as soon as we can.’
She nodded dumbly as everyone else in the room, Captain Montgomery included, stared at Thane and I in shock. Look at us, I thought. We’re the good guys. I, Kit McCafferty, had hunted down an evildoer with the help of my trusty werewolf partner – and not even killed anyone in the process.
‘Well,’ Thane murmured, with another sidelong look at me, ‘it looks like our work here is done.’
Chapter
Twenty-One
‘Was it a good idea to persuade the MET to let Harriet sit in on the interview?’ Thane enquired, as we walked quickly towards Adrienne McDonald’s home. ‘She’s very upset, Kit. She might take it upon herself to attack Fetch Jackson and land herself in deep shit. The council witches won’t care about her grief, they’ll demand she’s locked up.’
I couldn’t tell him that Harriet was a Truth Seeker. ‘Harriet is a strong woman. She deserves to be there – she’s one of the few people in Knox’s life who truly cared for him. She should be able to look her brother’s attacker in the face and hear what he has to say for himself.’ I sighed. ‘And this might be her only chance.’
He was silent for a moment before he said, ‘I hope that the witches’ council mete out appropriate justice. He’s murdered three people.’
And we had no idea why. I reached for his hand and squeezed his fingers. He gave me a tight smile in return.
Unlike her friends, Adrienne lived in a prosperous part of town. I knew the neighbourhood; I’d been there on my ownmurderous business more than once. It was diverse in terms of Preternaturals, if not in wealth: witches, druids, trolls, dryads, vampires – anyone with a bulging bank balance lived there.
Her street was filled with grand townhouses, and I knew without checking that they’d all have magical security systems in place. Perhaps that was why she hadn’t turned up dead like her schoolfriends. It gave me hope that she was still alright.
We found her house easily, a pretty sandstone affair draped in enchanted lilac wisteria. ‘I wonder if Knox was responsible for this,’ Thane said as he fingered one of the perfect blooms. Most of the other buildings were plant-free, so it was entirely possible.
He stepped up to the door and knocked, using the heavy gold-coloured ring bolted to the glossy moss-green façade. I moved to the window and peered inside. Heavy brocade curtains had been pulled back and tied with golden ropes, and I could see the furniture beyond. The room was tidy and, more importantly, undisturbed. Nobody had broken in here and ransacked the room.
Thane and I stiffened when there was a sharp clunk but this was no echoing gunshot, merely Adrienne’s neighbour, peering out of her own front door to frown at us. ‘Who are you?’ she demanded suspiciously. ‘What do you want?’
It might be a well-to-do area but it wasn’t friendly. I plastered on my best cat-lady smile. ‘Good afternoon,’ I beamed. ‘Isn’t it a lovely day for this time of year?’ It was already dark but it was the sentiment rather than the accuracy that was important.
The woman folded her arms and glared, not prepared to soften an inch.
‘Hello, ma’am,’ Thane drawled, with a twinkle in his emerald eyes. ‘We’re here to see Adrienne. We shouldn’t have turned up unannounced but we were in the neighbourhood andthought we’d drop by.’ He held out his hand. ‘I’m Thane. This is my friend, Kit.’
Something about his gentlemanly demeanour did the trick because she unfolded her arms and a blush rose up her cheeks. ‘Oh, that’s alright then. Adrienne isn’t in – you just missed her. She left for work about fifteen minutes ago. I saw her go past the window.’
Thane clicked his tongue. ‘She always did work too hard. I suppose she won’t be back until late?’
‘Probably not. She works nights.’
So Adrienne was probably employed by one of the Coldstream grottos like most nymphs were. She’d be unavailable until morning, which was good for her and bad for us.
The woman touched her hair absently, smoothing down a non-existent wayward curl. I glanced from her to Thane and back again. Huh.
‘If you come back late tomorrow morning,’ she said, ‘you should catch her.’
