Scorched Heart (The Firebrand Series Book 4) by Helen Harper (read books for money TXT) 📕

losing it, Emma. All that dying has messed with your head.’ Lisa snorted. ‘A werebear. As if.’

I didn’t take offence at her tone. ‘I’m only saying that this is what the evidence is pointing towards. Do you know of any supe like that?’

‘No.’ Her derision was clear, but then her tone changed slightly. ‘But I looked into those prints you sent me and I couldn’t find any other supe that might have made them. Are you sure this isn’t some kind of strange prank?’

I pursed my lips. It could be. It seemed odd that Patrick Lacey’s footprints were smudged and difficult to read whilst the perp’s prints were so clear. ‘I’m not discounting anything at this point,’ I said honestly.

‘Don’t let a bunch of country yokels fool you into thinking that there are monsters where there are none.’

‘Country yokels? You do realise that I’m from Barchapel too?’

‘Enough said.’ Liza sniffed. ‘I’ll do some research into werebears, but I can already tell you that they don’t exist.’

‘Thanks, Liza.’

‘Just hurry up and get back here before DS Grace decides to organise Secret Santa or something.’

‘It’s July, Liza.’

‘Exactly.’ She drew in a breath and put on a silly voice. ‘Thank you for calling Supernatural Squad. Your enquiry has been noted and we will make every effort to address it as quickly as possible.’ Then she clicked her tongue in exasperation and hung up.

There was no point in worrying about what trouble DS Grace was creating at Supe Squad. For one thing I wasn’t there and, even if I had been, there was nothing I could do about it. He was ranked higher than me. Besides, between my own recent murder and that of Patrick Lacey’s, my hands were full.

‘Well?’ PC Rothsay appeared in front of me. ‘What have you learnt? How many werebears are there? What can we do to stop them?’

‘I don’t have any information yet about what sort of creature might have killed Mr Lacey,’ I said. ‘And it’s still possible that—’

‘Silver,’ he said suddenly, interrupting my attempts to keep him calm. ‘It works against werewolves, right? It must work against werebears. I’ll get some silver. I’m sure my mother must have some. I’ll ask her.’

Rothsay’s mum might have some silver jewellery but it was highly unlikely she had any silver bullets. ‘Stop it,’ I said sternly. ‘I know you’re afraid of supes, and I know that what happened to Patrick Lacey is horrifying, but there’s no precedent for this attack and we don’t know who or what is behind it. The majority of supernatural creatures are not cold-blooded murderers who patrol the Kentish countryside looking for victims.’

I spotted a passer-by on the opposite side of the street, shopping bag in hand. She was watching us, wide-eyed and pale. I dropped my voice. ‘Our job is to protect the people of this country. Going into a blind panic at every hint of danger won’t help anyone. You’re better than this, PC Rothsay. Remember your training.’

He sucked in a shaky breath. ‘Yes. You’re right.’ He bobbed his head. ‘Sorry. I’m sorry.’

‘It’s fine.’ I patted him on the shoulder. ‘You should get yourself to the station and have a mug of tea. I’m going to call my boyfriend and see if he can help us.’ It sounded strange calling Lukas that. He wasn’t a boy. Or a friend. And I wasn’t really sure what label I could put on our relationship right now.

‘Why would your boyfriend be able to help us?’

‘Because,’ I said, ‘he’s Lord Horvath.’

I hadn’t thought it would be possible for Rothsay to get any paler but he did. ‘But … but … but…’ he whispered, stepping back to put as much distance between the two of us as he could. ‘He’s a vampire.’

‘Yes, he is.’

His eyes went immediately to my neck. ‘Are you a vampire?’

‘No,’ I replied calmly.

‘Does he drink your blood?’

‘Not if he can help it.’

Rothsay took another step back. The poor man didn’t know what he was doing. He was torn between excitement at having a serious crime to investigate and outright terror at the ramifications of that crime. On the odd occasion when he wasn’t letting his fear of supes get the better of him, he’d proved to be calm and capable of thinking on his feet. I shook my head. The ignorance of the general population as far as supes were concerned had a lot to answer for.

‘You’ve helped me a great deal this morning,’ I told him. ‘Thank you for that. And don’t worry – whoever did this to Patrick Lacey will be caught. We’ll all see to that.’

Rothsay didn’t say anything. He simply nodded, turned on his heel and fled.

Lukas didn’t answer his phone so I left a quick message asking him to call me back, then I walked in the direction of the Bird and Bush. With any luck the manager would be in by now and I’d find out who’d been hanging around last night and could have gained access to my room.

I didn’t get very far before I spotted a familiar face watching me darkly from the other side of the road. ‘What’s up, piggy?’ No Angel called. At least she was consistent in her contempt.

I lifted up my head and walked over to her. ‘Not in school today?’ I asked.

‘Suspended, ain’t I?’

I raised an eyebrow. ‘Why’s that?’

‘Cos the head’s a Nazi.’

I gave her a long look, laden with meaning.

‘Fine,’ she muttered. ‘I got into a fight, alright? It wasn’t my fault but I got the blame. I always do.’ She nodded in the direction I’d come from. ‘You investigating Lacey’s death?’

‘I am.’

‘Vampire did it.’

‘No,’ I said, ‘I don’t think so.’

‘It was a vamp.’ Her confidence was unwavering. ‘Changed into a bat and flew down then attacked him. It’s true. I know it is.’

‘Vampires can’t change into bats.’

‘Says who?’

I sighed. ‘Me. Listen, I want to talk to you about the train yesterday. About the boy you were bullying.’

No Angel’s eyes narrowed. ‘I ain’t a bully.’

I didn’t say anything.

Her cheeks