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

‘Are you trying to tell me that I’ve wasted my day researching supernatural bears?’

Uh… ‘No research is wasted, Liza. It’d be really helpful if you could send through what you’ve found. But—’

I could almost hear her roll her eyes. ‘But what?’

‘But I could also use any details of murders committed by humans where supes have been implicated, ones that happened before I joined Supe Squad and that I don’t know about already but which occurred in the last two years. You don’t need to search for them yourself,’ I added hastily, ‘but if you could point me in the right direction so I know where to look, I’d be really grateful.’

Liza sighed audibly. ‘The Met intranet has everything you need but you won’t find much relevant to your Barchapel murder. I can probably tell you what you need off the top of my head. I’ve had to transfer the files for all of the recent cases to our database and I have a good memory.’

‘You’re amazing.’

She sniffed. ‘I know. There was a nasty killing in Manchester about eighteen months ago. A young man was found down by the docks. At first glance he seemed to have been savaged by werewolves, but a simple DNA test discovered that he’d been attacked by dogs, not wolves. Whether the animals were trained to be killers and ordered to attack him or it was simply bad luck is still up for debate. His murder was never solved.’

I remembered that one – it had been big headlines at the time. As I recalled, the man who’d died had been involved in a gang and pissed off several local drug dealers by dealing on their territory. ‘Okay.’ I nodded to myself. ‘What else?’

‘A woman died inside her home in suspicious circumstances. I can’t remember the name of the town, but it was somewhere near Wales. Her husband claimed she’d met a vampire, invited him in and the vampire had attacked her. Puncture wounds were found on her neck but they weren’t deep enough to pierce her jugular. Surprise, surprise, her dear hubby was eventually found guilty of killing her. That one happened last Christmas.’

It didn’t sound a likely fit. ‘Any more?’

‘A mother and toddler killed in a hit and run in Scotland about a year ago. Nobody was found guilty for that one, but the other vehicle involved was abandoned a few days later and there were some strange black fibres on the driver’s seat. They didn’t match any known animals so a supe killer was put forward as a possible theory, but the fibres didn’t match any known supe species either. As far as I know, the case is still open but no longer actively being pursued.’

Tragic as it was, a hit and run didn’t fit the pattern. Neither did a toddler, for that matter.

‘And,’ Liza continued, her tone decidedly matter-of-fact, ‘there was a man killed late October last year in London. An eyewitness stated that he’d seen a bat fly down from the sky, transform into a vampire and stab the man in the chest.’

‘Vampires can’t turn into bats.’

‘No,’ she said drily. ‘And the eyewitness in question was discredited when he changed his mind later and said it hadn’t been a vampire at all but an alien who’d come down in his spaceship. The victim survived and later identified a known violent offender.’

‘Is that it?’

‘That’s all you’ll find on the database for the last two years.’ There was a pause. ‘I suppose,’ she said grudgingly, ‘I could send an appeal out to other forces and see if there’s anything that’s been missed.’

‘If you wouldn’t mind—’

‘I would mind,’ Liza said. ‘I would mind a lot.’

I grinned. ‘But you’ll do it.’

‘Yes. But I don’t think you’ll get anything more. Supe Squad wasn’t involved directly in any of these investigations, but we were always notified when there was a chance of supe involvement, especially in serious crimes.’

Damn it. I’d hoped to uncover something that I could present to Boateng that would not only be useful but would allow me to stay involved in the current investigation. So far it didn’t sound like it.

‘You really don’t want to hear about how there’s apparently a man-bear creature in Siberia that seduces local women before eating them out of house and home?’

‘Er—’

‘Apparently he’s incredibly handsome.’

I scratched my head.

‘And you don’t want to know about the woman in Cornwall who thinks her teddy bear collection is enchanted? Or that bugbears aren’t merely irritating peeves but actual supernatural creatures who eat children?’

‘Send me all the details. I’ll look through them.’

‘Yeah, yeah.’

‘I will!’

‘Whatever.’ Liza hesitated. ‘You will take care of yourself down there in Kent?’

I smiled slightly. ‘Don’t worry about me.’

‘Because the last thing Supe Squad needs,’ she added, ‘is to be stuck with DS Grace as its only detective for the next five years.’

‘I’m touched by your concern for my well-being.’

‘As you should be.’ Her voice altered slightly. ‘Stay safe, Em.’

‘You too, Liza.’

Chapter Sixteen

With no other recent cases to link with Patrick Lacey and Julie Mackintosh’s murders, I was suddenly at a dead end. Talking to more of the local residents would be a wasted effort if they were going to focus on what had happened twenty-five years ago instead of what was happening now. I could wander out of my room and see if there were any tourists lurking around who might have seen something, but Boateng would already have ensured they’d been questioned.

Unwilling to sit on my hands and wait for information to come to me, I found the email from Lucinda Barnes and opened it up to read the files on my parents’ deaths. Regardless of what Boateng kept telling me, there was a link between their murders and these recent ones. It was tenuous, but I had to follow it.

It was unlikely that the historic files had previously been digitalised but Barnes had made sure they were scanned in so I could retrieve them. I appreciated the effort, even if I couldn’t suppress my shiver of anxiety