More than anything, he needed to figure out who was behind what was happening before he ended up investigating another body.
CHAPTER 64
Vicki
Earthday, Novembros 4
Viktor, Karol, and Eddie walked into the kitchen with Michael, Ian, and Jenna McKay. The humans were looking for coffee. The boys were looking for . . . something . . . that required opening all the cupboard doors and checking the pantry and ended with the three of them staring into the refrigerator.
“You do that much longer, you’ll get frostbite on your nethers,” I said.
Michael Stern almost snorted hot coffee out of his nose and he grabbed at the napkin Jenna McKay held out.
Karol jackknifed his hips away from the cold wafting into the warm kitchen. Viktor studied me and eased back a step.
Eddie rolled his eyes and said, “That’s Miss Vicki’s way of saying, pick something and close the refrigerator door.” He pulled out leftover pizza and closed the door.
The kitchen wall phone rang.
I grabbed the phone on the second ring. “Vicki’s Asylum. Vicki speaking.”
Okay, I was a wee bit stressed-out by the parade of corpses and let Inner Vicki answer the phone, which is never a good idea from a business point of view. Tomorrow I would go back to being the responsible caretaker / innkeeper / whoever I usually try to be. Really.
“Ms. DeVine? This is Detective Kipp. Bristol CIU?”
Oh, crappity crap crap. “Good morning, Detective,” I said brightly. Too brightly? Maybe he would decide The Jumble had become an asylum since his last visit, and he would go away and find Grimshaw.
Who would give me his patented grim look.
“Sorry, Detective. It’s been a rough night.”
“That’s what I’ve been hearing.” Kipp paused, and his voice sounded stressed-out and yet relieved when he added, “We made it through the tunnel.”
Tunnel? What tunnel?
“We need to get closer to the crime scene that is located on your access road,” Kipp said, “but there are two cars blocking the way. Is anyone able to move those vehicles?”
The phrasing had me looking around the kitchen as if it were full of blood spatter and body parts. Everyone looked intact and functional, although I wasn’t quite sure about me.
When Doc Wallace walked into the kitchen, I began to connect the dots. “Yes, Detective. Julian Farrow and Doc Wallace will move their cars so you can bring up your official vehicles.”
“Appreciate it.”
I hung up, then smiled at Doc Wallace. “Coffee first; then move your car.” He probably was more alert than I would have been, he being a doctor and all, but it was going to be a rough day for the doc as well as everyone else. “Grab anything you want for breakfast. I’ll find Julian.”
Julian and Ilya weren’t hard to locate. I just went around the house until I reached the lingering patch of fog.
“Detective Kipp got through the tunnel and he and his team are here,” I told Julian. “You need to move your car.”
“Tunnel?” Julian said. He exchanged a look with Ilya, and I realized they understood something I didn’t. After another silent communication, Ilya nodded and Julian walked away.
Goody. Tag team protection. Which made me wonder why I needed protection during the day, when just about everyone currently in The Jumble would be in the kitchen stress eating.
“Is there something I should know?” I asked Ilya once Julian had hurried off to move his car and, most likely, have a private ex-cop–to–cop discussion with Kipp about what was going on around Lake Silence.
Ilya hesitated. “Edward Janse, one of the professors staying at the Mill Creek Cabins, was killed last night.”
Thank goodness Julian and Grimshaw didn’t make it home last night.
Not that I didn’t feel bad about Edward Janse, but if Julian and Grimshaw had gone home, they would have been out there, in the dark, trying to help—and maybe getting killed themselves.
“Is this my fault?” I asked before I had a chance to shush Inner Vicki, who was currently playing the “It’s Always Your Fault” song I had learned during my marriage to Yorick Dane. “Did this happen because I told the Crows about Trickster Night?”
My heart felt heavier and heavier when Ilya didn’t answer.
Finally he said, “No, it’s not your fault, at least not that I can see. But the trouble seems to circle around you and The Jumble, and we need to figure out why.”
Well, that sure made me feel better.
“I would like a list of all the places you’ve lived,” Ilya said. “Where you went to school. That would be helpful.”
“All right.” That wouldn’t be hard. It was a really short list. “Is this where you promise to keep me safe?”
Another silence. “There are powerful unknown beings around Lake Silence right now, and I don’t know why they are fixated on you and The Jumble. I am your attorney, and I hope you consider me a friend. I will do my best to protect you, Victoria, but I can’t promise that I’ll succeed.”
“Okay. I appreciate the honesty.”
Ilya gave me a tight smile. “No, you don’t.”
“I don’t—and I do.” That much honesty required an intervention, so I headed back to the kitchen to do my share of stress eating.
CHAPTER 65
Grimshaw
Earthday, Novembros 4
Problem, Chief Grimshaw?”
Grimshaw looked over his shoulder and watched Aiden approach. How long had Fire been there, watching him?
“I’ve got plenty of problems,” he replied, “but my immediate one is how to keep this crime scene secured while I take care of other police business.”
“You are concerned about humans . . . tampering . . . with evidence?”
Gods above and below. Did the Elementals watch the cop and crime shows too?
Grimshaw stepped back from Janse’s body and looked toward the cabins. “I don’t think Roash or Cardosa will have the nerve to come out here.” He stopped. Thought. “But someone had the nerve to come out last night and do this to another human. Did that person get away?”
“I wasn’t here last night, so I can’t say,” Aiden replied. “You could ask the Owlgard. They might have seen something.”
“But they wouldn’t interfere?”
“Human and human doing whatever humans do? Why would the Owlgard interfere? Human and Elder?” Aiden shook his head. “None of the gards would interfere with an Elder.”