Motherfucker. Blowing up his damn house hadn’t killed him. Hadn’t extinguished his light. That was going to make things more complicated. Because as soon as that asshole saw me, I knew he’d attack. I’d have to be careful …
I slid off the path and between two trees and pulled up my phone. Since this was a bit of an improv gig, we didn’t have earpieces.
“Voldemort is between Gert Holland and Preston Koger.” I said, before hanging up.
“Voldemort?” a brusque male voice behind me had me spinning on the grass as I swiped to end the call. Behind me, a smirk was planted on Detective Muller’s face. He must have used his Tock powers to speed over to me because I hadn’t seen or heard him coming.
The detective wore a white shirt and grey pants, along with his police belt. It was too hot for a jacket, and he was sans a tie. His hair was gelled, but his dark stubble belied the illusion that he was actually trying to look good. It was a day past shabby.
“Here for the funeral?” I asked, pitching my voice to its ‘snobbish rich girl’ setting.
“Are you?” he asked, eyeing my clothes doubtfully.
“She’s my mother,” I answered without answering.
I saw his eyes narrow a little and he took a step closer.
Immediately, from the posts they’d established ahead of time, Z leaned out from behind a tree. He rewound Muller, moving him back slightly, just until his foot was in the air, then freezing him. I took a quick step forward and shoved the man’s arms down, wishing like hell I could plaster them to his body and write the spell to form little T-rex arms. But I couldn’t. Malcolm would bring Teddy up in just a minute. We had just enough time to get Muller off balance. Literally.
“Check his pocket,” Andros hissed, from his spot behind another tree further up the hill.
I grimaced as I slid my hand into the old guy’s pocket, trying not to think too closely about what I was doing. I felt something long and hard, and I yanked it out.
I held up the yellow stone so Andros could see. “Honesty Amulet,” I whispered.
“Yeah, probably without a warrant,” he grumbled. “Ok, toss it to me.”
I glanced right and left to make sure no one was nearby before I coated the amulet in shadows and tossed it to Andros. He caught it and nodded, then slid back behind the tree next to him. A second later, Z lowered his hand and did the same, moving out of sight.
Muller stumbled, off-balance, looking utterly shocked.
But his threatening momentum was gone. His attempt to close the space and intimidate me had turned into a bumbling mess. I feigned concern. “Are you alright?” I pretended to reach for him, but ensured I didn’t touch him.
“I’m fine. But I have several questions for you, Hayley Dunemark.” He tried to make his tone ominous, but after watching him nearly fall, it was actually just funny.
“Okay?” I oozed disdain with the one word, stretching it out and looking impatient. “You do realize that the funeral is about to start.”
“You realize that you’re the subject of a murder investigation, right?” He tried to step in again.
And Z swooped in. Rewind, reset the arms, repeat.
He stumbled a second time.
“Are you drunk?” I asked. It was hard as hell not to laugh. No wonder this asshole got off on fucking with people. If I had been born a Tock instead of a Darklight, I could only imagine the shit I’d have done.
Muller was furious.
His eyes scanned the trees, but I darkened the shadows around Andros and Z, to ensure they couldn’t be spotted. He knew I was a Darklight, so I clearly couldn’t be doing anything.
I turned, as if I was going to leave. But I just marched a little way up the hill, to a spot with good enough lighting for Teddy and his camera. I slid my eyes sideways and spotted Malcolm and his acquaintance getting into place behind a crypt nearby. Teddy’s arm was up, his phone already filming.
“Hey. Wait,” Muller trotted after me like a good little puppy. I’m sure he thought of it as stomping. But he didn’t realize he was wearing a leash yet. He was about to.
I imagined a clapboard in my head. I imagined a director yelling, “Action.”
I turned where I stood, giving off an irritated huff. “I’m trying to go to my mother’s funeral.” I let my voice crack, which wasn’t hard. “What do you want?” A blue butterfly threaded its way through the air near us, unaware of the power struggle happening right beside it. I watched it as I listened to Muller’s response.
“I want to question you about your whereabouts on April twelfth.”
I pretended confusion, and gave a shrug. “I have no idea. Maybe I was fucking a football team or something, why do you care?”
My flippant answer pissed him off and I saw him reach his free hand down to touch the Honesty Amulet in his pocket.
That’s right, buddy. Sarcasm shouldn’t be possible with an amulet like that, should it?
Muller’s face and grip were both furious when he realized it was gone. “You little bitch!” He shook me.
“Ow! What the hell?”
Just a little more. I just needed to push him a little more.
Suddenly, I found myself back in the trees, farther down the hill, disoriented.
What just happened?
Detective Muller stood near me and his hand was in his pocket.
I shook off the strange feeling of deja vu surging through me and remembered our plan. The asshole detective probably had an illegal Honesty Amulet on him. I had to be careful. I needed to get some space, since the range of the amulet was limited.
I turned and hurried up the hill.
Muller was on me within moments, his arm wrapping around mine and yanking me to a stop.
It hurt, but I played it up. Malcolm was supposed to be here soon, with Teddy, and a live camera feed.
“Ow.”
Muller ignored me when I tried to wrench my arm away. Instead, he leaned over me. “What did you do after you left the Unnatural Ball on April twelfth?”
Not a good question when I could feel my tongue tugging at me to tell the truth. “I ran to my limo and cried.”
Fake cried, but that was still crying, I told myself.
“Your stepfather left early too.”
Shit.
I didn’t want him bringing up the fucker just yet. I didn’t need the asshole ghost swooping in and screwing this up for me just when Muller was about to prove himself asshole of the year. My eyes darted toward the funeral, but I couldn’t see it clearly from where we stood; it was impossible to get an eye on Claude.
“You hated him didn’t you? I can see it on your face.”
Fuck. Abort. Abort.
I couldn’t lie. Where the hell were my guys? Why weren’t Z and Andros stopping this? Why weren’t they rewinding him?
“Wouldn’t you hate someone who screwed up your family and burned you every chance they got?” The vitriolic words were out of my mouth before I could shove them back in. I tried to tighten my throat at the very end, to make it sound like I was about to cry, but I didn’t know if it worked.
It definitely didn’t work for Muller. And he was too close for me to check and see if Teddy and Malcolm were in place near the crypt.
“Did you hate him enough to kill him?” he asked.
I tried to force my eyes to stay on the detective but they couldn’t help wandering slightly away from his intensely hateful gaze. I spotted a blue butterfly in the grass nearby. It was frozen, wings outstretched as if it had been caught just as it was about to launch into the air.