AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I rifled through his wardrobe and found an array of black outfits. The Other realm’s inhabitants have a preoccupation with wearing black. I couldn’t throw runestones because I was wearing a black suit, though at least it was broken up by a white shirt, as per the specifications for a Connection inspector’s uniform.
There was nothing of interest in the pockets and no clues as to the real identity of ‘John Doe’ in the next room. Great. Hopefully his prints were in the system.
There was a locked safe behind his wall of suits. Opening safes was beyond my skillset unless I blasted it open, and that sort of thing would be difficult to explain to my Common police colleagues, so I left it as it was and went into the bathroom.
The mirrored cabinets held little of interest, but I did find a discarded outfit in the laundry basket. I dug through the pockets and frowned when I pulled out what looked like a Connection inspector’s ID. I say ‘looked like’ because it was fake: the ID had letters mixed in with the numbers, and ours are all numerical. I pocketed it; it wouldn’t mean anything to the Common police, so it would be better not to send up any red flags.
There was a faint tang of copper in the air, and when I touched one of the trouser legs my gloved hand came away with a hint of red. Because I was alone, I hastily opened the battered briefcase I always carry with me and took out a swab. I dabbed it into the wet patch on the trousers then dropped it into a vial of clear liquid to test for blood. The vial lit up and glowed a soft pink: dryad blood. I grimaced and stoppered the vial. It was still glowing when I shoved it into my briefcase.
I closed the briefcase, locked it securely and carried it back with me into the living room. ‘There’s something on the dirty trousers in the laundry basket in the bathroom,’ I told Roberts. ‘Smells coppery. Make sure the SOCO take them in for testing.’
He nodded. ‘Did you see the Glock?’ he asked.
‘Yeah. Looks like there’s a reason he was calling himself John Doe.’
‘Did you check the safety was on?’ Roberts asked.
I shot him a hard look. ‘Glocks don’t have safeties.’
‘Oh, don’t they?’ He gave me an innocent look which I didn’t buy for a second. He knew full well that they didn’t and he’d been hoping to show me up. Nice.
The caged bird sniffed loudly. I held its gaze for a minute before telling myself it was ridiculous to have a stare-down with some sort of dove.
Roberts was still doing his thing and taking notes: notes I would probably never see. We were on the same side but not on the same team, and he hated that I operated outside of the usual chain of command.
‘Stupid bitch,’ the dove squawked.
My jaw dropped. Roberts was still scrawling and didn’t react to the bird’s words, which meant he hadn’t – couldn’t have – heard them. When the bird had stared at me with intelligence, I’d been suspicious but now I knew: it was magical.
It looked like it was my lucky day because I might have a witness to the murder after all. The only downside was that it was a bloody bird.
Chapter Three
‘Have you called the RSPCA?’ I asked Roberts casually, hoping he hadn’t already phoned the animal charity.
‘No, not yet.’
‘I’ll deal with it,’ I said firmly. I stepped back into the deceased’s bedroom to fake a call. No way was I letting that bird be taken into custody before I’d had a chance to question it, whatever it was. I’d never met a phoenix but I knew they were supposed to be far bigger than doves. It wasn’t big enough to be a roc, either. Unfortunately that was the extent of my knowledge about magical birds. I’d never realised it was a hole in my knowledge until now.
Fake call made, I marched back in, lifted the cage off the stand and looked at Roberts. ‘I’ll take care of the bird. I’ve already put in twelve hours, so for now the scene is yours. You’re responsible for maintaining the chain of evidence and getting the evidence box to the station. Let SOCO in and make sure all reports are copied to me. I’m signing off for the day until a formal ID is made – make sure that it’s expedited. Get Atkinson to canvass the neighbourhood for witnesses.’
Roberts grunted acknowledgement. I couldn’t expect more from him than that; if anything he was being kind by not chewing me out for teaching him to suck eggs.
I hurried down the stairs with my briefcase in one hand and the cage in the other. It was oversized and banged against my hip with every step, but it was too heavy to hold at a distance from my body. I wanted the bird away from the scene before the SOCO team arrived.
I plonked the golden cage on the ground as I considered my options. They were annoyingly limited. I nodded to Atkinson, who was still guarding the scene. ‘I’m going to take the bird to the RSPCA.’
His eyebrows rose – we don’t usually do drop-offs. ‘It’s on my way home,’ I lied. ‘I’ll wait for SOCO before I head off.’ I carted the bird to my car and plonked it on the back seat then slid in next to it. I pulled out my phone and held it to my ear so Atkinson would think I was on a call if he glanced over.
‘All right, talk to me,’ I said to the bird.
It ruffled its feathers. ‘Stupid bitch,’ he repeated.
I narrowed my eyes then reached for the door handle. ‘If you don’t have anything helpful to say, I’ll hand you in to the RSPCA.’
‘No!’ it squawked in alarm. ‘You ask. I talk.’
I kept things brisk; I didn’t even look satisfied that I’d won. ‘Who’s the dead guy?’
