CHAPTER 25
DOWN AT THE STATION (ACT 2)
INSTEAD OF FOOTSTEPS,EMBRY HEARD VOICES. ONE THAT SHEknew: Headmaster Martinelli.
“Is this it? Where she should be?”
In response came the metallic squeak of what sounded like the drawer Rye had just opened and closed. Double shit.
Embry squeezed her eyes closed and waited for an eruption at the discovery of Rye’s very alive body stuffed inside the refrigerated corpse cabinet. But it never came. Instead, there was a loud harrumph and a second squeak of rollers before the metallic clang of a shut drawer.
“I just can’t believe the Table would bungle this so poorly,” the headmaster was saying in a tone that, well, made it sound like yes, she could believe the Table would bungle something that poorly. “Tolosea body during an active murder investigation. I mean, it’sunfathomable.”
There was a rustle of feathers along with the aggrieved sigh that accentuated her disappointment. Embry pictured Merlin sighing right along with his master from his perch.
The moment a retaliatory aggrieved sigh came from the second person in the room, Embry knew exactly whom she was with: Inspector Brown.
“Lyla,” he started with a forced familiarity that set Embry’s teeth on edge, “I can assure you we did notlosethe body of Miss Riddle. It was reclaimed prematurely by her family.”
Embry stifled a gasp. The vampiresstoleher body?
As if Martinelli heard her thoughts, she replied to Brown in a goading, annoyed voice, “Who broke in and stole it, per your own admission, is that correct?”
“It is,” the inspector conceded, as bland as can be. As if to take any sting out of her words and tone. “However, if they’d just asked during our interview for expedited access to their daughter’s remains, we would’ve complied. The medical examiner has completed the autopsy, and barring something unusual in the test results from the Table lab in Boston, we would’ve been able to release the body before the completion of our final report. Unfortunately, they did not ask, and as we know, smaller, more secretive sects like vampires often do not adhere to societal norms, especially when upset.”
Embry could nearly hear the frown cross the headmaster’s face. “Careful, Inspector, you’re skating mighty close to calling an entire group of magical people uncivilized.”
“I would never do such a thing.” Again, his delivery was so monotoned it gaslit Martinelli in such a way as to nearly make her sound hysterical instead of concerned. Embry gave Rye a lot of shit, but this man was truly infuriating. “We’re trying to track down the Riddle clan to discuss the matter, but it’s a complicated and delicate procedure.”
“You have the family address from my files—how complicated and delicate could it be?”
“I’m not at liberty to say, Headmaster.”
“What do you mean you’re not at liberty to say? This is a school matter—”
“It’s a matter of the Table involving people who are not your students,” Inspector Brown said with both zero inflection and zero menace. The flatness of his delivery made the dismissal even worse—especially because he’d sliced off her sentence witha razor’s edge. Metaphorical knife plunged deeply as he put Headmaster Martinelli in her place, the man tightly shut that avenue of conversation and pivoted to close out this visit altogether. “Before I walk you out and get back to work on this case, is there anything else concerning you? It would be efficient if we covered everything here and now.”
His tone was cold enough that Merlin ruffled his feathers. This man clearly had a lengthy list of people he had sent packing without a single pleasantry and planned to add Martinelli to the scroll. But the headmaster had been in administration for a century and would not go lightly.
“Inspector Brown, considering we have a missing bodyanda missing student, and you seem blasé about both, I don’t believe my copious number of concerns could be covered in a single conversation at this point, and certainly not with you.”
Wait.Missingmissing? Did they mean Alistair? He’d dropped out. Which was, like, a formal process, right? He’d just transfer to another Table institution, wouldn’t he?
Brown’s reaction gave her no clues, coming off as flat and inflectionless as a pancake. “Until the family files the missing person paperwork, any concurrent search would pull resources from our murder investigation.”
“I fail to see how you can dismiss his disappearance, given—”
“Lyla,” he said, her first name a grenade, “how about we discuss this in my office? We’ll be more comfortable in there.”
Embry held her breath.Yes, please go to his office.And truthfully it was cold in here. Actually, wouldn’t Rye be freezing? How long had he been in that refrigerated drawer? Wait—did he have enough air to breathe in there? Oh Goddess—
“Discuss it?” the headmaster asked, not even attempting to disguise her utter annoyance. “You mean, have you stonewall me when you know full well his disappearance could be relatedto Miss Riddle’s death and therefore should not be shoved to the side?”
“Your bird is shivering,” the inspector pointed out. “My office?”
Embry bit her lip, hard, willing with all her might that Martinelli would accept.
Yet another sigh escaped into the morgue, and Embry wasn’t sure which way this argument would be going… but then the headmaster’s light footsteps swept across the industrial tile. “Yes, fine.”
