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“Thank you.” She hesitated. “We’ve not spoken of a retainer—”
“Because there is no need until we know whether or not I can help you.”
She shook her head. “I’m asking you to fully concentrate on finding this man for me, and it’s hardly fair that I take you away from your new business for any amount of time without offering some form of compensation—especially when it means you’ll also have to hire someone to take your place.”
All of which was true, but not the main point. Aside from the fact O’Connor had already warned me away, I really didn’t want to work on tracking Karen’s killer full-time.
“As I said before, I’m not—”
“Five hundred dollars a day,” she said. “For however long it takes.”
I sucked in a breath. “That’s a very generous offer, but—”
“Please,” she said, stepping toward me, “you have to do this. For me, and for Karen. Neither of us will rest peacefully until this bastard is caught.”
A chill ran through me at her words. Though I wasn’t entirely sure why, I had a bad, bad feeling that even if I did walk away from this case, fate was already conspiring to pull me back.
Belle? I said silently. What do you think?
I think there’s something more happening here than just a teenager’s death at the hands of a possible vampire, she replied. And I don’t think we dare ignore it.
The problem is, I don’t know if we’re anywhere near capable of dealing with whatever shit is brewing in this place.
Maybe not, but we’re all this place has got. And let’s face it, five hundred a day is nothing to be sneezed at.
I took a deep breath and then released it slowly. It didn’t do a whole lot to ease the trepidation. “Okay, I’ll agree. But if the shit hits the fan with the O’Connors—”
“I’ll be there to hassle and threaten their asses, never you fear.”
I nodded, and then raised the bagged necklace. “Do you mind if I keep this for a few days?”
“No. As I said, I have no idea where it came from.”
“Thanks.” I tucked the envelope into one of the backpack’s pockets, but even so, I could feel the chill radiating from it. It was a sensation that made my skin crawl. “Do you want me to report back daily, or just when I have something?”
She hesitated. “Daily, if you don’t mind. Even if there’s nothing to report, it’ll ease my mind. It’s not as if the rangers are going to tell me anything.”
Which shouldn’t surprise her, given we were on their land. That lack would probably change once the IIT got here, however, as they tended to be more communicative when it came to the relatives of human victims. “I’ve got a couple of things to do today, so it’ll probably be tonight before I get back to you.”
“Good.” She reached out and grabbed my hand again. “Thank you. If you send me your bank details, I’ll make arrangements to transfer the payments.”
Part of me felt guilty over taking her money, even if it was desperately needed. A couple of payments would at least ease some of the immediate stress on our bank account.
I nodded and left, but stopped once I was back in the street, watching a train depart the station as I tried to decide what to do next. While all I really wanted was to go back to the café, I couldn’t risk ignoring the warnings of the spirits for too long. If they wanted the wellspring protected ASAP, then that was what I’d better do. I might not be able to put a full spell around it for a couple of days—that sort of magic required time and careful attention to detail—but I could certainly put a warding ring around it. It wouldn’t keep out a full-blown blood witch, but it was unclear as yet whether that was what we were dealing with. Certainly the bloodstone, for all that it felt foul, didn’t actually reek of powerful magic.
Whether he was more powerful than me was something I guessed we’d find out, especially if he was here for the wild magic rather than to simply create a little bloody mayhem.
I walked up to Doveton Street then swung right and headed back to Kalimna Park. Grand old maple trees arched over the road, creating a tunnel of green that was oddly soothing. Most of the houses here looked to be as old as the trees, although there were more modern buildings randomly scattered along the street that stuck out like sore thumbs. As I got closer to the park, the maples gave way to eucalyptus trees, and the roadside vegetation got scrubbier. Eventually the bitumen became dirt and stone, and all too soon I was once again in the park. The road quickly narrowed and the trees crowded closer. Though the morning was definitely warming up, in this place there was a decided chill to the air. But there was no sense of evil, no sense of death. The teenager’s soul didn’t haunt this place, and of that, I was glad. After the way she’d died, her soul deserve
d to move on to its next life rather than lingering for all eternity in the clearing in which death had found her.
Of course, if that had been the case, Belle could have helped her to move on, although not all ghosts actually wanted to. There were a rare few who’d rather chase revenge than the chance of rebirth.
I continued down the old road. The deeper I got into the forest, the more the noise and bustle of Castle Rock faded. Birdsong filled the air, but there was little else in the way of noise or movement.
As I neared the spot where I’d dived into the forest, the wild magic once again caressed my skin. The fact I was feeling it so strongly when I didn’t appear to be anywhere near the source suggested either the wellspring was huge, or that there was more than one of them in this reservation. Which would be unusual but not unheard of.
The road began to climb and I soon came to something of a crossroad. The main road continued on for half a kilometer or so and then gently curved around to the right. The rough, heavily rutted road to my left probably went back to town. The one on my right—which was in even worse repair—disappeared into the scrub. Neither of them looked overly used, although in their current state, anything other than a four-wheel drive probably would have gotten stuck.
