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She sniffs. I hear her blow a quiet lady-like sniffle into a tissue. Now she’s probably patting it at the corners of her big teary eyes. Damn her.
“Thank you,” she murmurs. “Raif meant so much to me. Both as a friend and a business partner. I cannot imagine what I am going to do without him.”
From the gap beneath the desk I see her feet move as she sits down abruptly in the chair meant for patients. She is opposite and directly facing me now. I stay utterly still. Hopefully her eyes are so glazed with tears that she can’t see a blurry thing.
“Was Raif the senior partner?” Storm asks delicately.
“We started the business together,” she says. “But he was the qualified psychiatrist. I’m a psychologist. Lots of experience, but he was the one with the doctorate.”
“Did he work as a medical doctor too?” Storm probes.
“Oh yes. His patients loved him. He provided full spectrum care.”
“And Lynesse was one of those patients? Her fiancé mentioned it.”
“I shouldn’t comment on that for confidentiality reasons.”
“Did he normally make home visits? Or was it a social call to Lynesse on Friday?”
“Lynesse was a good friend of Raif’s. He adored her.”
“Were they more than friends?”
Beatrice hesitates. “I don’t think so.”
“Are you sure?” Storm asks gently. “Her autopsy revealed she had a recent abortion.”
Beatrice gasps audibly. “But that’s not possible!”
“Why isn’t it possible?” asks Storm patiently. Relentless but kind. I hate that he is being so nice to her.
“I shouldn’t mention this but… You’ll probably find it out anyway. Jared couldn't have children.”
“Because he’s grisborn?” says Storm.
“I can’t comment on that,” she says stiffly.
My eyebrows rise. Wow. So Jared Everett really is grisborn. The press would love that tidbit.
Grisborn children are brought into existence by questionable magic, the last resort of desperate parents who can’t naturally conceive. Their creators make the child sterile so that there is no chance for the magic to pass down and mutate through generations. Humans rarely turn to it, otherkind even less so.
“Did Lynesse know Jared was grisborn?”
“I really don’t know.”
“Since Jared is infertile,” says Storm. “Could the child have been Raif’s?”
“Absolutely not. His family wouldn’t allow it. The Silverstones’ consider themselves one of the Great Families. They still hold to the old ways. When Raif first left Otherworld his family matriarch had him magically neutered to prevent him mixing their bloodline with that of other species. Tainting it, he used to say. He was quite bitter about it. It was physically impossible for him to have children. Ever.”
“I see,” says Storm. Nothing in his voice betrays any judgment, but I can tell that he is repulsed by what the Silverstones’ had done to Raif.
“Yes,” she agrees readily. “It’s a questionable cultural practice, but I try not to judge.”
“Then Lynesse must have been having an affair with someone,” Storm says. “Do you know who?”
“I really couldn’t say. She was Raif’s patient, not mine.”
“Did you know of any reason why someone would want to harm Raif?”
