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“That won’t be necessary,” he said, voice dry. “I do have to work today, remember?”
“Oh yeah. Say hello to Eljin for me.”
“Why? Aren’t you seeing him tonight?”
“Yes, but we’ve been away for five days, and he might have forgotten our date.”
Lugh snorted. “So just ring the man and confirm.”
“I do not want to come across as desperate.”
He did that eye-roll thing again. I still couldn’t see it, but it was definitely happening. “Fine. Talk to you when I get home.”
I said goodbye, then tugged on my sweatpants and a wooly sweater and headed out. Sgott was making himself a hot drink but turned as I appeared. “Coffee or tea?”
“Tea, thanks. How did things go? Did you find any useful evidence?”
“A few fibers, a couple of dark hairs, and a solitary footprint in the blood that isn’t Vincentia’s.”
“So, we have a possible lead in the hair?”
“If we can find a DNA match on file, yes, but that’s not always guaranteed with dark elves.”
Because they had centuries of experience when it came to avoiding the law. “No murder weapon, I take it?”
“No, but we did find a partial message.”
“Really? What sort? Another threat?”
“It wasn’t a threat, and it was written in blood.”
My eyebrows shot upwards. “Seriously?”
He nodded. “We discovered it under Vincentia’s body. It’s been smeared, either by her weight or by her attacker, but we can only make out a couple of letters—EIN.”
“The name of the person who killed her, perhaps?”
Or, better yet, the name of the person behind the Looisearch?
It was probably too much to hope for, but hope I did.
“Hard to say. Forensics are going to see if they can sharpen the image.”
“Fingers crossed that they can.”
“Indeed.” He made my tea then poured his coffee into a travel mug, then added, “I’d best be going. I need to write up the reports before I head to a meeting with Ruadhán later this morning.”
“You don’t want a toastie? I’m just about to make some.”
“I’m good. Thanks all the same, lass.”
Once he’d left and the toasties—baked beans and ham, which was an abomination according to my brother, who preferred the more traditional, and in my opinion more boring, ham and cheese—had been made, I put everything onto a tray and headed down to the office to start doing the accounts.
The tavern’s crew came in an hour or so later and started preparing for the day. It was close to two when Ingrid popped her head around the door.
“Mathi is here to see you—shall I send him away?”
I leaned back in the chair and wearily rubbed the back of my neck. “No, it’s fine. We’re friends these days.”
