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“Kind,” Gus added, scratching the back of his neck. He was still a few paces back, his head turned down. “She’s nice to some people but … does this to others.”
“Kind, Gus?” Victoriya asked with a snarl. Her eyes were glued to the hump of the girl’s body. “Seriously?”
“No, I get that sense too,” Salma said, calm enough to soothe even Gabi’s temper. Her eyes were closed, her face in a mask of contemplation.
“Why?” Gabi asked, careful to keep her tone from demanding. It was amazing that they could give her this much information. She told herself to be thankful. “Can you sense why she killed—”
“She was angry with her,” Salma said in a voice so deep it was a rumble. “Freya had done something wrong.”
“She’d been bad,” Gus whispered, then shuddered. “We shouldn’t be able to sense that.”
“Thank you,” Gabi said in a voice as level as she could make it. Her body had broken out in chills all over, hairs standing on end even after the gruesome things she’d seen over the course of training. “That’s enough. We can go now.”
“Wait.”
Gabi startled. The voice was a snarl—and it came from Victoriya, right beside her.
A charge of shock ran through Gabi when her eyes fell on the witch’s fingers, snaked under the grey-blue covering and wrapped around Freya’s dead wrist.
“Victoriya!” Gus shouted in alarm, reaching for his coven member, but Gabi caught Gus’s hand before he could touch Victoriya. Her eyes were fixed on the witch’s fingers, interlocked with the dead girl’s. She wasn’t thinking about contamination or evidence or anything sheshouldhave been thinking about. She was thinking about Regina Stone, who was psychometric, and who Victoriya was a younger copy of.
That’s why Victoriya looked familiar at the Town Hall—Gabi had seen the witch’s mum every day at the hospital when her own mother had been a patient. Back when they thought there was a chance she’d live.
If Victoriya was even a fraction as talented as Regina, she could point Gabi right to the killer. Joy could be freed before sunset.
“I can’t see who killed her,” Victoriya muttered, her mouth twisted. “But Icansee … red fingernails. Manicured maybe. Something dark. Blood? A vial of it? No. A small bottle. Freya is folding her hands around it and smiling, thanking someone. But it’s not what she thinks it is. It’s a sleeping tonic, not a study boost spell.”
Gabi opened her mouth to thank Victoriya for the details, but a shout came out instead as Victoriya swooned and fell. A shadow moved in the corner of Gabi’s vision to catch Victoriya. As the shadow resolved into Gus, Gabi’s stomach turned over. She’d known there’d be a price to be paid for freeing Joy, but she assumedshe’dbe the one to pay it, not someone else.
A large brown dog came bounding out of nowhere, growling low in its throat, its tail tucked between its legs as it nosed Victoriya’s limp form. When she didn’t respond, the dog whined, pressing its face into Victoriya’s hair.
There really shouldn’t have been a dog in the morgue, but Gabi wasn’t sure if this dog was actually a witch, so she made an exception.
“Has she done this before?” she asked Salma as the woman hovered near her coven members, worry etched deep in her face. She’d appeared almost calm in the kitchen before, but now she was anything but, chewing her lip and helping Gus, who was struggling to hold up Victoriya’s weight.
“Not that I know of,” she replied absently.
Gabi nodded, dredging her memory for what to do when someone fainted. She had no idea and made a mental note to research it later. When Joy was freed and the true killer caught, anyway. “We should take her out of the cold.”
“Get off,” a voice snarled, and Gabi exhaled in relief as Victoriya wrenched herself out of Gus’s hands and found her balance after swaying a few times. “Whoever touches me next gets their hands chewed off.”
Gabi blinked at the threat and eyed the dog who’d begun licking Victoriya’s face in long swipes. “Tiny,off,” Victoriya snapped, but she curled a hand in the dog’s fur despite her venom, comforting the animal. Gabi blinked, and realised the giant dog was afamiliar.
Salma and Gus moved back, giving her space, but Gabi hesitated near Victoriya. Her stomach was in knots, guilt tasting like bile in her throat. She was responsible for Victoriya passing out. Her fault. “How do you feel?” she asked, bracing for injury as she leant closer to the witch.
Victoriya acted like Gabi hadn’t spoken, glaring around at the morgue. “Why is this place as cold as the goddamn arctic?”
Gabi debated explaining, but she suspected Victoriya would set the dog on her if Gabi put her in a worse mood. She headed instead to the door, hoping the others would follow her example and a bit shocked when they did. Her mind was occupied, turning over everything the witches told her. It wasn’t much, but it did narrow the suspects down to well-presented women. Female, manicured nails. Had they confirmed the killer was a witch or not? Victoriya’s fainting had put a ripple in Gabi’s memory but at least she’d had her tape recorder on.
“Stop fussing,grandma,” Victoriya snarled at Gus, but Gabi could sense there was no viciousness behind it. “Shit—Gus. Ignore that, I’m being a dick. Blame it on the psychometry—”
“Victoriya,” Gus cut her off, rolling his eyes. “Chill. I know you didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Still makes me a dick, even if I didn’t mean it.” Victoriya looked … ashamed. Gabi watched their interaction, confused and interested. She tried not to let her shock show when Victoriya grabbed Gus’s arm roughly, dragged him to her, and hugged him in what looked to be a sharp, painful grip. It only lasted a few seconds, but it told Gabi a lot; as snarly as Victoriya was, that acid hid a true and loyal heart.
They four of them—plus Tiny—convened in the small kitchen with the others, squashing in around the table Eilidh and Maisie occupied along with a half-demolished tin of biscuits and a cup of green tea. Gabi had expected them to clear out after their job was done, but it appeared they were staying, at least for a while. She put on the kettle and got out five more cups, and then hesitated.
She eyed the fox, who eyed her back. Water? Tea? The fox rolled her eyes.
