AllFreeNovel
Share Us
So that explained how she was so adept at breaking and entering, Barbara thought.
“Satan had me in his grip,” Grace said. “He convinced me to kill myself so he could take my soul.”
Barbara resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
“I was walking home from a church service,” Colleen continued, “and I saw a young girl standing on the edge of a bridge. I talked to her for a while and managed to persuade her to climb down.”
“You saw the light?” Tucker asked Grace.
“I saw a different way, with God. I realized there was a gap in my life that had allowed Satan in. Reverend Grey showed me that I could fill it with the light of the Lord instead.”
And that was how they got you, Barbara thought. It was no surprise that drug addicts and alcoholics found God during their recovery. They had to replace one addiction with another.
“And now you live and work with the Reverend?”
“I help her with God’s work, yes.”
“And is that what you were doing this morning in my hotel room? God’s work?”
Grace’s lips tightened.
Colleen cut in. “This is my fault. Grace has been misguided.”
“Is that so, Grace?” Tucker asked.
She stared at him. “Your sort don’t understand.”
“My sort?”
“Those in league with devils.”
“Alrighty.” Barbara was starting to think she preferred it when the girl didn’t speak. “So, you admit to breaking into the Grill and vandalizing my room? Did you also break into the Grill on Monday night, and leave writing on the bathroom mirror and a choker with a cross made of vampyr teeth?”
Grace nodded once.
“For the record, the suspect has nodded.”
“Detective,” Colleen said, “Grace thought she was helping me and our cause.”
“By trying to warn me off.”
“Grace is young, and passionate in her beliefs. I’m sure you did things that were impulsive and irrational when you were young?”
Barbara didn’t meet her gaze. “When I was sixteen, I was in full-time education, ma’am, which is where Grace should be.”
“Grace is educated in the way of God, Detective. There is no higher teaching.”
“Well, I’m sure that will look good on her CV.”
The two women glared at each other. Tucker cleared his throat.
“Perhaps we should stick to the charges at hand.”
“Of course,” Colleen said. “I respect the law. And I don’t want discord in Deadhart.”
Yeah, right, thought Barbara.
“I’ll tell you where we’re at,” she said. “Grace, or Rhiannon, has confessed to breaking and entering, and vandalism.” She paused. “But she is a minor. It’s a first offense, in Deadhart at least. I’m going to give her a warning and release her back into your care, on the understanding that this doesn’t happen again.”
