Larsen looked sympathetic. “I’m sorry, but what little evidence we have points to him more than George. The scrap of fabric that we know Bonfitte had access to and the stab marks consistent with scissors. It’s a long shot, but if we can find the scissors that match the marks on the bones, he’s as good as charged.”
“That’s only two pieces of evidence,” I argued. “And George had motive. She broke his heart.”
“We’ll talk to George as well, but there’s still a strong tie to Bonfitte.”
I was mad now, my stomach roiling. “Two pieces of evidence is not a strong tie.”
“We’ll uncover more,” the constable said. “We just need time.”
Sin shook his head. “Please, stop your deputies. They can’t bring him in.”
The constable frowned. “They can and they will.”
“No.” Sin’s sharp retort echoed through the office. “You bring him in for questioning, and he’s automatically going to be guilty in some people’s minds. You’ll ruin his business. A business that has served this town for many years. His livelihood will suffer. Think about it. He’s designing Jayne’s dress. If you do this, and he’s tainted by this accusation, Jayne won’t be able to wear the dress. And she loves it.”
I stared at Sin. I’d had no idea he understood so much. I nodded. “Sin’s right. There has to be another way to do this. Not just because of my dress, but because I know in my heart that LeRoy didn’t do this.”
The constable shook her head. “There is no other way.”
“Yes, there is.” Sin looked at me for a moment, then back at the constable. The resolute set of his jaw frightened me a little. Mostly because I had a pretty good idea of what he was going to say.
“Is that so?” the constable asked. “How exactly?”
Sin’s gaze was dead-on, his determination obvious. “I just need some time with the bones.”
“No.” The word slipped from my mouth without me even thinking about. “The cost is too high.”
Birdie shook her head, looking as upset as I felt. She knew. She’d been there the last time Sin had used his gifts.
Sin turned to me. “Sweetheart, it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”
“I appreciate that, but we’re talking about bones here, not a body. How are you going to get any kind of answers from bones?”
“They’ll…speak to me in their own way, I’m sure.”
“That sounds to me like you aren’t really certain of that. Have you worked your magic on bones before?”
“No, but—”
“Then you could be wasting your time. Literally. And you’ll end up with another silver streak in your hair. Not that the silver doesn’t look hot on you. It does. But how many minutes of your life would you be giving up?”
Love and tenderness were in his eyes as he looked at me. “Jayne, I love you. I know the consequences, and I accept them because it’s worth it to me to use my gifts in this case to help. I don’t see any other way to protect LeRoy and save your dress.”
“Forget the dress. I’ll get another one. Wanting to save my dress isn’t a good enough reason to do this.” But I knew there was another reason he wanted to do this. His parents were coming, and he wanted this case closed.
“But helping LeRoy is. So is my wanting to do this because I love you. Just let me help with this, okay? Speaking to the dead is what I do.”
Birdie shrugged. “You make a mean doughnut too.”
He twisted to grin at her. “Thank you.”
Birdie leaned in toward us. “Let him help, Princess. It won’t take long to ask those bones who did them in.”
Sin nodded. “She’s right. I should know instantly if I can get an answer or not. One question. A minute or two, tops.”
I didn’t like this at all, even though I knew it was a perfect solution. “You once told me you preferred to save the use of your skills for matters of life and death. Do you really think this qualifies?”
“For LeRoy? Yes.”
I loved that he wanted to help. That he was willing. I just hated the price he had to pay. “But with time, I’m sure we could prove him innocent. You’d really be doing this to expedite things.”
He nodded slowly. “I’m okay with that. In this instance, it’s worth losing a minute or two of my life to put all of this behind us.”
“If that’s all you lose.” I could feel tears welling up. It was all this stupid stress of the wedding and his parents suddenly on their way and then Sin being so wonderfully sweet and caring. I sniffed and gave a little nod. I couldn’t stand in his way. Not when he had a stake in this as well. “Please, no longer than a minute or two of contact.”
“I promise.” He turned to the constable, who looked like we’d all been talking in Greek. “I suppose I need some kind of official permission granted to have access to the bones?”
Her eyes narrowed. “You’re saying you can talk to those bones? And find out who the murderer is?”
“I am a necromancer, as I know you know. That’s what we do. We speak to the dead. And allow them to speak for themselves.”
That wasn’t all a necromancer could do. But there was no point in Sin expanding on the full extent of his gifts. He’d only end up scaring the constable.
She tapped the end of her pencil on the desktop for an agonizingly long time before answering, “All right. But I want to be there. If this is going to be official, it’s got to be properly documented.”
“Naturally.” He put his hands on the arm of the chair like he was about to get up, then stopped. “Can we go now? We really need to get this taken care of.”
“Certainly.”
“Great.” He stood. “Just please, call off your deputies until I talk to the remains. LeRoy won’t go anywhere. He’ll still be there if they tell us he’s the killer.”
Larsen frowned, then nodded. “All right. But if you don’t find out something that says he’s not involved, we’re bringing him in immediately.”
Sin nodded. “Understood.”
She picked up the radio handset on her desk, squeezed the button, and spoke. “Deputy Verne, come in.”
The radio squawked with his reply. “This is Deputy Verne.”
“Stand down on Bonfitte and return to the station.”
After a moment of silence, he answered, “Copy that. Returning to station.”
She placed the handset back on her desk, then stood up, adjusting her utility belt. “This had better get us some answers. Actionable answers. Because you realize I can’t rightly arrest someone just because you say the bones whispered clues to you. I need something that leads to hard evidence. Understand?”
Sin got to his feet. “Completely. But what the bones tell us might also keep you from arresting the wrong person.”
He let Larsen go out first, then Birdie, but as I passed him, he put his hand on my arm to stop me. “I may not be able to give the constable what she wants. Even if the bones reveal the murderer, that doesn’t mean they’ll point me to evidence Larsen can use for an arrest.”
“I was thinking that too.” I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “As long as you can find out for sure who the murderer is…we’ll figure out how to bring them to justice afterward.”
“That doesn’t sound exactly legal.”
“Yeah, I’m aware. But desperate times—”
“Call for desperate measures. Whatever we have to do, we’re doing it together.”
I smiled. Then took his hand. He was so the guy for me.
We walked out of the station that way, hand in hand. And the overwhelming weight that had been resting on me felt diminished just by having Sinclair at my side.
We followed Larsen’s police crawler to the ME’s office, which was attached to the morgue. It wasn’t a place I’d ever been before, but I had been to the one in Nocturne Falls. It was in the hospital basement, which seemed fitting.
The North Pole morgue was just a big gray building.
We parked outside and me
t Larsen at the door.
“Is Dr. Charming here?”
“No.” She unhooked a ring of keys from her utility belt. “I didn’t think there was any reason to pull him from his patients.”
“I suppose not.” I moved a little closer to Sin. Morgues didn’t exactly creep me out, but visiting one wasn’t exactly my idea of happy fun time either.
Birdie didn’t seem phased by it.
Larsen unlocked the door, went inside, and flipped some switches. Lights and soft, oddly cheerful instrumental music came on.
The decent-sized foyer held one narrow leather couch and four matching chairs, along with a small table. A spray of magazines, all outdated, sat on the table. I couldn’t help but wonder who might use a waiting room like this.
The antiseptic smell wasn’t unpleasant, but it wasn’t something I wanted to dab behind my ears either.
Birdie’s nose wrinkled. Apparently, she wasn’t fond of the smell, but then, werewolves had a much more sensitive olfactory system than elves did.
On either side of the foyer were doors. One was marked Office. One wasn’t marked at all.
Larsen headed for the unmarked one. “This way.”
Birdie looked at me and shrugged as if to say, I hope this works.
I hoped it worked too. There was a lot riding on this. Namely, LeRoy’s reputation and livelihood. And our shot at capturing the killer, who might still walk free in the North Pole.
We followed Larsen through the door, then through another small room that held a few filing cabinets, then into the larger room I’d been anticipating.
The antiseptic smell was stronger in here. The room held two stainless-steel tables. I was pretty sure they were used for autopsies, but I wasn’t going to dwell on that.
The far wall was what concerned us. The three rows of rectangular drawers, also stainless steel, held my attention with as much pull as a flashing neon sign. I couldn’t look away from them. What drawer was the skeleton in?
Sinclair nudged me.
I tore my gaze from the morgue wall to look at him. He pointed, and I followed his gesture.
Larsen was taking a large black bag from a horizontal filing cabinet against the opposite wall. “These are the remains.”
Sin leaned in. “Bones aren’t refrigerated,” he said to me.
“Oh, right.” I felt a little dumb. But that was okay. It was still better than being freaked out by where I was.
Larsen put the bag on one of the stainless-steel tables and unzipped it.
The tiniest bit of smooth bone was visible. Creamy white and visibly porous. Much easier to look at than a body, I had to say. My nerves settled.
Sin rolled his shoulders and approached the bag.
I pulled out my phone and opened up the timer app. “No more than two minutes.”
He glanced at me, a little amusement in his eyes. “It may take longer than that to make the connection.”
“Sin.” That wasn’t what he’d promised me.
“Sweetheart, if I’m going to do this, I’m not going to cut things short just because it takes longer than a hundred and twenty seconds.”
“Thank you,” Larsen said. She was at the far end of the table.
Birdie linked her arm through mine. “It’ll be okay. Sinclair’s got a long, long life ahead of him. A minute or two isn’t going to matter a wink.”
I knew there was no point in arguing. My mouth firmed into a hard line, and I sighed. I put my phone away. That was as close as I was going to get to acquiescing.
With a quick, reassuring smile in my direction, Sin pushed his sleeves back and stood over the bag, hands above the opening, fingers wide. “Bear in mind, I’ve never done this with bones. I don’t know what to expect, but I’ll do everything I can to get answers.”
We all nodded.
He took a breath. “Here goes.”
I tensed as Sinclair reached into the bag and made contact with the bones.
I’d seen Sin use his gifts to bring the dead temporarily back to life again in Nocturne Falls, so I knew what to expect.
There was still something a little unsettling about the act. And something a little awe-inducing about the fact that I was marrying a man who could do this.
He stiffened as if the breath caught in his lungs. His eyes went silver white. No pupils, no irises, just all glowing silver-white light. His lips parted, but no sound came out for a few seconds.
Finally, he spoke, his voice thin and far away, but then, it wasn’t directed at us. “Who are you?”
In the silence that followed, the tick of the wall clock echoed like a sledgehammer whacking concrete.
He nodded like he was listening, then he spoke to us in a stronger voice. “It’s her. Rachel Brightmoore.”
“I knew it,” I whispered.
Birdie squeezed my arm against her like the thrill of it all was getting to her. “Ask her who killed her.”
Sin nodded. “How did you die, Rachel?”
His glowing gaze was focused off into the distance, but I wondered what he was actually seeing. Blackness? Or visions that Rachel was sharing with him? Or was he just hearing her voice in his head? This was so different than the time he’d brought Myra Grimshaw back to life in Nocturne Falls. We’d been able to talk to her. But then, she hadn’t been dead for as long as Rachel had.
He grimaced and made sounds of discomfort, then what could only be described as a moan of pain.
I lurched forward, but Birdie held on to me.
His face relaxed, and he spoke again. “Thank you for sharing that with me.”
With a shudder, he let go of the bones. He planted his hands on the table and leaned on them heavily. He took deep breaths, his head tilted down like he was looking into the bag. His eyes were back to normal, but he seemed shaken.
“Sin, are you okay?” I glanced at my phone. I hadn’t turned the timer off. Five minutes, twenty-six seconds. Snowballs.
He nodded, but didn’t answer, which told me he wasn’t okay.
I went to his side, putting my arm around him. “You need sugar, don’t you?”
He nodded again, still breathing in deep gulps.
“We’re going to get you some right away.” I looked at Larsen. “Is there anything here? A vending machine? An employee lounge with snacks?”
“No, sorry.”
“You have doughnuts at the station?”
She nodded. “There’s all kinds of pastries and sweets in the breakroom. We’ll find something.”
“Then let’s go.”
Birdie and I helped Sin into the crawler, where he lay down across the back seats. I drove, following Larsen, who didn’t spare the gas. That made me happy.
While we were on the way, Birdie dug a hard toffee out of her purse. “Here, Sinclair. It’s not much, but it might help a little.”
“Thanks.” He took it, and the crinkle of the wrapper being discarded followed.
“You okay back there?” I asked.
“I will be. The toffee is helping.”
“Good. Anything you want to tell us now before we get to the station?”
“Nothing that can’t be shared.”
“All right, rest then.”
He did, and when we got to the station, he had no issues walking in on his own power. He was still obviously lagging, but with some more sugar, he’d be back to normal in no time.
Larsen was more than accommodating on the sugar front, getting us settled in her office, then slipping out only to return with a can of cherry cola and two paper plates piled high with goodies. Cookies, muffins, cupcakes, brownies, blondies, and a few packaged snack cakes.
She set the haul on the desk in front of Sin. “Quite a few of the spouses like to bake and send things in, so we always have a lot to choose from. And there’s plenty more, so don’t be shy.”
“Thank you.” He popped the top on the soda and took a long drink. He set the can down and picked up a brownie. After he took a big bite of that, I could see a little color co
ming back into his face.
That gave me great relief.
Larsen folded her hands on the desk. “Better?”
He nodded. “Much.”
“When you’re ready, then, what did you learn?”
He took another bite of the brownie, and once he’d swallowed that, he began. “First of all, her answers came to me in snippets of memories. Like watching little pieces of a movie. There was no recollection of being stabbed. No recollection of being murdered, actually. What she showed me was her having tea with two people I can only assume were George and his mother. Looked like in George’s house. Or maybe it was the mother’s. They were discussing the wedding, then Rachel started to feel poorly.” He paused. “I could feel her distress like it was my own.”
He drank a little soda before continuing. “She lay down to rest in a guest room, and when she woke up, still sick, she was in a small dark room that was bitterly cold.” He paused, and a terrible light shone in his eyes. “She screamed for help until her voice was gone. Eventually, she had nothing left. No energy. No ability to go on. Her body was racked with chills as the sickness got worse. She went to sleep and didn’t wake up again.”
Birdie sucked in a breath and put her hand to her mouth. “That poor child. It sounds like she might have been poisoned. And left to die.”
We were all quiet for a long moment after that.
Larsen, who was, I suppose, more used to this kind of thing than the rest of us, spoke first. “I’ll ask Dr. Charming to do a toxicology report, although having only bones to work with might make that more difficult.”
“That would be good,” I said, still distressed by what Sin had learned.
Larsen went on. “And now we can confirm she didn’t die in the carriage. That fits with what we found. Or rather, didn’t find since there was a distinct lack of evidence at the scene. I’d guess her body remained where she was for long enough to decompose, and then the bones were recently moved.”
“But why move them at all?” I shook my head. “Putting them in the Crystal Carriage seems like a very deliberate act. So what was the point of it? To derail our wedding? To frame LeRoy? If it’s the latter, why wait all these years? There’s more to this than we know.”
Miss Frost Says I Do: A Nocturne Falls Mystery (Jayne Frost Book 7) Page 12