Scorched Heart (The Firebrand Series Book 4)

by Helen Harper

  ‘Maybe it’s best if we talk in private,’ I said to Boateng.

  Barry and Larry couldn’t get away quickly enough. I glared at the other police officers and technicians who were staring open-mouthed at Lukas. Yes, vampires didn’t usually come to places like Barchapel but for goodness sake… This was ridiculous.

  Lukas started to move away as well but I grabbed his hand, indicating that he should stay. Then I inhaled deeply and told both DCI Boateng and Lukas all that I’d learned. Lukas already knew most of it, but even he looked shocked at Laura’s discoveries. Boateng’s usually stoic composure also appeared shaky.

  The only thing I didn’t tell him was the role that Miranda had played. She’d demanded secrecy and it was the least I could do for her.

  Boateng rubbed his hand over his head several times. ‘Well,’ he murmured. ‘Well.’

  Shivering, I thought briefly of the large hand that had encircled my throat and strangled me so deftly. I shook the image out of my head. Whoever he was, or whoever they were, their time was running out.

  ‘What this means,’ I said, ‘is that our pool of suspects is smaller than it was before. Assuming that there is only one suspect, he has to be over forty. And he was here in Barchapel twenty-five years ago, as well as being here now. I’ve got all the statements taken from local people. If we match up the historical statements to the ones from this week, we might come up with something. The bastard responsible knows that I can’t die, but I reckon he has no clue how the process works.’

  I nodded at the bloodied papers. ‘He thinks he’s targeting me. He’s taunting me – he has been all along. But he also thinks he holds all the cards, and in that he’s very wrong.’

  Boateng didn’t look convinced. ‘I’ll go back and look through the statements. Emma, I was wrong before when I said you could be in serious danger. You are in serious danger. Especially if there are two murderers.’

  Lukas stiffened by my side. ‘That’s as may be, but unless Emma wants to leave Barchapel—’

  ‘I don’t,’ I interrupted loudly.

  Lukas smiled. ‘Then I will be by her side at all times. She’s more powerful than you could ever realise, DCI Boateng. And so am I.’ With that, he bared his fangs for all to see. ‘This fucker might be able to take on one of us, but together we’re unstoppable.’

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The examination of the cottage and its garden was going to take considerable time and I had a lot of files and emails to go through. Lukas and I left Boateng and the rest of his team and walked back towards the Bird and Bush. We trailed down the road as it curved back into Barchapel. Lukas’s phone rang but he declined the call without even looking at the caller ID. Instead, his arm went round my waist as if he were afraid I’d suddenly disappear.

  ‘Thank you for coming to find me,’ I said. ‘How are you feeling?’

  ‘Much better. Although I’m not sure you should have sent that young copper to check on me. He was too terrified to come up to my room, so he phoned up. When I went downstairs to talk to him, he stayed several metres away from me.’ Lukas snorted mildly. ‘I reckon he thinks that vampirism is contagious.’

  I thought about Barry and Larry’s reactions; PC Rothsay wasn’t the only one who let his fear of supes get the better of him. I should probably be glad that he wasn’t wearing that daft garlic necklace any longer. ‘I don’t know how you put up with that sort of thing all the time.’

  ‘You get used to it,’ Lukas said with an ambivalent shrug. ‘But sometimes it’s good to remain amongst my own kind. There are plenty of reasons to be angry and frustrated that we’re ghettoised in Soho, but there are also reasons to be thankful for it too.’

  ‘It’s not fair.’

  ‘No,’ he agreed. ‘But, as you know, life is far from fair.’

  Samuel Beswick’s thin face flashed into my mind and a sadness washed over me. ‘No,’ I said quietly. ‘It’s not.’ I glanced at him. ‘I really am sorry, you know,’ I told him. ‘About stabbing you in the heart.’

  Lukas’s phone started ringing again. Again he declined the call.

  ‘You stabbed me in the heart long before you shot me with a silver arrow,’ he told me with a chuckle. He stopped walking and turned towards me, reaching for my hands. His black hair fell loosely across his forehead and curled down towards his eyes. I wet my lips and his gaze followed the movement.

  ‘I should have been here in Barchapel from the very beginning. I’m with you in this, Emma. I’m with you in everything. Sooner or later you’ll realise that.’ He took my hand and placed it palm-side down over his heart, then put his own hand over mine. I closed my eyes, feeling his heartbeat underneath my fingertips.

  ‘I never thought I could feel like this,’ Lukas murmured. ‘I used to be made of steel. Now it feels like I’m made of marshmallow.’ His voice hardened. ‘And if that fucking murdering bastard tries anything again…’

  I reached up on my tiptoes and planted a kiss on his mouth. I wanted the murdering bastard to try again. It would be the best way to catch him.

  For the third time, the ring tone on Lukas’s phone pealed out. ‘You should probably get that,’ I told him.

  Lukas drew the phone out of his pocket and dropped it on the ground, then raised his heel and slammed it down, smashing the screen. The ringing stopped and a moment later the screen went completely dead.

  Uh… ‘Was that wise?’

  ‘This isn’t the time to be distracted.’ His black eyes were serious. ‘I’m here completely for you, Emma. One hundred percent. Scarlett can more than handle whatever’s happening in London without me.’

  ‘Lukas…’ I began, ‘you have other responsibilities.’

  ‘You’re the only one I care about right now,’ he growled. ‘Don’t argue with me on this.’

  I gave him a small smile then I reached up to kiss him once more.

  There was loud shriek from overhead. Lukas jerked. ‘What the…?’

  I glowered at the crow. Warning me of impending death was one thing; interrupting my kiss with Lukas was something else. ‘Bloody bird,’ I muttered.

  Vel shrieked again. She flapped her wings with what appeared to be considerable vehemence. ‘What?’ I flapped my arms back at her. ‘What is it?’

  She threw back her head and cawed.

  Lukas raised a single eyebrow. ‘Are you trying to have a conversation with a bird?’

  I pulled a face. ‘It’s not just any bird.’

  She flapped her wings again then flew over our heads and disappeared beyond a tree. My brow creased. I dropped Lukas’s hands and marched after her.

  ‘What is it, D’Artagnan?’ He caught up to me. ‘You’re not seriously following a bird, are you?’

  ‘It’s heading to Roselands. That’s where Julie Mackintosh was found.’

  I picked up speed and soon reached the iron fence surrounding the park. I vaulted over it. I was some distance away from the spots where Julie had been killed and where we’d discovered the boot marks and the paw prints. Vel was sitting on top of a bush between both points, preening her feathers.

  ‘Don’t go running off,’ Lukas warned blackly, coming up behind me. ‘It’s not safe for you around here, remember?’

  I glanced at him. ‘Sorry. But you don’t have to run after me, not with your wound.’

  ‘It’s fine.’ He pulled up his shirt, indicating the mark on his skin. He was right: it was healing with supernatural swiftness. I enjoyed a quick lascivious gawp at his torso before he dropped his shirt, then turned back and gazed between the two spots.

  Nobody else was in the park. The crime-scene tape cordoning off the area had been removed but clearly no one had any desire to come here to appreciate the scenery. I swung my head from left to right and pursed my lips. ‘Lukas,’ I said slowly, ‘can you go and stand over there?’ I pointed to where Julie’s body had been found.

  He swept out a bow. ‘As my lady commands.’ He strode over. ‘Here?’

  ‘A bit to t
he right.’

  He side-stepped and I nodded. ‘Right there. Don’t move.’ I twisted and headed for the soft earth where the prints had been. There was a clear line of vision between where I was and where Lukas was standing.

  I flicked my gaze to the park gate. It wasn’t far from where he was standing, probably only twenty metres away. But I was sixty metres away.

  ‘She must have seen the killer,’ I whispered. ‘But she didn’t try to run away. She didn’t try to escape.’ Patrick Lacey hadn’t attempted to run until his last moments either and, despite his inebriated state, he would have seen the killer coming too.

  ‘What are you thinking?’ Lukas called.

  I walked towards him. ‘The murderer might be capable of shifting into a bear within a breath,’ I said, ‘but until he does that, there’s nothing about him that’s even vaguely threatening. Julie Mackintosh was a sensible person, but she didn’t try to run away. She didn’t see him as a threat until it was too late. He’s not someone to be afraid of, not on the surface. And, like Patrick, Julie was attacked head on. There wasn’t a second killer hiding in the bushes behind her while she was distracted by someone else.’ I sucked on my bottom lip thoughtfully.

  Vel squawked and rose into the air before vanishing once more. I watched her go. ‘Let’s get back to the Bird and Bush. There are several things I need to check.’

  I sat cross-legged on the bed and started with the information that Liza had emailed through. ‘You don’t kill three people then take a break for twenty-five years before suddenly killing again without a good reason,’ I said to Lukas. ‘Nothing about that makes sense.’

  ‘Maybe he was in prison and was only released recently,’ he suggested.

  It was a plausible theory. ‘And maybe,’ I said, ‘he was in Galloway and knew Frederick Parris. So when he decided he wanted Samuel Beswick out of the way, he contacted Parris and told him to attack.’ I considered another option.’ Or maybe he was never in prison at all.’ My tone grew grimmer. ‘Maybe he never stopped killing.’

  Lukas’s eyes grew sharp. ‘You think there have been other victims?’

  ‘Liza told me about a hit and run up in Scotland where a mother and toddler were killed. On the face of it, it sounded like an accident and the victims didn’t fit the profile of victims like Julie or Patrick.’ I opened up my laptop and logged in. ‘But there were black fibres found in the other vehicle. The bear Chloe saw had black fur.’

  Lukas rubbed his chin. ‘Not to mention that the murder of a child fits with what happened to you. You were a child when he first killed you.’

  My mouth tightened. ‘Indeed.’ I tapped on the keyboard and brought up Liza’s email. ‘Here,’ I said, scanning through the details. My stomach flipped. ‘It happened on a rural road. Nobody witnessed the crash. In fact, nobody noticed anything was amiss for several hours. By the time they did, the car was nothing but a burnt-out mess and both bodies had been incinerated beyond recognition. They were only identified through dental records. The coroner couldn’t identify whether the crash or the fire had killed them.’

  Lukas scratched his chin. ‘What if it was neither of those things? What if something else – someone else – killed them and used the car crash and fire to cover it up?’

  I clicked and brought up several photos of the other car. Lukas sat down beside me and looked at them. ‘How did they know it was a hit and run?’

  ‘According to what Liza found, this other car,’ I tapped the screen, ‘was caught by a speed trap camera a few miles away, just after the estimated time that the fire started. There was a large dent on its front bonnet and yet it still clocked a speed of 104mph.’

  We both leaned in, trying to make out the driver’s face. Lukas clicked his tongue. ‘It’s too dark,’ he muttered. ‘I can’t see anything.’

  I stared at the blurry outline. ‘And it’s no real proof of anything. It might have nothing to do with the Barchapel killer.’ I picked up my phone and dialled Liza. It rang several times but she didn’t answer. Cursing, I sent her an email instead, asking her to look for other similar deaths, not merely from the last couple of years but from the last twenty-five.

  ‘You’re sure you’ve never heard of a supe that can turn itself into a bear?’

  Lukas shook his head. ‘No. Not even a whisper.’

  ‘Liza also did some research on bear-related supes and sent through a few suggestions.’ I found her other email and opened up the attached document.

  ‘Enchanted teddy bears?’ Lukas scoffed.

  ‘Keep an open mind,’ I told him.

  ‘There are limits.’

  ‘I know but—’ I stopped talking and gazed at the screen.

  ‘Bugbear.’ Lukas sounded grim as he read the same words that I was reading. ‘Not just an annoying habit but a supernatural creature that feeds on children.’

  We both looked at each other.

  ‘Our killer doesn’t only kill children,’ I said quietly.

  ‘True,’ Lukas conceded. He returned his attention to the screen. ‘This email is almost two days old. Why haven’t you looked at it before now?’

  ‘I’ve been busy with other leads,’ I said, shame-faced. ‘And the theory that a bear supe was involved no longer seemed viable.’ I told him about the overly obvious footprints in the park. ‘It seemed more likely that it was a human deliberately trying to look like a supe.’

  Lukas grunted. ‘It wouldn’t be the first time.’ His irises seemed to grow even blacker. ‘There is another possibility, of course.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The first victim here was Patrick Lacey,’ Lukas said. ‘And Patrick Lacey is on record as being the person who found you next to your parents’ bodies. That’s an immediate connection between you and him.’

  My brow creased. ‘I wasn’t aware of that connection to begin with,’ I said, ‘but the killer wouldn’t have known that.’

  Lukas nodded, warming to his subject. ‘Neither of us have heard of any kind of supe with bear-like characteristics. If such a supernatural creature does exist, they’ve taken great pains to hide their existence.’ He paused. ‘Until now, that is. They made no attempt to conceal what they were when they killed Lacey and Mackintosh. Quite the opposite, in fact.’ He pointed at me. ‘You’re the only Supe Squad detective in the country – at least, you were until last week. If someone wanted to draw you out, all they would have to do is commit a supe-related crime. After what happened at the Talismanic Bank last month, you and your abilities are an open secret.’

  ‘Perhaps the killer merely over-played their hand with the footprints at the park,’ I said thoughtfully.

  ‘Or it was a double bluff. He wanted to separate you from the official police investigation and ensure his real identity as a supe was kept secret. You were getting close to the truth, so he used some clever misdirection to mislead you. Let’s face it, the only time he messed up was today when that teenager stumbled across him.’

  I met his eyes. ‘You really think that all this is about me? That Patrick Lacey and Julie Mackintosh were murdered because of me?’ Nausea rose from the pit of my belly.

  ‘You were murdered too,’ Lukas reminded me gently. ‘Twice, if we include when you were a child as well as what happened with that bastard hiding in the wardrobe. Think about the voice you heard at the cottage and what was written on that police file. You got away twenty-five years ago because you became the phoenix and resurrected in fire and brimstone. Whoever killed you is pissed off about that and wants revenge.’

  My fingers reached for my throat. ‘What if it was a test?’ I whispered. ‘What if my second murder here was to test to see if I would be reborn again? I was strangled, not slashed or bitten like Patrick and Julie.’

  Lukas paced up and down the small room. ‘What’s the end game?’ he muttered. ‘You can’t die – and the killer knows that. So what are they trying to achieve?’

  Julie’s friendly face flashed into my mind. ‘Fear.’ My voice was barely audible.
‘Chaos. Confusion. They want to punish me for living.’ My fingers smoothed the rumpled duvet cover. ‘And they’re doing a good job.’ I gazed at Lukas. ‘But you’re wrong about one thing. The bastard hasn’t made one mistake. He’s made two.’

  Lukas gave me a questioning look. ‘What’s the second?’

  There was one unopened email remaining in my inbox. ‘Samuel Beswick,’ I said.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Archibald Jenkins was running scared. To have a prisoner under his care who might be about to be declared innocent of all charges at the same time that he was almost killed had encouraged him to send through any information that he could get hold of. He wanted to be seen as cooperating fully with the police and to absolve himself of any culpability in the attack on Samuel Beswick.

  I checked the time stamp on the email. ‘As of two hours ago,’ I said, ‘Beswick was still alive. Frederick Parris, the prisoner who attacked him, is no longer talking.’

  I tapped on the first file, opening up a list of people who’d visited Parris over the last year: Margaret Parris, his mother; Linda Adkins, his fiancée; Simon Gato, his solicitor. I gazed at the photos taken when they’d been in the visitors’ holding area at Galloway. None of them looked familiar, and none of their names matched witness statements or interviews from Barchapel. Fuck.

  I muttered a vexed curse under my breath. Jenkins had attached links to hours upon hours of CCTV footage. It would take half a lifetime to go through it all.

  I gritted my teeth; I had to start somewhere. I opened up the first clip, which was of the attack itself. The video was a wide shot, the lens looking down at the prison cafeteria from overhead. I located Samuel Beswick sitting in one corner of the room, then I pressed play and held my breath as another figure stood up and approached him. There: that was Frederick Parris. I pointed him out to Lukas and we both watched as, almost in slow motion, he grabbed Beswick by the scruff of the neck and smacked him round the head with his food tray. Then he spun Beswick round and jabbed him in the stomach several times with the home-made weapon. I rewound and watched again.