by Helen Harper
I didn’t answer, I simply turned on my heel and ran for the door.
The street outside was bathed in sunshine. It bounced off the nearby windows and the few trees dotted along the pavement threw dappled shade on the ground below. There was nobody nearby. I squinted, searching desperately for anything or anyone that looked out of place. I spotted a woman walking towards me, a distant expression on her face. Margaret Wick, alive and well. I exhaled loudly and moved so she could pass. She smiled vaguely at me in thanks and continued on her way.
‘You think someone is out here watching us right now?’
Lukas’s voice made me jump. I nodded and continued to scan the street as I curled my hands into fists. I couldn’t see anything suspicious. They could be long gone by now. I had no way of knowing. ‘I’m not making this up, Lukas. The robbery happened. You were killed.’
His voice was quiet. ‘I believe you.’
I pressed my palms into my temples. I could jump in Tallulah and head back to the old disused tunnel and try to catch the gang there, but that hadn’t exactly worked the first time around. Anyway, I suspected that if they did swap cars on this occasion I’d already be too late. They’d been warned off.
There was only one thing – or rather one man – that I had now that I hadn’t had before. ‘I have to get to Supe Squad and speak to Adam,’ I said.
‘The fake vampire.’ There was a curl of distaste in Lukas’s voice.
‘The one and only.’
‘Then let’s go.’ He smiled at me. ‘The day’s not over yet. And if Devereau Webb is telling the truth, you still have one more chance after today.’
I set my mouth into a thin line. He was right. Detective Constable Emma Bellamy, D’Artagnan to some of her friends, was not defeated yet. Not by a long shot.
***
Max, the liveried bellman at the hotel next to the Supe Squad building whose duties normally involved opening the door for guests and welcoming them in, as well as arranging for transportation and sorting out luggage, gave me a friendly wave. ‘It’s busy at your place today.’
‘Busy is one word for it. Are you well?’
‘Always.’ He tipped his hat. ‘Keep those streets safe, detective.’
I grinned. Max glanced at Lukas, obviously recognised him and inclined his head respectfully. He was considerably nicer than his night-time counterpart. Lukas passed a few pleasantries while I opened the Supe Squad door, the familiar smell of verbena and wolfsbane tickling my nostrils.
We’d barely moved halfway down the corridor when Fred appeared from the office, his anxious expression smoothing into relief when he saw us. ‘There you are,’ he said, suddenly smiling. ‘What the hell has been happening? Was something going down at the Talismanic Bank?’
I grimaced. ‘Not exactly. It’s a long story.’
Liza appeared behind Fred. Unlike him, she wasn’t smiling. ‘The phone has been ringing off the hook! First there was that idiot at the London Eye, then a bunch of idiots dressed up as werewolves at Tower Bridge. I’ve had DSI Barnes screaming at me to find you. She says you’re not answering your phone.’ She put her hands on her hips and glared. ‘And what is Lord Horvath doing here?’
Lukas smiled at her. ‘Good to see you again, Liza.’
She sniffed imperiously. ‘I suppose you’re both going to want a coffee. I’m telling you now that I don’t have any biscuits. Or cake. There’s definitely no cake.’
‘Coffee would be great,’ I said. ‘Thank you.’
She sniffed again and whirled away. Fred shrugged amiably. ‘I put that Adam guy into Interview Room 1.’ He pointed at the closed door. ‘He’s not very happy. He kept talking about making a formal complaint about police brutality and unfair arrest. I checked up, you know. It’s not illegal to impersonate a vampire.’
‘No,’ I agreed. ‘But he did trespass on private property and climb up the London Eye while pretending to be a vamp. We need to focus on the vamp part before CID or Barnes or whoever start asking questions and take him away from us.’ My voice hardened. ‘I have to speak to him before that happens.’
We walked into the office. Liza had flicked on the kettle. She straightened up hastily from the fridge and turned to face us. It looked to me as if she’d been shoving in a chocolate cake. I suppressed a smile.
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘I understand you both have a lot of questions. I’ve already explained to Lord Horvath what’s happened.’ I swallowed. ‘I don’t have a lot time to go into details but essentially I took a strange potion from Devereau Webb and drank it. This is the third time I’ve experienced this same twelve-hour period. At midnight tonight, my day will re-set itself and I’ll experience it again for one final time.’
I paused to allow both Fred and Liza to absorb my words then I continued. ‘A gang of bank robbers set up the events at the London Eye and Tower Bridge so that they could pull off a heist at the Talismanic Bank. For whatever reason, during this episode that we’re experiencing now they’ve not attacked the bank. Someone probably tipped them off that we were inside waiting for them. I need to find out who the gang is so that I can stop them when they try again. Got that?’
Liza and Fred stared at me. The kettle whistled and Lukas ambled over, reaching behind Liza to switch it off. ‘I’ll make the coffee, shall I?’ he said to no one in particular.
Fred cleared his throat. ‘You’re living the same day over and over again,’ he said.
‘Yep.’
‘Like…’ His voice trailed off and he struggled to find the words.
‘Like Groundhog Day,’ I supplied helpfully.
He swallowed. ‘And this happened because of some concoction you got from Devereau Webb?’
‘Yep.’
‘Can I get some?’
I blinked. ‘Pardon?’
His expression was suddenly animated. ‘Imagine the possibilities! If I could re-live the same day then I could go after Scarlett. I could try different ways of getting her to go out with me again.’
I glanced at Lukas. To his credit, he appeared not to be listening. Given that I was fairly certain he had ordered Scarlett to stop toying with Fred and to stay away from him, that was a good thing.
‘That ship has sailed,’ Liza said. ‘Forget her.’ She looked at me. ‘Can I get some?’
‘Uh…’
‘I only need it to work once. Choose the right day and have knowledge of the national lottery numbers and,’ she waved her arms, ‘I’ll never have to work here with you people ever again.’
This time all three of us looked at her. She caught our look and shrugged. ‘Hey,’ she said, ‘don’t take it personally. Besides, I promise I’ll cut you all in.’
I shook my head in amusement. It was a measure of what life was like in Supe Squad that neither of them questioned the veracity of what I’d told them. They didn’t even ask for proof. Then again, they also knew that I could die and come back to life again. I supposed re-living the same day over and over was mundane compared to repeatedly cheating death.
‘I don’t know what was in the potion,’ I said. ‘Webb told me he’s destroyed the copy of Infernal Enchantment that gave him the recipe. Once all this is over, I’ll make damned sure that nobody else ever gets their hands on that bloody book. It’s too dangerous.’ I was glad that I had these chances to stop the robbers and keep Lukas alive, but I was well aware that the opportunity to replay events to my personal satisfaction could cause chaos. I’d reap the benefits now – but I was going to destroy every copy of that damned book and remove the temptation of attempting to replicate this bizarre scenario ever again.
‘Our focus,’ I said, getting back to the matter in hand, ‘needs to be tracking down the robbers so that I can stop them and bring them into custody when the day resets again.’ I turned to Liza. ‘They use a florist’s van to get to and from the bank, then they swap it for an old blue Volvo. I don’t have number plates for either vehicle but I know the florist’s van was taken from the East End so—’
&
nbsp; Liza interrupted. ‘I’ll search recent reports of any stolen vans in that area and then locate CCTV to see if I can find any Volvos nearby. We might get lucky.’
‘Thank you. Fred, you and I will question our London Eye gymnast.’
‘What’s his involvement?’
‘I’m not quite sure yet, but he’s already ended up being shot in the face twice. That can’t be a coincidence. The costumed wolves at Tower Bridge were drama students. I suspect that Adam is something different.’ I bared my teeth; I could play predator when the need arose. ‘We’ll soon find out.’
Lukas raised an eyebrow. ‘What shall I do?’
I looked at him innocently. ‘You’re making coffee.’
Fred and Liza jerked in horror but Lukas merely laughed. ‘That I am.’
I grinned. ‘You can go home, Lord Horvath. We’ve got this.’
‘And if I choose to stay?’
I met his eyes. ‘That’s your prerogative.’
‘Then perhaps I’ll hang around.’ He dug a phone out of his pocket. ‘I’ll use the time to track down various contacts. Someone might know who these bastards are.’
My grin softened into something else. He gazed back at me, tiny crow’s feet crinkling the corners of his eyes. I had to fight the temptation to walk over and brush them with a feather-light kiss.
‘I wish I knew what you were thinking,’ Lukas murmured.
I licked my lips. ‘I…’
Liza coughed loudly. ‘Save the drooling over each other for later, will you?’
Fred stifled a laugh.
Pulling back my shoulders, I pretended that I was completely unflustered. ‘There is no drooling. Come on, Fred. Let’s see what our fake vampire has to say for himself.’
Chapter Seventeen
Fred and I sat down opposite Adam. He was slumped in his chair with an expression that wavered between seething rage and overwhelming boredom. ‘You’ve been holding me here for hours!’ he said indignantly.
Hardly. ‘And you’ll be held for years if I have anything to say about it,’ I snarled.
Fred sent me a worried look before addressing our prisoner. ‘Would you like anything to drink? You’ve got water, but I can fetch you a tea or coffee if you’d prefer.’
Adam’s gaze shifted slightly. ‘The water’s fine.’
‘Ice?’ I asked. ‘A little paper umbrella at the side? A slice of lemon, maybe?’
‘Boss…’ Fred murmured.
I ignored him. Adam glared.
‘I know PC Hackert took your fingerprints when he brought you in,’ I said. ‘We’re running them through the system – we’ll find out who you really are soon enough. So why don’t you tell us your full name now?’
Adam didn’t answer. He had perfected the art of the sullen pout and it made him look younger than he really was, more like an angst-ridden teenager than a grown man.
Fred leaned forward. ‘It’ll be easier on you later if you cooperate with us now,’ he said gently.
The seconds ticked by. ‘Jones,’ he muttered finally. ‘My name is Adam Jones.’
‘Explain to us, Mr Jones,’ I said, ‘what you were doing at the London Eye today.’
He sneered at me defiantly. ‘I was climbing it.’
‘Why?’
His nostrils flared. He was starting to hate me. That was good. ‘It was there,’ he said, taunting me.
I leaned forward until I was nose to nose with him. ‘Cut the cutesy act. We know you weren’t planning to jump off the Eye and kill yourself, and we know you were passing yourself off as a vampire. Do you want to be a supe, Adam? Is that what this is about? Do you really think that the vamps would want someone like you in their ranks?’
‘I don’t want to be a fucking bloodsucker,’ he spat.
‘Then why pretend to be one?’
He looked away. ‘I ain’t saying nothing.’
I huffed and got to my feet. ‘This is a waste of time. I’m going to see if my coffee is ready.’ I pushed back my chair and stalked out of the room. The door closed behind me. As Lukas handed me a steaming mug, I pressed my ear against it so I could listen in. It would have been a lot easier if we’d had a two-way mirror but instead I had to eavesdrop the old-fashioned way.
‘Being bad cop doesn’t suit you,’ Lukas murmured.
I made a face at him. I’d not particularly enjoyed it but it suited Fred even less. I pressed a finger to my lips and strained to hear what was going on.
‘Sorry,’ Fred said. ‘She’s under a lot of pressure.’
‘She’s a bitch.’
Fred didn’t disagree. ‘It’s impressive, what you did. I wasn’t at the Eye but I saw it on television afterwards. You climbed up really high and you did it without a net. Are you a gymnast?’
‘Free runner,’ Adam Jones answered.
Fred gave a low whistle. ‘Impressive. Is that why the gang got you involved? Because of your free-running skills?’
‘It’s one of the reasons.’
Fred waited, stretching out the silence to encourage Jones to fill it. It worked.
‘They didn’t respect what I could do. They thought it was easy, but that shit is a lot harder than it looks.’
‘I’ll bet.’
I nodded approvingly. Fred had injected just the right note of admiration into his voice.
‘With skills like yours,’ he continued, ‘you must be a real asset to that team, whether they realise it or not.’
‘They don’t realise it. They were trying to keep me out of the way. I wasn’t supposed to know what they were doing but I overheard them when they were talking about it. They tried to shut me out but I wasn’t having any of it. I ain’t stupid.’
‘No,’ Fred said. ‘I don’t believe you are.’ There was a pause. ‘I’m not supposed to tell you this,’ he said carefully, ‘but DC Bellamy told me there’s a chance you’ll be charged with terrorism.’
‘What?’ Adam Jones’s voice grew louder. ‘That’s not fair! I didn’t threaten anyone! I didn’t hurt anyone!’
‘We’ve been bugging the shop for some time,’ Fred said, taking what little Jones had already revealed to us and using it against him in a deft lie. ‘It’s how we already knew your first name. In fact, we know more than you think – and it’s not good. We know they were planning to kill you, Adam.’
There were several beats of silence before Adam spoke again. ‘She said in the car that she’d been shot. She said that she’d taken some magic potion and kept re-living the same day over and over again.’
‘She only said that because she thought you were gullible enough to believe it. DC Bellamy was trying to get you to talk. She didn’t realise how smart you really are.’
‘I knew it!’ he burst out. ‘I knew all that was a lie!’
‘Desperate times call for desperate measures. I don’t want you to become collateral damage, Adam. None of this was your fault. All you did was go for a climb.’
‘Exactly! I’m not a terrorist! I’m not a bad person! I just wanted to make some fucking money.’
‘I can’t blame you for that,’ Fred soothed. ‘But the London Eye is a big tourist landmark. Between you and the students who pretended to be werewolves on Tower Bridge, half of London was brought to a standstill. People are jumpy these days. I think the charges might stick.’
‘No way, man. No way. I want a lawyer. Get me a solicitor now. I’m not saying anything else.’
‘If that’s what you want,’ Fred said calmly, ‘that can certainly be arranged. Either way, if you tell us the whole truth about what really happened, we can find a way to make the charges disappear. I bet that if you tell DC Bellamy everything you know, she’ll let you walk.’
‘Really?’
‘Really. You’re not the priority here, Adam. It’s the bastards who put you up to this and who don’t respect what you’re capable of who are the real criminals.’
‘You’re right. They’re the ones who should be locked up.’ There was another pause. ‘Alright
. Go get her. I’ll tell her everything now.’
‘Are you sure? Because I can get you that lawyer first. There are some good duty solicitors who I can contact.’
‘No.’ Offering him the choice had made up his mind. ‘Get the bitch in here. I’ll tell her everything.’
‘Very well.’
I heard Fred’s chair scrape against the floor and I pulled back from the door. A moment later he came out and we moved down the corridor so we were out of earshot before he spoke.
‘You were right,’ he said. ‘It worked. I didn’t think it would be that easy.’
‘Deep down Adam Jones is nothing more than a scared boy who knows that he’s in way over his head. I reckon there’s a part of him that always suspected the gang were going to kill him. He wants to talk.’
Lukas watched me. ‘If he tells you everything, will you let him go?’
I shrugged. ‘I don’t see why not. He’s going to do it all over again soon and,’ I added, not without a trace of sympathy, ‘he’s proved very easy to manipulate. That gang used him and then shot him. He deserves a break.’ I pondered the matter some more. ‘Let’s wait and see what he has to tell us first.’
I drained the rest of my coffee, handed the cup to Lukas and strode into the interview room. ‘So, Mr Jones,’ I said in a more friendly tone, ‘I hear you want to make a deal.’
He folded his arms and glowered. ‘I ain’t a terrorist.’
‘Well, that remains to be seen.’
‘If I tell you what I know, will you let me go?’
I stayed calm. ‘Again, that depends on what you have to say.’ His eyes narrowed and I could tell he was preparing to clam up again. ‘However,’ I conceded, ‘if I can be sure that you didn’t intend to hurt anyone—’
‘I didn’t!’
‘—then,’ I continued as if he hadn’t spoken, ‘I’ll make sure you’re not charged with any serious crimes and your name is kept out of any proceedings relating to the gang that you seem to be mixed up with.’
He watched me for a moment or two. ‘Fine,’ he said, relenting.
I wanted to tell him that he should have held out for a solicitor. I also wanted to tell him that unless an agreement was put into writing, it wasn’t worth a jot. At this moment, however, it would be pointless. This day was going to re-set itself and soon none of these events would even exist.