Several police officers were scattered around the cordoned off area. All in uniforms and either speaking to each other or taking statements from witnesses.
I shifted my focus away from them and instead released a heavy breath before following Gareth. The dead body wasn’t completely covered. I could already see it from here, and two plain clothes men—probably detectives—stood to the side, chatting.
“Take a look, and tell me if you see anything that sparks off—”
That was all I heard before my lungs filled with ice and I was forced to suck in a quick breath. I kept my feet anchored to the dirty asphalt, determined not to fall on my face. Being forced into a spirit’s zone is never fun and always makes me feel like I’m about to freeze, but I recover quicker than most.
“What’s going on? I have to get home. My mum’s going to kill me,” a soft female voice said in front of me.
I looked up and found a tall, plump girl staring at me. Her hair was a dirty shade of blonde and matted with blood, while her features were corpse-pale. The jeans and jacket she was wearing were both sullied and torn. She looked like a horror movie character that had been chased by a machete-wielding psycho, and I couldn’t help but feel my pulse quicken. I hated running into murder victims because of this. Not being sure of what had happened always made them appear grotesque, instead of projecting their last living image.
My limbs felt cold and my breath misted in front of me. “It’s okay. You need to calm down.” And I needed to take my own advice because my heart was pounding hard and fast enough to echo in my ears. My chest constricted when I tried to take another breath. The cold is the hardest thing to get used to.
She looked confused, and stepped closer. “Who are you?” The red in her hair wasn’t just blood—there were bits of skull and brain matter tangled in it.
I hadn’t had a close enough look at the corpse because she’d dragged me in so quickly, but if a vampire had attacked her, why was her head bashed in?
“I’m a spook catcher.” One thing I’d learned during my years of doing this was that spirits needed to know exactly what was going on right away. No point in prolonging the inevitable and bullshitting them so they wouldn’t trust or believe anything I said.
Her blue eyes widened. “No.” She looked down at the ground, probably spotting her dead shell for the first time. Disorientation was quite common with trauma ghosts. “That means I’m…dead.”
“I’m sorry.” I really was. No one should have to go through this. “What happened to you?”
She shook her head. “No…”
“Listen, you need to focus.” I tried to get her attention back before I lost her or she ran away. “What’s your name?”
“Rima,” she whispered. “Rima McNamara.”
“Okay Rima, do you remember what happened?” How had this young girl ended up dead and discarded in a backstreet?
Rima pressed a hand to the side of her head and her demeanor changed. “I was at a club, and I met this cute guy. I couldn’t believe he was actually interested in me. The boys at school usually keep their distance from me, so I was excited to meet him.”
Ah, the cute guy—the stranger who hid behind his good looks to prey on vulnerability. I wasn’t judging her. She hadn’t been the first, and wouldn’t be the last, to get caught up in these circumstances. All it took was one wrong decision.
“Do you remember his name?”
“Jay, he said his name was Jay.” Her eyes clouded over, but a small smile quirked the edges of her mouth. “He was so cute, and older. I thought I was the luckiest girl in the world when he asked me if I wanted to go for a walk. But when we took a turn into the alley, something happened. He was no longer cute, and someone else pushed me from behind… I don’t remember what happened after that.”
“Do you remember being bitten?”
She trailed a hand up to her neck, and as she moved her hair swayed to the side and I noticed the neat pin-pricks. “I was bitten? I don’t remember that either.”
I wasn’t surprised. Trauma of any kind could force amnesia. “You need to listen to me, Rima. Do you see the light?”
“No!” she snapped. “I don’t want to go to the light. I need to get home before my mum gets upset.”
“You know the truth. The police will tell your mother what happened—”
“She’s going to be so mad. I told her I was staying over at my friend’s place. She didn’t know we were going clubbing.”
“She won’t be angry.” She’d probably be sad and forever carry the guilt of not trying harder to find out what her daughter was up to. She would probably also never find out how Rima really died, because the vampire angle would be covered up.
“I know she will. Mum hated clubs!”
“Listen to me, you need to turn around and face the light. Go towards it, don’t ignore it.” Trauma spirits were better off moving on before they had the chance to turn violent.
“I won’t!” She opened her mouth and it widened like some sort of monster. She screamed like a banshee, causing my hair to sway in front of my face.
The girl rushed at me, went right through me, and vanished.
The instant chill of having her body pass through mine made me miss a step, but I whirled around in time to see her reappear, running towards Pitt Street.
I took a step but she disappeared around the corner. A deafening shriek echoed into the hollow alley. My breath caught in my throat when I noticed the end of a tail flash around that same corner. What the hell was that?
Slipping out of the ghost’s zone made me stumble forward, but Papan was there to keep me from falling to my knees. I coughed too many times while trying to get control of my limbs.
I have to follow her.
“What’s wrong?” Gareth asked, stepping closer.
“I need…”
“She’s just coming out of it, that’s all.” Papan held on tight, massaging my back. “She’s all right, just needs a moment to collect herself.”
“Why was she frozen like that?”
“I’ve already told you, it’s what she does.” Papan’s voice rumbled against my ear.
I couldn’t get a word out, but it was funny how much he actually knew. I certainly hadn’t told him anything, so I could only assume it was from his own experience or research. Still, I was glad to have him catch my fall.
It took me a few minutes to regain full control of my senses and limbs, but when I did, Papan dropped his grip on me. So I raced down the alley. Even knowing it was too late wasn’t going to stop me.
“Fox!” Papan called behind me, but I didn’t stop until I reached the barrier tape.
I peered around the corner and found nothing but the slow movement of traffic, and a police officer looking at me with a strange expression on his face. I couldn’t blame him. I probably came across like a crazed, lost person trying to find a needle in a haystack. But I didn’t care because I knew what I’d seen. Rima had disappeared around this corner, and I was pretty sure that someone—or something—summoned her spirit before I could convince her to move on.
Only a few weeks ago I’d encountered a confused spirit inside a hospital that chose to turn her back on the bright light of the afterlife. Of course, the circumstances had been different because of the crazy shit going on in Sydney at the time, but Rima had seemed as determined to walk away from the light as the emaciated girl had.
A touch on my arm made me jump.
Papan stepped up beside me. “Fox, what’s wrong?”
“I thought I saw something.”
“What did you see?” It was Gareth who asked the question, appearing on my other side.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the sidewalk, wishing I had the power to recreate what had just happened.
“Sierra, what did you see?” Gareth repeated.
“I saw the girl run down this way before she disappeared.”
“You mean her ghost ran off this way?” he asked, confused.
I nodded.<
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“What does that mean?”
“I’m not sure.” But it can’t be good.
Standing on the corner of the street wasn’t going to get me any answers, so I turned around and headed back to the crime scene. When I reached Rima’s lifeless body, I crouched down to look at her. Her corpse was a replica of the spirit I’d encountered, and the bloody wound on the top of her head stood out like a gory beacon. It definitely looked like someone had smashed her skull with something. Blood dribbled from the bite marks on the side of her neck and had dried as identical red lines, but the most frightening thing was that she resembled a desiccated mummy. I was certainly no expert, but her body looked like it had been drained of blood. Had a vampire sucked her dry? Is that what happened to Rima?
Gareth crouched across from me, his eyes glistening. “Tell me exactly what you saw.” His voice was soft and as much as I hated to admit it, his presence helped calm my nerves.
Papan stood beside me, looking around.
“I spoke to Rima McNamara. Her spirit was hanging around, but it’s gone now.”
“What did she say?”
“She was traumatized and didn’t remember much.” I sighed, trying not to look at her too closely, even though I couldn’t tear my eyes away. “Some guy lured her out of the club, then a second person attacked her from behind. She didn’t stand a chance.”
“Did she mention anything about…”
I shook my head. “The word vampire didn’t come up.”
“What do you think happened?” His hazel eyes were bright, full of questions. He probably wanted to know a lot more than what had ultimately caused this poor girl’s demise.
“I think you’re right.”
He nodded.
“But I don’t know how we’re going to prove it.”
“Right now, all we can do is report what you saw.” He seemed crestfallen, his eyes losing their inquisitive shine. “I’m sorry you had to see her that way.”
I shrugged. “It’s what I do.”
“I hope you don’t mind me asking for a statement.”
“Of course not,” I said, pushing my hands against my thighs to stand up. “How old was she?”
“Seventeen,” he answered, avoiding my eyes.
I thought of Willow, running away from home and staying in my office overnight because she had nowhere else to go. Where had she been staying for the last few months? If a vampire was loose in the city, how easily could she have become just another victim? No matter what her secret turned out to be, or that I’d initially been reluctant to offer her a place to stay, I was glad she now had a roof over her head.
“What was she doing in a club?” I asked, more to myself than anyone.
“There’s a basement club around the corner. One of those places where you really have to know it’s there, because it’s not advertised anywhere.” Gareth looked over his shoulder. “Even after multiple fines, we’ve often found underage kids in there. It should’ve been closed long ago but the owners keep avoiding the inevitable.”
I nodded. Amazing how so many liked to prey on naïve kids.
“That place is a pit,” Papan added.
“Hey, Crewe, who’s this?” A short, stocky man with balding dark hair approached us. He had a scowl on his face and probably hadn’t shaved in a week. He looked exhausted and was dressed in baggy jeans and a button-down shirt.
“This is Sierra Fox. She’s a spook catcher.”
The man snorted. “I already told you this was a straightforward murder. There’s nothing supernatural about it. Besides, we’re not supposed to be dealing with those crackpots at the Council while they’re under investigation.”
“Sierra’s not with them. She’s freelance,” Gareth said. “I personally asked her to take a look.”
The way he glared at me, I was pretty sure this man was a skeptic. He also looked like a hardened cop who’d probably seen so much brutality and death during his career that he was desensitized to most of it.
“Burns and I have it under control.” As he spoke, the other plain-clothes cop sidled up beside him, also glaring at me.
Gareth said, “I know, but—”
“Looks like she’s had a pretty good look already. Maybe it’s time to send her back home to the cemetery,” he said before turning to spit on the filthy ground.
The other detective laughed. “We don’t need her types around here.”
“What’s your problem, Shapiro?”
“Ah, Papan, what the hell are you doing here? It looks like they let out all the weirdos today.”
“You two know each other?” Gareth asked, looking from one to the other with a frown.
“I’ve had the misfortune of crossing paths with this hack,” Shapiro said. “I hope you’re not here to get in the way of our investigation, because this has nothing to do with you.”
“Shapiro, they’re both with me.”
The hardened cop stepped closer to the constable. “Yeah, see, that’s the thing. This isn’t your investigation, so you have no right to bring any sort of consultant in on this. Civilians don’t belong here and I certainly don’t need some crackpot psychic and a nosy PI to mess with the evidence.”
“So you know what’s going on, then?” Papan said with a sneer.
“We sure do, Boy Scout.”
“Good to hear. It looks like we’re not needed here anymore.” Papan took my hand. “Let’s go, Fox.”
I turned away from the mean detective with an obvious chip on his shoulder, and closed the gap between me and Papan.
“That’s right, run off to your divorce and cheating cases. I hear that’s all you’re good for, nowadays!” Shapiro took one last swipe.
A nerve ticked on Papan’s jaw before he tensed and paused.
“He’s not worth it. He wants you to make a mistake,” I said. I might have spent most of my career dodging the police because the Council interacted with them directly, but Papan was a different story. He probably dealt with police all the time and there were bound to be some who just didn’t like him.
Papan turned to look at me and his eyes were amber. He seemed to be barely holding on to any shred of control.
“Come on.” I yanked on his hand to drag him along. We continued down the backstreet in silence, until we ducked under the barrier tape and turned the corner.
As soon as we were clear, he pulled his hand from mine and smacked his left fist into the closest wall. Dust from the bricks sprinkled to the ground.
“Out of all the bloody detectives in Sydney, that asshole had to be the one leading this investigation.”
I looked around. There were plenty of people about but none of them were paying any attention to us.
“That fucking asshole,” Papan said, flexing his hand. At least his knuckles had fared better than the wall, because there wasn’t a scratch on them. “I should go back there and knock his head off.”
“I take it you don’t get along, then,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. I really didn’t care about the insults the detective had thrown my way. I’d been called names for most of my life and made peace with it a long time ago.
“That’s an understatement.”
“Oh well, his loss.”
That got a half smile out of him, and his eyes were back to normal.
“Where’s that cop friend of yours, anyway?”
I shrugged. “But we can’t go anywhere without him.”
Several minutes later, we were waiting beside Gareth’s car.
I peered back into the alleyway and spotted the constable, who was caught up in what appeared to be a heated discussion with Shapiro. I couldn’t hear a word they were saying but their body language said plenty. The detective had raised his chest and was looking down at the constable, probably lecturing him on what he could and couldn’t do. I hated to see Gareth get into trouble but thought he’d done the right thing. His fellow policemen might not believe or want to admit anything supernatural had gone on, but I knew better.
Unless I imagined it.
Gareth hitched a thumb our way and caught me watching him. He paused for a moment, staring back so intently I couldn’t help but look away. Actually, I didn’t gaze his way again until I heard footsteps rushing towards us.
“I’m sorry about that, guys,” he said. “Shapiro can be—”
“A total asshole?” Papan interrupted.
Gareth smiled. “Yeah, he can definitely be that. I think he’s been a cop for too long. Some people just don’t know when it’s time to quit.”
“He’s not open to the supernatural, either,” I added.
“No, he detests it.”
“Did you get in trouble for calling us in?”
“Nah, he just likes to throw his considerable weight around.” Gareth scratched his head. “He’ll probably forget all about this incident. He just wanted to put me in my place. Although he’s right about one thing—this isn’t my investigation. I just thought there was something strange about this murder. I’m glad you got a chance to see it for yourself, though.”
“Is the girl’s spirit still here?” Papan asked.
“No.” How was I going to explain this? “While we were talking, she lost it, morphed into something violent. I didn’t want her to get away because trauma spooks can attack others but without a canister I couldn’t capture her. Instead, I tried to convince her to turn towards the light but she refused to and rushed me before vanishing. She kept talking about her mother, so maybe she went to see her, but I don’t think that’s what happened. After she turned the corner, she disappeared, but I did see something really strange…”
Gareth frowned. “Strange, how?”
“I thought I saw the end of a tail.”
“What does that mean?” he asked. “I didn’t know vampires had tails.”
“Maybe she didn’t run off, like you assumed she did,” Papan said. “Maybe whoever killed her was lingering in the shadows and dragged her back before you could find out more.”
On Pins and Needles: Sierra Fox, Book 3 Page 10