A Body Displaced (Lansin Island 2)

by Andrew Butcher

  ‘Erm …’ she heard Nick say, ‘if he’s a wanted murderer in France, why do you have him?’

  ‘Because my kind found him before the French authorities did. Essentially, he’s wanted for murdering and raping a woman. But what the French authorities don’t know is that he killed a second woman: a half-elf. Jean-Sébastien wouldn’t have known what she was, but of course that doesn’t excuse what he did. My kind wanted him punished, and so when they located him, they took him through the nearest portal, one we have established in Haute-Savoie, France. He’s been in the Otherworld since, where he has faced some punishment.’

  Juliet now stared at the man in horror. What punishment had he endured? On this side he would end up in jail for a long time, but she didn’t get the feeling the elves dealt with their criminals the same way.

  ‘Should he not be locked up?’ she asked. She felt so conflicted. On one side of the argument she understood the Otherworld’s desire to take the punishment into their own hands, and on the other, she felt awful for the family of the pure human victim. Don’t they deserve to see this man judged on this side?

  ‘He was going to be executed,’ said James frankly, ‘but when I spoke with my kind about a solution to the Kerra predicament, one of them suggested a better use for him. The location we held him in on the other side wasn’t too far away, but since Thursday evening, when the plan was made, he was transported on the other side to this portal. And voilà!’ He threw out both arms.

  Juliet wasn’t sure if voilà was James’s attempt at wry humour, but whatever the case, she found little to appreciate in it. She was left stumped.

  Nick said, ‘So are you going to frame him for Kerra’s murder? Is that what you’re getting at?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Won’t he just tell the police everything that’s happened to him?’

  ‘No,’ James said confidently. ‘The punishment he faced on our side ... Let’s just say his mind has been left in a delicate state. He barely speaks, and when he does, the only words he ever mutters are Je tue les femmes.’

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘I kill women.’

  Juliet’s skin prickled. Quickly (and quietly), she said, ‘Are we safe near him? He’s not going to wake up, is he?’

  The half-elf laughed in his miserable way. ‘Trust me, he won’t even stir. But anyway, it should be believable that he could have killed Kerra; he can perform physical tasks easily enough, and, sparing you the details, he murdered the human woman in a similar fashion. You shouldn’t feel sorry for this man; he’s a vile thing. In his damaged state, though, when you try to communicate with him, it’s like nobody’s home … and then occasionally he’ll go into a silent, destructive rage. If the police witness that, it should work in our favour too.’

  No one should have to deal with a situation like this. Juliet’s mind began closing doors. I’ve done my part. I set Kerra free. Austin is detained. What happens here is up to Nicolas … but that wasn’t true. Before Kerra had moved on, she asked Juliet to make sure her body was found. Even though Nick already had it in mind, it still became Juliet’s responsibility when she made the promise.

  In a timid voice, Nick said, ‘I know this man has killed other women, but ... he’s not guilty of killing Kerra. I … I don’t know. This doesn’t seem right for some reason …’

  James scoffed. ‘You two are hopeless. You ask too many questions and you have too much sympathy for murderers. Just look at it this way: Your authorities don’t know about the half-elf he murdered; my kind had to deal with that. But when your police realise who he is, he’ll be sentenced for killing two women … and he has killed two women. Not to mention what else he did to them.’

  Juliet’s pity for James went fast out the window (or at least off the islet and into the sea). She grew sick of him talking down to her. Maybe the Otherworld was a more brutal place, so this kind of thing was easy for him, but for her it was far from the everyday occurrence. Is it the best we can hope for, though?

  ‘What about Kerra’s body?’ asked Nick, serious in tone. ‘It hasn’t … decomposed. Because of that charmed item Austin used.’

  ‘Once we remove the item, her body will begin to decompose. I don’t think you want to know all the details, but we’ll try our best to make the level of decomposition as believable as it can be. The police will just have to speculate how long after her abduction she survived.’

  Nick had gone pale. The wind picked up again quite suddenly. Juliet looked up and saw the seagulls disperse and go off and away.

  Nick’s voice came out weak. ‘So what do we do now?’

  ‘You two don’t need to do anything.’ James’s chest puffed up and then fell back down. ‘Austin will be taken through the portal and questioned soon, if he hasn’t already been taken through, and we will sort out the issue of Kerra’s body. Nicolas, at some point over the next few days, Kerra’s body will be discovered, so I expect the police will be in touch with you. And Juliet, you just need to go back to your life. When everything has blown over and we’ve got more information out of Austin, I’ll be in contact with you both.’

  ‘But doesn’t someone still want me dead?’ asked Nick.

  ‘Apparently. But Austin was their man, and we’ve stopped him. You should be safe for now.’

  Juliet thought that was a big assumption to make, but didn’t say anything.

  Nick said, ‘Are you not going to tell us who Austin was working for?’

  ‘Not at the moment. Because I’m not one hundred percent certain yet myself. Everything adds up to one particular person, but until Austin confirms it, I won’t believe it.’ Looking pensive, he added, ‘I don’t want to believe it.’

  The way he said it made Juliet feel like someone had punched through her chest and given her heart a squeeze. Do we really want to know who this enemy is?

  After nobody spoke for a while, James said, ‘Right, then. Let’s get you off this rock.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  IT WAS AN awkward moment. Nick was sitting in his car, parked outside Juliet’s house and trying to find a way to say goodbye—for now—after everything that had happened. There had already been uncomfortable instances on the drive here.

  After James dropped them back to the little cove, he left them and returned to the islet. Nick and Juliet made their way back to the Vauxhall Corsa and headed for Chanton.

  At first they had discussed James’s solution to the ‘Kerra problem,’ telling each other their concerns over it and expressing how it was all so messed up. But soon the conversation died, because, Nick reckoned, they both knew they had little choice in any of it.

  The most awkward part of the journey was when Juliet made a comment about the half-elves, Sara and Seline. She asked Nick, ‘What do you think of your fangirls?’

  It turned him warm with embarrassment. The question came so out of the blue that he figured the two women had been playing on Juliet’s mind. The way she asked made her sound almost jealous. He shook his head, though. That’s ridiculous.

  ‘Fangirls?’ He played ignorant, fully aware the two women had gawked at him. ‘What are you on about?’

  ‘Sara and Seline,’ Juliet said stoically.

  ‘What about them?’

  Juliet seemed to reassess the conversation. ‘Never mind.’

  The rest of the drive had lacked words, but was packed with silence. And now here they were. The car was still, so Nick wondered why Juliet hadn’t moved to open the door already.

  ‘Nicolas,’ she said, ‘are we planning on staying in touch?’ She kept it neutral, alluding to no preference. But Nick thought he knew the answer she wanted.

  Should I do the same? Act indifferent? He almost didn’t care at this moment. Not after the loss he’d suffered. But whether they admitted it or not, a future possibility of romance hung in the air between them—and that was the real question.

  ‘Do you want to keep in touch?’ He put the ball in her court.

  She served it ba
ck. ‘I think until James gets back to us it’s probably best to stay connected, don’t you?’

  Nick thought of the future: what he wanted from it, expected from it, where he’d go from here, how long it’d take to move on from Kerra, how long before he could date again. The thoughts frustrated him. Having never had a strong sense of direction, he had no idea where he’d be in a few months’ time … or even one week’s.

  So he went with his heart and gut. Something inside him said, I think when we’ve both recovered from everything, I’d like to go on that date we were meant to go on.

  ‘Yeah,’ he agreed with Juliet. ‘It probably is best.’

  She got out, and he watched her enter her home before driving away.

  It was late afternoon when he arrived at sixteen Maw Street. He let himself inside and found Fin waiting in a tidy kitchen, sipping a cup of tea and staring blankly at a wall.

  ‘Are you alright, Fin?’

  Fin turned his head at a ponderous pace. ‘Oh … I’m fine, buddy. I’m just concentrating real hard, trying to make myself vanish and then show up in New York. Or maybe I fancy somewhere sunny instead, like Malta. What do you think, man?’ He raised his fair eyebrows, then half smiled.

  I have a lot of explaining to do, thought Nick wearily, but he managed a short laugh. ‘Come on; let’s go to the snug … I’ll tell you everything.’

  It took hours. So long, in fact, that Nick felt guiltier and guiltier as he realised how much he’d hidden from his best friend. He had waited for this moment, though, and eventually Fin knew as much as he did about everything and everyone. He finished by reminding Fin about the mysterious man who wanted him dead.

  Fin had a lot of questions, especially about things that had affected him too, like the murder of Nick’s mother, and throughout it all, Nick answered what he could. But many of Fin’s questions were ones he had himself.

  He knew James had told him to keep the Otherworld’s vulnerability a secret, but he made up his own mind here. He trusted Fin. By the end of it, his best friend seemed as worn out as he was, and Fin hadn’t been through half the things Nick had today.

  ‘You know, buddy,’ Fin sighed out, sinking back into the sofa, ‘it took me a while to really believe you about the psychic thing, but you managed to prove it to me. I thought, Okay, so some people have extra senses that other people don’t, or something like that. But, man. You’ve flipped everything upside down … Whenever I talk to anyone now, you know I’m gonna be looking at their ears, right?’

  The conversation went on like this for a while, and Nick allowed his friend the time he needed to move past disbelief. Starving, he got up for food and made something for the two of them. It got late in the evening, so he checked up on Tom, who told him he was staying at Michael’s again.

  After they finished eating, Fin said, ‘Don’t you think you should tell your family all of this?’

  ‘No.’ Nick pushed his lips to one side regretfully. ‘I want to. They deserve to know it all; like, if Mum’s ghost had somehow contacted one of them, then I would want to know. But, I don’t know … Juliet never said my mum wanted them to know or anything. And you saw what James was like when you witnessed him teleport. I shouldn’t have even told you all of this.’ He was pretty sure he didn’t need to make it explicit, but for rest of mind he said, ‘I know it’s selfish of me to expect this, but I need you to keep everything I’ve told you between just you and me.’

  Fin nodded seriously. ‘Of course, buddy.’

  ‘Thank you. The next few weeks might be rough, with the framing of Kerra’s murder and everything, so we’ll just have to face it together and act like we don’t know a thing.’

  Fin nodded again.

  It felt like the air cleared. We’ve discussed everything we can. Anything more would only be speculation and talking in circles.

  After a silence, Fin said, ‘Nick. You really need a security password on your Wi-Fi, buddy.’

  Having not seen the comment coming, Nick laughed the most genuinely he had since before Kerra was taken. His amusement got Fin chuckling too. He felt a strange peacefulness, knowing that after a day like this, such a simple thing could spark pleasant emotions. Even in difficult times there was joy to be found.

  ‘I know I do!’ he forced out, when his laughter died down. To get it out of the way, he loaded up the computer, got onto the router configuration page, and set up a security key.

  That night, Fin offered to stay over, which Nick was grateful for. He doubted he’d sleep with ease, so having his best friend there would at least pass the restless hours.

  They spent the remainder of the evening in the snug. Nick set himself up with a duvet and pillows on the sofa, then prepared bedding for Fin on the floor. Although they’d already discussed everything important, the two of them continued to chat away long into the night.

  Upon waking in the morning, Nick couldn’t remember when sleep had taken him. The first thing he noticed was an ache across his stomach from where he’d been kicked and stabbed. He got up, wincing, and peered down to see Fin’s face pressed against a cushion, his cheek bunched up unattractively. A loud snore escaped him. Nick left him to have a longer lie-in, quietly getting up and going to the bathroom.

  Afterwards, he checked his mobile, social networks, and the news. All he thought about while he washed was when and how he’d hear of Kerra’s body being found. Then, as he ate breakfast, he wondered if one of her family members would have to identify her corpse … in whatever state the half-elves might leave it in to make the decay believable. His food roiled in his belly.

  That body’s not her, he had to remind himself. It’s not Kerra … Kerra has moved on. He wished more than anything that wherever she had passed on to, she’d be happy.

  Just to be doing something, he slowly prepared food for Fin and woke him. But not long after eating, Fin said he had to head off, because his family had planned to spend time together today. He asked Nick to keep him updated, to reach out if he needed help, and he also said he’d come by in the evening if Nick wanted.

  By late morning, Nick was alone. It was Sunday, and he didn’t normally work weekends, which would have been an ideal distraction. He found himself with little to do.

  As the hours went on, he began to think about Tom having been away all week. Nick had let so many little things about his brother moving in irritate him, and it all seemed so petty now. I miss him being about the house.

  When it reached late afternoon, he decided on something. He got his diary out of the jacket he’d worn yesterday, wanting to burn the damn thing. The only fireplace was in the living room, though, which Tom used as a bedroom. Torching the journal in there might leave a smell. But Nick didn’t want to just lob it in the bin, because it was full of personal information.

  He did the only thing he could think of: He took it to the bathroom.

  Without reading any of it, he ripped the pages out, tore each into tiny pieces, then soaked it all in the sink, smudging the words and tearing it all up some more. When he was confident there was no sense to be made of the text, he flushed the soggy paper down the toilet. Afterwards, he threw the empty sleeve in the bin.

  Even though the diary had saved him from Austin’s weird weapon, it was time to move on from everything that had been written inside of it. He felt good watching those recorded memories swirl and disappear under the water.

  He got on with his day. And maybe it was grief affecting him, but he ended up in a sentimental mood, thinking how lucky he was to have his family, his job, his colleagues, and a friend like Fin. Cheesy sayings like, ‘You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’ kept coming to him, unbidden, as if they were forcing him to keep strong and think positive.

  In the evening, he needed that strength, when Detective Inspector Talwar called.

  The discovery of Kerra’s body hit the news the next morning. The official story was that an anonymous caller had tipped off the police about strange noises and a foul smell coming from an
unoccupied council flat in Etherby. The detective inspector himself, with a couple of officers, went to the flat to investigate.

  Not only did they find Kerra’s body, but also Jean-Sébastien Laurent.

  Apparently their arrival had roused the French man from sleep, and he instantly became violent and had to be restrained. Over the following days, everything began to come together. The police figured out that the man was wanted for murder in France, and that he must have found a way to Lansin Island, where he’d been squatting in the council building since.

  A few times, Nick pondered how the half-elves were so inconspicuous setting up the whole scene. Wouldn’t cameras in Etherby have caught them somewhere? Weren’t the other council houses on the street occupied? Someone must have seen or heard something … But then, he supposed the half-elves could have used their magic to some extent. Whatever they had done, he was just glad it worked.

  With all the coverage on the news, Mora had heard about Kerra’s body by the morning after Nick received the phone call, and like she had done before, she offered him some leave. He accepted this time, and it was good he did; it turned out to be a busy week.

  The date for Kerra’s funeral was set sooner than Nick had expected: the Friday following the discovery of her body. Kerra’s family contacted him, inviting him over to have some input on the arrangements. David Evans didn’t apologise for accosting Nick in Creaky Crystals, but he seemed to make an effort to be courteous.

  It was decided that everyone would wear bright colours to the service, the way Kerra had always dressed. Nick liked that idea, and he actually remembered Kerra once telling him that she would want a colourful funeral. Before he left the Evanses’ home, he discussed other matters with them. Some items that had belonged to Kerra were still at his house, mainly clothing, and Mrs Evans wanted the majority of it back. She was really considerate, though, and told him he could pick an item or two for his own keepsakes. He chose to hold on to a bright pink hoody he’d bought Kerra for Christmas.