by Devyn Jayse
“The perpetrator had to have gotten close enough to them to touch them. The only option is that they all know the same person. It doesn’t make sense because some are university students but most of the others are just tourists just passing through Barcelona.”
Dina repeated them aloud. “Correct me if I’m wrong. The waitress and the friend have the university in common. As far as the other dead girls only one of them was from the university. Is that right? The tourists lived in different locations and didn’t know each other according to their friends. What does that leave?”
“I don’t know. The SBI tracked down Thora and interrogated her quite thoroughly, but she was staying with her friend and her friend hadn’t been spelled.”
“That is strange.” Mateu said.
“You have three living girls but nothing that ties them together.” Dina repeated.
I turned to Natalie.
“You know I can’t tell you anything,” she said in a low voice.
“Even if it stops people dying?”
She looked deeply unhappy and put down her cup of tea on the table. “You know how it is.”
I couldn’t help but feel a sense of bitterness. It was incredibly frustrating to have somebody who had all the answers but wouldn’t reveal any of them.
A sad look crossed her face. “Yes, but it’s a thousand times worse for me.”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, I’m taking out my frustration on you.”
“It’s okay. All I can tell you is that you will find the common threads you seek. You just need to study it further.”
Dina got to her feet. “Well, thanks to your update, I’ve left the store long enough. I should get back to work if I’m expected to deliver all the jewelry you ordered.”
“How’s that coming along?”
“Your event has given me over a month’s worth of custom work. I’m thinking of taking on an extra person to help me.”
“That’s amazing,” I said.
“We’ll see how long it lasts.”
“I think it’s the beginning of great things,” Natalie said.
Dina smiled. That was Natalie’s way of confirming that business would remain steady and strong.
The gargoyle jumped off his perch. “I’ll go to the Cathedral and ask a little more if anybody had seen any girls with marks or heard of it.”
“Don't say anything that will get you in trouble with SBI. You never know which gargoyles are informants.”
“You think this is the first time I ask for information?” Mateu scoffed.
I smiled at them. “Thank you all for passing by. You’ve managed to do the impossible.”
“What’s that?” Mateu asked.
“Cheer me up.”
Twenty-One
“Happy birthday, Irene!” I handed her the box containing her gift.
“Thank you!” She looked down at the present. “This is beautifully wrapped. Thank you so much!”
I laughed. “I hope you like what’s inside it too. But if you’re interested in getting the same wrapping, I sell it in the store.”
Irene grinned. “One of those days I’ll pass by, I swear.”
“No need to. Your mother gives me more business than I need.”
She laughed. “She is a magnet for trouble. Ghosts are obsessed with her.”
“Speaking of ghosts, how are you and Rodrigo getting along?” I noticed the teenager sulking in the corner.
Irene rolled her eyes. “He thinks he knows everything. It drives him crazy that I’m learning so much at the university. He’s asking Mom if he can go, can you believe it?”
“Huh, that would be interesting.”
“Not you too.” She shook her head. “It’s a silly idea.”
“What else is he supposed to do?” I asked her.
She gave me a pointed look. “Oh. Well, he doesn’t want to go so I can’t really force him. Your mother would kill me. Then I’d refuse to go and it will be a never-ending cycle.”
“Why would I want to kill you?” Sylvia slid up behind me.
“For not getting you a gift too,” I quickly improvised. She was sensitive about Irene and Rodrigo’s rivalry. This wasn’t the time or place to open that discussion.
Irene shot me a grateful look. I winked at her.
“Look at the beautiful wrapping, Mom. Can I open it?” She raised the box to Sylvia’s face.
“Absolutely not. Put it away in the corner and go take care of your guests.” Sylvia instructed her daughter.
“Is Rodrigo sulking because he didn’t get a birthday party?” I asked Sylvia, with a nod at the ghost.
She sighed. “I think so. I asked him when his birthday was and he went off on a rant how he didn’t have a birthday anymore and only had a deadday. When I asked him when that was he couldn’t remember so he got more and more upset.”
I gaped at her. “Deadday?”
Sylvia gave me a wry smile. “Teenagers.”
I started laughing. Deadday. That was a new one.
“Well other than the sulky ghost, it looks like everyone is having a great time. This turned out wonderfully. You did a great job.”
“Yes, I did,” Sylvia said, her eyes on Irene.
“I hope she likes her gift.”
“Are you kidding? She’s going to love it. It’s a very thoughtful gift. Thank you for thinking of it and Dina for making it. I’ll call her tomorrow.”
“I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.”
“I’m thankful for you and your friendship.” Sylvia leaned over and gave me a hug.
“As I am for yours.” A warm feeling spread through me. This is how it felt to be among people that cared about you.
“Rodrigo,” I called to the ghost when Sylvia left to go check on the other guests “How are you holding up?”
The ghost shrugged. “Okay, I guess. This is a boring party.”
I looked around us. “It looks nice. People are having a good time.”
“Nothing exciting is happening.”
“I am glad of that. The past few weeks have been crazy from a ghost flying into my store asking for help to setting up a sold-out event.” The more I thought about what had occurred over the past few days, the more I wondered how I was still holding up.
“That’s because you’re old.” Rodrigo said.
“That’s rude, but it’s okay I want a boring evening.”
All around me, people were having a good time. Irene was dancing with her friends. She raised her hands in the air and her shoulder strap slipped down her arm revealing an angry red rune mark on her shoulder.
Twenty-Two
“When did this appear?” I asked her intently.
“A few weeks ago.”
We were in Irene’s room. I had dragged her away from her friends. I couldn’t afford to lose any time so I started unraveling the runes the second we were away from guests.
“What are you doing?” Sylvia rushed in.
“I’m saving your daughter’s life,” I said through gritted teeth.
Sylvia stared at us in bewilderment. “What’s going on?”
I looked up. “She has the same spell on her as the girls that died. Red means danger. I have to focus on unraveling these.”
I lowered my head and continued to reverse-trace the runes. Irene trembled under my touch. I had scared her.
“Don’t be scared, it’s fading as I’m working.” It had been a shock to see the same mark on her. Then again, it shouldn’t have been as surprise. Irene fit the other victim’s profiles perfectly.
“Now help me out and let’s go through what you’ve been doing for the past two weeks. Don’t leave anything out. Anything you tell me can help.”
“I haven’t done anything.”
“Have you been using magic like your friend, Liv?” I asked her.
“Liv? Liv can’t do magic.” Irene said, confused.
“You haven’t tried to get magic in you to see what it feels like?”
“You
mean like getting high? No, I haven’t.”
I glanced at Sylvia.
“Irene, if you’re denying it just because I’m here, please don’t. Carmen needs to know all the details.”
“I’m not, Mom! The only magic I’ve done has been for the study.”
“What study?”
“I’m part of a study on how magic affects non-magic wielders.”
“I didn’t know about that,” Sylvia said.
“Yes you did, I asked you if it was okay for me to make some money and I had to supply family background. You provided me with the information.”
“Oh, that study? Isn’t that over? I thought you did it a month ago.”
“It’s a long-term study. People join at any point. I keep seeing new people join and drop out.”
My fingers continued to trace spells on her shoulder. I frowned in concentration. “Tell me more about this study. I think Greta was also taking it? Or was it Liv?”
“All of us are in it.”
I frowned. “All of you? What’s the purpose of the study and what qualifies you to be a participant?”
“It was to see if you had dormant Viking magic in our blood. You have to be have be female, between twenty-two to twenty-five years of age, have a history of magic users in your family but lack the ability to use it.”
“Let me guess and you should originally be from northern Europe?”
“Yes, how did you know? That’s why I had to double-check with Mom. I didn’t know how far back we went.”
“How did you hear about this study?”
“I don’t remember. Oh wait, I think Professor Forsberg mentioned it.”
I felt both my eyebrows rise. “Professor Sven Forsberg?”
“Yes, do you know him?”
“We’ve met.” I said darkly. “Does he conduct the study?”
“No,” Irene shook her head. “It’s run by a research company.”
I frowned. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
I mulled it over. The professor recommended the study where the girls were selected but he didn’t run it. Something was missing and I had to find out what it was. I had to call Adrian as soon as possible.
“Was this study only open to university students?” I asked Irene.
“No, it was advertised on a flyer. A girl there found out from her friends in the youth hostel. They didn’t have the background to enter the study but she agreed to split the money with them. She died later.” Irene realized what had happened. She began shaking under my touch.
“Don’t worry, you’re going to be fine. I’m almost done.”
It explained why the SBI hadn’t been able to find traces of the online activity. The study was posted on flyers in youth hostels.
“Am I going to be alright?”
“Yes,” I said with more certainty. The pulse had lessened and I had managed to unravel most of the runes. “I’m going to have to tell the SBI about this. They will pass by and ask you some questions. Please be honest with them and tell them everything you know.”
“What’s going on?” Irene asked.
“I’ve been working on an investigation and you may have just solved it. Thank you.” With one last trace I managed to dislodge the spell that was hooked into Irene. I brushed my fingers over her skin and the empty place where the mark used to be. “Here, look at this Sylvia, it’s completely gone. She’ll be fine.”
Sylvia chose that moment to burst into tears.
Irene started crying too.
I rubbed her back. “It’s okay, it’s gone. You’ll be okay.”
Sylvia rushed to her daughter and held her in a tight embrace. I leaned away and watched them. Sylvia turned to me with tears in her eyes, “You seem to have a knack for saving us. Thank you.”
“Anytime. Maybe this would be a good time for her to open my gift.”
“I’m sorry I interrupted your party. But I have to go to the SBI and tell them what happened. We may get the chance to save more girls.”
Sylvia nodded, “Of course.”
“Irene, please don’t tell anyone what happened until we have a chance to figure this out. We don’t want this guy to escape.”
“I won’t.”
Twenty-Three
“Are you ready to do this?”
“Yes, I want to take him down. I want to make him suffer for all the deaths he caused.”
Adrian peered at me. “You know you can’t kill him right?”
“I can’t?”
We were in his office. We had all agreed on the plan and Rafael and Joe had gone off to get things ready. I didn’t have much of a role so all I had to do was wait. It was bothering me, but I was told unless I had a badge I wasn’t to engage the suspect.
I grinned at him. “I won’t. Well, unless he tries to kill me first and then it would be self-defense.”
He pressed his lips together. “Well, let’s not have it get to that point, shall we?”
“I just want him to suffer.”
“You remember the plan?”
“Yes, how many times are you going to make me repeat it?”
“One more time.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. I go to the university. I meet with the professor for coffee. I build a rapport. You approach us in disguise.” I had finally found out what Adrian’s talent was. He was a shapeshifter. It explained the magnetic pull I felt whenever I was around him. His body was used to taking on the shapes of other people. And here I thought it was some sort of magnetic attraction. I shook my head. “We discuss his study. He incriminates himself. I get it on the wire. You, Rafael and Joe take him in. I sit there drinking my coffee. Sound about right?”
“Let’s see if you actually listen to the plan.” Adrian said. “Could you turn around for a second?”
I complied.
“Okay, you can look now.”
I turned around to find a young girl sitting behind Adrian’s desk.
“How do I look?”
“Like one of his victims.” It was uncanny. It looked like he had taken the features of all the victims and blended them into the ideal candidate to murder.
“Not anymore.” Adrian promised.
We got to the university coffee shop. Joe and Rafael reported that the professor was already waiting for me. “Good luck,” Adrian told me.
“Good afternoon, how can I help you?”
“I have to admit being frustrated with the progress of the SBI investigation. Every time I offer them help they withhold information. It’s difficult to provide proper advice when someone isn’t being transparent, don’t you agree?”
Professor Sven nodded. “I’ve faced the same difficulty with them myself.”
I widened my eyes. “So it’s not just me? I wanted to see if you’d like to put our heads together and figure out something. It would do wonders if I could help them with this. Of course you would be getting credit for your role. Anything would be better than not being able to help.”
He shook his head. “Unfortunately it seems to be their strategy to keep their resources far apart. Remember, he wouldn’t even tell me how you were introduced to the case.”
“Oh, he didn’t tell you? I managed to unravel the runemark.” I said lightly.
He shot me a sharp gaze. “You did?”
“Yes, three times.”
“Do you mind sharing with me how?” His voice had an edge to it.
Before I could answer him, a young woman approached us. For a second I forgot it was Adrian.
“Excuse me? Are you Professor Forsberg?”
“Yes?” The professor gave me a look of apology. I waved for him to continue.
“Are you the one in charge of this study?” Adrian-as-girl unfolded the flyer and showed it to the professor. “A friend of mine said it was your study. I know it’s been running for a while but would be possible for me to join? I could really use the money.”
“Yes, I am.” He glanced at me and then back at the Adrian-as-girl.
> “My friend said it was a research company and I didn’t know if I should approach them.”
“No, I’m the one that admits all the participants.” He boasted.
“Could I get more information about the study?”
“I would prefer if you visited me during office hours.”
“I have work tomorrow,” Adrian-as-girl said apologetically.
“Oh, don’t stop on account of me, I’d like to hear more about it too.”
The professor paused but couldn’t help boasting. “It’s an innovative study, if I say so myself. It touches upon your magical heritage going back to your roots. Your participation could help develop ground-breaking science.”
“That’s amazing,” Adrian-as-girl breathed.
He talked some more about the study, with Adrian-as-girl asking more information. The professor thoroughly implicated himself. Anyone listening to my wire would have no excuse not to tie him to the murders.
“What are the prerequisites of joining?”
The professor glanced at me. He tried to evade the question. “What you see on the flyer is what’s required.”
“I fit all the criteria. I’m the right age and I have supernatural background but not able to use magic. And I have Scandinavian heritage. That’s alright?”
A sheen of sweat covered the professor’s forehead. He looked me again. He seemed to finally realize that he had implicated himself in front of a SBI consultant. This was why Adrian had insisted on my increased wards. He was sure the professor would lash out to cover his tracks.
“It sounds like the profile of the girls getting murdered.” I mentioned.
“No, only similar.”
The professor jumped to his feet. He pushed past Adrian-as-girl.
Rafaela and Joe got up from their positions, blocking his escape.
“There’s nowhere to go, Professor.” Adrian said. He had shifted back to his natural form. I was too busy looking at the professor to see him do it.
He spun back around. “No, you don’t understand.”
“We understand that you’ve been admitting the women getting murdered. We know you’re the killer.”
“No, I’m not the killer. I couldn’t murder anyone.” He protested raising his hands in surrender.
