Psychic for Hire Series Box Set

by Hermione Stark

  “There must be a test,” I insist.

  She shakes her head. “That kind of magic isn’t my field. Incubae pretty much have human-seeming physiology after the blood turns red. No way of me knowing unless he was registered as an incubus, and we have no record of that.”

  “Otherkind shouldn’t have to be registered,” I mutter.

  “I hear you,” she says. “You’re preaching to the converted.”

  “It would be helpful though,” says Leo. “In this particular case.”

  “Or you could take my word for it,” I say.

  “You can ask Ms Grictor,” says the coroner. “She is out in the waiting room. She’s here to formally identify Dr Silverstone’s body.”

  “What’s her first name?” I ask, wondering if the redhead is Raif Silverstone’s beloved Zarina. She couldn’t be though. He seemed to take no interest in her.

  “Beatrice Grictor,” she says.

  “Is she his girlfriend?” asks Leo.

  “She couldn’t be,” I say. “He didn’t care about her.”

  It was Zarina he had loved, and so much that she had been all he could think of before he had passed over. He had stayed, clinging on to this existence until I had agreed to help her.

  Storm’s eyes narrow thoughtfully. He looks at me with interest. “Did you see that in your dream? Anything to suggest he was Lynesse Jones’s lover?”

  I shake my head. “I suppose they mostly seemed friendly.”

  I give him a brief recap of my dream. I might as well, seeing as Remi already knows it. I point towards Lynesse’s body. “But it could be that her fiancé thought they were having an affair anyway. A jealous fiancé could be angry enough to do that to her. Make a show of savaging her like DCK would have so we look elsewhere for the killer. The crime scene staging was off too.”

  Leo shakes his head. “I spoke to the neighbor. If what he says was true, Jared Everett was out of town on an acting job, accompanied by his assistant and best friend Kris Caprio. That should be easy to verify.”

  Storm’s perfect black brows have snapped together. “How do you know the crime scene was staged?” he says to me.

  “I was just about to get to that,” says Leo. “I brought her here from there.”

  Storm is outraged. He looks like he is about to yell at me, then changes his mind about doing it here. He takes a firm grip of my shoulder and marches me out of the morgue.

  Once the door is closed behind us, he rubs his eyes as if he is tired or stressed. I still cannot tell which. He says in an admirably restrained voice, “Why the hell would you do this to yourself?”

  I am surprised. I expected him to demand to know what I was doing here. “You mean investigate? Because I dreamed of it. The news said it was DCK. I had to!”

  Storm glowers at me, and he looks absolutely adorable doing it. With a hint of impatience, and keeping his voice low, he says, “Diana, we know about the connection between you and Lynesse Jones. This does not look good for you. It’s bad enough you turned up here, but that you trespassed on the crime scene, a private property under Agency investigation, is something I can’t ignore!”

  “You could,” I say stubbornly. “Remi and Leo won’t tell if you don’t! So long as the chief doesn't find out, I’m home free.”

  He makes a sound that is part incredulous, part annoyed.

  I grin. “You know you don’t want to get me in trouble.”

  “This wager of yours with the chief is already going to get you in trouble,” Storm says. “I might cover for you this time, but only if you really aren’t involved. Where were you on Friday?”

  I gape at him. “Are you really asking for my alibi? I was at my moth… At Magda’s funeral. You know. You saw me there!” My voice wobbles, sounding on the verge of tears. I make an angry sounding huff to cover it.

  “And after that?” he says grimly.

  “Is that when they were killed? On Friday night?”

  That was two days ago. They were already dead when I had come up with my plan on Saturday to save them. I was much too late. Worried about any more emotional wobbles, I clear my throat before saying, “I walked home after the funeral and fell asleep. I was exhausted.”

  “Did anyone see you?”

  “Just AngelBeastie.”

  He does not smile. “So you have no alibi.” It is not a question. He looks frustrated, worried even.

  I glower at him. “You cannot really believe that I did it! You can investigate me all you like. It wasn’t me!”

  He glowers back. “Tell me how you know Lynesse Jones.”

  “I don’t know her!” I protest incredulously. “I never met her in my life. Leo said she knew Dr Carrington, but it was news to me. Is it true?”

  “Yes. She was in Carrington’s employment at the time of his death.”

  “You mean she was a succubus in his brothel,” I snarl, “And he was prostituting her for his own personal gain.” I am sickened by the memory of the repugnant Dr Carrington, a psychiatrist who had turned his patients into his personal harem and then pimped them out to rich clients. I had been next on his list.

  Storm nods sympathetically.

  “Did he pimp her out to Jared Everett?” I demand, feeling repulsed. It wouldn't be the first time a famous actor hired a succubus for his pleasure.

  “It appears his feelings for her were genuine,” Storm says. “They started dating after Carrington’s death.”

  “Some true love,” I mutter bitterly. “Maybe he’s a control freak like Dr Carrington and just wanted to own her. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.”

  “Perhaps. I intend to find out in the course of this investigation.”

  A feeling like grief and rage washes over me. That poor woman. She must’ve been so happy to escape Dr Carrington’s clutches. She had begun a new life, not wasted it like I had been. How could this have happened to her? She had been so terrified. Is that why she hadn’t fought back against her killer? I can’t understand it. I had seen what a succubus was capable of.

  Over in the waiting room I can see redheaded Beatrice Grictor looking out at us. I realize with a jolt that I had left the door open, and Beatrice, undoubtedly curious about her business partner’s death, has been listening to every word we have been saying.

  I lower my voice. “Can I help you?” I plead with Storm. “If we solve this case together you could put in a good word with me to the chief and he’ll give me my job back.”

  He shakes his head. “You know I can’t do that. The chief would never have made that wager if he’d known your connection to the case. It took some persuading for me to convince him not to treat you like a suspect. Yet.”

  That last word is a warning, but if it is meant to dampen the anger seething inside me, the desire to do something, anything, to make this right, it does not. “A connection,” I scoff. “We’ll see about that.”

  “Diana, the best way for you to win back the chief’s approval is to do what he suggested. Train to become a registered Oracle. You would be the first Oracle ever to officially be on the Agency payroll. Do you know what a big deal that would be? Every department would be lining up for your help!”

  “If it was so easy I would have done it by now. It takes years! And money I don’t have. And what about this case?”

  “Leave this case to me. You have to stop interfering. You will only get in the way.”

  I am hurt. “Interfering? Is that what you think of me? You need me!” I point to Beatrice Grictor. “Ask her. I told you Raif Silverstone was an incubus. I bet she’ll tell you that I’m right!”

  Storm takes a deep breath as if trying to be patient. “If your alibi works out, I’ll let you off this time. But consider this a warning. I need you to back off. You were right about James Fenway too, and look what happened to him.”

  Chapter 10

  STORM

  Storm leaves the morgue with Leo. In the car park he pauses outside Leo’s car. “Diana has no alibi,” he says. “Can you look into it?
”

  Leo hesitates. Locating security camera footage and trawling through hours of video is usually the sort of thankless task that falls to team juniors, in this case their new guy Monroe. They both know Monroe would just love to get out into the field, and it would be a valuable learning experience for him.

  Leo nods and says, “Sure thing, boss.” He gets into his car and drives away.

  Storm gets into his own car. He rolls his shoulders and stretches his neck. It doesn’t do much to ease his tension. He is lucky to have Leo. He knows he should have called Monroe, but he didn’t want to risk the new guy messing things up. Leo is more likely to persevere until he finds the footage that will clear Diana. It has to be there. Storm knows it.

  And Leo knows why Storm sent him too, which does nothing to improve Storm’s mood. His personal feelings should not be getting in the way of his job. Damn Diana Bellona for getting under his skin.

  Storm drives to St John’s Wood and parks up outside of Jared Everett’s house. Remi had called earlier to say Everett was going to be escorted back into the house to pack a few belongings.

  Storm needs to grab the opportunity to speak to him now. Monroe has checked Everett’s alibi and found it may not stack up. Storm has known enough Hollywood types to know that if Everett feels like it, he might decide to shack up in some luxury hotel and refuse to speak to Storm later, making it harder for the team to investigate.

  Remi greets Storm at the door of the house. “Everett here yet?” he asks.

  Remi shakes her head. “They’re running late. Everett didn’t like the sandwich he was given and has insisted on grabbing some lunch on the way.” She makes a face. “You’d think he might have lost his appetite given the condition in which he found his fiancée.”

  “And the friend Kris Caprio?”

  “Is still with him,” says Remi. “He was following the big star around like a loyal lapdog last I saw him.”

  “Good,” says Storm. It will be good to get an impression of them both at the same time. People always give away more than they think in the presence of their nearest and dearest.

  Hearing Storm’s arrival, a skinny figure with greasy slicked back hair dashes enthusiastically towards him. It is Phineas Finlay, the crime scene tech.

  “Just your key findings for now, Finlay,” says Storm, knowing Finlay’s tendency to go into an irksome level of detail.

  Finlay enthusiastically shows Storm the site of Raif Silverstone’s murder. “We think he opened the door to the murderer, and then went towards the stairs to call up to Lynesse Jones who was upstairs,” says Finlay cheerfully.

  Finlay retraced the killer’s footsteps and mimes every move with exaggerated enthusiasm. “The murderer followed him, and picked up this cat.” He points to a heavy statue of a cat lying on its side next and mimes swooping it down, crashing it into a skull. “And WHACK, WHACK, WHACK!” he finishes.

  The blood at the base of the stairs is brown now. There is no sign that it had ever been blue.

  “So? Was he an incubus?” asks Remi. Leo has no doubt messaged her.

  Storm nods. Beatrice Grictor had confirmed it. And according to Finlay’s evidence it looks like everything that Diana had seen in her dream was accurate. Either that or she came to the same conclusions herself when she was here.

  Remi seems to have picked up on his thoughts. “Diana said she dreamed the killer was watching them from outside the house.” She points to a window. “We found smudged fingerprints on the outside and one clear partial. Nice catch, huh?”

  Storm frowns. “Maybe.”

  “C’mon,” she says. “Incubus. Prints on the window. That’s two points to Diana.”

  “I hadn’t realized it was a competition,” says Storm.

  Remi makes a face.

  Finlay has been watching them, his lizard-like eyes flicking from one to the other. “An incubus?” he says. “Cool! Were they bonking? I bet they were bonking. I bet he killed them for bonking. That’s hot.”

  “Is there any evidence of that?” says Storm coolly.

  “Er… Well there were no fluids, no semen on the bedsheets, but maybe they hadn’t got round to it yet?” says Finlay.

  “Stick to the evidence,” says Storm tersely. “Leave the theorizing to us.”

  Finlay shrugs. He bounces upstairs, where he spouts at great length about Lynesse Jones’s death and re-enacts the gruesome savagery with relish.

  Storm’s eyes are on the mark left on the wall by the murderer. It should be in a more prominent position. Over the bed would have been a better spot. And Diana was right — the deep claw gouges that accompany DCK’s bloody pawprint are missing.

  Storm hears footsteps on the stairs and tells Finlay to shut up just in time to keep him from upsetting the grieving fiancé. A moment later an Agency officer enters the bedroom and, when Storm nods, he allows Jared Everett and Kris Caprio to follow him in.

  Everett looks older in person than in his pictures. In his mid-thirties, he is a decade older than Lynesse. Every bit of those years is showing on his face as he stares at the bloody, rumpled bed in horror as if seeing it for the first time. Perhaps it looks different now that his dead fiancée is no longer on it.

  “Would you like to wait outside, Mr Everett, while Officer Samson gets your things?” says Storm.

  Faced with the reality of being in this room, Everett seems to change his mind about getting his things himself. He nods his head. Officer Samson seems relieved. It will be easier for him to catalogue the things that are going to be removed and ensure they are nothing of evidentiary relevance without a Hollywood superstar barking at him to hurry up.

  Storm and Remi exchange a meaningful glance. They escort Everett and Caprio back downstairs to the kitchen where, at Everett’s insistence, Caprio busies himself making coffee for everyone. He is overly tall and gangly, his features too prominent on his long face. A failed actor according to the information that Monroe sent over. Clumsy too, splashing milk over the counter as he pours some into a mug. He doesn’t bother to wipe it up.

  Everett slumps into a chair at the kitchen table and buries his face in his hands. He looks every inch the grieving fiancé. His shoulders are even shaking. He clearly expects Remi to play the part of the beautiful female cop and comfort him.

  Remi knows it too. She gives Storm a slightly exasperated look. She places her hand on Everett’s shoulder and then, when Everett continues sobbing, she pats his back.

  “She was the love of my life!” Everett cries.

  “You must miss her,” Remi says in a gentle voice that no one who really knew her would fall for.

  Storm stands back watching, making sure his lips don’t twitch. When Caprio brings over the coffee, Remi takes the mug from him and gently places it in Everett’s hands as if it is an honor to do so.

  “She was the best thing that ever happened to me!” Everett wails. “And now she’s gone forever! Taken from me by some animal!”

  “You must feel terrible,” says Remi. “To not have been here when it happened?”

  Everett nods his head vehemently. “If I had been here I would have killed him. I swear!”

  “But you couldn’t be here?” Remi asks, gently nudging him in the direction she wants.

  “I had an acting job in Ireland,” Everett says. “I flew out last Thursday. Kris was with me.” He looks towards Kris for confirmation, and Kris immediately nods his head.

  “I should have taken her with me!” Everett wails.

  “Why didn’t you take her, Mr Everett?” Storm interjects.

  Everett turns wild eyes on him, seeming surprised, as if he had forgotten that Storm was there. “Because… It wasn’t convenient,” Everett blusters. “I mean… It was work. She wasn’t used to being on a set. She would have got in the way.”

  “I imagine she would have loved being on a movie set,” says Storm smoothly. “She would have been excited.”

  “I said it was work,” Everett snaps.

  “I’m sure it was
the best decision at the time,” says Remi soothingly. “You didn’t know what was going to happen. I bet she called you every day because she missed you. Isn’t that right?”

  Everett looks at her gratefully. “Yes, she called me every day,” he confirms, as if this is a testament to his love.

  “So you must have been worried when she stopped calling you these past couple of days?” says Remi, sounding every bit convinced that this must be true.

  Even so Everett senses the trap. He seems momentarily surprised, but recovers swiftly. “No, there was no reason for me to worry,” he insists. “She called me on Thursday. That’s only a few days ago.”