Night of Demons - 02 by Tony Richards Read Free Book Online Page B

see that peculiar, faraway gleam in her eyes a second time. And I didn’t like the look of that one tiny bit. It seemed to add up to some kind of madness.
    “When he was alive,” she told Saul, “I was welcome here any time I liked. Poppy always told me I should treat it as my home, and make use of anything I wanted. That was all that I was doing, to be honest. And actually, part of this place is mine now. Legally, I mean.”
    She could have at least waited for the will to be read. Saul glanced across at me, an open question on his face. Should he cut her some slack, or start reaching for the handcuffs? Me, I had my own ideas. I gave my head the tiniest of shakes. He took a breath, and rounded on her.
    “I don’t give a damn whose property this is. For the next few days, it’s under my jurisdiction. And I’m having tape put up, the kind that reads, very clearly, ‘Do Not Cross.’ I want you on the far side of it from this point onward. Understood?”
    “With perfect clarity.”
    She turned smartly on her heels, and marched out of the room again. I noticed one more thing when she did that. When she’d first come in, her attention had been pinioned to the body on the floor. But—leaving—she didn’t even glance in that direction, not for a split second. Like her granddad’s death was already forgotten. Like…the grieving of before had been nothing but an act.
    The sound of her heels retreated. We were left with each other and our reflections to stare at. A few more spots of rain hit the roof of the conservatory, but it didn’t seem like that was going anywhere. Cassie let out a slow breath, and Saul peered at me warily.
    “Explain to me?” he inquired. “Why did I just let her go?”
    I was glad that he had taken my hint. We’d have gotten precisely nowhere if he had arrested her.
    “She was looking for something,” I pointed out.
    “But couldn’t find it,” Cassie added.
    As is usually the case, she was already on my wavelength.
    “She knew exactly where to look, but it wasn’t there. Which probably means whoever killed old Lucas took it. That’s our lead.”
    Saul’s face went a few degrees more slack.
    “Okay?” he grumbled. “So…this is your case now?”
    I’d run into problems like this with him before. And knew that the best way to deal with it was simply to push on through. Our town’s only detective lieutenant is a reasonable man, and puts getting results before matters of protocol. So that generally works.
    “Whatever she was looking for, there has to be some kind of sorcery involved. You know I’ve got a gift for stuff like that. And if you’ll excuse me for saying it, I was always better at tailing a suspect. You stand out too much.”
    The big guy thought that quickly through, then acquiesced and nodded, staring at me wearily.
    “I’ve still plenty of work here, I guess. See you later?”
    “Count on it.”
    “How about me?” Cassie asked.
    I knew she didn’t like inaction. There was nothing I could do about it at that moment, though.
    “I’ll bring you up to speed as soon as I know more.”
    The set of her mouth got slightly anxious.
    “You be careful. I’d say that one’s capable of turning pretty mean.”
    But that was a place I’d been to plenty of times before. So I just headed back outside.

CHAPTER 7
     
     
    It turned out that Miss Tollburn drove a powder blue Jaguar convertible, an XK, barely six months old. I caught up with it a minute after I had swung back onto the main road. But then I hung carefully back, a good distance behind it, with my lights switched off. Like I pointed out, I’m better at this than Saul.
    It kept on disappearing behind bends, then coming back in view again. Millicent had the hood down, in spite of the weather. And her tires were kicking up a good deal of spray, sending it into the air behind her in corkscrewing plumes. She’d untied her hair, which played out in the wind. But there seemed nothing carefree or relaxed about her.