Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
I was wholly unsurprised when I was summoned to Faraday’s office less than twenty minutes later. I knocked on his door and entered when bidden.
He was looking out onto the streets that ran through the heart of Chester, with the Cathedral ruling the skyline just beyond.
‘Wise,’ he said without turning from the window. ‘Sit and give me the rundown.’
I sat. It was rare in the extreme for Faraday to get his hands dirty these days.
He rode a desk with panache, ruled the Cheshire force with an iron fist, and rarely got mixed up in the nitty-gritty of day-to-day life and cases.
Yet he’d come to Ji-ho’s rescue when I needed it and that had taken him up a peg in my estimation.
Somewhere underneath it all, a good cop still lurked. Somewhere.
I ran it down. ‘As you know, Symposium member Lord Theodore Marlow, an air elemental, was found dead in his residence at 8.00am by his cleaner. There were no signs of forced entry. The assailant used a taser to incapacitate him, fitted magic-cancelling cuffs, and restrained him to a chair.’
Faraday grunted.
‘The ME has confirmed necrotic tissue in the wounds,’ I continued. ‘Her conclusion is that Marlow was killed using the severed head of a dead ogre, Thrain Olofsson, in an attempt to frame the ogres for the murder. DNA from residual cells in the wounds matches Olofsson.’
‘How did Olofsson die?’
‘Black tourney. Fatal.’
‘Damned tourneys,’ Faraday muttered. ‘Go on.’
‘The next day, Anti-Crea protestors took up position outside of the station to stir up outrage even though they had no lawful way of knowing that an ogre was involved.’
‘Yes, I recall,’ he said impatiently. ‘And as was said at the time, departmental leaks do happen. What about the second death?’
‘The second death was the murder of one of the aforementioned protestors – Alasdair Drummond. He was a low-level piper and a vocal member of the Anti-Crea community. His rap sheet includes numerous arrests for unlawful protests and inciting civil unrest, but he has never served jail time.’ I paused, because now we were getting to the tricky part.
‘In interview, it came to light that Mr Drummond had asserted that he had a half-ogre nephew, and presumably his murderer intended to set up the related ogre for both deaths. However, it is anticipated that the ME will find the same necrotic tissue present in Mr Drummond’s wounds.
It is also notable that the body suffered from frostbite in certain areas, and the ME postulates that the decapitated head of Thrain Olofsson has been kept in a freezer in the intervening period to stave off further decomposition.
She will compare samples to verify this. ’
I paused and Faraday waved at me to continue. I wanted to take a deep breath before plunging into the next section, but I well knew the telltale signs of dishonesty, so I didn’t.
Here begins the slippery slope, I thought as I prepared to fudge the truth for Robbie, for his privacy. I wouldn’t have him hauled down to the station on some spurious charge if I could prevent it. Not when he was innocent of any wrongdoing here.
I continued with no difference in tone or expression, just running down the facts.
‘There is no legal record of Mr Drummond having a nephew, and his deceased sister is not recorded as having given birth, nor was she legally married. It is unknown at this juncture who the half-ogre nephew is or indeed if one exists. Given the circumstances, I do not consider it necessary to employ our scant resources to identify the alleged ogre relative as he is clearly blameless in this matter and particularly when we have conclusively determined that the weapon in question was the severed head of Thrain Olofsson.’
‘I agree,’ Faraday grunted. ‘There is no suggestion that the purported ogre relative was ever involved, save as to be set up. As such, his identity is of a low priority at this time.’ He turned to face me, still standing so that he towered over me while I sat.
An intimidation tactic that I didn’t let bother me.
‘Wise, I do not need to tell you the importance of wrapping this one up quickly. There is significant pressure on us to identify and bring down Teddy’s killer.’ He fixed me with a look. ‘How certain are you that Barnaby Kerr Junior is involved?’
‘I am certain that he knows the identity of the killer, but at this stage I do not think he is the offender in question.’
Faraday nodded briskly. ‘Then drop any and all lines of enquiry into him and his wife.’
‘Sir—’ I began to protest.
He held up a hand. ‘Save it, Inspector. His father is touted to be the next wizard Symposium member. This office cannot afford to alienate one of the most important members of the Symposium.’
‘He’s not even elected yet!’
‘No, but I can’t ignore the possibility – the likelihood – that he will be.
The Connection’s budget review is coming up, and we’re requesting a significant increase to fund Unit 13 and additional units of its kind.
So I’m telling you, drop the line of enquiry on Barnaby Kerr.
There are to be no further interviews or surveillance on either Mr or Mrs Kerr. ’
‘And if the Kerrs did kill Lord Marlow?’
He pressed his lips together. ‘Then you’d better make sure the evidence on them is ironclad and tied up with an on-camera confession. And Wise … if it is Kerr, the kill order is rescinded. Are we clear?’
‘Crystal,’ I muttered, a sour taste in my mouth.
‘Excellent. Dismissed, Wise.’
I stood and shut his door as I left, because his damned open-door policy didn’t apply to him.
I had Elvira on Beeks and Bland on Hunter.
I didn’t have enough manpower to keep eyes on the Kerrs too, and so I’d already cut them loose.
The fact that Faraday wanted me to let them slide made me want to put people on them.
However, my gut was still fixed on the two military men – Hunter and Beeks – so I told my contrary nature to settle down and cool off.
I had other things to focus on, like learning everything I could about den ceremonies as quickly as possible.
The Connection database was annoyingly sparse on ogre customs, so after half an hour of fruitless searching, I gave it up as a bad job. An idea occurred to me, so I swung by Ji-ho’s office on my way out. As hoped, he was still there.
I knocked on the door. ‘Hey,’ I greeted loudly. ‘I’ve got an ogre thing later, and I wondered if you could find some information for me? I’ve looked in the database, and there’s a whole lot of nothing there.’
He waggled his eyebrows. ‘You want me to do some digging on unofficial channels?’
I paused. ‘Only if you feel okay with that.’
He snorted. ‘Sure. You got it. What do you need to know?’
‘Everything about the ogres,’ I said drily, ‘but start with anything you can find out about den rules and den blessing ceremonies.’
He looked intrigued. ‘When do you need it by?’
‘Yesterday would be good.’
Ji-ho flashed me a grin. ‘I’m all over it, Shirlylock.’
‘Call me on my mobile when you get anything?’
‘I will,’ he assured me. ‘I’ll go home and use my home unit. The setup here can be tracked.’
‘I appreciate your discretion.’
‘You know you’ve got it,’ he said in all seriousness.
‘I do know. That’s why I asked.’ I clapped him on the shoulder. ‘I owe you.’
‘You don’t owe me shit for this. And Stacy?’
‘Yeah?’
‘I owe you my life. It’s going to be a long time before we’re square.’
I shook my head. ‘We’re already square, Ji-ho. Friends don’t keep tallies.’
When his eyes filled up, I gave him a hug. We stood like that for a long moment, but when his arms dropped from my body, I stepped away and left without another word. He was struggling with his emotions, but I wouldn’t force him to talk, not until he was ready.
Time to power-walk home, knock back that potion like it was tequila, grab a shower, and figure out what the hell I was supposed to wear to a den ceremony, besides weapons, apparently.