Chapter 32
Quoth
Idip my wing as I swoop over the police station, circling the building, listening for signs of Mina. Along the back is a wall of small windows with bars over them – the cells. I land on the windowsill and peer inside.
Mina lies on a concrete slab that passes for a bed, hands loose at her sides, red hair framing her face like flames.
The fear in her eyes turns my heart to stone.
The door cracks open. I dart out of view, but when I peer back around the edge of the window, it’s only a female officer bringing Mina dinner – a ham and cheese sandwich and some orange juice.
Okay, Mina located. Time for the next phase of the plan.
I hop over to the next window, which is on the first floor.
This one is larger, and it’s open to let in some of the crisp evening air.
Good news for me. I drop down onto the faded carpet of the office and hop across the floor to where the female officer sits at her desk, crunching on a package of salted peanuts as she works.
Mmmmm, salted peanuts.
No, stay focused. Stupid bird brain.
Although my bird senses are filled with delicious salty, nutty scents, I manage to stay on task.
My beak makes short work of the bungee cord tying the cell keys to her belt.
The keys fall to the carpet with a soft THUD, but the officer is on the radio to the officers dealing with the Lancelot hostage situation and doesn’t notice.
With a final, forlorn glance at that crinkly packet of deliciousness, I pick up the keys and fly back outside and over to Mina’s window.
I scratch my talons on the concrete sill. Mina stands on the bed, her head appearing in front of the bars. “Quoth, is that you?”
“Croak,” I try to say, but it’s muffled by the keys. I drop them through the bars. Mina throws out her hands to catch them, but her peripheral vision isn’t amazing, so they clank against the bed.
She bends to pick them up. “That’s great, but—”
I don’t wait for her reply. She’ll spend all night questioning Morrie’s plan, and we don’t know how long we have before Lancelot’s distraction falls over.
We need to get Mina back to Nevermore Bookshop in time for the killer to arrive.
If the killer is from the fashion industry, she’s the only one of us who can identify him.
Mina has the key. She knows what she has to do. She’s braver than she thinks.
This time, when I return to the room, a male officer is there.
The female officer gives him a run-down of what’s going on and tells him that there are two people in the cells and she’s officially off-duty.
As soon as the door slams behind her, I notice a shadow hovering at the top of the stairs leading down to the cells. Mina.
It’s peanut time.
Just as the officer reaches for the peanut packet, I swoop down from the top of the filing cabinet, flapping my wings in his face. “Argh, what the hell!”
He tries to grab me, but I’ve lived with Heathcliff for so long that I’m used to slipping away from huge, burly men with anger issues. I dive for the packet and manage to munch down two peanuts before the officer swings a thick tome called the “Handbook on Self-Defence” at my head.
I dive out of the way, but his swing keeps going, slamming the book into his own face.
“Argh, my nose!” He clutches his face and spins around, tripping over his chair.
I dive for the peanuts again, and happily crunch away as Mina sprints for the door on the other side of the room. I finish the peanuts, allow the cop to chase me around the room for a few more minutes, then I fly out the window and join Mina in the bushes.
I force my shift, my skin itching as the feathers retract. I’m not even fully human before she throws her arms around me, holding me close. Her body feels amazing against mine, warm skin against skin…
Wait, why is Mina only in her underwear? Not that I’m complaining…
“Isn’t it a little soon for matching couples’ outfits?” I ask.
“I had to use my clothes to create a Mina shape in the bed, in case they checked on me.”
“Good thinking. Plus, I like the view.”
She punches me in the arm. “Thanks for the distraction back there.”
I squeeze her hand. “Are you ready to run? You’re going to be conspicuous in your underwear.”
“Can’t I just ride on your back while you fly me to safety?”
“Bloody hell, that would be fun. I wish it worked like that. Follow me. We’ll take the back way – less chance you’ll be spotted. I’ll stay close so you can see me. ”
I grit my teeth as I force my shift again. The feathers shove back through my skin, and my bones snap and twist into place. When I’m fully a raven once more and I’ve stopped being distracted by the peanutty scent emanating from the open window, I take off, calling after Mina to follow me.
I lead her from bush to hedgerow, showing her my secret pathways through empty back gardens and around deserted lanes, taking a wide berth around the chaos on the green as we made our way around the rear of Nevermore Bookshop.
I scan the shadows around the shop, making sure that the killer hasn’t arrived early and is lying in wait. Mina’s head jerks as she checks both ways down the deserted backstreet, thinking the same as me, then she makes a run for the back door, just as Heathcliff flings it open.
He drags her inside, calling out to me in his mind. The police are still dealing with Lancelot. According to Morrie, he’s offered to let the hostages go if Inspector Hayes competes against him in a joust. They’re setting it up in the green right now.
I’m a little sorry we don’t get to see that. With a final check of the area, I swoop inside. Heathcliff slams the door behind me.
“Why are you running around without clothes?” Heathcliff glares at Mina, shaking her shoulders with a passion that reveals just how much he cares. “You’ll catch a chill.”
“Because she used her clothes to create a Mina shape in the bed so no one would notice her missing for a few hours,” Moriarty chimes in from the front room. “Obviously.”
“H-h-how did you know that?” she asks, her teeth chattering. Heathcliff wraps his coat around her and leads her to his chair, where she slumps gratefully.
“Because you’re clever, Mina Wilde. Just like me.”
“She’s nothing like you,” Heathcliff growls as I fly upstairs to fetch some hot tea. Morrie bounds up behind me, and I hear him fussing about in his closet.
When I return with a steaming cup, in my human form, still naked, the colour has returned to Mina’s cheeks. She wraps her hands around the hot cup. Morrie appears in the doorway with an armload of clothes.
“Since you’re a woman of refined tastes, I skipped Quoth’s closet and Heathcliff’s cesspool of stench and procured these garments from my own wardrobe.
” He hands her a pair of buttery-soft grey trousers, and she pulls them on, rolling up the hems and stuffing them into her boots.
The police took her shoelaces. She tucks in a black silk shirt and discards Heathcliff’s huge wool coat for Morrie’s tailored jacket, then strikes a pose. “How do I look?”
Sublime.
“Not as ridiculous as Morrie,” Heathcliff answers.
“It’s nice to see you again, too, Your Honour.” She throws her arms around him.
“I’m a lawyer, not a judge.”
“Right now, I don’t care. What’s the plan? We didn’t get to discuss details before I got dragged away by the police.”
“You’re going to wait right here for our friend to show.” Morrie pats her shoulder. “Heathcliff, Quoth and I are going to hide amongst the shelves. We’ll ambush the guy when he shows up.”
“Why do I have to be the bait?”
“Three reasons. One. Because this guy’s expecting to see a woman. If he knows Ashley, he probably knows you. Two. I’m the criminal mastermind, so I don’t do bait. And three, because Heathcliff and Quoth are never going to be convincing as fashionistas.”
“True enough.” Mina waves her hand at Heathcliff. “Out of that chair. You need to hide, and I need to look like I belong here.”
“If you ruin my arse groove, I’m firing you.” Heathcliff shuffles off toward the Ancient Languages room.
“Be safe, Mina.” I can’t bear it any longer. I bend down and brush my lips across the top of her head. She’s so precious to me. I don’t want to leave her here as bait, but at least I’m able to hide. “I won’t let you out of my sight.”
My whole body aches from all the shifting. All I want to do is curl up into a nest and sleep, but I still have a job to do. I slump to my knees, pressing my fingers into my temples as my head throbs and my body contorts into the raven.
When it’s done, I flutter up onto the chandelier, folding away my wings and sinking into the shadows.
Morrie arranges Mina on Heathcliff’s chair. He places a finger under Mina’s chin, tilting her head up. “You’re the hottest bait I’ve ever used.”
“Thanks, I think?”
He presses his lips to hers, devouring her in his chaotic energy, and when he draws back, Mina’s shoulders are a little squarer, her mouth set in a determined line, and I am shaking all over with envy and need.
Mina sits behind the desk, touching her fingers to her lips as the rest of us hide – Heathcliff and Morrie behind the poetry shelves, me perched on the chandelier.
She pulls a book from the top of Heathcliff’s stack.
Wuthering Heights. Interesting that Heathcliff has been rereading it, as if searching for an escape from a future he believes inevitable.
Mina discards it and opens an Agatha Christie instead.
She holds it close to her face and reads, but I doubt she’s really seeing the words.
She never turns a page, and her eyes keep darting in the direction of the windows, even though I know she won’t see anyone who passes by in the street.
Just when my tiny raven heart can no longer take the suspense, I sense a figure outside. The front door creaks open. A dark figure appears in the doorway.
That’s him. That’s the guy who’s here to hurt Mina.
I recognise him. And I understand what’s been going on.
It takes everything inside me to keep still, to hide in the shadows, when I want to fly at him and peck his eyes out. But we need him to admit it first.
So I remain still, and I listen to Morrie and Heathcliff breathing, seething, waiting, too. And I do what I always do.
I watch.
“Hello.” Mina holds out the drawing. The figure is still standing in shadow, so she can’t see who it is yet. “I’ve got something I think you want. If you step this way, I think we can make an arrangement.”
The figure steps forward, under the shaft of light beaming from the chandelier. His features leap out in stark profile, and Mina jumps in surprise.
“Darren?”