On Pins and Needles: Sierra Fox, Book 3 (14 page)

Only a few weeks ago I’d encountered a confused spirit inside a hospital that chose to turn her back on the bright light of the afterlife. Of course, the circumstances had been different because of the crazy shit going on in Sydney at the time, but Rima had seemed as determined to walk away from the light as the emaciated girl had.

A touch on my arm made me jump.
 

Papan stepped up beside me. “Fox, what’s wrong?”

“I thought I saw something.”

“What did you see?” It was Gareth who asked the question, appearing on my other side.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the sidewalk, wishing I had the power to recreate what had just happened.
 

“Sierra, what did you see?” Gareth repeated.

“I saw the girl run down this way before she disappeared.”

“You mean her ghost ran off this way?” he asked, confused.

I nodded.

“What does that mean?”

“I’m not sure.”
But it can’t be good.

Standing on the corner of the street wasn’t going to get me any answers, so I turned around and headed back to the crime scene. When I reached Rima’s lifeless body, I crouched down to look at her. Her corpse was a replica of the spirit I’d encountered, and the bloody wound on the top of her head stood out like a gory beacon. It definitely looked like someone had smashed her skull with something. Blood dribbled from the bite marks on the side of her neck and had dried as identical red lines, but the most frightening thing was that she resembled a desiccated mummy. I was certainly no expert, but her body looked like it had been drained of blood. Had a vampire sucked her dry? Is that what happened to Rima?
 

Gareth crouched across from me, his eyes glistening. “Tell me exactly what you saw.” His voice was soft and as much as I hated to admit it, his presence helped calm my nerves.

Papan stood beside me, looking around.

“I spoke to Rima McNamara. Her spirit was hanging around, but it’s gone now.”

“What did she say?”

“She was traumatized and didn’t remember much.” I sighed, trying not to look at her too closely, even though I couldn’t tear my eyes away. “Some guy lured her out of the club, then a second person attacked her from behind. She didn’t stand a chance.”

“Did she mention anything about…”

I shook my head. “The word vampire didn’t come up.”

“What do you think happened?” His hazel eyes were bright, full of questions. He probably wanted to know a lot more than what had ultimately caused this poor girl’s demise.
 

“I think you’re right.”

He nodded.

“But I don’t know how we’re going to prove it.”

“Right now, all we can do is report what you saw.” He seemed crestfallen, his eyes losing their inquisitive shine. “I’m sorry you had to see her that way.”

I shrugged. “It’s what I do.”

“I hope you don’t mind me asking for a statement.”

“Of course not,” I said, pushing my hands against my thighs to stand up. “How old was she?”

“Seventeen,” he answered, avoiding my eyes.

I thought of Willow, running away from home and staying in my office overnight because she had nowhere else to go. Where had she been staying for the last few months? If a vampire was loose in the city, how easily could she have become just another victim? No matter what her secret turned out to be, or that I’d initially been reluctant to offer her a place to stay, I was glad she now had a roof over her head.

“What was she doing in a club?” I asked, more to myself than anyone.

“There’s a basement club around the corner. One of those places where you really have to know it’s there, because it’s not advertised anywhere.” Gareth looked over his shoulder. “Even after multiple fines, we’ve often found underage kids in there. It should’ve been closed long ago but the owners keep avoiding the inevitable.”

I nodded. Amazing how so many liked to prey on naïve kids.

“That place is a pit,” Papan added.

“Hey, Crewe, who’s this?” A short, stocky man with balding dark hair approached us. He had a scowl on his face and probably hadn’t shaved in a week. He looked exhausted and was dressed in baggy jeans and a button-down shirt.
 

“This is Sierra Fox. She’s a spook catcher.”

The man snorted. “I already told you this was a straightforward murder. There’s nothing supernatural about it. Besides, we’re not supposed to be dealing with those crackpots at the Council while they’re under investigation.”

“Sierra’s not with them. She’s freelance,” Gareth said. “I personally asked her to take a look.”

The way he glared at me, I was pretty sure this man was a skeptic. He also looked like a hardened cop who’d probably seen so much brutality and death during his career that he was desensitized to most of it.

“Burns and I have it under control.” As he spoke, the other plain-clothes cop sidled up beside him, also glaring at me.

Gareth said, “I know, but—”

“Looks like she’s had a pretty good look already. Maybe it’s time to send her back home to the cemetery,” he said before turning to spit on the filthy ground.
 

The other detective laughed. “We don’t need her types around here.”

“What’s your problem, Shapiro?”

“Ah, Papan, what the hell are you doing here? It looks like they let out all the weirdos today.”
 

“You two know each other?” Gareth asked, looking from one to the other with a frown.

“I’ve had the misfortune of crossing paths with this hack,” Shapiro said. “I hope you’re not here to get in the way of our investigation, because this has nothing to do with you.”

“Shapiro, they’re both with me.”

The hardened cop stepped closer to the constable. “Yeah, see, that’s the thing. This isn’t your investigation, so you have no right to bring
any
sort of consultant in on this. Civilians don’t belong here and I certainly don’t need some crackpot psychic and a nosy PI to mess with the evidence.”

“So you know what’s going on, then?” Papan said with a sneer.

“We sure do, Boy Scout.”

“Good to hear. It looks like we’re not needed here anymore.” Papan took my hand. “Let’s go, Fox.”

I turned away from the mean detective with an obvious chip on his shoulder, and closed the gap between me and Papan.
 

“That’s right, run off to your divorce and cheating cases. I hear that’s all you’re good for, nowadays!” Shapiro took one last swipe.

A nerve ticked on Papan’s jaw before he tensed and paused.
 

“He’s not worth it. He wants you to make a mistake,” I said. I might have spent most of my career dodging the police because the Council interacted with them directly, but Papan was a different story. He probably dealt with police all the time and there were bound to be some who just didn’t like him.

Papan turned to look at me and his eyes were amber. He seemed to be barely holding on to any shred of control.

“Come on.” I yanked on his hand to drag him along. We continued down the backstreet in silence, until we ducked under the barrier tape and turned the corner.
 

As soon as we were clear, he pulled his hand from mine and smacked his left fist into the closest wall. Dust from the bricks sprinkled to the ground.
 

“Out of all the bloody detectives in Sydney, that asshole had to be the one leading this investigation.”

I looked around. There were plenty of people about but none of them were paying any attention to us.
 

“That fucking asshole,” Papan said, flexing his hand. At least his knuckles had fared better than the wall, because there wasn’t a scratch on them. “I should go back there and knock his head off.”

“I take it you don’t get along, then,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. I really didn’t care about the insults the detective had thrown my way. I’d been called names for most of my life and made peace with it a long time ago.

“That’s an understatement.”

“Oh well, his loss.”

That got a half smile out of him, and his eyes were back to normal.

“Where’s that cop friend of yours, anyway?”

I shrugged. “But we can’t go anywhere without him.”
 

Several minutes later, we were waiting beside Gareth’s car.
 

I peered back into the alleyway and spotted the constable, who was caught up in what appeared to be a heated discussion with Shapiro. I couldn’t hear a word they were saying but their body language said plenty. The detective had raised his chest and was looking down at the constable, probably lecturing him on what he could and couldn’t do. I hated to see Gareth get into trouble but thought he’d done the right thing. His fellow policemen might not believe or want to admit anything supernatural had gone on, but I knew better.
 

Something really strange was going on. I was pretty sure that the tail I’d seen was essential to solving this case.
 

Unless I imagined it.

Gareth hitched a thumb our way and caught me watching him. He paused for a moment, staring back so intently I couldn’t help but look away. Actually, I didn’t gaze his way again until I heard footsteps rushing towards us.

“I’m sorry about that, guys,” he said. “Shapiro can be—”

“A total asshole?” Papan interrupted.

Gareth smiled. “Yeah, he can definitely be that. I think he’s been a cop for too long. Some people just don’t know when it’s time to quit.”

“He’s not open to the supernatural, either,” I added.

“No, he detests it.”

“Did you get in trouble for calling us in?”

“Nah, he just likes to throw his considerable weight around.” Gareth scratched his head. “He’ll probably forget all about this incident. He just wanted to put me in my place. Although he’s right about one thing—this isn’t my investigation. I just thought there was something strange about this murder. I’m glad you got a chance to see it for yourself, though.”

“Is the girl’s spirit still here?” Papan asked.

“No.” How was I going to explain this? “While we were talking, she lost it, morphed into something violent. I didn’t want her to get away because trauma spooks can attack others but without a canister I couldn’t capture her. Instead, I tried to convince her to turn towards the light but she refused to and rushed me before vanishing. She kept talking about her mother, so maybe she went to see her, but I don’t think that’s what happened. After she turned the corner, she disappeared, but I did see something really strange…”

Gareth frowned. “Strange, how?”
 

“I thought I saw the end of a tail.”

“What does that mean?” he asked. “I didn’t know vampires had tails.”

“Maybe she didn’t run off, like you assumed she did,” Papan said. “Maybe whoever killed her was lingering in the shadows and dragged her back before you could find out more.”

“Is that something vampires can do?” Gareth asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound right. From what little I know, they drink blood but most don’t have to kill to do it.” And why would a vampire want their victim’s spirit? A passing conversation with Conrad had confirmed the notion of drinking without the need to kill, but he didn’t mention anything about stealing spirits or tails. Which reminded me…why hadn’t I thought of him before?
 

“Maybe we’re dealing with something else,” Papan said.

“I don’t know yet.” There was only one thing I knew for sure—while Rima was still alive, she’d been lured and attacked by something with pointy fangs.

“I’m sorry to have ruined your afternoon,” Gareth said. “I’ll just get your statement and drop you off at home.”

“Thanks, I think it’s time we got out of here.” The lack of light in this area was starting to freak me out. We’d overstayed our welcome, anyway.

“And just so you know, I think I’ll stop by the girl’s house and speak to her mother.”

“She probably won’t know anything—might not even feel Rima if she does pay her a visit. Besides, you wouldn’t be able to tell either.” It might seem like a good idea to a cop, because no one needed a loose, violent spook terrorizing them, but he wouldn’t find anything concrete.

“It’s worth a try.” Gareth shrugged. “Besides, someone needs to tell her what happened to her daughter.”

I nodded, wondering if his calming influence would help Rima’s mother deal with the news. I doubted it.
 

“Let’s go.” Papan, who’d been watching our exchange, grabbed a hold of my hand and encouraged me to move towards the end of the car.
 

Gareth slipped into the driver’s seat.

Before ducking into the car, I took one last look up and down Pitt Street.

Where did you go, Rima?

Chapter Six

I waved to Gareth one last time before heading towards the house. We’d been gone for so long that late afternoon was slowly blending into evening, and I was anxious to find out how Willow and Oren were doing.