Pulling the plate in front of him, he picked up the cream-filled bun and took a big bite out of it. A moment later, he wiped his mouth on a napkin.
“Yeah, there’s plenty the matter. Just a run-in with Névé’s court. You know how it goes.” He turned a long look to Angel and me. “They’ve got you on the rosters now. They weren’t happy about it, either. Apparently you really did interfere with their plans by killing those two Light Fae. And apparently I interfered with their plans by making sure you were taken on here.”
“So they’re pissed?”
“Mightily. Anyway, they have no choice but to agree to our terms. Morgana made it clear to them. And yes, before you ask, they petitioned her about it. She not only made it clear that they have to abide by rules we already have set up, but that you are under her protection as well.”
My stomach lurched. That they had gone all the way to the goddess to try and get permission to retaliate left me feeling rather weak-kneed. And then to know that a goddess was taking a personal interest in me was almost just as disconcerting.
“I guess they take things seriously.” Thoughts of my parents flashed through my head again. “I had a thought last night. I’m not sure if now is the right time to mention it, but I did a little research on my own.”
“You didn’t go out anywhere by yourself, I hope?”
“Not at all.” I tossed a printout on the table that I had made of several of the ghost hunting sites agendas. “I remember what you said about that. No, it occurred to me that there might be some connection between some of the activities on the various paranormal groups. So I took a look at their recent field trips. At least four of them recently visited the Castle Hall area of UnderLake.”
Herne glanced over at Talia. “Did you notice this connection?”
She shook her head. “No, but I wasn’t finished with my research either. What about you, Yutani?”
Yutani cleared his throat. “I’ve been running algorithms, trying to find connections between the victims and anything that might be part of their lives. I did connect all of the victims that have been identified with paranormal groups. And I also made a printout of the connections I found between the groups. There’s probably something about Castle Hall in some of them, but I haven’t had the time to go through it yet. That’s what I was planning on doing this morning.”
He brought out twelve printouts, and placed them on the table. “Here are spreadsheets of the different victims and the groups they belonged to. We could start combing through them, or I can run a query asking about Castle Hall, now that I’ve got all of this information gathered together. That would probably be a lot quicker.”
“Go ahead. Meanwhile, Talia? What else have you found out?”
Yutani gathered up his papers and left the room. I caved and poured myself a cup of coffee, stirring sugar and cream into it.
Talia polished off a maple bar, licking her fingers. “I did a little digging into bank accounts. As far as I can tell, there doesn’t seem to be much of a connection that way. Some of the victims were middle class, some were poor. None were rich, and none belonged to influential families.”
Herne turned to Angel. “How are you finding your desk? Do you need anything? Are the ergonomics all right?”
“Everything’s fine, although the chair could use replacing. If you don’t mind, I’d like to do some reorganization of the filing cabinets. Whoever had the job before me did an adequate job, but I think there are more efficient ways to organize all of the files.”
Herne slowly nodded. “I don’t have a problem with that, but remember that all the files are confidential, and any that are filed in blue folders need to stay in a locked drawer. As for a chair, find one you like and put in a requisition slip with me. Try to keep it under $400 if you can, but if you need to go above that, just talk to me and we’ll work it out.”
Angel gave him a nod, jotting down notes on her pad. I had at least remembered my notepad and pen today.
Just then, the office phone rang twice. It stopped then rang three more times. Talia glanced at Herne, then walked over to the phone on the counter and answered it.
“I forgot to tell you both, that’s the emergency code. If it rings twice, then stops for a moment, then rings three more times, answer. It will either be my father, Morgana, or one of their representatives,” Herne said.
I blinked. “Cernunnos and Morgana use a phone?” Somehow, I hadn’t counted on the gods being part of the tech generation.
“If you live in this world, you kind of need to. Whether you’re a god or not.” Herne glanced at Talia as she handed him the phone and mouthed “Morgana.”
“Herne here.” He listened for a moment, then let out a long sigh. “Yeah, I’ve got it. Hold on.” He pulled out his cell phone, and glanced at the screen. “Yeah, the text came through. We’ll get right on it.” He paused, then added, “Yes, Mother. I said we’ll get right on it.” As he handed the phone back to Talia, who replaced it back in the cradle, the tension in the room seemed to rise.
“What’s up, boss?” Viktor asked.
“Wait till Yutani comes back, please. Can somebody get me a cup of coffee, three sugars, and about two spoons of cream?” Herne just stared at the screen of his cell phone, shaking his head.
I glanced at Angel, who gave me a little shrug. I picked up a chocolate-covered cake doughnut and bit into it, blinking as I realized they were from Ray’s shop.
Talia must have noticed my surprise. “Good, aren’t they?”
“Yeah,” I murmured. “I know all about these doughnuts, and the guy who makes them.”
Talia looked like she was about to say something, but stopped when Herne shook his head at her. I wondered what was going on, but didn’t feel comfortable asking. At that moment Yutani came back through the door, clutching a whole bunch more printouts. He pulled out a chair and slid into it.
“Well, you’re right. Every single victim—of the ones identified—belonged to a group, different ones, that recently visited the Castle Hall area of UnderLake. And every victim seems to have visited the park the day they disappeared.” He tossed the papers on the table and leaned back.
“How long did we figure we have between victims?”
Viktor consulted his notes. “Another day, at least. It looks like they’re down to one every two days.”
Herne sighed. “The pattern has escalated. There was another murder yesterday afternoon, but they didn’t find the victim until this morning. Same MO. Victim mutilated to pieces. Morgana just let me know.”
“How does she know? I thought the gods weren’t omnipotent?” I wasn’t quite clear on how much the gods actually did know.
“She has spies all throughout the police department. You’d be surprised how thorough Cernunnos and Morgana’s network is. One of her informants notified her as soon as they found the victim this morning.” Herne stared at me. “You don’t think my father and mother would leave this all to chance, do you? They are trying to prevent an all-out war down here, so they’ve got to have people on the inside.”
It made sense when I thought about it. I just hadn’t expected it for some reason. Then the reality of what he had said hit home.
“A thirteenth victim? That’s a lot of dead bodies. What the hell are they doing?”
“I don’t know, but with regards to the rumors that the vampires are behind the killings, what better way to deflect suspicion off yourself by finding a scapegoat?” Herne looked puzzled.
“Do you think one of the Dark Fae is a serial killer? That he’s gone off the deep end and his people are trying to protect them?” Angel asked.
He considered her question for a moment. “Actually, I don’t. If that were the case, they’d take him out. Neither side wants the sort of chaos a serial killer brings into play. No, there’s something else going on. I’m just not sure what.”
I raised my hand.