Chapter Twenty-Six

Fine Lines

Alyssa and Savannah were locked together in a training duel in the Assassin’s Quarter’s external training area. Once Aaron had left the Glasco-Mason household, Savannah, Lauren, and Alexis headed over to Archaic, where they went their separate ways - Lauren remained at The Seven’s Mansion, for she had work to do with them (she wouldn’t disclose what it entailed, but Savannah found she wasn’t interested) and Alexis had come to the Assassin's Quarter too, but had elected to utilise the internal training facility, accompanied by Elianna and her compatriot Levi, a man who seemed amiable enough that Savannah questioned why he was friends with Elianna.

Savannah hadn’t noticed at first (given how overwhelming her introduction to this world had been) but the skin of the Vaellan humans was different to her own – it was paler and shimmered in the sunlight. Their eyes (either a vivid gold or gleaming silver) were slantier and more elongated than a typical human’s, and, in a physical sense, they were naturally stronger, more athletic, and taller. All the evidence pointed towards that breeding with the Vaellan natives had allowed them to reap the benefits that race possessed. No one had told Savannah what the Vaellan natives themselves were like, however – they hadn’t been seen in a millennium. The result, according to Elianna, (who’d told Alexis, who’d subsequently relayed the information to Savannah) was the Vaellan population was almost exclusively half-breeds, with a few remaining human-exclusive families (though, she had also reported that these families were quite insane and/or deformed in some manner from thousands of years of inbreeding with one another).

Alyssa came at Savannah with her sword, feinting high then going low. Savannah read it and parried. Alyssa smiled. ‘Well done.’

‘Thanks, I like to thi- ow!’ Savannah yelped - Alyssa had rapped her hand with the flat of her sword.

‘Allowing me to distract you… not so well done,’ Alyssa tutted and grinned.

‘You little-’ Savannah sprang forward and pressed the attack. She went high, low, left, and right, with the odd diagonal chop and an intensity that didn’t allow Alyssa a moment to recover.

Too focused on the offensive, Savannah showed no interest in her posture nor anything her legs were doing. Alyssa made her pay for that – she met Savannah’s swing and lunged forward. She wrapped her leg around Savannah’s, put her heel to Savannah’s ankle, and pulled it towards her. Savannah dropped, landing on her back.

Alyssa stepped back, panting. ‘I am impressed - you have come a long way. You still have a long way to go, of course, but the signs are promising. There are not many who can take me on that long.’

‘Bet I could,’ called a voice from the door, which gave a grating laugh as company.

Savannah turned. Elianna was there, a silver glaive in her hand. She was kitted in a black, armoured bodysuit with blood-red shoulders, along with golden gloves and boots. Her black hair was pulled back in a braid, save for one part, highlighted red, which dangled down to her chin. Alexis followed in behind her.

Alyssa growled and turned to her. ‘I doubt that. But, you are more than welcome to have a go.’ She spread her arms out.

Elianna considered it, but placed her glaive in a sheath on her back. ‘Nah, I’m good, I’ve better things to do with my time. I just came to get Savannah.’ She sighed and addressed Savannah. ‘Her Royal Highness - Lauren - desires to meet with you at the Mansion. Please hurry over… yada, yada, yada.’

‘Lauren wants to see me?’

‘Huh, is that what I said? Damn, I had no idea - the words just sort of slipped out. Yes, big brain, she wants to see you - now.’

Savannah narrowed her eyes. Elianna spun on her heel and left the room, head held high. ‘God, I hate her.’

Alexis approached. ‘Nah, she’s alright once you get to know her.’

‘Should’ve known you two would become friends.’

‘Why?’ Alexis laughed. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘You’re both bitches,’ Savannah said. Alexis aimed a punch at her arm, but Savannah dodged, laughing. ‘Alright, alright. I’m sorry! Can we please get a move on?’

Alexis crossed her arms and sulked. ‘Yes.’

‘Good. Alyssa, are you coming?’

Alyssa’s eyebrows knotted. ‘Why would I come with you? Lauren did not summon me.’

‘Oh… I don’t know, I thought you might want to be kept in the loop or something, I don’t know.’

‘No thank you. I mean no offence, however… I really do not care about what is going on with you. You turn up to train, you get better, you get stronger. That is all that I am concerned with.’ Padding her sweaty face with a towel, she too left the room.

Savannah was wounded. ‘That was… savage, Jesus.’

‘Aw, can’t handle rejection?’ Alexis said, pushing her bottom lip out.

Savannah pushed her. ‘Come on, let’s go see Lauren. We’ve got a nice, long walk ahead of us, with cliffs at the side. Maybe I’ll push you down them if you carry on like this.’

Alexis's mouth widened in mock horror. ‘You’d do that? To your sister?’

Savannah clicked her tongue against her teeth. ‘Obviously not. Ever heard of an empty threat?’

‘That’s what I thought.’

Alexis skipped from the room.

‘Only because you’d heal yourself, so I need a more effective method,’ Savannah muttered.

‘I heard that!’ Alexis shouted from the hallway.

*

Savannah and Alexis entered the Mansion’s meeting room. Seated at the table were Lauren, Kyra, and Malik.

Up to now, all of Savannah’s interactions with Malik had been short and blunt. He was a to-the-point person, but tolerable. He gave her and Alexis a tiny smile.

Kyra was proving to be her favourite person on the planet. She grinned at them both. ‘Hello, darlings. It’s brilliant to see you, as ever.’

They smiled back at her and joined the trio. Savannah turned her head to Lauren, who looked grave. ‘What’s going on, then? To what do we owe the pleasure of your summons, your majesty?’ She grinned at her, hoping a joke would lighten her up. It didn’t.

‘It’s about… Theo and Grandma. We believe…’ Lauren’s eyes darted to Malik. ‘We have detected a magic-wielder’s presence on Earth. Before you ask-’ Savannah had opened her mouth to speak. ‘We can detect this because magic emits a specific signal, if you like. For somewhere like Vaella, for example, these signals get so convoluted because there are copious quantities of magic pulsing through the world. Somewhere like Earth, where magic is absent, the signals can be detected easily.’

‘So… do we think this person is who’s responsible? Can you identify them?’

Lauren didn’t meet Savannah’s eyes. ‘We… don’t know who they are. We can’t pin them down; magic doesn’t come with an ID, we can only detect the power. So… it could be the person responsible, but we’ve no way of verifying that nor their identity. It could also be innocuous. But… it strengthens the link between this world and the murders.’

Savannah shrank back into her chair. Catching this person could mean safety. But, how would they find them? How would they ensure they did so in time?

‘What do we do?’

Lauren sighed. ‘There’s nothing we can do, not knowing who they are. I just… thought you might like to know there’s a high chance there’s more to this than Jeremy. We can’t deal with them, unfortunately.’

‘So what are we supposed to do? Stick our heads in the sand like fucking ostriches being hunted by lions?’ Alexis said.

‘You will be fine. I’ll be with you at every turn. We… all we can do is stay vigilant. At least we’re prepared for what the threat could be. That’s more than we had an hour ago.’

Savannah agreed with both arguments but took solace in that they’d identified a potential threat, at least. ‘So… are they on Earth now?’

‘No. Evidently, they can travel between systems.’

‘Fucking brilliant. So they could just zip into the room at any given time and whack us?’ Alexis slumped low into her chair. ‘Fantastic! Well, I’ve had fun for 16 years. Why shouldn’t that be all I get?’

‘If they appear,’ Lauren said. ‘We’ll be ready, I promise.’

Savannah breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Good.’

Lauren met her eyes. ‘This is personal. A threat to you is a threat to me. You’ve become my family. No one messes with my family.

‘Anyway, on the note of teleportation,’ Lauren reached into her pocket. She pulled out a pendant – a beautiful piece of jewellery; it had a gold pentagram on a background of purple and its points were diamond-encrusted – and a ring - which was black with purple and gold interlocking rings on the design. In the centre was a small yet vivid emerald that gleamed as though it contained fire burning through woodland. She handed Savannah the ring and Alexis the pendant.

‘Don’t fight over these, they’re equal in value.’

They put them on and admired them. Savannah was glad she got the ring – it was simple, delicate, and gorgeous; Alexis's was larger and more aggrandized.

‘What are these for? It’s not Christmas yet,’ Alexis pointed out.

‘They’re not for Christmas, you tool. These are your enchanted objects. I had the Armourer’s Quarter forge them for you. Congratulations, you now don’t need me to chauffeur you – you can teleport all on your own.’

‘Oooh, that so cool!’ Alexis gasped. ‘So does that mean we can go anywhere in the universe? Just like that?’ She snapped her fingers.

Lauren laughed. ‘Not quite, no. See it as a diluted form of that power – you can’t travel anywhere you want, but you can go anywhere you’ve already been. All you have to do is visualise the location and will yourself to travel there, and that’s where you’ll appear. Simple as that. You’ll still need a chauffeur at times, but mostly, you can do it on your own.’

Savannah giggled. ‘This is possibly the best gift I’ve ever been given.’

Lauren grinned and picked the ring off her. She held it in front of her eye. ‘That’s not all they can do. A power that’ll be extremely useful is its language capabilities. If worn, it will translate any language someone is speaking to you to your own, and will modify your language to that of the person you’re speaking to, so you can understand one another. Beats having a permanent translator with you.’

‘Woah,’ Alexis breathed. ‘That is cool. I worried about having to learn a shit ton of languages. Ain’t nobody got time for that.’

‘Exactly. There are a few other things it can do, but those two are the most useful abilities. Congratulations, girls. You’re both now officially initiates of The Seven.’

‘One of us, one of us,’ Kyra chanted sardonically in the background.

*

‘We’ve got the warrant,’ Robertson said, entering the office with a piece of paper clutched in her hand. She went to her desk, grabbed her jacket, phone, and keys, and Bradshaw followed suit. On their way out of the station, they joined up with four officers. Bradshaw and Robertson travelled in his car; the officers followed in a patrol vehicle.

They strolled up the garden path, Bradshaw holding the warrant in his hand. He knocked hard on the door. All the lights were off, giving the impression no one was home. So, he tried the handle. To his relief, the door was unlocked and swung open. So much more convenient than having to break it down. That often proved a costly endeavour, which was never worth it when they went somewhere to search rather than arrest.

‘Right, you three,’ Bradshaw pointed at three of the uniforms. ‘Search downstairs. Look for anything suspicious. I can’t be sure what you’ll find, but… I’d say have a particular look for any documentation pertaining to the purchase or rental of a vehicle, potentially a hurried, recent sale of the same. If we can trace the jeep that hit Theo to the family, we have a stronger, nearly airtight, case. You two-’ He pointed at Robertson and the fourth uniform. ‘Will come with me and search the rooms upstairs. Let’s go.’

They spread out. Bradshaw took the stairs two at a time. He left the uniform to go through the second floor, while he and Robertson took the third.

The first room must have been Aaron’s – the bed was a double with sheets of plain blue, and a gaming system and large television stood on a desk with a gaming chair before it. In one corner was a mahogany chest of drawers on which stood sports awards and trophies, while in another corner there was a bookcase rammed with novels and DVDs. Decorating the walls and ceiling were posters of his favourite fantasy characters. The room had a typical teenage boy smell; a pungent odour of deodorant with a sweaty undertone.

Robertson entered and rummaged through the drawers. Bradshaw went to the bookcase and pulled the books out, checking the back.

‘I hope you’re happy now,’ Bradshaw shot at Robertson.

‘Well, I’m sorry Ryan, but they’re our best lead. I don’t care whether you like it or not, but… we’ve got to start somewhere.’

‘And what is it you expect to find?’ Bradshaw said. The bookcase proved fruitless, so he plunged his hands down the sides of the mattress, also checking under the duvet and pillows.

Robertson shrugged. ‘Who knows? If it turns up blank, I’ll shut up about it.’

Aaron’s room was empty, so they invaded Alexis's.

Alexis's room was stark in its polarity to Aaron’s. The walls were dazzling white. The bed was super-king-size with white, fleece bed sheets in the centre of the room beneath the window. Alexis’s TV hung on the wall opposite the bed. Stretched along the length of the ceiling was a string of lit, delicate fairy lights which immersed the room in violet. The air was tinged with a lavender aroma. Half-burned, scented candles were dotted around on every available space.

In the corner, just like Aaron’s room, Alexis owned a large desk. Hers was home to a mirror leaning against the back wall, decorated with another string of fairy lights - white this time. Different pallets, lotions, foundations, makeup brushes, and bags were organised in a neat and specific fashion. A wardrobe stood in another corner, the door ajar. Bradshaw felt a pang of guilt when he went through it, disturbing the pristine order. He placed the clothes back in with as much consideration as possible.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

However, this room too turned up nothing. So, Bradshaw and Robertson went into Savannah’s bedroom. Her room was black dark, the curtains shut tight. Bradshaw searched the bed first, without enthusiasm. Robertson tried the wardrobe.

‘Still suspect them?’ Bradshaw asked with a cocky smirk. ‘Despite the distinct lack of evidence?’

‘Hmm,’ Robertson replied, her tongue poking out between her lips. ‘I don’t know. There mightn’t be any direct evidence, but… this is suspicious.’ She turned back to him, and in her hand was a small packet of white powder. ‘Did you know Savannah was into her narcotics?’

Bradshaw stared. ‘No, I didn’t. Oh, the poor girl. Even so… it’s not indicative of a murderess. She’s a teenager. Let her have her fun. You’re only 18 once, after all.’ He took the baggie from Robertson. ‘Yet… I didn’t have her pinned as a user. Suppose you never really know, do you?’

Robertson took it back. ‘No, you don’t. We’re confiscating this, Ryan. It’s a criminal offence. She’s been found in possession, which is a seven-year stretch in prison if she’s unfortunate.’

‘Oh, come on, Patricia. Poor girl’s having an awful time of it. We can take the drugs, but we’re not charging her. She needs something extra to cope? Fine. She’s not causing us any problems, she’s harming herself - no one else - and trying to get through a goddamn traumatic time. I’d appreciate you not making it worse and instead showing her empathy.’

Robertson scowled. ‘Fine. Whatever. Let’s go.’ She stormed from the room.

Bradshaw followed, meeting the officer who’d searched the second floor. ‘Find anything?’

‘No, sir, I did not.’

Bradshaw barked out a sardonic laugh. ‘No, I didn’t think you would. Never mind, maybe the girl and boys downstairs found something.’

They reached the hallway, where the three officers and Robertson – the latter sulking against the wall – were waiting.

‘What about you three, then?’ Bradshaw said to the officers. Each shook their heads and he sighed. ‘Well, I can’t say that’s a surprise. Let’s get back to the station. I’ll leave a note, let them know we’ve been by.’

*

Savannah, Lauren, and Alexis returned home, travelling separately to allow Savannah and Alexis their first opportunity to teleport alone. It proved to be a successful endeavour - aside from a small amount of vomiting from Alexis. She recovered, before taking herself up to her room.

Lauren picked a note up off the coffee table. She paused, tilting her head. ‘Erm… Savannah…’

‘What?’ Savannah said, with a slow, nonchalant turn. She glimpsed the note and her lips turned downwards – it wasn’t there when they’d left. And, Aaron was unaccounted for. She took it from Lauren’s hand.

It read:

Savannah, Alexis, Aaron, Lauren

Just so you’re aware, we’ve been in to search the house. Didn’t realise you wouldn’t be home, but we had a warrant. Nothing serious, just further to our investigation. Trying to link Theo to your father. The door was open, so no damage was done. Take care,

Det. Ryan Bradshaw

Savannah shrugged. ‘At least they didn’t have to break down the door. Shame we can’t point them on the right trail.’

Lauren laughed. ‘You have the combined resources of the entire universe at your disposal, and you think a couple of detectives will make the difference? Give over.’

‘Yeah, fair.’ Savannah went out into the hall and shouted upstairs to Alexis, ‘is Aaron home yet?!’

‘Fuck knows!’ Came Alexis’s muffled response. She heard thumping footsteps, then a ‘no!’

‘What a surprise.’

Savannah, feeling peckish, ventured into the kitchen, put the kettle on to boil, and put a couple of slices of bread into the toaster. She leaned back against the counter and looked out of the window. The hypothetical scenario of how she’d react if she saw the killer - in her mind, a shrouded, misty, and faceless figure - in it peering back at her entered her mind. A chill shivered through her ribs. She spun away from the window and blocked it from mental existence.

The house phone rang. Savannah froze - it was 2 am. Why would anyone be calling at this time?

She picked up the receiver. The little green screen read, ‘WITHHELD NUMBER’. She shrugged and answered the call.

‘Hello?’

‘Erm, hi. Is this the Glasco-Mason house? Aaron’s family?’

‘Er, yeah, it is. Who’s this?’

‘Ah, erm, sorry sweetheart, I’ve been trying to get in touch all night. I’ve er- I’ve got some bad news.’

*

‘Not again. Surely not again…’ Savannah mumbled. Adrenaline pulsed in her veins, her heart pounding as she, Lauren, and Alexis powered through the bland, white hospital corridors yet again. Alexis stalked ahead of her, rage fuelling her pace. Lauren matched Savannah’s hurried pace, trailing along behind Alexis.

They reached the ward and Alexis stormed up to the nurses’ desk. ‘Where the hell is Aaron?’ Her voice was icy fury.

The nurse at the desk - a young, dark-haired male - quailed under her stare and shifted in his chair.

‘He’s in… bay 2. C-c-can I take a name?’

‘No, you fucking can’t.’ Alexis had already moved away by the time she had responded. Savannah and Lauren ignored the nurse’s continued pleas and followed Alexis as she stormed into the bay.

There he was. Prostrated on a bare hospital bed.

Aaron’s skin was colourless. His eyes were shut - he could have been enjoying a peaceful nap, as per Savannah’s earlier suggestion. The dark, wavy, chocolate brown hair he’d inherited from Lyra lay flat, odd strands poking out along his forehead, where it should have been pushed up in a quiff. His arms were motionless like slabs of meat on a butcher’s table, blood no longer pouring through those young veins. No breath entered nor left his lungs.

Savannah stepped forward. She reorganised his fringe, so it was neat and more like it was first thing in the morning. Alexis collapsed to her knees. Lauren went to her and put her arm around her shoulders, cradling her head at her hip.

Not again not again not again not again not AGAIN.

A nurse entered the room, shifting herself from foot to foot, unsure how to approach the situation. Lauren saved her the trouble.

‘What happened to him?’

The nurse hesitated. ‘Well… erm… the tests showed that he’d taken rather a large amount of cocaine. That being said… this wouldn’t have… produced such a tragic result alone… it was a bad batch, mixed with something else. The, erm, the tests haven’t been able to identify the substance, but… there was something mixed into the drug and we believe that to be the cause of his… adverse reaction. I’m… I’m awfully sorry, girls. Was he close to you?’

Lauren, not taking her eyes away from Aaron, said, ‘he was family.’

The nurse was silent for a moment. ‘I see. I’ll… I’ll, erm, leave you to it.’

‘Wait,’ Lauren said when the nurse reached the door.

‘Hmm?’

‘Who was he with? Where was he when this happened?’

‘Oh, erm, the lad said he was his friend - Jason? Aaron was at Jason’s house when the... incident occurred.’

‘And where is Jason now? Is he dead too?’

‘Oh, no, thankfully not.’

‘Good. Then I want to speak with him.’

‘That, erm, that won’t be possible, I’m afraid,’ the nurse said, looking at the door. ‘He’s been arrested for possession and distribution of Class A narcotics.’

‘Fine. Thank you.’

The nurse scurried out of the room. Savannah, Lauren, and Alexis, however, remained there for a timeless period. Time elapsed, but they didn’t notice. They didn’t care. For them, it stood still and the only thing that mattered in the entire universe was their brother, dead on the bed before them.

*

Bradshaw stood before the whiteboard yet again. It seemed certain now that Jeremy would be tried and found guilty of one murder, and the second seemed destined to remain unsolved for the foreseeable future, if not forever. There were no tangible leads to follow up on.

Robertson came in. Her face was dark and downcast - she looked exhausted.

‘What’s up?’ Bradshaw asked.

Robertson didn’t respond until, with a groan of fatigue, she sank into her chair. ‘More bad news.’

‘Oh god, what is it now?’

‘I’ve just had a call from the hospital. It seems that… Aaron Glasco-Mason has left us.’

Bradshaw’s head whipped around. ‘What?! He’s dead?! Fucksake, not another one! Those poor girls...’

Robertson inclined her head. ‘Yep. Overdose on dirty drugs.’

‘Wait,’ Bradshaw said, scooting round to his desk. ‘Dirty drugs?’

‘That’s what I said.’

‘So, essentially, someone killed him.’

‘Yup, looks that way. Not intentionally, mind. This happens all the time. Tell you what is strange - the lad he was taking drugs with, he was high too and survived, and his bloods showed no trace of what killed Aaron. Toxicology reports show that each boy had a different batch, likely meaning a different dealer each. Which, to me, seems strange - why not just purchase one batch between them and share it, or two lots of the same batch from the same dealer? I suppose Jason is fortunate that they didn’t, but still...’

‘But then… if there were two different batches, surely they were from the same dealer? No sense in getting it from two different dealers.’

Robertson shrugged. ‘Don’t know, I suppose so. We need to speak to the kid, his friend. Find out the names of the dealers they used and go after them.’

Bradshaw wagged his finger at her. He reached into his desk drawer and pulled from it the bag of powder they’d found in Savannah’s room. ‘Or we could not do that. I’m not saying I agree with your theory, but… if we get the tests from the hospital and run it against the sample we have here-’ He pointed at the bag. ‘Then we can compare the two and either eliminate it or… confirm it…’

Robertson brightened and sat upright. ‘And then we have a suspect.’

‘I still strongly believe she is innocent, but maybe an arrest would persuade her to finally tell us the whole truth.’

*

Savannah, Lauren, and Alexis made their way home. None knew what to say, how to feel, how to say how they felt… It meant another silent car ride home after one of their family members had passed on; an experience that was becoming habitual.

When they arrived back at the house, Savannah led the way in. Alexis went straight upstairs to her room. She hadn’t spoken, raged, screamed, assaulted - she’d barely breathed that evening. She was a numb, empty, hopeless cavern unable to process, or even begin to come to terms with, her emotions.

Savannah went into the living room and took a seat. Lauren followed suit.

‘I can’t believe this has happened again.’

Savannah pulled a cushion to her chest and buried her chin in it. ‘Neither can I.’ She couldn’t think, she couldn’t feel… she was stuck. Trapped, once again, in that endless, narrow, black, mental corridor with no way of escape. ‘How? How has this happened? Why has this happened? What the fuck have we done to deserve it?!’

‘It was an accident. They happen. Just our luck it happened to us. Again.’

Savannah scoffed. ‘Of course it wasn’t an accident, Lauren. This was murder. Those drugs were tampered with. It can’t be a coincidence this happened the same time you detected a magical presence. The only… death in this family I’m certain wasn’t bloody murder was mum’s, but in a way, it was murder, because without the murders of Theo and Grandma, she wouldn’t have felt so shit that she’d kill herself, so I put the blame of her death firmly at this fucking killer’s feet!’

Lauren rubbed Savannah’s back. ‘Yeah, I suppose… maybe you’re right.’

‘I thought…’ Savannah’s voice caught in her throat. ‘I thought we were safe now. I thought we could protect ourselves. I thought… I thought me and the twins would make it. I thought it was over, or nearly over… we could go on living without this dark cloud over us.’

‘I’m so sorry, I know, I believed we had it handled. Aaron was our blind spot...’

Savannah pushed her chin further into the cushion. ‘What the hell do we do now?’

Lauren inhaled deeply. ‘I don’t know. We wait. We keep a permanent eye on Alexis and yourself and if they show up here… we come and we kill them.’

Savannah shuddered. ‘I don’t want to be around for that.’

‘What do you mean?’

Savannah raised her head and looked Lauren dead in the eye. ‘I don’t want to witness that. I don’t want to see a killing. Even if they’ve killed my family, I don’t want to see them die. I… I want them dead, because that’s the only way to get security, but I don’t want any involvement in it. I refuse to stoop to their lack of morality. As long as they’re gone and me and Alexis are safe, that’s all I want.’

Lauren pulled Savannah into a hug. ‘However it happens, he will pay. I’ll make damn sure of that.’

*

Bradshaw’s leg was shaking. He’d handed the bag over to forensics and returned to the office with Robertson. Aaron’s tests from the hospital had been sent over too, so now it was a waiting game while forensics checked Savannah’s drugs and cross-referenced them with Aaron’s toxicology reports.

‘What I don’t understand,’ Bradshaw said. ‘Is the motive. Hypothetically, let’s say that the tests come back positive… why would Savannah do it? She’s damaged, sure, who wouldn’t be after all she’s been through, but… she’s not a killer. Definitely not a serial killer. She hasn’t got the character for it - she’s more like her mother than her father. Plus, who was driving the jeep? She was there when it happened and there are witnesses to attest to that. And, why in hell would she kill her family?! Someone is stitching her up here, and I am almost certain that we’re falling directly into the killer’s hands here.’

‘Yes... but she also knew to be out of the way, otherwise she’d have become caught up in the incident. Which would mean she was working with someone, but we can find out who that is once she’s in custody. Framing Jeremy was easy – after all, he’s a drunk and an all-round vile man, who wouldn’t believe that murder was in his locker? Even those that to the eye are the purest can be the most deplorable people. I think that’s what it is here. As for motive… money, possibly? We both know Lyra’s absolutely loaded from her time in corporate law. The grandmother, Katerina, she had a tidy bit stored away.’

‘So, you think, what, Savannah wanted all their money and decided, ‘oh, tell you what, I’ll bump off all my family and get that inheritance early?’ That is utter absurdity!’’

‘Yeah, that’s what I think. A sound theory, to my mind.’

‘Yeah, but if that was the case then why kill Theo and Aaron and try to do the same to Alexis? Surely, if the motivation was money, she can’t be that selfish as to want their cuts as well?’

Robertson wrinkled her nose. ‘If she’s willing to kill for it, she definitely can be that selfish. Which would mean Alexis is in the most imminent danger now.’

‘Provided the tests indicate what you expect them to.’

‘Well, yes.’

‘And I suppose… when you look at her dad and what he’s like… well, you know what they say… ‘the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’… even if he didn’t kill anyone, I’m sure it wouldn’t take a lot to push him to it. However, as I said, she hasn’t inherited his personality, that much is blatant. I think that she is being framed, and I don’t understand why you are dead set on an 18 year old girl being the killer!’

‘I’m not! I just… I’m lost, Ryan.’ Robertson pulled her arms into her chest and her gaze flitted away from Bradshaw’s. ‘I’m sick of hitting brick walls and making sense out of straws. I just want to resolve this case. Is that so wrong?’

‘It is if it means we’re going to ruin the reputation of and incriminate a teenage girl. The only good thing that could come from that is a drawing-out of the actual killer-slash-killers, and that is also highly unlikely.’

The office door opened and Nicole came in, clutching a file.

‘Those the results?’

She nodded and handed him the file.

Bradshaw yanked it open and scanned it, looking for the result, ignoring all the other pointless, irrelevant information.

He froze. Then he looked, his eyes as wide as dinner plates, at Robertson.

*

Alexis came down the stairs a few hours later, moving like a zombie. She collapsed onto the sofa, grabbed a blanket and curled up into a ball. Savannah went over to her and joined her beneath it, and they held one another, united in their grief. Lauren put something light-hearted on the television and the three of them watched it without paying any attention, and one by one, they slipped into dark, miserable, nightmare-filled periods of sleep.

Until they were woken by a sharp pounding on the front door.

Savannah groaned. ‘If that’s those fucking detectives again…’ She got up and left the room, Lauren joining her.

Savannah opened the front door and, lo and behold, it was ‘those fucking detectives’.

‘Savannah Glasco-Mason,’ Robertson said with relish. ‘You are under arrest on three counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, with one count of possession of class A drugs, and another count of perverting the course of justice. You don’t have to say anything now, but keep in mind that anything you do say can and will be used against you in a court of law.’