‘Answer the question,’ I pressed. ‘It’s two against one. I’m sure you’ll win this little fight.’ As if. ‘So tell me about the taser. Tell me about cuffing him to the chair. Tell me how much you enjoyed it when he panicked so hard he pissed himself.’
Junior went grey. ‘She doesn’t know anything,’ he muttered almost to himself. He turned to me from his position still on the floor. He wasn’t eager to get involved in the fight. ‘He didn’t talk to him. He killed him quick. Didn’t you?’ he asked Beeks with a frown that said he didn’t quite believe what he was saying.
‘Then why tase him and drag him to the chair? Why add that risk?’ I taunted. ‘No, Beeks needed to chat with Teddy, but I still can’t work out why. Just to taunt him?’
Beeks sneered. ‘His death was ordered. It had to be so.’
The way he spoke … the disdainful look at Kerr … I suddenly wasn’t so sure it was Kerr who had given the orders.
If not him, then who?
I couldn’t kill Kerr if he trulywasinnocent in all this, though his presence here certainly suggested otherwise, and he was throwing orders around like a general. Still, Ihadto be sure.
Risking one little use of my illegal sub magic, I reached out to Kerr. I let it trickle across the gap and brushed the edges of his mind, searching for the one memory I needed to see … where it all began. Kerr’s memory began to play out.
Kerr was bored. Hunter was blustering – same as usual – going on about how they needed to make a stand. Well, some of them had done that, and Kerr was less keen on getting roasted alive by that bloody dragon shifter. As they’d all said from the start, the creature was a beast, an animal, and he’d reacted like an animal too: lashing out and killing scores of them, probably more. No, Kerr wasn’t eager to “make a stand.”
‘We set them up,’ Beeks said into the quiet.
‘What?’ Angie asked. ‘What do you mean?’
The house smelled of cut limes and furniture polish. Angie had spent hours running a cloth over the walnut panels before the meeting. He’d let her; she needed the movement more than he needed the sheen. She looked calm now, composed – neat as ever – but she leaned forward, interest sparking in her eyes.
‘Yes,’ Kerr said. ‘What do you mean?’
‘We kill someone,’ Beeks said bluntly. ‘You said your father wanted more Anti-Creature sentiment stirred up, right? Nothing makes people grab their pitchforks like a death.’
‘And who precisely are you suggesting we kill?’ Drummond asked, pushing his fussy little glasses up his nose.
‘Someone who’ll cause a splash. Someone human,’ Beeks said slowly.
‘Who?’ Hunter demanded.
A smile crept across Beeks’s face. ‘Let’s go big. A Symposium member. Lord Marlow.’
‘The air elemental?’ Angie asked, startled.
Beeks nodded. ‘I know where he lives. Low security. I can get in and out. Easy.’
Kerr licked his lips, suddenly dry-mouthed. They were talking murder now – murder of ahuman.‘How would we set up the creatures to take the blame?’
‘Ogres,’ Beeks said. ‘It has to be them. Their tusks leave a distinctive mark. No one will doubt it was them if we do it right.’
Hunter grimaced. ‘And we’re going to get a tusk how?’ He slid a look at Drummond. ‘We could get your nephew to do it.’
Drummond’s lips thinned. ‘Don’t be absurd. He’s no nephew of mine. I have no contact with him.’
Beeks’s eyes narrowed. ‘None?’
‘No. None.’
‘We can hire one,’ Kerr said, the thought slipping out before he could stop it.
‘Nah,’ Beeks replied. ‘That’d leave a paper trail pointing straight back to us. Leave the ogre part to me.’ He looked at Kerr, eyes faintly mocking. ‘What do you say, boss?’
Kerr straightened his shoulders. ‘Yes. Do it. Dad needs an edge to get the seat. He’s neck and neck with some bitch who’s soft on crime. We’ll kill Marlow, then protest right in front of the police station. Get some rage going.’ He smiled. ‘It’s perfect.’
I snapped back into my body. The room steadied, and fire was roaring right at me. I threw up an air shield at the same time as I hit the deck. Heat rolled over me, and my shield held. I strengthened it as adrenaline spiked through me.
