“That’s Virgil Tacitus,” Veronica said. “The teacher’s pet. HeworshippedBalthazar. Definitely not him.”
Don’t be so quick to judge.
Virgil stepped forward, joining the group. I noticed several folks melting into the crowd at his approach, leaving only him, Gavin, and myself.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Virgil,” Gavin said.
Virgil snorted a derisive laugh and drained his glass. “She returned to the scene of the crime, with her whoever her fuckboy accomplice is, to boot.”
Veronica gasped. “Did he just call you afuckboy?”
I let the slight roll off my back; I was too busy watching this Virgil kid.
“Sorry to interrupt,” I said, waving a hand between the two men to get their attention. Virgil glanced at me in a bored sort of way.
“Yes?”
“Sorry,” I said, giving him a simpering smile. “I was talking to this young man a moment ago about the murder of Balthazar Freedman. I’m trying to get my head around this. You say youdoknow who killed him?”
“He has atheory,” Gavin spat. “Nothing more.”
“It’s good enough for the coven to believe it. All the teachers believe Veronica murdered him. So do I.”
Lie.
“You’re out of your mind,” Gavin said, shaking his head. “Balthazar recruited Veronica. He gave her a new life after her pack was decimated. She loved that man like we all did. No way. I won’t believe she did that, and Irefuseto believe she kidnapped Wendy.”
“You sound like my brother Percival when he was younger,” Virgil said, sounding disgusted. “Always so trusting and gullible. It’s why he ended up turning into the pathetic creature he is now.”
Gavin gave Virgil a withering look. “I’m surehe’snot the worst in the family.”
This brother of Virgil’s sounded intriguing, but I pushed that tidbit aside to listen to the back and forth between these two men. Things were getting interesting.
Virgil made another dismissive sound. “That kid’s dead for sure.”
Lie. Holy shit. This guy knew Wendy was alive. That was both good news and shocking. Virgil Tacitus knewfarmore than anyone else at this party. More than he had any right to know.
“I think they took her for ransom. You don’t kidnap a girl from a family that famous and kill her for no reason,” Gavin said.
“It’s almost a certainty,” Virgil said, reaching out and grabbing a canapé from a passing tray.
“You know quite a bit about this, it seems,” I said, unable to help myself. “If you were the killer, how would you have done it? If I may be so bold as to ask. I’d love to hear your interpretation of events.”
Gavin made a disgusted groan, but Virgil popped the food into his mouth and smiled. “Simple. If I’d been Veronica, I’d have gone to his office under the pretense of getting help with some assignment or other school issue. While he was unaware, I’d have slipped the blade in, right in the heart to make sure he had no time to cast a spell before he was incapacitated. A few more thrusts would finish the job. Easy-peasy.”
True, true, true, true…my gift screamed at me over and over again like an alarm bell.
It was him. This was the killer. This scrawny-ass kid? Seriously?
“You’re disgusting,” Gavin said. “I’m out of here.”
The tall man turned and vanished into the crowd.
“What was your name again?” Virgil said. Without his classmate around, I’d become the main object of his interest.
“It was lovely talking to you, but I need to step outside and take a call,” I said.
Virgil smirked. “Now that you mention it, so do I,” he said, sliding his hand into his robes and retrieving a phone.
