Keeper of the Dawn

conducted a few ‘trial runs’ using non-Elven women just to make sure they could get through the ceremony without making a mistake. That’s why the police received the anonymous tip to be at the Hildegard tomb the other night. The cult had taken a woman they knew was Elven and planned to conduct the ritual for real. For publicity.”

“That all makes sense—except for one thing,” Barrie said.

“What’s that?” Mick asked.

“They were already holding an Elven. Regina Johnson. Why didn’t the call come sooner?” Barrie asked.

“I don’t know, but they still have Regina,” Sailor said.

“And that means the whole thing is still set to go with an Elven sacrifice,” Alessande said. “We just have to stop them before they can complete the next ceremony. The ringleaders are probably lying low now because they made such a lucky escape last time.”

“While we wait for them to make their next move, we need to find out more about this Cult of Tyr and what Sebastian was up to before he died,” Sailor said.

Declan slammed his hand down on the table. “No,” he said. “What we need to do is dig up the body of Sebastian Hildegard and burn it to ash—that will stop whatever is going on.”

“But it won’t help us find Regina,” Alessande said. “They’re holding her—and if we destroy their chance of raising Sebastian, they’ll kill her. They’ve already killed twice, after all.” She grew thoughtful for a moment, then said, “There is a way....”

“And that is?” Sailor asked.

“We dig up Sebastian without anyone knowing.”

Chapter 11

“I don’t know what to tell you. This is all we could get,” Bryce Edwards said irritably.

Mark stared at him. “Lieutenant, this won’t give us anything. We needed a warrant for the whole house. All we’re going to do is piss off Alan Hildegard when we come in with something like this.”

“Lieutenant,” Brodie said. “Doesn’t the D.A. want this thing solved?” He looked around the station and lowered his voice. “We have to get an Other judge who’ll give us a better warrant.”

“Judge Varlet is a vampire,” Edwards said softly. “He says he still has to follow the letter of the law, and that warrant is good for the butler’s personal space and the kitchen. That’s all they can do. So far, we don’t have an iota of evidence that suggests that Alan Hildegard—or Brigitte or Charlaine—might be involved with the drug business in any way.”

“We caught people in the Hildegard tomb—” Mark began.

“And the leaders escaped or disappeared. We didn’t end up with a single thing on the people you did bring in—every story they gave us checked out. They were just dumb minions roped in to fill some kind of quorum. You have nothing that implicates any member of the Hildegard family,” Edwards said. “You both know the law.”

“Yeah, but the problem is, this isn’t going to fall into the regular scope of the law,” Mark said.

Edwards leaned closer, speaking very softly. “Then you two need to work outside the law. But whatever you do, don’t get caught. I suggest, however, that you do serve this warrant. I can send officers with you. Make sure you have Alan Hildegard, his sister and his cousin believing that you’re convinced only the butler had anything to do with the drug and probably the murder, that he had heard the family stories about Sebastian and was probably trying to curry favor with the family by bringing their patriarch back.”

“Better than nothing,” Brodie told Mark.

“I guess,” Mark said. “Still, a butler has full run of the house. Couldn’t we have used that angle?”

“I got what I could get. Now you two use what you have and get this done,” Edwards told them.

A few minutes later, as the detectives left the station, Brodie asked quietly, “Did he just tell us to use whatever Other powers we have to cut through this?”

“Sounded like it to me,” Mark said, then he made a call to alert the team that Edwards had assigned to them. They arrived at the mansion to be met by six officers and forensic specialists.

Alan Hildegard answered the door himself.

Of course; he didn’t have a butler any longer.

“I’ve been expecting you,” Alan said. “Come on through—I’ll show you to Jimmy’s apartment.”

The bastard knew what their warrant contained!

Of course. He wasn’t stupid.

Both Brigitte and Charlaine were there, as well. Brigitte watched them silently as they entered; Charlaine smiled at Mark. “Detective, what a pleasure to see you, again. Of course, the circumstances are terrible—we’re just shocked about Jimmy, of course. He was a wonderful butler. But I suppose that watching us...seeing this house, the family money...made him long to make some real money of his own. Sadly, he decided to do it by selling drugs. I’m horrified, just horrified. The young people who might have been hurt...it’s just terrible.”

“Unfortunately, Jimmy wasn’t working on his own, Charlaine,” Mark said, contravening the lieutenant’s suggestion and not caring.

“What makes you think that?” Alan asked, walking up behind him.

“For one thing, he killed himself rather than be arrested,” Mark said.

Alan shrugged. “I’d kill myself, too, before I’d let myself be confined.”

“Don’t be silly,” Charlaine said. “You’d never be confined.” She dropped her voice so that only Mark and Brodie could hear her next words. “You’d turn yourself into a bee or a wasp and fly right out of prison. But, that is a good point. I think a lot of people would prefer death to being locked away.”

“Well, there’s another reason—I’m sure you read in the papers that Jimmy was working with a man who went by the street name Digger. Digger was murdered,” Mark said.

“Jimmy murdered this...Digger before he died?” Brigitte asked.

“No.”

“How do you know?” Alan asked.

“Because Digger was killed after Jimmy was already dead,” Mark said.

“Interesting. The papers didn’t say who was killed when. I’d rather assumed Jimmy had murdered his cohort, then killed himself,” Alan said. “Anyway, come through this way, will you? Jimmy had his own apartment. It’s the entire attic, actually. Take your time, and if there’s anything we can do to help you...”

“Actually, there is,” Mark said. “Laughton was your butler. He had the run of the house. With your permission, we can search everywhere.”

“My, my! How industrious,” Charlaine said. “You’re more than welcome to search my suite. I’ll go along to help in any way I can.”

“I agree,” Brigitte added. “Search anywhere you like.”

“Alan?” Brodie asked.

“Go for it,” Alan told him. “We were appalled to discover that a member of our household was involved in this ridiculous cult that’s grown up around our great-grandfather, not to mention murder. Search anywhere you like.”

“We’re going to need a bigger crew,” Brodie murmured to Mark. His tone was one of definite surprise.

“I’ll call it in,” Mark said, looking at Alan. Had they been wrong about all this?

He studied the three members of the Hildegard family. Alan returned his regard with what appeared to be sincerity. Brigitte stood quietly by her brother.

Charlaine, though... Charlaine was smiling just like the cat that had eaten the canary.

He realized that they could search all they wanted, but they wouldn’t find anything. No, actually, they would.

They would find it in Jimmy’s apartment—right where it had already been planted.

But they needed to go through the motions.

“Thank you,” he told them. “Thing is, he might have put anything anywhere—intending for you to be