Read Online Band of Demons (The Sanheim Chronicles, Book Two) by Rob Blackwell - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Rob Blackwell
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voice behind Quinn said. “You’re interfering with a crime scene.”
“Well, Stu, talk to Redacker,” Quinn replied evenly and turned around. “He’s the one who said you guys had finished your sweep.”
Stu grunted in return. Quinn gave him an innocent look and tried not to let his distaste show on his face. Stu was obnoxious, dictatorial and deeply stupid—a combination which also made him extremely dangerous. He was the kind of person who joined the police force not to help others, but to try to control them. Unfortunately, he had risen far in the ranks of the Leesburg police, now serving as one of Sheriff Brown’s top deputies.
“I’ll have to talk to him about that,” Stu said. “This is police business. We don’t need you to play detective.”
“I’m not playing detective, Stu,” Quinn replied. “I’m doing my job as the crime reporter. Why do we have to go through this exercise every time?”
“Because I don’t like you,” Stu said.
“Thanks for the news flash,” Quinn said. “I used my journalistic skills to infer as much. I think it was last week when you called me a ‘hack,’ ‘piece of shit,’ and ‘lying scum’ that gave me the first clue.”
“You’re just going to make up another story,” Stu said, ignoring the sarcasm. “You want to blame this on some fictional phantom as well? Maybe you haven’t scared all the little old ladies in this town yet.”
“This again?” Quinn replied. “Really?”
“We still get calls, O’Brion,” he said. “‘Help me, I just saw a man riding on a horse.’ Do you know how many people ride horses in this county, Quinn? We get calls all the time.”
Quinn didn’t mention that Redacker and Brown had cooperated for that story—something Stu either didn’t know or care about. Instead, Quinn just shrugged as if he couldn’t care less, which he supposed he couldn’t.
“There’s no point in you being here,” Stu said. “We’ve got this wrapped up already.”
Quinn didn’t bother to pull out his notebook. If he had, Stu would have stopped talking. As things were, however, sometimes letting someone gloat was the best way to get information.
“How so?” Quinn asked, trying to sound disinterested.
“Her final customer of the day? Let’s just say he was only too happy to tell us what a fraud she was and how she was ripping the entire town off,” Stu said. “When we mentioned she was dead, he actually responded, ‘Good.’ It was like he had no idea we would even consider him a suspect. Some people are really dumb.”
Yes, they really are, Kate’s voice came in Quinn’s head.
Quinn felt surprised, then sheer joy. He had to resist jumping up and down in the room. They had known their powers were going to come back soon, but they had no idea when. Suddenly, he had a direct line of communication to his best friend again.
You heard this? Quinn asked.
Started when you began checking out the scene, but when I tried to talk to you, you didn’t hear , Kate replied.
Welcome back to my head, he said.
Absolute relief flooded through him—through them both. In the back of his mind, he had worried for months that last year had been a fluke or some kind of weird dream. Yet now she was in his head again. It felt amazing and completely normal. The idea of being alone with his thoughts now felt alien.
With effort, Quinn focused again on what Stu was talking about.
“So you arrested the guy?” he asked, trying to appear nonchalant. Stu appeared to have no idea he was handing Quinn actual information about the story.
“What do you think?” Stu replied. “Of course we did. And the guy actually seemed surprised, too. Did he really believe he could kill a woman in cold blood and not get caught?”
“Why would he ever think that?” Quinn replied and it was to his credit that he kept the obvious sarcasm out of his voice.
You thinking what I’m thinking? Kate asked.
The guy didn’t do it ? Quinn replied.
Exactly , she
“Well, Stu, talk to Redacker,” Quinn replied evenly and turned around. “He’s the one who said you guys had finished your sweep.”
Stu grunted in return. Quinn gave him an innocent look and tried not to let his distaste show on his face. Stu was obnoxious, dictatorial and deeply stupid—a combination which also made him extremely dangerous. He was the kind of person who joined the police force not to help others, but to try to control them. Unfortunately, he had risen far in the ranks of the Leesburg police, now serving as one of Sheriff Brown’s top deputies.
“I’ll have to talk to him about that,” Stu said. “This is police business. We don’t need you to play detective.”
“I’m not playing detective, Stu,” Quinn replied. “I’m doing my job as the crime reporter. Why do we have to go through this exercise every time?”
“Because I don’t like you,” Stu said.
“Thanks for the news flash,” Quinn said. “I used my journalistic skills to infer as much. I think it was last week when you called me a ‘hack,’ ‘piece of shit,’ and ‘lying scum’ that gave me the first clue.”
“You’re just going to make up another story,” Stu said, ignoring the sarcasm. “You want to blame this on some fictional phantom as well? Maybe you haven’t scared all the little old ladies in this town yet.”
“This again?” Quinn replied. “Really?”
“We still get calls, O’Brion,” he said. “‘Help me, I just saw a man riding on a horse.’ Do you know how many people ride horses in this county, Quinn? We get calls all the time.”
Quinn didn’t mention that Redacker and Brown had cooperated for that story—something Stu either didn’t know or care about. Instead, Quinn just shrugged as if he couldn’t care less, which he supposed he couldn’t.
“There’s no point in you being here,” Stu said. “We’ve got this wrapped up already.”
Quinn didn’t bother to pull out his notebook. If he had, Stu would have stopped talking. As things were, however, sometimes letting someone gloat was the best way to get information.
“How so?” Quinn asked, trying to sound disinterested.
“Her final customer of the day? Let’s just say he was only too happy to tell us what a fraud she was and how she was ripping the entire town off,” Stu said. “When we mentioned she was dead, he actually responded, ‘Good.’ It was like he had no idea we would even consider him a suspect. Some people are really dumb.”
Yes, they really are, Kate’s voice came in Quinn’s head.
Quinn felt surprised, then sheer joy. He had to resist jumping up and down in the room. They had known their powers were going to come back soon, but they had no idea when. Suddenly, he had a direct line of communication to his best friend again.
You heard this? Quinn asked.
Started when you began checking out the scene, but when I tried to talk to you, you didn’t hear , Kate replied.
Welcome back to my head, he said.
Absolute relief flooded through him—through them both. In the back of his mind, he had worried for months that last year had been a fluke or some kind of weird dream. Yet now she was in his head again. It felt amazing and completely normal. The idea of being alone with his thoughts now felt alien.
With effort, Quinn focused again on what Stu was talking about.
“So you arrested the guy?” he asked, trying to appear nonchalant. Stu appeared to have no idea he was handing Quinn actual information about the story.
“What do you think?” Stu replied. “Of course we did. And the guy actually seemed surprised, too. Did he really believe he could kill a woman in cold blood and not get caught?”
“Why would he ever think that?” Quinn replied and it was to his credit that he kept the obvious sarcasm out of his voice.
You thinking what I’m thinking? Kate asked.
The guy didn’t do it ? Quinn replied.
Exactly , she
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