Scorched Heart (The Firebrand Series Book 4), Helen Harper [free ereaders .txt] 📗

‘It’s heading to Roselands. That’s where Julie Mackintosh was found.’

I picked up speed and soon reached the iron fence surrounding the park. I vaulted over it. I was some distance away from the spots where Julie had been killed and where we’d discovered the boot marks and the paw prints. Vel was sitting on top of a bush between both points, preening her feathers.

‘Don’t go running off,’ Lukas warned blackly, coming up behind me. ‘It’s not safe for you around here, remember?’

I glanced at him. ‘Sorry. But you don’t have to run after me, not with your wound.’

‘It’s fine.’ He pulled up his shirt, indicating the mark on his skin. He was right: it was healing with supernatural swiftness. I enjoyed a quick lascivious gawp at his torso before he dropped his shirt, then turned back and gazed between the two spots.

Nobody else was in the park. The crime-scene tape cordoning off the area had been removed but clearly no one had any desire to come here to appreciate the scenery. I swung my head from left to right and pursed my lips. ‘Lukas,’ I said slowly, ‘can you go and stand over there?’ I pointed to where Julie’s body had been found.

He swept out a bow. ‘As my lady commands.’ He strode over. ‘Here?’

‘A bit to the right.’

He side-stepped and I nodded. ‘Right there. Don’t move.’ I twisted and headed for the soft earth where the prints had been. There was a clear line of vision between where I was and where Lukas was standing.

I flicked my gaze to the park gate. It wasn’t far from where he was standing, probably only twenty metres away. But I was sixty metres away.

‘She must have seen the killer,’ I whispered. ‘But she didn’t try to run away. She didn’t try to escape.’ Patrick Lacey hadn’t attempted to run until his last moments either and, despite his inebriated state, he would have seen the killer coming too.

‘What are you thinking?’ Lukas called.

I walked towards him. ‘The murderer might be capable of shifting into a bear within a breath,’ I said, ‘but until he does that, there’s nothing about him that’s even vaguely threatening. Julie Mackintosh was a sensible person, but she didn’t try to run away. She didn’t see him as a threat until it was too late. He’s not someone to be afraid of, not on the surface. And, like Patrick, Julie was attacked head on. There wasn’t a second killer hiding in the bushes behind her while she was distracted by someone else.’ I sucked on my bottom lip thoughtfully.

Vel squawked and rose into the air before vanishing once more. I watched her go. ‘Let’s get back to the Bird and Bush. There are several things I need to check.’

I sat cross-legged on the bed and started with the information that Liza had emailed through. ‘You don’t kill three people then take a break for twenty-five years before suddenly killing again without a good reason,’ I said to Lukas. ‘Nothing about that makes sense.’

‘Maybe he was in prison and was only released recently,’ he suggested.

It was a plausible theory. ‘And maybe,’ I said, ‘he was in Galloway and knew Frederick Parris. So when he decided he wanted Samuel Beswick out of the way, he contacted Parris and told him to attack.’ I considered another option.’ Or maybe he was never in prison at all.’ My tone grew grimmer. ‘Maybe he never stopped killing.’

Lukas’s eyes grew sharp. ‘You think there have been other victims?’

‘Liza told me about a hit and run up in Scotland where a mother and toddler were killed. On the face of it, it sounded like an accident and the victims didn’t fit the profile of victims like Julie or Patrick.’ I opened up my laptop and logged in. ‘But there were black fibres found in the other vehicle. The bear Chloe saw had black fur.’

Lukas rubbed his chin. ‘Not to mention that the murder of a child fits with what happened to you. You were a child when he first killed you.’

My mouth tightened. ‘Indeed.’ I tapped on the keyboard and brought up Liza’s email. ‘Here,’ I said, scanning through the details. My stomach flipped. ‘It happened on a rural road. Nobody witnessed the crash. In fact, nobody noticed anything was amiss for several hours. By the time they did, the car was nothing but a burnt-out mess and both bodies had been incinerated beyond recognition. They were only identified through dental records. The coroner couldn’t identify whether the crash or the fire had killed them.’

Lukas scratched his chin. ‘What if it was neither of those things? What if something else – someone else – killed them and used the car crash and fire to cover it up?’

I clicked and brought up several photos of the other car. Lukas sat down beside me and looked at them. ‘How did they know it was a hit and run?’

‘According to what Liza found, this other car,’ I tapped the screen, ‘was caught by a speed trap camera a few miles away, just after the estimated time that the fire started. There was a large dent on its front bonnet and yet it still clocked a speed of 104mph.’

We both leaned in, trying to make out the driver’s face. Lukas clicked his tongue. ‘It’s too dark,’ he muttered. ‘I can’t see anything.’

I stared at the blurry outline. ‘And it’s no real proof of anything. It might have nothing to do with the Barchapel killer.’ I picked up my phone and dialled Liza. It rang several times but she didn’t answer. Cursing, I sent her an email instead, asking her to look for other similar deaths, not merely from the last couple of years but from the last twenty-five.

‘You’re sure you’ve never heard of a supe that can turn itself into a bear?’

Lukas shook his head. ‘No. Not even a whisper.’

‘Liza also did some research on bear-related supes and sent through a