Copycat Killer (Psychic For Hire 1)

Remi shrugs and averts her gaze in a manner that immediately arouses Storm’s interest. He wonders if she picked this place for Monroe’s preference. “I heard they do the best veal scaloppini,” she says.

“I would have thought that veal was not your thing,” he says.

“Yeah but I thought I’d be nice to Leo for once, the carnivore.” She shoots Leo an amused look.

Leo shrugs. For his starter he has ordered six portions of chicken wings and is already devouring them. He is always extra hungry near a full moon. New kid Monroe is watching him with a mixture of fascination and mild dismay from his seat beside Remi. Storm has no doubt Remi has finessed this seating arrangement.

Feeling amused, Storm takes a bite of his calamari. Remi was right. He needed this dinner. They all did. All day he’s been feeling on edge and impatient to make progress, and Diana socking him in the face at Beatrice Grictor’s office earlier had not helped matters.

He had very nearly cancelled the team dinner, thinking the team could do with the extra time in the office, but Remi had pleaded a convincing case, saying it might be good to look at things with fresh eyes over a meal out.

The calamari is crisp and delicious, an unexpected surprise. “It’s good,” he comments.

“You bet it is,” she says. “You were gonna complain about me dragging you all the way across town to this place. Admit it!”

Leo gives a snort of laughter, but continues digging into his wings. Monroe shoots Storm a nervous look.

“Damn right,” says Storm. He had been interviewing a witness in Whitechapel, a stone’s throw from his apartment. He’d just come back all the way across the city for this.

“So, erm, how’s your eye?” Monroe enquires.

“Fine,” Storm says shortly, not wanting to go into it. In her determination to escape from Beatrice Grictor’s office, Diana has left him with an ugly black ey

e.

“So?” Remi quirks a brow. “Did you find her?”

For a moment Storm thinks Remi is asking about Diana. But she can’t be because he hasn’t yet mentioned the Diana incident to the team.

He doesn’t know why. They’re bound to find out sooner or later. He wants to speak to her first. To demand an explanation for her downright illegal, not to mention stupid, behavior. Grieving for her mother’s death or not, he is worried about her irrational behavior.

He realizes Remi is talking about the suspect. “Yes, Carmen Perrone was at home. She’s not our killer.”

“Disappointing,” says Remi. She gives Monroe a grin. “We had one case where the cleaner was a badass undercover assassin on the run from Otherworld organized crime. It was brilliant.”

“Not this time,” says Storm. “She’s exactly what she appears to be. She admitted to arguing with Lynesse Jones on the morning of the day before the murder. She said Lynesse fired her.”

“Motive for murder?” asks Remi, reaching for one of Leo’s chicken wings. Leo bats her hand away.

Storm shakes his head. “She spent the next day, Friday, doing household chores and the evening cooking dinner for her family, which she then ate with her husband, teenage children, her sister and sister’s husband. Solid alibis. The daughter even posted part of the thing on snapchat.”

Leo pauses from munching his wings. “The coroner narrowed the murder window to late Friday night, early hours of Saturday morning. Around 11:00 pm to 2:00 am.”

Storm nods. “Carmen Perrone stayed up late with her family watching a movie until 1:00 am. It wasn’t her.”

“Did she know anyone who would want Lynesse Jones dead?” says Monroe eagerly. He hasn’t ordered a starter and seems to be regretting having nothing to occupy his hands. Clearly the kid is feeling out of his depth.

“Everyone, apparently,” Storm says dryly. “Carmen Perrone did not get along with her employer’s new fiancée. She says Jared Everett has given her no trouble in the two years she’s worked for him. She claims the man is a saint.”

“Hmmm,” says Remi skeptically.

“However Carmen had nothing good to say about the new mistress of the house,” Storm continues. “According to Carmen, Lynesse Jones complained about the cleaning, the food, the décor etcetera in her new home. She wanted to change it all. It led to friction between the two. Plus she didn’t think a succubus was good enough for her employer. She says Lynesse was a prostitute and she was not surprised she came to a bad end.”

Storm has kept his voice calm while updating the team, despite how much the witness’s attitude had grated on him. Carmen Perrone’s prejudices are not the first he and his team have or will come across.

“Wonder what she’d think if she knew her sainted employer was grisborn,” Remi says sharply.

“She wouldn’t believe it,” Leo says. “Some people only believe what they want.”