Killer's Gambit (Psychic For Hire 3)

I had a feeling that Marielle was not accustomed to being spoken to in this manner, and indeed Marielle glowered at Audriette as if she would like to do something very unpleasant to her.

“What did you have to tell us?” said Audriett to me.

“One thing I never mentioned when I came to visit you all the other day was that I am a psychic,” I said.

I noticed that all three of the Ronins appeared to stiffened slightly. Good.

I continued, “When I was in this house I had a psychic vision, but I never fully understood what I was seeing at the time. Since then it’s become clear to me.”

“A psychic vision?” said Rodrigge in a scathing tone.

However the two female vampires did not seem to take my words slightly. “What did you see?” said Audriett.

“Your son Steffane has insisted that he was innocent, and we now know that in fact Steffane and Leonie really were in love, just like he claimed. Which leaves Steffane without a motive for murdering Leonie.”

“That means nothing,” said Marielle. “You are wasting our time.”

I ignored her. “This makes more plausible that perhaps someone else did murder Leonie. Yet the fact that he and Leonie were found behind a locked door was the one thing I could not figure out. Audriett, you said yourself that Steffane had heavily imbibed his narcotics that night. So in theory he could have been completely passed out, leaving Leonie vulnerable to being murdered by someone.”

“Impossible,” said Audriett.

“So it would seem,” I said. “Because how could the murderer have got into that sealed room, murdered Leonie, and then left the room and locked behind them a door which could only be locked from the inside? It’s impossible. There is no way that anyone else got into that stone enclosed chamber. So how did they do it?”

“They didn’t,” snapped Rodrigge. “It was Steffane. Only someone stupid or with their own agenda would want to believe it was anyone other than Steffane.”

“In my vision I saw that Leonie had been wearing a gown with an extremely tight, corseted bodice that night. And I saw a skewer. A long thin skewer being thrust into her torso and removed so quickly that Leonie didn’t even notice it had happened.”

Marielle gave a shrill bark of laughter. “Steffane always did enjoy his bedroom toys.” She took a quick glance at Rodrigge and quickly added, “Or so I heard.”

“This happened before Steffane took Leonie up to his bedroom,” I said. “This happened during the party itself. But Leone did not bleed out immediately. Her bodice was corseted so tightly that it closed her own flesh up over the wound, and she carried on that night not aware that she had already been mortally injured. Then later, when Steffane took her up to his bedroom and removed her bodice, that extremely deep and well-placed wound opened up. Perhaps during their intimacy they did not even notice at first that she was bleeding to death. The two of them passed out. Her from the loss of blood, and him from his narcotics. And by the time he woke up again she was dead and all of her fresh blood was lying all around him. It must have driven him insane. No wonder he needed to feed from her. And that was how the Agents found him when they broke into his sealed room. Naturally everyone assumed he had done it.”

There was a moment of silence while everyone absorbed what I had said.

And then Rodrigge scoffed. “You have no proof. This is all some story that you’ve made up. A psychic vision? It means nothing.”

“It would mean something to a jury,” I said, “Should the case come back to trial again.”

“Absolutely not,” said Audriett in a steely voice. “That will not happen. You do not have enough evidence for a new trial. The incompetency of your Agency people led to Leonie’s body being lost, as I recall. You cannot prove any of this happened! You will be dredging up old ghosts for no purpose at all. What is the point of giving Steffane fresh hope when in the end it will not lead to his release from prison? This family has suffered enough. I will not allow this.”

“Leonie’s body may have gone missing,” said Storm, “But that did not mean her autopsy had not already been partially completed. The coroner will take another look at his notes. With this new theory of the crime, who knows what evidence the judge will allow us to admit into the trial? But as you said, this need not be a painful experience for your family. We came here to offer you that opportunity.”

I knew that Storm was bluffing, because he had told me that the autopsy on Leonie’s body had not been carried out. Nobody had known about the skewer wound in her body. It was just my theory. I didn’t even know for sure if it was true, but I was certain it must be true. It was the memory of those

skewers dangling at Steffane’s bedside which had given me the idea.

Audriett certainly did not seem to think that we were bluffing. She seemed to think that my explanation of what had happened to Leonie was entirely plausible. Her brow had furrowed. She was probably agonizing over what her beloved husband Gaius would think of all this, and whether she really could use it to get their beloved Steffane out of prison.

“What do you mean you came here to give us an opportunity?” she said sharply.

“One of you murdered Leonie Ashbeck and paid Constance Ashbeck to lie about it,” I said. “And now one of you can pay us to keep our mouths shut. Make it worth our while and we can forget all about this conversation.”

Audriett gasped. She was outraged at what I had just said. “You are officials from the Agency of Otherkind investigations!” she hissed. “This is beyond unprofessional!”

I imagined that Storm would be looking at her coldly if he didn’t have a need to avoid her gaze. Nevertheless his tone was cold as he said, “You sent your council and embassy heavies to the Agency to threaten our jobs. Because of you we expect to be fired on Monday. I will not allow a bunch of vampires to ruin the future prospects of my entire team. If we are going down, we are taking you all down with us. Either that or you make sure we don’t leave our jobs empty-handed.”

He said it with complete cold clinical detachment as if he meant every word. I was seriously impressed. It was all I could do to not cheer him on and applaud his wonderful performance. But Audriett Ronin did not know Constantine Storm at all. She believed he meant every word.

“Leave!” she hissed in fury. “Leave our home at once!”