“My bad, and I mean it.”
“No, mine for not insisting on seeing the crime scene for myself.”
I heard the rumble of Olaf’s voice, but couldn’t understand what he’d said.
“Our bad for not looking at the original crime scene,” Edward said.
“Well, we’ll know for next time,” I said.
“Where are you and Newman headed now?”
“To help with the search of Muriel and Todd Babington’s house and anywhere else they could have hidden the bagh nakha.”
“Text us the address, and we’ll join you there.”
I had to ask Newman for the address. “Address sent to you; we’ll see you there.”
“If the murderer is human, what is Newman going to do with his warrant?” Edward asked on the phone.
“It’s my warrant now. He signed it over to me.”
Edward was quiet for a second or two. “Much more interesting,” he said.
“Yeah, I thought so, too. See you at the house.”
“Otto says not to do anything fun before we get there.”
“He didn’t say fun.”
“He said, ‘Don’t kill anyone before we get there.’”
“I’ll do my best to restrain myself,” I said. I meant it as a joke, but I heard Olaf’s voice much closer to the phone, as if Edward had given it to him.
“Killing is what we do best together, Anita. Wait for me.”
My pulse was a little faster suddenly, but I managed to say, “I’ll wait for you, unless they shoot at us, and then self-defense trumps waiting.”
“Do not die waiting for me, Anita.”
“I won’t,” I said.
Edward was back on the phone. “Newman won’t like you using the warrant to kill humans.”
I fought not to glance at the man sitting next to me, driving. “We’ll play it by ear,” I said.
Honestly, I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I hadn’t been impressed with the Babingtons the one time I’d met them, and I actively disliked Muriel, but that was a long way from being morally okay with killing them in cold blood just because I had a piece of paper that said I could. If they were handcuffed and safely detained, I wasn’t going to shoot them. Maybe they’d try to shoot at the police. Then it would be self-defense. Short of that, I had no idea what to do.
Newman broke into my moral quandary by asking a question. “Jocelyn’s alibi is airtight for the murder, but she still seems to have helped set Bobby up to be framed, so is she working with her aunt and uncle? I mean, if they did the murder while she was at the club getting her alibi? Are the three of them in it together?”
“The aunt and uncle don’t seem to have treated either Bobby or Jocelyn like a nephew and niece. Everyone that knows the family has confirmed that there was no love lost between them and any other part of the family,” I said.
“That’s true, but if Muriel found out she was cut out of the will, I think she’d do almost anything to get her hands on the money.”
I looked at him; he was so serious. “I agree, but would she be willing to kill her own brother? I think she wouldn’t have a problem framing Bobby, with her attitude toward his beast. She doesn’t consider him fully human anymore. I can even see her paying someone to off her brother, but doing the deed herself, that is more of a stretch.”
“What if she had her husband do it?”
“Maybe, but I honestly don’t think he has the stomach for it.”