Twice more a swell formed under the beings, carrying them closer to shore. Then the Elders swam away, leaving Victoria to ride the final swell alone. As the Lady of the Lake lifted Victoria DeVine above the stony shore, Ilya raised his arms to catch The Jumble’s caretaker.

CHAPTER 78

Grimshaw

Watersday, Sumor 8

As Grimshaw marched Yorick Dane to the big screened porch at the back of the main house, he looked for Julian. Instead of spotting his friend, he saw Crows gathering near something on the beach. The land sloped, denying him a visual of the beach itself, but he could guess what would attract so many of the Crowgard.

Gods above and below.

Cougar appeared over the rise, moving away from the beach. The Panther saw him and stopped. As Grimshaw watched, Cougar looked back toward the beach. Then a front paw changed into a furry human hand that gave him a thumbs-up before the hand became a paw again and Cougar continued moving toward the cabins.

Somehow that human gesture to indicate something, or someone, was all right disturbed him more than the bodies he’d glimpsed in the past few minutes. But if he understood the message, Julian had survived.

“Osgood!” Grimshaw called as he and Dane approached the porch.

“Sir!” Osgood scanned the area, then unlocked the screen door and held it open while Grimshaw muscled Dane inside. “According to Mrs. Dane, one of the women should be at the lakeside cabins.”

“I’ll check it out.” He pushed Dane into one of the chairs. “Stay there.”

“Where’s Darren?”

“Where is Vaughn?”

Grimshaw eyed the women. There was fear under the bitchy attitude. “Darren is dead. I think Swinn is dead. I didn’t see Vaughn.” He hadn’t gone looking.

“Why is Yorick in handcuffs?” Constance Dane said. “You can’t arrest him.”

“Yes, I can.” He used the tone of voice that was so polite, so professional, no one had ever mistaken it for anything but a threat.

“Police!” Hargreaves, from the front of the house. Backup had arrived.

“Back here!” Grimshaw bellowed.

Hargreaves appeared in the kitchen doorway. He looked at the women, then at Yorick Dane. “Who is under arrest?”

“All of them,” Grimshaw replied.

“What’s the charge?” Constance Dane demanded, jumping to her feet.

“Fine.” Grimshaw uncuffed Yorick Dane. “Either you’re all under arrest or I chuck you all out the door, and you can take your chances.”

Something near the porch laughed, a sound so full of terrible glee that it made Grimshaw’s body clench, made Hargreaves’s face tighten. Made beads of sweat pop up on the foreheads of the officers standing behind the captain.

“We’ll take them to the police station in Sproing and sort out the charges there,” Hargreaves said. “What are we starting with?”

“Abduction,” Grimshaw replied as his mobile phone rang. “Possibly murder.” He turned away from the people on the porch and covered one ear with a hand in order to hear the person on the phone. “Grimshaw.”

“Bring a doctor and medical equipment to Silence Lodge,” Ilya Sanguinati said.

Leaving the porch, he took several steps away from the house, ignoring Hargreaves’s low protest. “You found Vicki? Do we need to take her to the hospital in Bristol?”

A slight hesitation. “I don’t think she has time to reach Bristol.”

Oh gods. “We’ll be there.” Grimshaw ended the call and shouted, “Julian! Julian! We need to get to Silence Lodge!”

He held his breath and almost gave up, almost turned back to the porch to tell Hargreaves where he was going. Then he saw Julian running up from the direction of the beach, Crowgard flying all around him.

“Grimshaw?” Hargreaves said as he left the porch’s illusion of safety and joined him on the lawn.

He placed the call to the medical office while he waited for Julian to join them. Seeing the Crows land all around them, he resigned himself to a less-than-private report.

“Medical office,” a female voice said.

“This is Officer Grimshaw. Tell Dr. Wallace that the Sanguinati found Vicki DeVine. It sounds like she’s in bad shape, but she’s still alive.”

“I’ll contact the EMTs. Their vehicle is equipped for emergencies.”

“Do that.” He ended the call.

“Hospital?” Julian asked.

Grimshaw shook his head. “Ilya says there isn’t time.” He looked at Hargreaves. “Can you take the lead on processing the scenes and handling the arrests?”

Hargreaves gave him an odd look, which didn’t surprise him. The captain was still his boss, was still the one in charge, and yet he was treating the man like they were of equal rank.

“I can do that for you,” Hargreaves said. “Would appreciate a call when you know Ms. DeVine’s status.”

Grimshaw nodded. Then he looked at the Crows. “Captain Hargreaves and his men have to collect the bodies and process the scenes, like the cops do in the TV shows. They’re going to be walking around The Jumble, collecting evidence. Can you let everyone else know that it’s all right for them to be here?”

The Crows looked at each other. Then one looked up at him and said, “Caw.”

Taking that as agreement, he and Julian ran down the trails to reach the cruiser and head for the lodge on the other side of the lake.

CHAPTER 79

Aggie

Watersday, Sumor 8

Being considered part of the team made watching all the poking and pecking done by the human police more interesting, but it was still frustrating.

<But why do they need all the shinies?> Jozi asked for the fifth time.

<The bad humans hurt Miss Vicki, so everything they had is evidence,> Aggie replied.

<But they’re dead. Human police can’t arrest them if they’re dead. Can they?>

Aggie had never seen a TV cop arrest a dead man. Or parts of a dead man. Maybe Julian Farrow would know?

<They’re going to let the eyeballs go to waste,> Eddie complained.

That was true, and it was sad. But the cops were just human and would never appreciate the edible qualities of fresh eyeballs, so there wasn’t much the Crowgard could do.

The Crowgard living in The Jumble had gathered and then divided, several of them taking watch over each group of humans who were gathering evidence. Most of the Crows hadn’t seen any of the cop and crime shows, hadn’t talked about the stories with Miss Vicki, so they had many questions about what the human police were doing.

Was it usual for them to regurgitate food when they were collecting meat?

Aggie was pretty sure experienced cops didn’t do that—not often anyway. She was also pretty sure most of the experienced cops who had come to help Officer Grimshaw had never seen what an angry Elder could do to a human body. But these cops seemed smart, even if they were human.

The one she was watching collect evidence held up a long piece of shiny string and said, “It’s a garrote.”

Garrote. She knew that word from the Murder game. Humans used it for killing other humans—and maybe smaller terra indigene.

Her cop looked up at the branch where she had perched to watch him. “Is this the reason he died like this? He was attacking the woman who was your friend?”

Was? That word made her sad, but she answered him anyway. “Caw.”

A glint of something caught her eye, but the cop was moving away.

Aggie flew from the branch to the ground. Bit of black cloth. Small finger. And a gold ring clinging to the skin!

She looked at the cop still searching for evidence but moving away. She could pull off the ring, hide it under some leaves. She could . . .

Part of the team. You didn’t hide things from the team.

“Caw.” When he didn’t answer, she tried again. “Caw!”

“Did you find something?” He returned and crouched near where she stood guard over the finger. “I guess you did.”

When he reached for the finger, she pecked him. Couldn’t help it. It was her shiny.

“Hey!”

Sorry. She moved out of pecking range to avoid pecking him again. After all, she was the one who had called him over to take the meat and treasure.