The Last of the Red Hot Vampires - By Katie MacAlister Page 0,71

Hope."

"I haven't..." I shook my head, confused. "I don't understand. Doesn't passing the test prove I have a pure heart? How can I have a pure heart and have murdered Hope?"

Disin's lips tightened. "Even purity is subjective to interpretation. What we call a heartless murder, you may truly believe is for the better good. Thus, it is entirely possible that in your mind your heart is pure."

"But..."

"If you did not kill Hope, the onus is upon you to prove who did," Disin interrupted. "Should you fail to do so by the new moon, you will be stripped of the Gift given to you, and banished from the Court forever."

When's the new moon? I asked Theo, more than a little stunned by the mare's demand.

I'm not sure. A week, I think. Perhaps two.

Like we don't have enough to do, now we have to figure out what happened to Hope?

I'm afraid we're not going to have much of a choice.

"I am a physicist, not a detective," I told Disin. "Don't you people have some sort of a police force that would be better suited to investigate her death? Aren't those Hashmallim guys your security people?"

"If you are not responsible for her death, then you are in the best position to determine who did cause it," Disin said dismissively.

"But I have no experience finding murderers - "

"You summoned Hope and accepted her position. With that goes responsibility."

I felt like screaming. Did no one else see the error in her logic? "I understand that, but it doesn't follow that I'll know how to find out who killed her."

Portia, do not continue. It will do no good; they've made up their minds.

But I don't know the first thing about detecting!

Then we will learn. Thank the mare.

They're using me as a scapegoat, you know.

I know. But we have no choice.

He had a point.

"Thank you again for your generosity," I said, hoping that the sarcasm which laced my thoughts wasn't evident in my words.

Disin inclined her head, and left the park with the other two mare.

The officious little man who had started the hearing bustled up to us as the remaining crowd dispersed to their various destinations. "You must leave the Court now. I will escort you to the exit."

"We can find our own way out - " I started to say.

"I will escort you," he said with a meaningful look in his eye.

We suffered his presence in silence as we walked through the cobblestoned streets to the wooden doorway that led back to the normal world. I stepped through the doorway, back to the small, unused office, and with my return, the weight of the world seemed to descend upon my shoulders.

"Now what do we do?" I asked, hopelessness welling within me.

Theo smiled and kissed the tips of my fingers on the hand he still held. "Now, sweetling, we find a murderer."

"I don't know the first thing about solving a murder..." I smiled as a thought struck me. "But I know someone who used to write mysteries before she switched to romances."
Chapter 16
"Right, the first thing we need to do is make a list of people who wanted Hope dead." Sarah sucked thoughtfully at the end of her pen, then quickly wrote down my name at the top of a sheet of paper.

"Hey!" I protested. "Didn't you hear a thing I've said for the last hour? I did not kill Hope, which you of all people should know."

"Of course I know it. But all good detectives make a list of all possible suspects, then eliminate them one by one until only one person remains on the list - the killer. What was the name of that man who tried to seduce you?"

I slumped across the table we had commandeered in the corner of the pub upon returning to town, my forehead in my hands. Theo sat next to me, looking wistfully at someone a few tables away who was sipping a whisky and soda. "No one tried to seduce me except Theo, and I seduced him right back. Oh, wait, you mean Gabriel the cherub?"

"That's the fellow." Sarah added his name to the list, tapped the pen on her lips for a moment while she thought, and added the names of the trial proctors I'd had to date. "Who else have you met?"

"Sarah, you can't list everyone I've run across," I protested.

"Don't be silly; that's how it works. Let's see, so far we have you and Theo, included for thoroughness, a Guardian, three trial proctors, one