Ferdy, she supposed, and reached for the phone once more before she decided she’d rather go round there, get some air, and check on the vibes. See if Jason or any of his cronies were lurking there.
****
Although she deliberately touched the front door and trailed her fingers along walls and furniture, she got no sense of recent vampire visits from the Bells’ house. Her old crosses and strings of garlic bulbs still hung in every room, a reminder of her own guilt and inappropriate smugness. When Mrs. Bell showed her into the study, Ferdy was sharpening a wooden stick. A little row of them lay on the desk in front of him. The sight gave her pause, but only for an instant.
“Preparing for battle?” she said lightly.
“Just in case.”
She nodded. There didn’t seem to be much more to say on that score. “Do you know anyone called Ella? I think she might have worked with Jason at C & H.”
“Ella Cameron?”
“Young woman, still in her thirties. Dark, pretty. She was at your party, wearing a black silk dress.”
“Sounds like her. She’s an investor, excellent at her job. Going places, according to Jason.”
Sera took a deep breath. “Well, if you see her, I think you should be wary. Your wife too. I believe Ella’s a vampire. I think she killed Jason and turned him.” Christ, did I just say that? Why don’t I just section myself?
Ferdy stared at her. For an instant, he looked old and defeated. Then he rubbed his forehead, and when he looked at her again, the light of battle was back in his eyes. “Then we have to finish both of them.”
“Yes, but you mustn’t do it on your own,” Sera said urgently. “I think there are lots of them, nearly all with important positions in financial institutions. You won’t necessarily be able to tell them apart from normal humans of your acquaintance. Leave it to me. I have a team of people I can call on.” Jilly, Jack, Elspeth, and Tam, if she groveled a lot. But not Blair, who would have been their only real asset.
Dragging her thoughts back from that direction, she realized Ferdy was frowning, tapping his penknife on the semi-sharpened stake in front of him. “Financial institutions,” he repeated. “Is that deliberate? Or luck?”
“Deliberate. I think. They have some plan to take over the banks and lord it over humans.”
“Oh no,” Ferdy said, jumping to his feet. “I can’t allow that!”
Of course, he couldn’t. The financial world was sacrosanct to him. “No, no, we can’t,” she agreed hastily. “Leave it to me. I’ll keep you posted.” She stood up to go, glancing rather ruefully at the balding top of his head as he bent back over the stake. “Don’t worry,” she said awkwardly. “I will sort this out.”
And how the hell am I going to do that?
****
Eddie Gordon’s eyes were nearly as wild as his hair when he showed her to the door of his flat that evening. “I almost believe you did something there,” he blurted. “I almost believe she was here and moved on to heaven to be happy.”
Sera couldn’t stand much more. But she had to turn and face him and couldn’t blot out the image of Moira through the open door in the living room, weeping and smiling through her tears.
“Moira saw her. Anna was clinging to the parents she had such little chance to know and who needed her so much. Moira was keeping her here without realizing it. You both were. But Anna understands now. And she’s moved on. It’s right for her. And for you.”
A reluctant half smile curled one side of Eddie’s mouth. “See you?” he said in the local vernacular. “You talk a right load of shite.” And he stuck out his hand.
Choking on a laugh that would turn to tears in seconds, Sera seized his hand. “Good luck,” she muttered and bolted out the front door. She clattered down the stairs and broke into the fresh air with a gasp.
At last, striding toward her beaten-up old car, she could let the tears course down her face, for Moira and Eddie and their lost daughter. She had to believe things would get better for them now, but just for this moment, their grief, their pain all raked to the surface to free their daughter, crushed Sera to pieces.
“I didn’t expect you to miss me this much.” The only too familiar voice brought her up short. In the darkness and her own distress, she