He didn't immediately answer, studying me for several seconds before asking, "Why would you worry about the fate of whatever stole that child's soul?"
"I'm not. You can chop it into little bits and serve it to the nearest rat for all I care. I just wasn't sure if that was your intention or not."
"As I said, the Mijai are not soul guides. We are hunters. Killers."
And I had one intending to follow me everywhere. Joy.
"So how are you going to stop this thing from killing again?"
He shrugged. "We may not. There were few clues left in the young girl's room and no trace to follow."
"Trace?"
He hesitated. "Dark energy has a certain resonance. Often it leaves a trace—a scent, if you will—that we can use to track the perpetrators down. But whatever is behind this theft left no such trace."
Fay Kingston's comments echoed briefly through my mind and I said, "There may not be any trace you can follow now, but the thing did have a presence. The mother mentioned it."
His gaze seemed to sharpen. "What did she say?"
"She felt something cold and evil in the room that made her skin crawl." I hesitated. "She said that reading from the Bible made it flee, but personally I doubt that. The thing remained long enough to steal Hanna's soul."
Something akin to disappointment crossed his features, though the expression was so fleeting I might well have been imagining it. "The Bible would only affect those beings who were religious during their time here, and her description gives us no real clue to follow. Could you not question her further?"
I shook my head. "I didn't tell her Hanna's soul had been stolen. I told her she'd moved on peacefully."
That seemed to surprise him, though again, his expression didn't change. It was something I felt rather than saw. "Why would you lie?"
"Because the truth would only cause her more pain. Losing a child is enough to cope with."