The Whispering Dead (Gravekeeper #1) - Darcy Coates Page 0,39
She considered kicking Zoe under the table, but then a warm hand landed on her shoulder.
Keira met Mason’s sparkling green eyes, and he gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t worry. Zoe and I went to school together. I’m used to her.” He slid a spare seat up to Keira’s side of the table. It wasn’t a spacious area, and Keira tried not to feel too conscious of how their elbows brushed when he sat down.
“And I’m used to you in the same way that a person gets used to an ax in their head,” Zoe retorted. “Bloody traitorous capitalistic sellout.”
“She doesn’t like that I chose to study medicine,” Mason explained. “It’s too mainstream for her taste.”
“You may as well have signed up for a class on brainwashing. All they do is spoon-feed you institutionalized lies and teach you how to perpetuate Big Pharma’s monopoly on human suffering.”
He nodded gravely. “The whole business of saving lives is exceptionally corrupt. The world would have been a better place if I’d studied UFO phenomena instead.”
Zoe snatched the folder off the table and hefted it, as though threatening to beat him with it. “Behave, plague monger, or I’ll evict you from the meeting.”
“All right, understood! I’ll be good.” He folded his arms on the table and leaned forward, but Keira noticed his shoulders were twitching from repressed laughter. “What have you come up with?”
Zoe slammed the folder back onto the table and took a deep breath. “Well, the best lead we’ve got right now is the men who were following her. They didn’t match the descriptions or modus operandi of any of the better-known secret organizations, but they could be a local group. Or a group that’s so secret, we don’t even know they exist. Isn’t that an awful idea? The world could be full of societies so covert that we never hear of them.” Zoe made a face. “Ghastly.”
Keira shrugged. “Adage spoke to one of them. He might be able to describe him, but that won’t help much unless they return.”
“Wait.” Mason’s smile disappeared as he turned to Keira. “I thought she was joking. Was someone following you?”
Ah, that’s right—I didn’t tell him what happened, and it looks like Adage hasn’t either. “Sorry. I thought you knew—”
“Adage only told me you’d arrived in town without any memories. What happened, Keira?”
All joviality had dropped from his expression. His intense green eyes flicked to the hidden cut on her shoulder before locking back on to her face. She knew he must be building up a plethora of possible scenarios, just as she had.
Keira recounted her first night in Blighty as coherently as she could. Zoe, who had already heard the story, returned to leafing through her folder, but Mason’s attention didn’t waver.
When she’d finished, he frowned at the table as he ran his hand over his mouth. “That’s serious. Have you been to the police about it?”
“No, and I don’t intend to.” Keira threaded her hands together, the knuckles white. “There’s the possibility that I could have done something illegal before I lost my memories. And…and I don’t want to go to prison for it.”
He nodded slowly.
“Besides.” Zoe tore off a strip of pancake and stuffed it into her mouth. “Blighty’s police are equal amounts incompetent and corrupt. She’s better off not drawing attention to herself.”
“I don’t know about corrupt, but it’s true it’s been a few years since Constable Sanderson cared about his job.” Mason lapsed into thought again and only broke out of it when Marlene arrived at the table with his food. “Thanks, Marl. You haven’t heard news of any new blood coming through town, have you?”
She dipped her head toward Keira. “Other than this one? Nah.”
Mason nodded as the woman returned to her counter. “News travels fast in this town, and Has Beans is the most popular watering hole for sharing it. If Marlene hasn’t heard of strangers staying in or visiting Blighty, they’re either gone or being extremely stealthy.”
“If they only come out at night, it would support my leading theory.” Zoe held up the binder. “Vampires.”
Mason turned back to Keira. “I’m not sure the cemetery’s cottage is the best place to stay. It’s too far from town and backs right onto the forest.”
She shrugged. “That makes it a pretty good hiding place in my book. Anyone who’s new to Blighty probably won’t know it’s there.”
“True. But I’d still feel more comfortable if you were closer to the town’s center.” He hesitated. “Or in another town altogether.”