blueberry in Mason’s direction. “Good thing your comfort isn’t her priority, huh?”
Keira, sensing an argument brewing, leaned in. “I actually like the isolation. If anyone’s still looking for me, they’re likely to focus their efforts where the most people are—in Blighty’s center. Adage offered to help me relocate to another area, but…” I’m putting down roots. I have friends here. I like this town. “The plan right now is to stay in Blighty. For the short term, at least.”
He smiled. “I can see you’ve thought this through.”
Is it my imagination, or does he look relieved? She picked up her fork and focused on demolishing her half of the pancakes. “It’s a risk to stay here, but there’ll be risks no matter where I go.”
“You can reduce that by having some means of contacting help. The cottage doesn’t have a phone, does it?”
“Already sorted.” Zoe nudged the flip phone on the table.
Mason nodded. “Good. May I?” He opened the mobile, spent a moment pressing buttons, then passed it back to Keira. “I put my number in there. Call me if there’s any trouble. I don’t get out of Blighty much, so I’ll never be more than five minutes away. I also added Constable Sanderson’s personal cell phone. He doesn’t answer the station’s phone after five, but he’ll pick up that number even if it’s the middle of the night. Okay?”
“Great, thank you.” She tucked it into her pocket. “And if all else fails, I have a ferocious guard cat.”
“Mm.” Zoe waved her fork while she struggled to swallow a mouthful of food. “The vet nurse came through my checkout this morning. She knows, like, every single animal in this town, so I asked her, but she says the only black cats around here have white markings or are fat. Yours must’ve come from another town.”
“It would be a long way to travel,” Mason said. “What do you think you’ll do with her?”
“Uh…” That was hard to answer. Keira very dearly wanted to keep the black creature, but the situation was a minefield of question marks. If she couldn’t get a job, she wouldn’t be able to feed it. And most landlords prohibited pets. “Good question.”
Zoe flapped her folder at them. “Are we ready to get back to the serious stuff or what? My lunch break ends soon.”
“Right, the serious stuff, of course.” The flicker of humor had returned to Mason’s eyes, though he did a good job of maintaining a solemn face as he folded his hands on the table. “Vampires, was it?”
“Oh, ye of little faith.” Zoe opened her folder to a page filled with illustrations, including a medley of traditional Dracula-inspired horrors alongside naked, animalistic creatures. “Popular media has turned vampires into a joke, but there’s still plenty of evidence for their existence. A whole bunch of different cultures have folklore about bloodsucking monsters. And the descriptions—pallid faces, only seen at night, inaudible movement—line up nicely with the figure I saw outside my window.”
Keira rubbed at the back of her neck. “Look, it’s not that I’m not grateful for this, but…vampires? Really?”
“They’d need somewhere to hide during daylight hours.” Mason seemed to be having far too much fun. “So that they don’t burn to dust, y’know.”
Zoe seemed to take his comment seriously as she nodded. “Course. And where better than the home of our resident vampire: Ol’ Crispy?”
Mason inclined his head toward Keira. “She means Dane Crispin. His house is…ah…old-fashioned, and it invites a lot of rumors.”
“Calling it old-fashioned is like saying the queen is a little bit fancy. The thing’s basically a gothic mansion.”
Keira glanced between the two of them. It seemed incredible that the subject of her most pressing concern—Emma’s death—would crop up by chance. She tried to keep her voice casual. “I’m not going to pretend I’m an expert on this town or anything…but I’ve been here three days without seeing any kind of mansion.”
“It’s mostly hidden by the forest,” Mason said, “but it’s only a few minutes from here. It’s a stunning building—I could take you there one day, if you’re interested.”
“Yes!” Keira knew she probably sounded too eager, but she didn’t care. “How about now?”
Mason laughed. “Now? All right, I’m game. Let’s go.”
“But—but—” Zoe huffed a sigh. “Jeez. I was meant to be back at work five minutes ago, and we didn’t even touch on my secondary theory involving the Zodiac Killer. Hang on a minute.”
She pulled out her phone, dialed a number, and waited for it to ring. “Hey, Lucas, it’s Zoe. Cover