A Broken Contract by Vanessa Nelson

Author:Vanessa Nelson [Nelson, Vanessa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Urban, Contemporary, Dark Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Magic, Action & Adventure
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-11-03T00:00:00+00:00

Hallie returned to the space behind the shop counter and was unsurprised to find the place now crowded with a quartet of forensic technicians in white coveralls. It was the same group that had been at the metal factory the day before, and she couldn’t help wondering how they felt at being called in to examine the scene of a karlen death.

If any of the techs thought that the job was beneath them, they were not showing it. They were operating with the same steady, precise attention to detail they had shown at the metal factory.

Hallie had to stop for a moment at the sight of the white suits surrounding the old man’s body, struck once again by the shock of seeing him so still. The tall hochlen gathered around him made Devin seem even smaller, and she had to swallow against more tears.

“Ah. Miss Talbot. Girard said that you have a time and date for us to search for on the security records?” the male technician with the camera said. Brennus Bowen, that was the name.

“Yes. We also need to check last night,” she said.

“I’ll do that first,” he promised.

Hallie pulled out her phone. She didn’t trust her memory right now. She read off the time and date from the ledger entry. The technician nodded and ducked into the darkened room. Hallie took a step to follow him, wanting to see what he found, and was stopped by one of the other techs raising a hand.

“Girard said you touched the ledger and put it there,” Isoud Sabard said. “Did you touch anything else?”

“No. I don’t think so. Oh, I vaulted over the counter. There might be a handprint from me there. I’m sorry,” Hallie said, her voice choking. She forgave herself for the handprint on the counter. She’d needed to check on the old man. But the ledger was something else. She had made a rookie mistake at a crime scene. If she’d been thinking, she’d have asked Girard for gloves.

“Alright,” Isoud said briskly. “I assume your prints are in the database from your work?”

“Yes,” Hallie said, an unexpected and half-hysterical laugh bubbling up. She’d had her fingerprints taken the day she’d been issued with her ID card, which meant anyone in law enforcement across the city had access to that information. She’d been accused of murdering Bohort Jacobs on the basis of her prints turning up at a crime scene. And now she’d left her fingerprints again, when she really should have known better. But part of her felt it would be justified if the hochlen did accuse her of this crime. After all, she was the one who had put Devin in danger. She was responsible for his death.

“We’ll eliminate them first, then,” Isoud said, in a slightly softer tone.

Hallie just nodded, not sure what would come out of her mouth if she tried to speak. The idea that, far from accusing her of a crime, the hochlen tech was going to ensure she was eliminated as a suspect was jarring and bizarre.

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