Free Devil's Own by Susan Laine Page A

were none. Though being of the upper class and therefore able to camouflage most of her feelings, some reactions belied her schooled countenance. The fury at being made fun of by the Talbot family and the fear from her husband surprising her in the dead of night with a knife while covered in blood were still very much with her.
    But then came the first twist.
    Hughes opened the case file and placed some crime-scene photos on the table. “What I’d like you to do, Ms. Yates, is take a look at these and tell me if anything weird—”
    “Oh my God,” Angelina cried out in shock and picked up one of the photos from the gray table—a picture of the shattered pieces of a porcelain lamp on a rug with the blood-soaked back of Florian Talbot’s head partly visible—and stared at it with eyes widened in utter surprise. “What in the name of…?” She pointed at the picture, half baffled, half furious. “This isn’t my bedroom. Our bedroom. Mine and Florian’s. This is the wrong room!”
     
     
    “W ELL , THAT was one hell of a curveball,” Hughes commented dryly as he plopped down on the chair by his desk. He had continued interviewing Mrs. Talbot for another half an hour to get each and every morsel of information about the Talbot family out of her. He looked exhausted, and Niall could relate.
    “Yeah.” What else could Niall say? Why did this case have to become more and more complicated with every new revelation? Angelina had explained that the room in the picture was on the opposite side of the hall, a mirror image of her bedroom with her husband. Both rooms were situated at the end of the hallway, but apparently, as far as Angelina knew, only one of them had been in use. The other one—the murder room—had been vacant.
    And apparently locked while the uniformed officers had peeked into the other room following Angelina’s call.
    “So, what? Talbot was killed twice in two separate rooms? And then he went ahead and locked himself in—after his murder?” Hughes shook his head in obvious frustration, damn near tearing off what little hair he had left on his head. “Makes no fucking sense.”
    “I have to talk to those people in the house,” Niall said, feeling just as blindsided as his friend. “I know it’s not protocol but—”
    “Oh, you’re definitely coming with me,” Hughes growled, glaring at him. “Technically, this was your problem first, so the least you can do is help me solve this goddamn piece of shit.”
    Niall suppressed a grin of victory, knowing it wouldn’t be welcomed now, not even in a comradely fashion. “You drive.”
    But then came the second twist.
    Before they could get back on their feet, Regina rushed toward them, which in itself was uncharacteristic. As the King County ME, she wasn’t required to hand-deliver her findings to the detectives, especially not to ones she had already seen once today. She didn’t look happy, though, so it clearly wasn’t a social visit, Niall concluded.
    She was out of breath as she started speaking. “Unbelievable. Guys, I’m so sorry. I should have looked at the body myself right away. Nell wouldn’t have known Florian Talbot from the temp cashier at the local grocery store. I take all the blame for this grievous oversight.”
    Niall and Hughes exchanged curious and worried looks at the remark before staring at the ME with the same question dangling on their lips. It was Hughes who eloquently said, “Huh?”
    Reggie sighed, and it was easy to tell how furious she was with herself. “Your stiff. I finally managed to find the time to check on him myself. And the guy on my slab is physically way too young to match up with the official records. In short, he’s not Florian Talbot.”

Chapter 6
     
    “T HIS SHOP looks great, considering there was a fire here a month ago.”
    Gus looked up from the wooden box on the sales desk where he was busy organizing pamphlets about the upcoming Beltane festivals arranged around town. Autumnsong