“This,” Tempest said, “is the Cat of Nine Lives. I’ve put all the pieces together that prove she killed four people. I’m hoping she’ll enlighten us as to how exactly she committed each of her murders. I know the basics, but the devil is in the details, don’t you agree?”
“I dinnae ken what on earth you mean,” said Catriona in the most endearingly shy Scottish lilt. Darius sat her down on a chair on the stage, and Blackburn made sure she was handcuffed to it. Catriona stretched her neck and squirmed, as if the handcuffs were hurting her.
Blackburn leaned close to Tempest and whispered in her ear. She nodded. It was as she suspected. She took a moment to compose herself and turned back to Catriona and the camera.
“You deny that you once played the Cat of Nine Lives on stage?” Tempest asked.
“I’m an artist who’s friends with your grandmother. I understand that fame has a deleterious impact on the minds of the younger generation. You wish for a lot of people to view your video. I’m sure you’ll succeed on that front. Please let me go, lass. I’m a victim of circumstance.”
Tempest knelt in front of Catriona’s chair to speak to her up close. “You just happened to be breaking into the off-limits Shadow Stage at midnight?”
Catriona looked past Tempest and straight ahead at the camera. “I’m a great admirer of Nicodemus the Necromancer. I had the pleasure of seeing him perform on stage when we were both young. It was a beautiful memory. If I’m guilty of anything, it’s ignoring some flimsy police tape. I’ll gladly pay the fine for trespassing. Now if you’ll kindly remove these cuffs…”
“You were careful not to let Nicodemus or Brodie see you.” Tempest stood. “A name might be a coincidence. I’m sure there are thousands of Scottish women with the name Catriona, many of whom go by Trina. That was only the first clue that gave you away. But when Nicodemus heard your voice earlier today, he knew.”
Catriona looked around. “I don’t see that lovely man anywhere. I wonder if he’s gotten into a spot of trouble and fled the country.”
“You also made the mistake of removing items from police custody in both Edinburgh and Hidden Creek,” said Tempest. “That proved to me that I was right about the connection between the crimes. There was probably nothing in those records that could have been of use to me in those cold cases anyway. You weren’t taking any chances though. You acted out of fear, and in doing so, you revealed your hand.”
“I think you’re in over your head, dear. I’ve never entered a police station in either town you mentioned.” Catriona clicked her tongue and shook her head. “I’m so sorry you’re disappointing your audience with these flimsy lies. I understand you’re under a lot of pressure, lass. I willnae press charges for kidnapping. Yet.”
“Oh, I know you didn’t break into police stations yourself. In Edinburgh, you asked for the assistance of an older officer, a man who’d been one of your fans thirty years ago. He removed Elspeth Raj’s file for you. It was ruled an accidental death, so I’m sure the officer barely felt he was doing anything wrong. Did you say you were looking into how to avoid repeating future stage accidents? Maybe you even made him feel heroic for helping you with your noble quest.”
Catriona’s neutral gaze faltered. She quickly regained her composure, but it was enough for Tempest to know her theory was right.
“And here in Hidden Creek,” Tempest continued, “I know you paid Officer Quinn to get them. He’s drowning in debt due to his poor choice of girlfriends, so he couldn’t resist the seemingly harmless offer.”
Catriona’s nostrils flared. Tempest had only been 90 percent sure about Quinn. But now that Catriona was rattled, she knew she was right.
Catriona was probably smart enough to approach him anonymously, so Tempest doubted Officer Quinn would be able to point a finger at Catriona. Still, Tempest was exposing Catriona’s weak spots.
“I should have guessed earlier,” Tempest continued. “Abracadabra is a fantastic judge of character. He bites people he doesn’t trust. When he scratched Tansy, it was because I was lifting him closer to you because you’d asked to hold him.”
Catriona began squirming again. Only this time, it wasn’t her torso, but her feet.
“This isn’t fun anymore.” Catriona flung her left foot forward, flipping her left boot into the air—right at Ivy. Ivy dodged, but she lost her grip on her phone. Taking her chance while Ivy was no longer filming the stage, Catriona pulled her arms out from behind her back. She was a magician. She’d broken free of her handcuffs.
“What are you waiting for?” Catriona yelled.
That’s when a figure Tempest hadn’t seen stepped out of the shadows. He kicked Ivy’s cell phone into the wings and smashed it with his shoe. The recording was over.
“I’ll take the rest of your phones,” said Catriona, pulling a knife out of her right boot and holding it to Tempest’s neck.
“There’s no need for—” Darius began, but Catriona cut him off.
“All your phones,” hissed Catriona. “Toss them onto the stage, now, or I stab your beloved Tempest.”
Darius, Blackburn, and Sanjay complied with Catriona’s demand to drop their cell phones onto the stage.
“I don’t have a cell phone,” Gideon said. “You can search me.”
“Oh, I know, dear,” said Catriona. “I know all about you. I was the one who convinced Tansy to fund your overwrought sculptures. You want to go back in time and live in a Charles Dickens novel, when women like me were even more oppressed.”
Catriona’s compatriot stepped out of the shadows. “That’s enough, Mother.”
Mother?
“Moriarty,” Tempest whispered.
That was a twist she hadn’t seen coming.