‘I can’t speak for the others,’ Lukas said stiffly, ‘but what is in my security boxes won’t end up on the open market, no matter how black that market happens to be. It will be passed on in private sales to very specific individuals or…’ His voice trailed off.
‘Or what?’ I prodded.
‘Or used against us in some way.’ He lifted his gaze and his eyes met mine.
I frowned. I hadn’t particularly cared what was inside each box, other than to use the knowledge to help me track the robbers down. Now I was genuinely curious.
‘Blackmail is a distinct possibility where we are concerned,’ Lady Carr said.
Lord McGuigan’s shoulders dropped. ‘Yeah,’ he mumbled.
Fairfax nodded in agreement.
I glanced at Pralk. ‘What about you? What was in your box?’
‘It would be better,’ he stated firmly, ‘if the contents were not advertised in any way, shape or form. They could prove … embarrassing to the bank.’
Each of the supernatural leaders had been guilty of shady dealings in the past. I had no evidence of anything illegal, but I’d always known that they all – Lukas included – danced a thin moral line from time to time. From the way they were acting, there was far more to this than mere dubious possessions that might cast them in a bad light. None of them wanted anyone to know what they’d squirrelled away. No wonder someone had been desperate to steal their stuff; whatever had been nicked was obviously very valuable.
I hardened my expression into granite. ‘I shouldn’t have to remind any of you that there are nine corpses lying out there. Some of those corpses belong to your own people. Whoever is responsible for those deaths did this because of what’s inside those damned security deposit boxes. You will tell me what was in them.’
‘You can’t force us to speak,’ Lady Sullivan said mildly. ‘Even someone with your abilities can’t compel the likes of us to talk.’
I turned a cold-eyed stare in her direction. ‘Do you want these killers found? Do you want your possessions returned?’
‘Of course, but—’
‘There are no buts.’ I glared. ‘You will tell me what was stolen. All of it.’
Lukas folded his arms across his chest. ‘We’ll tell you privately. No one else is to know.’
‘We can’t tell her!’ Lady Carr snapped. ‘She’s with the fucking police. This is exactly what she wants. It’ll give the human authorities a hold over us that we won’t be able to alter. Handing over this sort of information could affect us adversely for generations!’
Bloody hell. What was in the damned boxes? I drew in a long breath. ‘I won’t tell anyone other than the two members of my team about what has been stolen. They will keep their mouths shut. And none of us will use the information against you, as long as the items don’t present a risk to the public either now or in the future. I give you my word.’
‘With the best will in the world, DC Bellamy,’ Pralk said, ‘you can’t promise that. You’re a detective constable on the lowest rung of the police force. If your superiors demand to know what’s been taken, you’ll tell them.’
‘No,’ Lukas said, his black eyes trained on me. ‘She won’t. DC Bellamy is wholly honourable. If she gives us her word, she won’t break it.’
Lady Sullivan gave a grudging sniff. ‘I have to agree about DC Bellamy’s honour,’ she said. ‘Reluctantly. And I want the fuckers who did this brought to heel. They can’t get away with it. What happens if they advertise what they’ve stolen?’
Lord McGuigan blanched.
‘If she doesn’t find them—’ Lady Carr began.
‘She will,’ Lukas said.
I nodded. ‘I will.’ It was a big promise but I wasn’t sure there was anything else to offer. Safety deposit boxes or not, there were nine dead bodies outside. Given what had occurred at both Tower Bridge and the London Eye, and my belief that those events were a diversion for what had happened here, this robbery had been planned for a long time. But this was my home turf. And the perpetrators wouldn’t get away with what they’d done.
Chapter Five
Pralk set me up in a small room on the second floor. While the werewolves from all four clans inspected it for any sign of listening devices, I located Fred who was taking statements from the shaken bank employees who’d escaped unscathed.
‘There were three robbers in total,’ he told me. ‘All of them were armed and wearing what appeared to be body armour. They left in a florist’s van that was parked outside. I’ve got uniforms trying to locate it through ANPR and CCTV.’
I suspected that these bastards were organised enough to have avoided being caught on camera or by the Automatic Number Plate Recognition system, but we had to start somewhere. ‘That’s good,’ I said. ‘Well done. Are you getting anywhere with the witnesses?’
He grimaced. ‘Not yet. The gang entered the building at 1.34pm. They were inside for less than nine minutes and were wearing masks from start to finish. The best anyone has come up with so far is that two of them were male and one was female. Only the female spoke and her accent was pure Cockney. They’ve all remarked upon it.’ He pulled a face. ‘That’s all we have in terms of identification so far. We won’t get any fingerprints – they were all gloved up.’
Figured. ‘And the CCTV footage from inside?’
‘I’ve had a copy burned off and sent to Liza. She’s going through it back at the office.’ He paused and gave me a sidelong look.
‘What is it?’
‘DSI Barnes has already been in touch. A team from CID are on their way.’ He fiddled with the buttons on his jacket. ‘I think they’re planning to take over the investigation.’
I grimaced. There was no doubt that we’d require help to catch the bank robbers but I hated to think that I’d have to answer to someone else after being pretty much autonomous for the last few months.
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘We’ll deal with that if and when it happens. A lot of people are going to be very unhappy about today. That the supes have been targeted specifically is a no-brainer, but the diversions the robbers created to keep Lukas and the alphas away from here affected other parts of the city too. There won’t be a lot of sympathy for either the wolves or the vamps – people think they’re too wealthy so there won’t be many who sympathise with them having had some valuables stolen. However, there’ll be a lot of anger that a tourist bus was hijacked and a landmark shut down.’
‘Mmm.’ He pulled out his phone. ‘On that note, I’ve got something for you.’ He held up the phone and showed me a photo. ‘This was found at the foot of the Eye.’
I squinted, then I remembered the object that had fallen past Lukas and me when we’d been attempting to clamber upwards. ‘Fake fangs,’ I said.
‘Yep.’ Fred sighed. ‘The sort you can buy in any fancy-dress shop or market stall.’
So the would-be jumper hadn’t been a vampire after all. That was interesting. He’d certainly been acrobatic enough to pass for one.