Page 48 of The Night Firm

"Just one more thing," I say. "Would you mind giving us a writing sample? We're asking everyone to supply them just in case we have need of them later."

"No, of course not. What do you want me to write?" he asks, retrieving a note page and pen from a nearby utility drawer.

"Oh, I don't know. How about 'I love being on vacation but hate being away from home so long'?" I suggest, thinking about the note from earlier and trying to get some of the words to match without making it too obvious.

Leonard doesn't question the line at all, just dashes it off with a quick flourish and hands the paper over without a word.

We leave him with a tear in his eye and a heavy heart. Is it just grief that weighs on him? Or does he also carry guilt? Is he the man behind the letters?

Once outside, Sebastian pauses to look at me. "His memories weren't helpful."

"I know," I say.

"Then why did you tell him they were?"

"One, because he needed to hear it. And two, because you can't determine the worth of something so quickly. There are many ways to ascertain something—or someone's—worth." I glare at him pointedly. "In this case, his willingness to give up his memories helped us, even if the memories themselves didn't."

"How so?" Sebastian asks.

"Because he was clearly obsessed with Mary. He could have written those letters. That's why I asked him for the writing sample, just to be sure. He could have killed her in a jealous rage. But unless his memories have been tampered with, he was willing to let us pry into his mind. He probably didn't do it. That's useful information and further narrows our suspect pool, doesn't it?"

He nods. "That's impressive thinking, Eve. And you're right. If his memories haven't been tampered with, then he's most likely eliminated himself as a suspect. Though it doesn't mean he didn't write the letters."

"True. What kind of information can we get about them?" I ask.

"That's Elijah's department. He's got a contact, but they'll only work with him."

Something interrupts my attention, darting past the periphery of my vision, and I spot the cat I saw earlier, slinking behind a bush. I put a hand on Sebastian's chest to pause him, not taking my eyes off the feline, an idea percolating.

"Those Memory Catcher things. Do they work on animals?"

"They can work on any living thing," Sebastian says. "Except plants. We tried that once. A plant witnessed a murder and we thought we could catch a memory. It…didn't go well."

That sounds like a story for another time, so I press on. "The cat we saw earlier is still here. Which likely means it hangs around the villa a lot. What if we catch its memory and see what it knows?"

Sebastian cocks his head. "That's bloody brilliant. If you keep it still long enough. Cats don't typically like vampires very much."

"Why's that?" I ask, remembering his brother said the same thing when I found Moon.

"Maybe they remember how we fed on them when humans were scarce. Especially during times of plague and famine."

"Ew. Gross." I shift and squat to my knees. "Stay away then. Give me a minute. And give me the memory catcher."

"You don't know how to use it."

"Do I need magic?" I ask.

"No," he says.

I hold out my hand, palm up. "Then I know how to use it."

He sighs and places the crystal in my hand. I wait for him to move away and then creep forward, making clicking sounds with my tongue. "Hey, kitty. Come say hi."

The cat peeks out of the bushes and then saunters forward. I hold out my hand and let it come to me. It rubs against my hand, then my arm.

Soon the cat is in my lap purring happily as I scratch its chin and make cooing sounds.

Slowly I set the Memory Catcher in front of it and repeat the word Sebastian used earlier. Once again the crystal glows, then images begin to appear. The perspective of a cat is harder to sift through. They aren't interested in the things we would be, and so I get a lot of small dark spaces and some rats. I whisper "ante" and the images speed up, but still show nothing interesting. As the cat's vision pans to another set of feet, I'm about to call it a night when Sebastian steps forward.