WILLOW MANOR

Chapter Seventeen

Katie sat on the sofa in the sitting room, staring dully at the carved wooden figure of a woman with a baby. Her brain tried desperately to process all that had happened. She wondered if she were in shock. She felt exhausted and confused. The shower and clean clothes had helped, as did the hot coffee Archie brought her. Still, her mind was whirling.

Bill came into the room quietly. "Katie, Officer Jones is ready to take your statement now."

Marcus Jones was a tall, good-looking man about Walter's age. His uniform was neatly pressed, and his mustache and hair were perfectly trimmed, with just a touch of grey. He looked like a man who made sure he paid attention to all the details. Katie felt slightly nervous at the idea.

"I just need a few minutes of your time, miss." He said respectfully. "I know you've been through a lot."

"Yes, of course." Katie straightened and tried to focus on the man. "Is Clarissa going to be okay?"

"I hope so. Walter is at the hospital with her now." He nodded. "Now Miss Gallagher, what is it that you do here at Willow Manor?"

She cleared her throat, tried to clear away mental images of the wolf. The werewolf. The... "I'm the nanny."

"So, the babysitter." He made a note.

That got her full attention. She looked at him sharply. "I'm in charge of the children's education and their well-being."

Officer Jones nodded. "I see."

Tears formed in Katie's eyes. Delia talking to Arabella... Blake depressed and angry... Clarissa kidnapped by a vampire... A werewolf trapped the two of them in the mausoleum while she, Katie, could do nothing to defend them... She was a failure. She whispered, in harsh self-criticism, "I'm in charge of the children's well-being."

"Don't beat yourself up, Katie." Bill offered from the other side of the room. "If you hadn't been there, Clarissa would be dead."

Officer Jones wrote something in his notebook. "Walk me through what happened. How did Miss Barrington get injured?"

"I woke up as she was leaving the house last night." Katie said softly. "I followed her."

Officer Jones nodded. "Sneaking out after bedtime?"

"Yes. We had suspected she had done it previously, so I was alert." Katie nodded.

"And the man?" Jones consulted his notes. "This Davicus... was he in the house?"

"He couldn't have been." Bill interjected.

Vampires couldn't enter a house uninvited. Katie had thought that, too, until she saw Davicus inside the house with Clarissa. That meant Clarissa had invited him in. Or that a vampire could go where it wanted, unrestricted. Both thoughts were terrifying.

"He couldn't have?" Officer Jones turned to look at him analytically. "Why is that?"

Katie shook her head at Bill and he shrugged. Officer Jones stared at him a moment, then turned to Katie. The he turned back to Bill. "Why couldn't he have been in the house?"

"We were on the alert for him." Bill kept his voice level, calm. "We wouldn't have let him in."

Officer Jones raised his eyebrows. "You've seen him before?"

Bill looked to Katie and she shook her head again. This time, Officer Jones noticed. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her. "You have seen him? He's been here before?"

"Not really." Katie mumbled.

"Not really?" Officer Jones pressed. "It's a yes or no."

Bill shot her a look and she tried to elaborate enough to satisfy the policeman. "We saw someone once before, but he ran away."