Page 30 of Any More Questions for the Corpse?

“Kind of all of it,” Des said. “This has been a disaster. Obviously. But work is just impossible. Every second I’m worried someone’s going to figure me out. The anxiety’s killing me. And normally I’d talk to my family about this kind of thing, but I can’t …”

“Why not?”

“They won’t understand. They’re like me.”

“Vampires? Surely that would make them—”

“No, no.” Des smiled reluctantly as her eyes welled up. “They’re cops.”

“All of them?”

“All of them … my mum, my dad, my brothers.”

“Ahh.”

“I’ve worked so hard for it, and now, it’s …”

“A nightmare …”

Des nodded in the darkness, her eyes still glowing like a stalking predator.

“I’m so sorry,” Mal said. “If I’d known—”

“What? You’d have let me die?”

“No, I guess not. Vampire is certainly better than zombie. Your flesh stays on, for one.”

“True.” Des nodded, a timid smile poking through at the corners of her mouth. “One of the many perks, I guess …”

“And night vision …”

Des’s smile drooped to one side, then slid off her face.

“Could you do something else?” Mal whispered.

“No.”

“Totally impossible?”

“Yes. I love being a detective, it’s all I’ve wanted since I was little.”

“Could you do it, but like, not for the police?”

“Go private?”

“Yeah. You wouldn’t have to stop being a detective. You could work your own hours, mostly at night.”

“That’s not really how it works. You’d need to be experienced, or have some specialized area to get good work. I’ve barely finished my training.”

“But you have a secret weapon …”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?” Des whispered.

“Me! I can talk to the dead for you. Should make most of your cases a lot easier.”

“Like it has with this one?”

“Well, they won’t all be Merlin and the dead.”