The Sorcerer Heir (Heir Chronicles) Read Online Free PDF

So, instead, she huddled on the terrace with Alison and Rudy while a fleet of emergency vehicles lined up in the driveway, spilling onto the street. After a while, Natalie returned, close-faced and tight-lipped and grim.
    Once the police arrived, they herded everyone into the house and onto the terrace. A nervous-looking young officer commandeered Jonah’s voice mike. “Nobody leaves, all right? Everyone stays put until we’ve secured the crime scene, searched the area, and interviewed all potential witnesses,” she barked. “Don’t talk amongst yourselves either, or we’ll have to split you up. We want clean accounts from everyone. One of you might’ve seen something that will help us.”
    Not me, Emma thought. I didn’t see anything. I don’t know anything.
    Sometime during the initial confusion, Hastings and Downey had returned. Seph and his parents managed to talk Madison back to the house. The mainliners took over the kitchen, forming an impermeable barrier to outsiders.
    The police established a command post in the parlor. They used yellow police tape to cordon off an area around the scene. They marked out access routes onto the grounds, and set up huge spotlights that all but turned night into day. When they funneled out into the woods, the officers proceeded cautiously, shining powerful flashlights into every dark crevice and shadow.
    Trapped inside the law-enforcement bubble, Emma began packing up her equipment, hoping for a quick getaway. As if eager for something to do, Rudy and Natalie followed suit, breaking down the equipment and casing everything up. Alison just sat on the floor in a corner, arms wrapped around her knees, head tipped back, eyes closed as if pretending she were someplace else.
    Emma ran her fingers over the head of Jonah’s Stratocaster, standing abandoned in its stand. He must be guilty, she thought. He must have been involved in the murders. Why else would he leave it behind? She settled it lovingly into its case, slid the strap into its compartment, closed the lid, and buckled the catches. Familiar. Automatic. Soothing.
    All around them, the mainliners clustered in small groups, remarkably silent. Some stood along the edge of the terrace, watching the police deploy through the woods. Others whispered together, shooting wary looks toward the band.
    “Does anybody else have the feeling that whatever goodwill might’ve resulted from the show is gone now?” Rudy said, nodding toward the clusters of partygoers.
    “They can’t think we’re responsible,” Natalie muttered.
    “Yes, they can,” Rudy said, rubbing his eyes. “In fact, I think we can count on it. I’ll bet nobody ever got murdered in Trinity until we came along. I’ll bet nobody even jaywalked before now.”
    A ripple of excitement out in the woods caught Emma’s attention. People shouting, the crackle of radios, a rush of EMS personnel down the cordoned path. Soon, Emma could hear the thwock-thwock-thwock of a helicopter. Turning, she saw that a massive yellow chopper was setting down in the park at the end of the block.
    “Looks like they’ve found somebody else,” Natalie whispered, her body as rigid as a dog on point. “Somebody who must be still alive, else they wouldn’t have sent Life Flight.”
    She’s a healer to the bone, Emma thought. She can’t stand hanging back when someone is hurting.
    Natalie positioned herself right beside the route they would have to take. Emma eased up beside her. Moments later, a quartet of paramedics loped up the path toward them, carrying a litter. Even Alison roused herself and joined them, looking on as the medical team swept by, one of them holding a bag of fluids high above his head.
    It was Rowan DeVries, his face bloodless, lips pale, lashes dark against his skin. The thermal blanket over him was already soaked through with blood. He looked dead, but, as Natalie said, he must be still alive or why the rush?
    Natalie gazed at him fixedly, her dark brows drawn