Page 104 of Goldsin

He responds immediately.

Valentine:They don’t know about her.

I turn on the shower while I type out, “What does Lucian know about the kill?” and click send.

Valentine:They think the guy that killed DeMarco killed Whitman too.

Another text arrives quickly.

Valentine:Since he was at the restaurant that night.

What the fuck?

Blood rushes away from my face, my heart pounding in the backs of my ears.

I don’t waste another second; I hit Valentine’s number and wait for his voice to break the irritating ringing tone.

When he finally picks up, making a scene of letting it ring for a while like he wasn’t holding his phone when I called, I impatiently ask, “What was he doing there?”

“Hello to you too, Julian,” he drawls in mockery.

Funny. Did he grow a sense of humor in the past few hours?

“Cut the shit and tell me what you know about the guy.”

Who is he really? What does he want from Aurelia? Does he know about her?

A sigh greets me from the other end of the line. “Adrian spotted him through the restaurant’s CCTV cameras. Before you ask, I edited the videos, cutting Aurelia entering and leaving the bathroom, before I gave the recordings to Adrian.”

The bastard is good at what he does, I’ll give him that.

He continues. “He was easy to notice, because he was the only one dining alone, wearing nothing but a black hoodie.”

How did Aurelia not see him?

“Were you able to capture his face?”

“No.” Valentine is quiet for a beat, then I hear shuffling on the other end of the line before he adds in a low voice, “He walked into the bathroom right after Aurelia left?—”

Loud talking echoes through the line, cutting off Valentine. He speaks to someone else, grumbling here and there, while my patience sizzles.

“Valentine.”

There’s more grumbling before he manages to continue. “He left a raven’s feather on the body. Do you have any idea what it could mean?”

I rack my brain for an explanation but come up empty-handed. Why did he let Aurelia kill Whitman without getting involved? Who is this guy, and what does he want from her?

Then the most dreadful thought digs a hole in my stomach.

What if he hasn’t told anyone about what Aurelia did because he wants to use it to his advantage? What if he’ll use her to get back at me for pinning DeMarco’s death on him?

“The invisible man,” that’s what Adrian called him. Fuck, I wish he’d stayed invisible a bit longer.

Then, before I can ask the one question pestering my mind, Valentine answers it.

“No, Julian. Aurelia isn’t working with him,” he says. “Actually, she has no idea anyone was there to know she killed Whitman. I’d like for us to keep it that way.”

He wants me to lie to her. I would have thought he’d be the one to teach me to never lie to a woman, but I guess he can’t be any different from the men of the Inferno Consortium.

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