Page 19 of Brush with Death
“I would if I could.”
Vale resisted the urge to groan.“You’re once again putting yourself in unnecessary danger.”
Cyril pushed away and frowned.“What danger?We don’t know what happened.I haven’t done anything yet.”
“We don’t know what happened, but you think that someone killed Sam.That’s what you mean when you say you don’t think it was an accident, right?And if you believe that someone killed Sam, you’re putting yourself in danger without even being able to use your ability.How are you going to help Katie find out what happened?”
Cyril glanced toward the bedroom, but Vale couldn’t hear anything.This probably wasn’t the best place to have this discussion, but it seemed like they were doing it anyway.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do, all right?”Cyril said as he looked back at Vale.“And you’re right.I don’t think it was an accident, which means that someone probably killed him.If that’s the case, I want to find out who it was and why.I promised Katie that I would help her.”
“She asked because she thought you could reanimate Sam and get answers out of him.How are you going to get those answers if you can’t use your ability?”
“I could try.”
“You couldn’t reanimate that woman the other day, and the doctor told you not to work for at least a few weeks.”
Cyril raked a hand through his hair as he stomped in the direction of the front door.“What do you want me to say?I already promised Katie I would help.I’m not going back on my word.I can do it on my own if you don’t want to be involved.”
Vale didn’t want to fight with Cyril.Cyril had already given his friend his word that he would help, and he wouldn’t go back on that.That meant that if Vale didn’t want anything bad to happen to his boyfriend, he’d have to help.“You’re not doing anything on your own,” Vale said as he caught up to Cyril.
Cyril stopped on the porch and turned back to Vale.“I don’t want to force you into doing something you don’t want to do.If you don’t want to be involved, that’s fine with me.”
Vale arched a brow.“Is it?”
“Well, it’s not fine, but I’ll deal with it.I just need to know.”
Vale kissed Cyril’s forehead.“You won’t do this alone.You’ll never have to do anything alone in the future.I meant it when I said I wasn’t going anywhere, Cyril.That includes you throwing yourself into danger without talking to me first.Besides, you’ll probably need Rachel’s help.She can dig into Sam’s life and find out if there was anyone who would’ve wanted to kill him.”
Cyril slumped against Vale’s chest.“I don’t know why anyone would’ve wanted that.He was a sweet man.”
Sam might have been, but Vale knew better than many people that even sweet men sometimes the things they weren’t proud of.Even sweet men could be monsters.
Vale hoped that wouldn’t be the case with Sam.He didn’t want Cyril to get hurt because his friend hadn’t been the person he’d said he was.He definitely didn’t want Cyril to be hurt because Sam had been involved with something he shouldn’t have and had paid with his life.
When Vale had retired, he believed he’d finally be able to settle down and live in peace.He hadn’t counted on Cyril finding a way to get into dangerous situations as easily as breathing.
Chapter Seven
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WHEN CYRIL WOKE UPthe next day, he still didn’t have a plan.Normally, he would’ve gone straight to the morgue to talk to Sam, but he couldn’t.He might have to attempt that as a last resort, but first, he wanted to try everything else.
He just didn’t know what everything else was.
He didn’t normally investigate murders or accidents—or whatever had happened to Sam.He wasn’t a detective.He reanimated dead bodies so they could talk to their families one last time, but generally, there hadn’t been anything odd or illegal about their deaths.
Luckily for him, he wasn’t alone in dealing with this.Vale wasn’t a detective, either, but considering his previous line of work, he had to have ideas about what to do.
Cyril found out about those ideas when there was a knock on the door of the apartment while he and Vale were having breakfast.He frowned, but Vale got to his feet and went to open.When he returned, he was trailed by Russell, who smiled at Cyril.
“I heard you got yourself in trouble again.”
Cyril glared.“I’m not in trouble.”
“He agreed to look into a man’s death because his friend asked him to,” Vale pointed out.
“It doesn’t mean I’m in trouble.Besides, I’m not only doing this for Katie.I’m doing it for Sam, too.He was my friend.”
