Page 45 of Veiled Justice
Ava rattled off a list of names.
‘Were they at the Quintos party?’
‘Most of them weren’t, though Racquel Aimes was there. Anyway, the girls were giving me the evil eye and it was making me uncomfortable. That’s why I wanted out.’
‘And you went to the tiki lights?’
Rupert licked his lips. ‘We thought it was some sort of sick art installation mocking Helga’s death? We went to see what they’d replaced her with but when we got close enough …’ He blew out a shuddering breath and looked at his shoes.
‘Did you see anyone else as you approached?’
Rupert gave the question some thought before reluctantly shaking his head. ‘I didn’t. I wish I had. I’m sorry.’
‘Ava?’
She shook her head too. ‘To be honest, I was focused on the lights. They called to me.’
I frowned. ‘Called to you, how?’
She blinked. ‘Ineededto see them, you know?’
No, I didn’t know – but I knew magic when it hit me in the face. ‘Is that usual for you?’ I asked carefully. I wasn’t familiar with siren magic; maybe she was like a literal moth, drawn to a flame.
‘No,’ she admitted. ‘I like art but I usually prefer the hubbub of people at an event like this. To be honest, I’d been fighting the urge to go outside even before Louisa was a bitch.’
‘Why were you fighting the urge?’
She shrugged uncomfortably. ‘Going out into the garden was too close to what happened at Quintos’s and I didn’t want to make Rupe feel bad.’
Rupert wrapped an arm around her and kissed her bare shoulder. His eyes fell on the dryad still lying a few meters from us. ‘Poor Alice.’
I froze. ‘This is Alice Rose? The dryad who complained about you? The one you’d been avoiding all night?’
‘Yeah. She was hired to make the vines and flowers move on the dance floor.’
Fuck: she’d had no form of ID on her and I hadn’t identified her. Things were looking even worse for Rupert.
She’d complained about him to his boss – so this time Rupert had a motive.
Chapter 24
Ed and Channing arrived in rapid succession. ‘Hey,’ I greeted Ed first. ‘You okay?’
‘Yeah, I grabbed some Zs so I’m fresh enough.’ He ran a hand through his mousy hair, leaving it sticking up at odd angles like he was a mad scientist. ‘I’d just started a scoop so you’re lucky you called when you did.’
‘Thanks.’ I was relieved; if Ed had been too many beers in I’d have had to call my ex, Sam, and that wasn’t something I was eager to do anytime soon.
Ed looked at my brother and noted the blood on his shirt. ‘That’s not good,’ he murmured to me.
‘I know it. Rupert arrived first, found her still alive. He ran back inside to get a healer but there wasn’t one here.’
‘I’ll need his shirt.’
I grimaced. ‘I know.’
Ed looked me up and down. ‘I bet you looked smoking before you ripped your dress to shreds.’
I sent him a wry smile. ‘I looked as good as I ever have,’ I admitted.
