Page 44 of Dukes Are Forever
It should have been me.
"Do you know her?" Garrett asked, looming over Malloryn's shoulder.
"No." Malloryn opened his eyes. "I know who killed her though."
Tense silence echoed through the alleyway as the pair of Nighthawks standing on guard shifted uneasily.
"Who?"
"An old friend," he replied, leaning down to examine the body. There was a calling card clutched tight in her hand.
His calling card.
No wonder the Guild Master had contacted him.
Malloryn plucked it from her fingers and straightened slowly. "Who found her?"
"A lamplighter," Garrett said, dismissing the nearest pair of Nighthawks, leaving only the three of them. "Called it in around dawn. Thinks he might have heard a shot, but he wasn't certain and I doubt he truly heard a thing."
"It didn't happen here."
"No. Not enough blood. She was placed here deliberately, where someone would find her."
"Can you smell the killer?"
"I'm picking up traces of gunpowder, mechanical oil, and hints of bergamot. But no personal scent, which means it was either a blue blood or adhampir," Byrnes said, squatting beside the girl and examining her fingernails. "She's not upper class."
"No."
Bergamot.He almost flinched again. Jelena had dabbed the oil at her pulse points. The scent of it made his heart beat a little faster, though his senses weren't as highly refined as Byrnes's.
"So she could have been just a girl plucked off the streets," Byrnes murmured.
"Why her?" Garrett asked.
"She looks a little like Gemma," Byrnes said pointedly. "Think Balfour's going to go after her? She did ruin all his fun in Russia, after all."
"It's not meant to represent Gemma," Malloryn replied, locking all the pain, all the panic deep inside him.
Byrnes's gaze sharpened.
"It's meant to remind me of Catherine Tate. You were right. It is a message for me. But what is he trying to tell me?" Malloryn slowly unfolded to his full height, glancing down at the calling card. "We know he's back. He left a letter on my fucking desk. So this is a threat. Or a taunt."
"We need to keep an eye on the female Rogues?" Byrnes asked. "After all, he did want Obsidian to put a bullet through Gemma's heart and leave her on your doorstep."
Malloryn's mind raced. "He wants me to suffer. He wants to take away every last thing I care for. All the Rogues need to watch their backs. I daresay this won't be the last time we find a body."
The Guild Master waited, arms folded across his chest nonchalantly, even as his sharp blue eyes took in everything. "So Balfour is back and now he's killing young women with black hair?"
"Unfortunately, yes. I may need you and your men before this is done."
"You have them," Garrett replied, without hesitation. "I'll set Perry to try and track the killer."
His wife was the best tracker the Guild had to offer, but she also had two young daughters now.
"Tell her to take others with her and watch her back. She's looking for adhampirwoman with silvery blonde hair, an eye patch over one eye, and a scar on her cheek. Track the killer, but don't engage. She's lethal."
Byrnes sucked in a sharp gasp. "Jelena."
