Page 30 of Fortune's Ashes
Lukas spread his arms. ‘Would you like a hug?’
So much. It was wrong and I shouldn’t have done it, but I threw myself at him, allowing him to wrap his arms around me and hold me tight. I buried my face in his shoulder and, for one long glorious moment, allowed myself to forget everything else. But, as I stopped feeling so sorry for myself, inhaled his deep scent and revelled in the sensation of his hard body next to mine, I became aware of the danger. I pulled away and avoided his gaze. ‘Thanks,’ I muttered.
He nodded once. ‘Come on. I’ll give you a lift back to Laura’s place.’
‘Can I borrow your phone? Mine has been taken into evidence.’
Lukas looked at me curiously but dug it out and tossed it to me. I thanked him and dialled Grace’s number. I’d hoped to leave a message but, with sleep weighting his every word, he answered quickly. ‘This is Detective Sergeant Grace.’
‘Sorry for waking you,’ I said.
‘Emma?’
‘Yeah. I’m calling you on Lukas’s phone. You’ll probably hear from DS Barnes soon, but I wanted to speak to you first.’
I heard Liza murmur a sleepy question in the background. Grace replied before answering me. ‘What’s happened?’
‘I’ve been suspended.’
‘What?’
It was heartening that he sounded outraged, even though he didn’t know what I might have done. ‘You’ll get all the gory details soon,’ I told him. ‘I’m not sure how long I’ll be out, but I wanted to tell you that I’ve been looking into one of those cold cases you left me. The missing gremlin.’ Lukas looked at me.
‘From 2010?’ Grace asked.
‘That’s the one. There’s a lot about his disappearance that doesn’t add up. I really think you should look into it some more. I left my notes on my desk, but if you have questions about it you can still call and ask me. I don’t have my phone but I’ll pick up a cheap burner tomorrow and send you the number.’
‘Okay. What else can I do? What help do you need?’
‘I’m dealing with it, Owen. I’ll be fine. Investigate the gremlin, though. His case deserves the attention.’
‘Emma—’
I knew he wanted to know more about my suspension but I couldn’t deal with a re-hash of events just then. I said goodbye, hung up and passed the phone back to Lukas. He returned it to his pocket as we climbed into his car. With a sigh, I settled into the passenger seat. The car smelled of him. It was glorious.
‘You were talking about Quincy Carmichael, right?’ Lukas asked as he drove away from New Scotland Yard.
‘Yes. He went missing the same weekend that there was a nasty double murder.’
Lukas nodded. ‘I remember.’
‘What happened? With the murder, I mean.’
He sent me a side glance. ‘You want to talk aboutthatnow?’
I might not get another chance. I shrugged.
Lukas ran a hand through his inky-black hair and sighed. ‘It was brutal, both the murders and the aftermath.’
‘You saw the crime scene?’
His hands tightened on the steering wheel. ‘I did. I wasn’t Lord then, but I was highly placed and I was tasked with looking into what had happened. We thought we’d find the culprit easily.’ He grimaced. ‘But nobody was ever found. We didn’t even have any credible suspects.’
‘I know Simon Carr was the werewolf who was killed, but who was the vampire?’
‘Adele Cunningham. She hadn’t been a vamp for very long – she was a baby by most standards – but she had a lot of skill for her age. She would have gone far.’ He didn’t hide the regret or the pain in his voice. It was clear that, even before he’d become Lord, Lukas had taken the death of any vampire personally.
‘How did…’
