Page 31 of Fortune's Ashes
‘She was stabbed. They both were.’
‘So it must have been a supe,’ I said, thinking aloud. No human could have overpowered both a werewolf and a vampire, certainly not with a blade.
‘That was the thinking at the time.’
I sensed a ‘but’. I waited.
‘As far as we could tell,’ Lukas went on, ‘Simon and Adele had been sleeping together. They were in bed together when they were killed.’
Huh. ‘So if they were asleep, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that a human attacked them and killed them before they could defend themselves.’
‘It could have happened that way,’ he said softly. ‘But we couldn’t find any human suspects.’
‘And Quincy Carmichael?’
Lukas was already shaking his head. ‘It wasn’t him. I know he disappeared right after the killings, but his alibi for the time of the murders was rock solid. He spent the afternoon getting drunk with Kennedy.’
I started. ‘OurKennedy?’ I asked, referring to the alcohol-sodden satyr who I counted as a real friend.
‘Yep. They tore through Soho and Lisson Grove together. Eventually the pair of them ended up in a small bar usually frequented by the Sullivan clan. Kennedy annoyed the wrong werewolf, got into a fight. Quincy got involved and all three of them ended up carted off to the Clink to sober up. When Simon Carr and Adele Cunningham were being stabbed to death, Quincy Carmichael was behind bars.’
That put a different spin on things. ‘Were there any real leads into Simon and Adele’s deaths?’
‘They’d kept their relationship secret, so none of us knew they were together. Given the bloody nature of their killings and the emotional energy their killer must have expended, it looked like a crime of passion. We were convinced that a jealous wolf had killed them when their liaison was discovered. The wolves believed it must have been a cuckolded vampire. There was a lot of finger pointing but absolutely no proof of anything.’
I was tempted to ask him if there was a murder file that I could borrow, but I was suspended from duty. Besides, I’d been tasked with looking for Quincy; a double murder was a totally different prospect, though that didn’t mean I’d forget about it. ‘Once I’m reinstated and I’ve found Quincy Carmichael, I’d like to look into their case,’ I said.
Lukas laughed, genuinely amused. ‘What?’ I asked, confused.
‘You don’t have any doubt that you’ll find him, do you? Quincy, I mean.’
‘People don’t simply vanish into thin air.’ I glanced at him. ‘I was told that he had an ex-girlfriend who was a vamp – Candy something?’
‘Candace. She’s still around. I can ask her to contact you.’
‘She should speak to Grace, not me, at least until my suspension is lifted.’
‘From the way you’re peppering me with questions, it doesn’t sound as if you’re going to let a suspension stop you from investigating.’
That was because I needed to fill the silence between us with something that didn’t involve our doomed relationship. I shifted, discomfited again.
Lukas seemed to realise what I was thinking. ‘Anyway,’ he said, with a wave of his hand, ‘from what I remember of Quincy Carmichael and his proclivities, right about now he’s probably lying on a tropical beach somewhere with a fruit cocktail.’
‘All the more reason to find him then. I could really do with a beach holiday.’
Lukas looked at me, allowing me to catch a glimpse of his very real vulnerability. ‘To be honest,’ he said, ‘so could I.’
* * *
I didn’t getout of the car immediately when we arrived at Laura’s flat. We sat there with the engine ticking over, neither of us saying a word although both of us were desperate to speak.
Finally I fumbled with my seatbelt and released myself. ‘I’ll get some sleep,’ I said. ‘If you want to come around later today, we can have that talk.’ The awkwardness that had started to dissipate during the journey had returned. ‘If you want to, of course. You don’t have to.’
Lukas growled. ‘Of course I want to. I love you, Emma. That hasn’t changed and it never will. If there’s anything I can do that will make you—’ He shook his head in frustration. ‘No. Let’s leave this until later when you’ve rested.’
‘I’ll be here,’ I said. ‘I won’t run away this time, I promise.’ No matter what damned visions I had, I would sit down and have this conversation with him. I couldn’t delay it any longer.
‘You could make it easier and come home with me now. You can sleep in the spare room, then we can talk things through when you wake up. You can trust me, Emma.’
