Page 14 of Roses and Murder
“First of all, fuck you. Secondly, don’t manhandle me.”
“Shit, sorry. I just needed to get out of there. The woman who trained me to do this tried to help with the whole ‘strangers touching me’ thing, but I still hate it. The women always do it. I try to get what I need and get out of there as fast as I can.”
At least he looked like he got it instead of wanting to maim my face again.
“Yeah, you’ve always been like that. Maybe the next one will think I’m sexier than you and I can deal with it. Let’s go look at the crime scene.”
I didn’t know whyanyof these women found me attractive. I was missing an eye and when this woman met me, Lance had mangled my face. Panas reset my nose, but that and my eyes were purple and swollen. She still zeroed in on me instead of Lance, who shouldn’t be allowed to be that beautiful.
I lived with women and I was going to marry one someday, but I really didn’t understand them at all. Maybe that was why everyone I had marrying feelings towards were men, even if Lance Argent hated me and confused the shit out of me.
At least he didn’t look like he wanted to head butt me again.
Ronan risked his life and came to the tavern for lunch to tell me Neco’s big secret. Yeah, I made no excuses for him. We were all stupid when it came to Lucy and Lucy was keeping secrets, too.
Lucy didn’tknowshe was keeping a secret when everything went down with Neco. She found out at the same time when her period started. If Neco had gotten his head out of his arse and apologized for hitting her, she would have apologized again for what she said and the giant moron could have just asked her if she knew who her father was.
Lucy probably wouldn’t have told him it was Folcard because the man was an utter shite and I wouldn’t name drop him eitherand risk a curse. Shewouldhave told Neco they weren’t related if he named his.
The Barons thought they were superior to women for some reason, but we were idiots sometimes.
Anyway, this called for one of my brilliant plans. One that Caitrin and the Madame weren’t going to thump me in the head over because we ended up in the cells again. We all wanted Neco back. Neco wanted Neco back now that he knew he wasn’t lusting after his half-sibling.
We just needed to wear our girlfriend down. Our stubborn, beautiful woman could hold a grudge better than Petunia. I’dneverbetray her and tell Neco she wasn’t Lance, but Neco was never going to grovel like she needed while he thought he just punched Lance in the face.
I suggested Lucy take Neco and Beck and Ronan told Neco tohelpher instead of getting in her way. Ronan snitched and said Neco set off for Lower Cutwart to find Lucy. Lucy was stubborn, but she wasn’t stupid. Neco might have trouble walking after she dick punched him, but she’d accept his help.
Right? Lucy wasreallymad at Neco.
But this is why we were so good together as a group. I had that kind of face where people spilled their deepest secrets to me. Lucy and Neco were holdouts, but I knew theirs now.
I needed to getallof us together. I could get them talking and Beck could walk them through processing their shit. Ronan could toss in some nuggets about how anger rotted your gut and maybe suggest some mutual revenge they could get on each other so they felt better since Ronan was a sneaky shit who didn’t get angry, he got revenge.
Lucy promised to be back by the time we got busy, which was in two hours. Lucy was always punctual, and she always kept her word.
So, I waltzed into the kitchen and roped Basselt into my plan because if Neco came back with her, I needed a reason for him to stay so this worked.
The bodies were gone, but the house was still graphically violent. There was blood spatter everywhere, but the Ghoul had also painted things on the wall with the blood. It was disturbing, and I wasn’t with someone I could go to for comfort.
Neco might be used to this, but I wasn’t. Neco got what he needed and got out of the neighbor’s house. I needed to do the same and then I could go home to people who could comfort me.
“Are you getting anything from this?” I asked.
“Loads.”
“You going to share, arsehole?”
“Not here. No one needs to see this.”
“Even you?” I demanded.
Neco mopped his hand over his face and kind of looked like he wanted to hit me.
“I don’tdothis, Lance. Someone acts up in Guttertown and I do my due diligence. Most of the men who were hurting people in Guttertown were hurting their family behind closed doors. I find out how to get into their houseswithoutalerting their families so I don’t have to worry about witnesses. I’m careful.
“Listen to me. I haveneverkilled an innocent person and if Nestran’s justice system actually worked, I wouldn’t be killing anyone. I don’t know how the Ghoul is picking his victims, but he enjoys killing. Unless we work together andstophim, he’s going to escalate, and this is going to happen in more houses. This is putting me in a rotten mood and I need a drink. Let’s get back to the Whispering Raven.”
Ugh. Neco figured something out, but he decided to go all ‘strong and silent’-type while we were making the walk back to Guttertown.
