Fire Born (City of Dragons Book 5)

by Val St. Crowe

  “Jeremy Williams hired another killer when he couldn’t find Silas,” said Lachlan.

  “Oh, but we’re burying the most important part,” said Christy.

  “You are?” I said.

  “The victim?” she said. “It was the blogger.”

  My lips parted. “So, they were following him?”

  “Maybe,” she said. “Eaglelinx got to him, anyway.”

  I shook my head. “That’s… so we can’t get in touch with him. We can’t get any of the proof we need to tie him to the rogue dragons.”

  “And Jeremy Williams has made it clear that he’s going to keep killing,” said Lachlan. “So, we have to stop that.”

  “The good news is,” said Christy, “we were able to attach that bank account wiring money to Silas to Williams.”

  “So,” said Lachlan, “we put in for an arrest warrant. Waiting for approval. Then we go and nab the son of a bitch.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Jeremy Williams eyed my stomach. “Penelope Cooper, what a surprise.”

  “It’s Caspian,” I said. “My name’s Caspian.”

  “Right,” he said. “Well, who would want to hang onto Cooper’s name? Something about that guy always made me itchy. I think it was his smile. He had this really annoying smile. Looked sort of… overdone. Like he was faking everything.” Jeremy gave us all a big smile, which looked incredibly fake, ironically. “Anyway, when I heard that the police were coming to see me today, I didn’t expect you to be with them. But now that I think about it, I guess I do remember something about some serial killer who was getting those girls? You had something to do with putting him away, that right?”

  “That’s right,” I said.

  “Too bad you’re not having any luck with this new one,” said Jeremy. “I heard there was another murder last night.” He smiled at Lachlan and Christy. “Must be tough trying to chase down someone so… evil.”

  Lachlan folded his arms over his chest.

  Christy glared at him.

  Jeremy’s fake smile widened. “I’m sorry. Where are my manners?” He offered Lachlan his hand. “I’m Jeremy Williams, and you are?”

  “Detective Lachlan Flint,” said Lachlan, gazing at Jeremy’s outstretched hand with disdain.

  “Detective Christiane Dirk,” said Christy.

  Jeremy waited a beat, then withdrew his hand. His smile disappeared. “What can I do for you, detectives?”

  “It’s a funny thing, actually,” said Lachlan. “We’ve caught the serial killer.”

  “You have?” Jeremy raised his eyebrows. “Well, congratulations.”

  “You’re the serial killer,” said Lachlan.

  Jeremy laughed. “What? That’s preposterous.” He cocked his head to one side. “I know. This is a joke, right? Cartwright down in accounting paid you guys to come up here and yank my chain. You can tell him nice try, but I didn’t fall for it.”

  “Not a joke,” said Christy.

  “What?” Jeremy looked around at our faces. “Please, ladies and gentleman. I’ve never killed anyone.”

  “Maybe not personally,” said Lachlan. “But you definitely ordered the hits and paid for them too.”

  Jeremy laughed again, a deep belly laugh. “Ordered hits? Like the mafia?” He clutched the back of a chair for balance, and continued to laugh. “You can’t be serious.”

  We watched him. We waited.

  He straightened, all pretense of laughter gone. “All right, I’ll play along. Why on earth would I want anyone dead?”

  “They all figured out the company’s secret,” I said.

  “That the eagleclaw candy causes dragons to shift out of water and turn into raged-out husks of themselves,” said Lachlan. “A fact that you and your company have been hiding from the populace for quite some time, covering up every instance of violence that one of these rogue dragons is responsible for.”

  Jeremy’s eyes were cold. “That’s insane. Do you have any idea how you sound?”

  “You hired Silas Gordon to take care of the leaks for you,” I said.

  “You wired him money from an offshore account that is tied to you by a trail of other bank accounts and credit cards,” said Lachlan.

  Jeremy’s face twitched. He sat down behind his desk and gave us a cold look. “You don’t have proof for any of these things about eagleclaws.”

  “No,” said Lachlan. “Funny thing, that. We had some fairly damning evidence, but the flash drive it was stored on was destroyed, and the man who gave it to us turned up dead. That was the ‘victim’ you heard about on the news this morning, but then you already knew about that.”

  “I most certainly did not,” said Jeremy. “I knew nothing. And this business with someone claiming I hired him? He’s lying. And the offshore account? Not mine. There’s nothing here you can prove.”

  “We’ve proved enough to get a warrant for your arrest,” said Lachlan.

  Jeremy stood up. He glanced at the door, and then he glanced back at Lachlan. He reached out with both hands, magic flowing out of him.

  We all fell down on the floor, our feet pulled out from under us by Jeremy’s magic.

  Jeremy was sprinting for the door.

  I threw out my hand, using magic to shut the door in his face.

  Jeremy grasped the handle, tried to tug it open.

  I narrowed my eyes, using magic to keep it sealed shut.

  Jeremy turned to me, gesturing with one hand.

  I slid backwards on my butt, colliding with the wall. All the air came out of me in a whoosh.

  “Don’t you touch her!” Lachlan screamed, pointing at Jeremy and then pointing at the ceiling. He used his magic to pick Jeremy up, sliding him up the wall, so that the man was hanging upside down from the ceiling, limbs flailing.

  Jeremy breathed out fire, a massive ball of it, right for Lachlan.

  Lachlan ducked, but he lost his grip on Jeremy.

  Jeremy slammed into the ground.

  The fire ball went over Lachlan’s head and caught the curtains on the far window on fire.

  The smoke alarm went off.

  Then the sprinkler system kicked on.

  Jeremy ran for the door again.

  Christy yanked a gun out of her belt, taking aim. “Stop where you are!” she yelled.

  Jeremy tugged the door open.

  Christy pulled the trigger.

  A tranquilizer dart lodged itself in Jeremy’s neck. He stumbled a few steps out the door, and then he fell flat on his face.

  I groaned, pushing myself to my feet.

  Lachlan was next to me right away. “You all right?”

  “Fine,” I said. “It’s getting harder and harder to get up off the floor these days.”

  Christy stalked over to Jeremy’s prone form. “Jeremy Williams,” she said, “you’re under arrest.” She pulled out her handcuffs, bent over him, and clicked one over one of his wrists.

  * * *

  “Well, Jeremy Williams got himself a one-way ticket to Roxbone prison,” said Lachlan. “He’s going to wake up behind bars.”

  “But will he stay there?” I said. “He’s got a lot of resources, you know? He’s a wealthy man.”

  “These are serious charges,” said Lachlan. “Lot of dead bodies. I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”

  “Yeah,” said Christy, “but he was right that we can’t prove his motive. And who knows if a jury will take the word of a contract killer?”

  “Besides,” I said, “I don’t feel like Williams acted alone. This goes deeper. There are others involved, other people high up in Eaglelinx.”

  “You’re right,” said Lachlan, “but we’ve got at least one person responsible behind bars. And we know the truth.”

  “Yeah, about that,” said Christy. “What’s all this about rogues, exactly? You guys know stuff that you’re not telling me.”

  Lachlan and I exchanged a glance.

  “Well,” said Lachlan. “That’s a long story.”

&nb
sp; “Complicated,” I said.

  “Boring,” he said. “You already know the highlights.”

  “Dragons shift out of water, they lose their humanity and become monsters,” I said. “What else is there to know?”

  She folded her arms over her chest. “You know, I thought we were getting somewhere. I thought the three of us might actually be becoming friends.”

  “We are,” I said. “You and Lachlan aren’t spewing hate at each other anymore. That’s got to count for something.”

  “But you two are never going to let me in. You’re always hiding things.”

  “Nothing interesting,” said Lachlan.

  We both smiled at her.

  She shook her head. “And you guys wonder why it was I thought you murdered Cooper.”

  “Well, we didn’t,” I said.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I know. But what did you do?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  “You guys should invite us out for a celebration more often,” said Felicity, taking a big bite of her burger. “I’m always up for an impromptu lunch.”

  “It was nice of you to think of us,” said Jensen.

  “Well, we were going to spend the whole afternoon putting the nursery together, but we thought we did need to eat,” said Lachlan.

  “Yup,” I said. “And it’s not like there’s anything going on at the hotel. Too bad Connor couldn’t be here, though.” It was daylight, and he was stone.

  The four of us were sitting at a booth at the Flamingo. I was consuming everything in sight. I found solving a murder case made me extremely hungry. I’d already eaten a huge sub and a mess of fries. Now I was picking fries off of Lachlan’s plate.

  He slapped me away. “Hey, these are my fries.”

  “I’m going to have to order more, aren’t I?” I said, craning my neck to look around for a waitress.

  “You can have mine,” said Jensen.

  “Oh, that’s okay,” I said.

  “Actually,” said Felicity. “Someone booked a room at the hotel.”

  I turned to look at her. “What? When?”

  “First weekend of March,” she said. “One of the suites upstairs.”

  I grinned. “And it begins.” I caught the eye of the waitress and waved her over.

  “Before long we’ll be busy as crap again,” said Felicity.

  The waitress smiled at me, stopping next to the table. “Yes?”

  “I need another order of fries,” I said.

  “Coming right up,” she said, scurrying off.

  Felicity set down her burger. “Well, so you guys caught the bad guy?”

  “We caught a bad guy,” I said.

  “There are always more out there,” said Lachlan.

  “Yeah, but there are more connected to this case, and there’s candy on the market turning people into rogues.”

  “We’ll get there, Penny,” he said. “For now, I really think we need to focus on the baby.”

  “He’s not wrong,” said Felicity. “You could have the baby any day now, right?”

  I made a face. “I’m telling you, it’s going to be weeks. I’m going to end up being late. I have a feeling about it. This baby is not coming on time.”

  “Did you get a chance to tour the hospital?” Felicity asked.

  “No,” I said. I snagged another of Lachlan’s fries. “We really need to do that.”

  “I thought you were going to call,” he said.

  “When have I had time to call?” I demanded. “I’ve been working this case nonstop.”

  “You want me to call?” said Lachlan.

  “Yes,” I said. “Maybe I do.”

  Jensen motioned with his head for Felicity to let him out.

  “What?” she said, not moving.

  “I think I left the lights on in the car,” he said.

  “Really?” she said.

  He nodded. “Let me go check, okay?”

  She furrowed her brow. “I don’t think you did. I think I would have noticed.”

  “Let me check,” he said. “I won’t be able to concentrate on anything until I do.”

  Felicity shrugged. She got out of the booth.

  Jensen got out too.

  Felicity kissed him on the cheek. “Hurry back, babe.”

  He smiled at her. “You got it.”

  She sat back down in the booth, still smiling.

  I waited until Jensen was out of earshot. “So… no more issues with Scott or with feeling like you and Jensen aren’t good together?”

  “Well, I haven’t talked to Scott at all,” she said, picking her burger back up again. She squinted at it. “I don’t know… I guess in the end, no matter what’s up with Jensen and me, I know he loves me. And I’m not going to throw that away.”

  I grinned. “Good. I think that’s the right thing. I’m glad you two are happy again.”

  She grinned. She took a big bite of her burger.

  “What’s this about?” said Lachlan.

  “Nothing,” I said. “You have to promise never to say anything to Jensen about it.”

  He shrugged. “Okay. Since I don’t know what it is, I’m not sure what I’d say.”

  “Well, that’s fine,” I said. “All’s well that ends well.”

  Felicity stuff the rest of her burger in her mouth and chewed. “So,” she said around her mouthful, “what are you doing to the nursery?”

  “Eew,” I said to her, throwing a napkin at her. “Can you not talk while you’re eating?”

  She giggled. “Sorry,” she said.

  “Don’t apologize, shut your mouth and chew,” I said.

  She chewed.

  “We’re going to unpack all the toys and clothes from the shower,” said Lachlan. “Gotta get everything put away.”

  “And make up the crib,” I said. “And put up the mobile.”

  Lachlan nodded. “And, uh, I still think we need a rocking chair. I swear to God, you’ll be amazed how much rocking helps. So, if we get everything done, we should go shopping.”

  Felicity swallowed. “Sounds like you guys are going to be busy.”

  “We don’t have to do everything this afternoon,” I said.

  “I think we should,” said Lachlan. “I mean, why wait? Who knows when we’re going to have a whole afternoon to ourselves, right?”

  Jensen came back.

  “Were the lights on?” asked Felicity.

  “Nah, you were right,” he said, sliding back into the booth. “Glad I made sure, though.”

  “Did someone order more fries?” said a voice.

  I looked up to see Ophelia there. She was holding a plate of fries and grinning from ear to ear.

  “Hey, Ophelia,” I said. “I’d get up and give you a hug, but it’s not so easy getting up and down these days.”

  “Not a problem,” said Ophelia, setting the fries down in front of me. “How is every little thing, Penny child?”

  “Good,” I said. “We closed a case today. We’re getting the nursery all ready. And we’re having a wonderful meal with friends. Everything’s pretty perfect.”

  “I’m glad,” she said. “You been through too much lately. You could use some peace.”

  “Here, here,” I said.

  She wagged her finger at me. “You watch it, though, child. You know what they say? You get all your business taken care of, and the baby might decide to show right up.”

  “I’m telling you, people, there’s no way he’s coming yet. It’s going to be weeks.”

  * * *

  Lachlan gestured to the rocking chair in our beautiful nursery, which looked amazing. All of the clothes and toys and baby things had been put away. We’d purchased a rocking chair and a little round, blue throw rug for the middle of the room.

  “Have a seat,” said Lachlan.

  I sunk gratefully into the rocking chair.

  “So,” he said. “What do you think?”

  “I think it’s perfect,” I said, resting a hand on my belly. “I
think that I’ll spend lots of time here holding him and rocking and reading stories.”

  He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “You definitely will.”

  I shut my eyes. “Is this really happening?”

  He kissed my forehead again. “Yes,” he whispered.

  I opened my eyes and smiled up at him. “I’m afraid.”

  “Of losing him?” he said. “It’ll only be a little longer, and then—”

  “No, not of losing him, of having him.” I hugged myself, biting my lip. “Can I even do this? Can I be a mom?”

  Lachlan sat down on the ground in front of me. He took both my hands in his. “Penny, listen to me. You are going to be an amazing mother. You have a motherly heart. You’re always taking care of people.”

  “I keep thinking of what Christy said. We did awful things, Lachlan.”

  He was quiet.

  “And I worry that the future is even darker. That there are some awful dark beasts waiting out in the deep water, that they’re going to rise up and come for everyone, and that it’s all going to be on the head of our tiny, tiny boy to stop them.”

  “Penny, we don’t know if any of that’s true.”

  “But if it is, we’ll have to fight again,” I said. “If it comes down to Wyatt’s life, we’ll use the whiteflame. We’ll have to. To save him, we would do anything.”

  “No, I know that,” he said. “I know.”

  We were quiet.

  Neither of us moved for several moments.

  But then Lachlan let go of my hands and stood up. He wandered over to the crib, and he peered down into it, trailing his fingers over the rails.

  I rocked in the chair, turning away from him.

  We were together, but we were apart, both consumed by our own worries.

  “I might have something I need to do this evening,” he said suddenly.

  “What?” I said. “Like for work?”

  “Not exactly,” he said. “More for the baby.”

  “Oh,” I said. “Can I know what it is?”

  “I’ll tell you,” he said. “I will. But after.”

  “It’s a surprise?” I murmured, hoping that maybe he was planning something light and fun and sweet, something to make the mood less dire.

  But he said, “Not like that.”

  “Oh.”