Heart of Steel: Steel Hawk, Book 2

by Eve Devon

  When he released her some minutes later, it was to rest his forehead against hers and mutter, “I’m sorry. And I believe you.”

  His fingertips danced down her throat to wrap around her chain and with a quick groan he kissed her once more.

  “So I take it we now get your full concentration on catching who really did this?”

  “Oh, you have my word,” he said with a grin, turning back to start the car.

  Nearing the castle, chewing on her lip, Honeysuckle finally got out the other thing that had been on her mind. “If that’s not me in the video, do you think it’s Edward?”

  “I can’t rule him out, Honeysuckle. I’m sorry,” he said, casting her a quick glance before training his eyes back on the road. “Not until we find out where he is.”

  “But if it is him, then he deliberately got someone to dress up as me. That’s sick. And also it means we’re back to this being connected to Steel Hawk again.” She sighed in frustration. “I don’t get it. I was so certain this was about a descendent with a grudge. I can’t believe one of our own would…” She trailed off, unable to say the word.

  “Betray us?” Adam supplied for her.

  “Can you at least reserve judgment until we speak to him?” Honeysuckle asked.

  “I want to search his room again.”

  “Again?”

  “Last night, I had Anton show me Edward’s room.”

  “But if you didn’t find anything then, why would you find something now?”

  “Because you’ll be with me. And you’re so certain he couldn’t be involved, so you’re going in opposite to me. Together, we might find something I overlooked last night.”

  * * * * *

  Back at the castle, Adam parked the rental, and then they hurried in via the main entrance.

  Could Edward have hidden the type of serious skills needed to hack into his software? Like Honeysuckle, Adam was beginning to question what Edward would have to gain by destroying Steel Hawk.

  He bypassed the elevator automatically and headed for the stairs, picking up speed and running up the last flight, with Honeysuckle right behind him.

  “Wait, how do we get into his room?”

  “Damn. We need a pass from Gustav or Anton,” Adam said, stopping right outside Edward’s bedroom door.

  He kicked the wall in frustration, and the door to Edward’s room creaked open.

  “This isn’t going to be good,” Adam said, signaling for Honeysuckle to stand back against the wall.

  He had made it two steps into the room before he saw Gustav Ambrus lying on the floor.

  “Damn it.” Bending down, he checked for signs of life, knowing from Gustav’s empty stare that he was too late.

  The man was dead.

  Honeysuckle gasped when she entered the room and put a hand over her mouth, her eyes going round with horror.

  “No,” she said, lowering her hand. “No, no, no. There’s no way Edward Long could have done this.”

  Pulling out his cell phone, Adam called Anton.

  “Anton? You need to get up to Edward Long’s room right now. Gustav Ambrus is dead. Murdered, by the looks of it.” He didn’t even wait for his response. Standing up, he reached for Honeysuckle and wrapped his arms around her.

  “Why? Why is he lying here dead?”

  Adam stared at the puddle of blood seeping out from under Gustav’s body.

  “I know you think Edward couldn’t possibly have done this,” he said, stroking up and down Honeysuckle’s back in soothing circles. “But we have to at least try to accept the possibility.”

  “But why Gustav? Did he disturb him? Try to stop him from leaving? Was he somehow involved?”

  “I don’t know.” He frowned, thinking he couldn’t see any blood on the front of Gustav. Had he been stabbed in the back but laid down on his back? He didn’t look as if he had fallen.

  He looked as if he had been placed.

  Anton Haas rushed into the room and stared down at Gustav’s body. “I had to notify the police. They’ll be here shortly. How could this have happened?”

  “We’re not sure. The door was open when we got here.”

  Adam watched Anton’s face tighten as he stared down at the lifeless body of the head of operations. “A knife, you think?”

  “I would think so. See how the blood is coming from underneath him? How could he have fallen backward if he was struck from behind?”

  “You mean this could have been staged?” Honeysuckle asked, breaking away from Adam and stepping closer to the body.

  “Careful not to touch anything,” Anton informed her as she bent down with a frown on her face. “I have certain leeway as head of security, but for this, we must wait for the police to arrive.”

  Adam saw Honeysuckle nod absently and then tip her head at an odd angle to peer even closer at Gustav.

  “Oh my God.” Looking up at Adam with shock on her face, she gestured to the hem of Gustav’s suit jacket. “Is that what I think it is?”

  Both Adam and Anton bent to get a closer look. There, peeking out from beneath the hem of the dead man’s jacket was the sparkling Pasha Star.

  “Stop,” Anton commanded, hauling Honeysuckle to her feet as she automatically reached for the jewel.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Adam felt the top of his spine tingle with unease as Anton took charge of the proceedings when the police entered the room. For a split second, when the head of security had put his hands on Honeysuckle, Adam’s muscles, already tight from the shock of finding Gustav, had cramped up on him, leaving him feeling helpless. Had Anton been about to show that he was involved in this too?

  But he was just making sure Honeysuckle didn’t taint the crime scene.

  “Is it real?” Adam heard Anton ask Honeysuckle as she prepared to authenticate the stone. She held it half-wrapped in a handkerchief. The diamond would be tested for prints, although Adam doubted any would be found on it—except, maybe, Edward’s? Had he placed it by Gustav’s body and then fled?

  “Oh yes, this is the Pasha Star,” Honeysuckle said with reverence, sweeping her gaze across its facets.

  Adam watched the sparkling prisms shoot out across the room as Honeysuckle tilted the diamond up under the artificial light from the ceiling.

  Colored light danced across the closet doors.

  “Check the closet and see if Mr. Long’s things are still here,” Anton directed one of his guards, and Adam saw the senior policeman who had taken brief statements from them nod his approval.

  Seconds later, the policeman was making a note that the closets were empty.

  “Better check the bathroom as well,” Adam mentioned, despite being fairly certain that would be empty too.

  The guard came out of the bathroom, commenting that there was nothing in there—the guest had obviously cleared out, and Adam winced at the disbelieving expression crossing Honeysuckle’s face. She really couldn’t countenance Edward having something to do with this and Adam knew the itch at the top of his spine was alerting him to the fact that their newest problem was now finding out where the hell Steel Hawk’s company lawyer was.

  “Sir?” Another man in uniform entered the room and headed straight for the senior policeman.

  The tension in the room rose as the two men spoke in hushed voices for a few moments and then immediately called Anton over to them. Adam watched the head of security listen, swear under his breath, and then turn to face Honeysuckle and him.

  “We have another situation,” Anton informed them. “This policeman was detailed with searching the lower floors and found the body of one of the queen’s personal maids.”

  “Body?” Honeysuckle blanched and Adam moved to stand beside her.

  “Stabbed as well,” Anton confirmed. “And shoved into a linen closet.”

  “Oh my God. Is
it—Was her name, Elsa?” Honeysuckle asked, her voice a whisper.

  “I believe so, yes.”

  Honeysuckle shook her head as if she was trying to get various pieces of a puzzle to drop into place. “The day we arrived here she came to collect the jewelry and gown I was to wear at the coronation ball. I remember feeling uncomfortable that she wanted my jewelry too and so I didn’t give her my Steel Hawk key. Adam,” she said, clutching his forearm. “Do you think she passed on the details of what I would be wearing to someone?”

  “Someone?” Adam threw out, his mind spinning with the new information. “Or, Edward,” he finished, his voice low. “Either way, she can no longer exonerate him or lead us to him.”

  “Whoever did this,” Anton said, taking Adam’s summation to its next conclusion, “is cleaning up what they see as loose ends.”

  “And then vanishing,” Adam agreed, his heart heavy. “We’re going to need that audience with the king right now,” Adam insisted to Anton, who nodded and offered the police one of his teams to help seal the room.

  “I will take you to his lodgings, but I’ll have to be available to liaise with the authorities if I’m needed,” Anton said as one of his guards arrived to take up sentry post outside the room. “No one comes into this room unless I am with them,” he instructed the guard.

  On the way to the castle keep, Adam couldn’t help wishing Max would phone with news of a GPS signal from Edward’s phone.

  If Edward had been working with Gustav Ambrus and they’d argued over the diamond, Adam didn’t think Edward would have left the gem behind. But if Edward had discovered Gustav was the perpetrator and Edward had killed him in the struggle, Adam couldn’t imagine Edward leaving the diamond behind either. Had Edward killed Elsa or had Gustav?

  He gritted his teeth through the elevator ride, focused instead on returning the diamond to its rightful owner.

  “Your Majesty,” Adam greeted, and bowed formally.

  “Mr. Steel. Ms. Hawk. I understand that one of the queen’s personal maids has been found dead and that also the body of Gustav Ambrus has been found in your company lawyer’s room.”

  “Correct. Along with the Pasha Star,” Honeysuckle said.

  Queen Izabella gasped. “But how has our diamond been found in the castle?”

  “Either it never left,” Adam said, “or it was brought back in and deliberately placed in a Steel Hawk employee’s room. We don’t yet know how Elsa and Gustav fit into the diamond being stolen.”

  “Once again, Steel Hawk has come to our rescue,” said the king.

  “Your Majesty, we haven’t done anything to aid finding the diamond, other than to be in the right place at the right time,” Adam said quietly. Yes, he was incredibly relieved that the priceless gemstone was back where it belonged. He could not forget, though, that someone had deliberately broken into his security case to get it in the first place.

  “I…we,” he amended, glancing at Honeysuckle, “believe that someone bears ill will toward the royal family and because of our connection to you has been using us to hurt you.”

  The king looked visibly shaken, and not for the first time did Adam wish he were better with words.

  “Your Majesty,” Honeysuckle interjected, “we have found evidence that the claims against Nathaniel Hawk in the recently published biography are false. Nathaniel Hawk could not have been the Raven between 1851 and 1855, because we have photographic proof that during some of the gem thefts, he wasn’t even in the country. We also have records from London newspaper archives that show he was actually working with the police to help them find who was carrying out the thefts.”

  “But this is wonderful, is it not?” Queen Izabella commented. “You have cleared your ancestor’s name.”

  “Yes,” Adam confirmed. “And Steel Hawk is starting proceedings against the publishing house. We believe, but have not been able to prove it yet, that the author of that book is a woman called Monique Vass. She used to be the royal biographer here.”

  “Good Lord. Well then, we need to find out if she is linked to Gustav Ambrus,” the king instructed.

  “There’s more. Before we arrived in Zarrenburg, Ms. Hawk’s apartment was broken into, and the only thing that wasn’t touched was a key that was designed by Rose Hawk. There are two keys, and they have four emblems on them, two of which relate specifically to Zarrenburg—the portcullis from your flag and the name Burgh. Putting the other two symbols together—a tree and the symbol for a female—we believe Rose Hawk was trying to record a secret.”

  The atmosphere fell heavy as the king and queen weighed what Adam was trying to say.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Honeysuckle glance worriedly at him, and he shot her a quick look that said to wait for the king to speak.

  “Could all this, what has happened now, really date back to 1851?”

  “Not necessarily. The person could simply be using that to skew their vendetta. But if Rose Hawk was recording a secret, some sort of insurance, and the person knew that and that’s why they came after the key, then yes, they are linked. Possibly there is a direct descendent who is choosing now to exact their revenge.”

  “I will need counsel on this matter,” the king said gravely. “But the first priority is to discover who stole the Pasha Star and who is responsible for the deaths of two guards, a maid and my head of operations. I am pleased that for you, the past will no longer affect your present. It seems Zarrenburg must prevail a little longer to bring about the same. I would like you to know that if this Monique Vass is involved, we will search Zarrenburg to find her. She will be punished for what she did to your company, as well as what she did to her country.”

  “Um, Your Majesty,” Honeysuckle said, stepping forward, “we might have cleared Nathaniel Hawk’s name and be in the process of repairing our reputation, but that does not mean to say we feel our role finished here.”

  Adam couldn’t stop his smile from forming, because it appeared that Honeysuckle Hawk did not run away from anything.

  “I—”

  “We,” Adam inserted, raising his eyebrow when Honeysuckle’s jaw dropped open.

  “We,” she amended, turning back to the king and queen, “would like to stay and assist in any way we can.”

  * * * * *

  In the elevator on the way back down, Honeysuckle turned to Adam and grinned. “You don’t have to stay with me, you know. You could go back to Steel Hawk and start working on Descry straight away.”

  “Not until we find Edward. Not until we find out how this all connects, so that the puzzle is completely solved.”

  “Past and present in their rightful places again,” Honeysuckle commented.

  “Someone sure looks as if they can’t separate past and present.”

  “True. What about you? You don’t like the idea of your past being entwined with your present?”

  “The past affects us all,” Adam said with a frown. The irony of actually being in an elevator when he said those words brought a bitter smile, which he hid by casting his head downward to stare at his feet.

  “I think I’ve learned that it should teach us, not rule us.”

  Her soft words brought his head up because she was right.

  He had allowed the past to rule him for too long.

  He was about to tell her that when the elevator doors pinged open and she stepped out.

  “I thought I’d head back to the suite. Start working on those lists.”

  “Good idea.”

  They walked across the cobbled courtyard in silence and entered the main building to their suite.

  And when Honeysuckle automatically bypassed the elevator and headed for the stairs, he knew she was doing that for him, and before he could change his mind, he reached out, took her hand, and pulled her back in the direction of the elevator.

  Stepping inside with he
r, he pressed the Doors Closed button and inserted his pass.

  When he didn’t press the number for their floor, Honeysuckle reached out to do it for him. Placing his hand over hers, he stopped her. With the pass in and the doors closed, the elevator wasn’t going anywhere for a while.

  He took a deep breath and, before the panic could gather momentum, said, “I need to tell you about Alexa.”

  He felt Honeysuckle run her thumb reassuringly over the knuckles of his hand, and with one simple gesture, she made it easy for him.

  “I was a complete geek at school. No different at college. Plus, I was younger than everyone else attending. My parents really wrestled with whether or not to send me early. The social part of college life is as important as the academic and they worried. To be honest, I didn’t care about the social side. All I cared about was getting my degree early so I could get to work in one of the top design firms and get some experience under my belt.”

  “So that when Steel Hawk came headhunting, you had something relevant to bring to the table,” Honeysuckle said, remembering.

  “Right. Anyway, despite being younger, I loved being around people who loved the same things I did. A group of us started getting together to throw around design ideas. I worked on design, one friend worked on build, and the other worked on marketing. They graduated at the end of that year, and I kept studying.” He was beginning to sweat now, and his heart had started to race.

  “Alexa—one of the two friends—kept in touch. I was glad because I’d always got on better with her. Plus,” he smiled ruefully, “it didn’t hurt to be seventeen and showing up at parties with a hot twenty-one-year-old on my arm.”

  “I’ll bet.”

  “I fell for her. Hard. I was young, even younger emotionally—hell, she could have asked me to do anything—” He stared hard at the pass in the elevator panel, remembering how gullible he’d been. “She was the first person who could pull my focus off work. But even better, we could talk about work.”

  “I get it. Her mind was as good as her body.”

  “Your mind is as good. Better,” he said, because Honeysuckle wasn’t all about the work and sometimes he needed to be challenged and pulled out of himself. She knew him that well.