“Um. Sure,” I said.
“Great. Sheriff, where are you keeping the big bad prisoner?” Ace asked.
Sheriff Jones’s round cheeks reddened and sweat beaded on his upper lip. “I-In here,” he said. “After you.” The door buzzed again.
As soon as both disappeared behind it, Jimmy took out his cell phone. “I can’t believe Ace Wood is here. I need to call Cass. She’s going to flip. She’s had a crush on him since junior high.”
“When did you become a cop?”
“I completed my training during the fall. Cass didn’t tell you? I suppose with everything that’s happened, she didn’t think to mention it. I’m really sorry about your mom, Cat. I was at the wake and the funeral, but there were so many people that I don’t think you saw me.”
I strained to hear voices beyond the door. “Is Sheriff Jones treating you well?”
“He’s cool. But I’m still on desk duty. I was hoping for some field jobs.”
“This is Rowan, Jimmy. You should move to Detroit for some field jobs.”
“Maybe. You know, when I saw Cruz at Bee’s Place the night he got into town, I told Blake and Cass something was off.”
I nearly laughed and told him, No shit, he’s a faerie, but obviously I kept that to myself.
“Why do you think Ace Wood is here?” Jimmy asked.
“Cruz grew up with his family,” I said.
“That is dope. Apparently their island is like the most insane place to live. You know, that’s on my bucket list of places to visit before I croak.”
“I didn’t know.” Metal clanked beyond the door. Had the sheriff set Cruz free? “I don’t think they allow visitors.”
“Still, how cool would it be to go?” he asked, just as the door buzzed behind him. He jumped to his feet to hold it open.
As Ace and Cruz walked out, Jimmy blinked. Then his gaze, like mine, darted to Cruz’s unshackled wrists, and an eyebrow lifted on his large forehead.
“All good, sheriff?” he asked.
“You wanted field work, Jimmy? I got something for you,” Jones said, cheeks even brighter than before. He slapped a piece of paper into Jimmy’s hands. “Mr. Wood was kind enough to hire a private detective to find out who Mr. Mason’s true killer was. Mr. Vega, I am deeply sorry for my rash conviction. I hadn’t realized Mr. Mason had called on you to replace him.”
I shot Cruz an incredulous glance.
He smiled at the sheriff, but I suspected it was intended for me. “Don’t mention it, Sheriff. You couldn’t have known.” He turned to go. “Catori, I owe your father an apology. Would you mind terribly if we came home with you?”
“We?”
“Ace would like to meet him.”
“I could drive you over, if you need an extra vehicle?” Jimmy said.
“Jimmy,” the sheriff snapped. “I just handed you an assignment. Shoo.”
“Yes, sir. Right away, sir,” he said, quickly shrugging into his khaki winter jacket. He scuttled past me, but then doubled back. “I forgot the car keys.” He grabbed them from his desk drawer and dashed out of the station.
“Sheriff, it was a pleasure doing business with you,” Ace said.
As they shook hands, Sheriff Jones’s beady eyes darted toward me. “I phoned Derek and briefly explained things. He’s expecting you.”
“You have yourself a good evening, Sheriff,” Ace said, and then he pulled the front door open. “Ladies first.”
I walked out into the cold evening and stuffed my hands inside my pockets. Cruz and Ace joined me seconds later. Even though I expected Ace to glow like Cruz, when I saw that he did, it was still odd to witness.
“Where’s your car, Cruz?” Ace asked.
“Blake parked it right behind the station,” I said, tipping my chin to the wide alley that led to the jail parking lot.
After the sheriff had cuffed Cruz and dragged him to the cruiser, Blake had driven the sports car back. During the entire ride, he told me how lucky I was that they’d found me in time. I’d been too dazed to feel lucky.
“It’s a two-seater,” Cruz said.
“Right. I can get a ride back with…” I couldn’t ask Blake, because he would hang around, and I didn’t want him to. And Cass had just started her shift. And Bee didn’t drive. Maybe Mr. Hamilton? “With someone.”
“Nonsense. You go with Cruz. It’s such a clear night. Perfect for a little…promenade.”
“It’s far,” I said. “You can’t walk—”
“Who said anything about walking?” Ace winked at me, checked the alley, then levitated and shot upward like a human rocket. I snapped my neck back to watch his ascent. In seconds, he was as high up as a fugitive helium balloon, and then he whizzed through the darkness like a shooting star.
“He’s going to get there before us, isn’t he?” I asked stupidly.
“Most probably. Let’s not subject your poor father to too much time alone in Ace’s company.”
I nodded, gaze still turned upwards. My hair blew around my face and I raked it back. Besides a few stars, the sky was pitch-black. “I wish I could do that,” I said. “I can drive your car back if you also want to, you know, fly.”
“I’d rather drive,” he said.
“Why would anyone rather drive?”
His green eyes looked dark against his shiny skin.
“You don’t trust me with your car, is that it?”
“I don’t care about the car,” he said, his voice low. “I just thought you’d still have questions for me.”
“A few.”
“You have the keys?” he asked.
I blanched. “No. Blake has them. Shoot. You want me to go—”
“Why don’t you try starting it with your mind?”
“Huh? What?”
He tapped his temple.
“Oh. Uh. How—Do I just focus on it?”
“I heard that’s how your ancestors did it back in the day. They concentrated on what they wanted to happen and it happened.”
I swallowed, then turned my gaze to the car, and thought about the ignition button. Nothing happened. I squinted. Still nothing. I focused harder. Suddenly the car beeped and flashed.
“I did it,” I whispered in disbelief. Then I flung my gaze onto Cruz. “I did—” My excitement dwindled when I spied a small keypad in his hand and a grin on his face. “I didn’t do it, did I?”
“The sheriff gave them back to me.”
I was so embarrassed that my eyes fogged up. It was silly, and the tears were surely brought on by my exhaustion, but it didn’t change the fact that I felt like a massive fool.
“Oh, Catori, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Cruz said.
He stepped toward me but I held my palm out. I kept my eyes on the shimmery gray pavement, too mortified to look at him. “Just get me home.”
“Catori…”
“Please,” I said. I walked to his car, listening to the quiet echo of my boot heels. I opened the door and dropped inside, pulling the seat belt across my chest. Cruz swung his door open and got in. I kept my face turned away from him. He didn’t start the car. I tapped my foot. He reached out and turned my face toward him. The heat from his skin shocked my cold skin…shocked me.
“Don’t cry,” he said gently.
“I’m not,” I said, sniffling.
His thumb whisked a tear off my cheek. And then he tugged my face closer until I could feel his hot breath on my nose. “In time, I’m sure you’ll be able to do it.”
I hooked my fingers around his hand and hauled it off my cheek. “If doing it means becoming someone like Gwenelda, then I don’t want to.” I exhaled a shaky breath. “I don’t want any of this. I didn’t ask for any of this.”
“You could never be like Gwenelda.”
“How can you know that, Cruz?” I asked, scanning his eyes. He was so close that I could see all the different shades of green thrum around his black pupil.
“Because your heart doesn’t beat with hate. Your life doesn�
�t revolve around destroying us. And”—he pushed a stray lock of hair behind my ear—“I would never let you.”
“Never letting me would mean sticking around,” I told him. “Once you get Gwenelda, you’ll go home.”
“It depends,” he said, hand settling on the nape of my neck. He drew me closer.
“We had a deal. No staying,” I said, pulse quickening.
“I don’t like that deal,” he murmured, right before pressing his lips against mine.
Although I should have pushed him away, I couldn’t. The sparks that had erupted over my skin the first night he touched me exploded inside my body. I trembled. His hands brushed against my arms. Through my jacket sleeves, I felt the heat, but I still trembled because the tremors had nothing to do with my internal temperature. His hands rose back to my neck, then glided down the curve of my shoulders again. His tongue explored my mouth while his hands caressed my spine.
I pulled away, breathless. “What are we doing?”
“Faeries call it kissing.”
I smiled, and then I didn’t. “That’s not what I meant, Cruz.”
“I don’t know what we’re doing,” he said, his voice now grave. “I don’t know.” He looked at the brick wall in front of us, and stayed silent for so long that it exacerbated my anxiety. Without glancing my way, he started the car. “And we should probably not do it again,” he said as he pulled out of his parking space. Halfway home, he added, “Don’t tell Ace.”
As if I would blab about kissing a guy to a perfect stranger. I didn’t even kiss and tell my friends. Perhaps I was overreacting, but it pissed me off. I stuck my elbow on the armrest and stared out the window at the nearly full moon.
CHAPTER 11 – THE OFFER
The frostiness that had settled over Cruz and me in the car pursued us into the house. Dad and Ace were sitting on the couch talking. When we walked in, both looked up. Ace cocked an eyebrow, while my father shot up and wrapped his arms around me.
“What a day,” he whispered into my hair. “What a day…” He smelled like stale beer.
“Is everyone gone?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Even Aylen?”
He nodded.
“For good?”
“No, just for the night. She’ll be back tomorrow. She offered to bring breakfast. Not that we need any more food,” he said gesturing to the coffee table that was laden with bowls of chips, nuts, raw veggies, and candy. “I was thinking of driving some of this food over to the local shelter. They need it more than we do. Remember all those food drives we organized at your school?”
Ace cleared his throat. “Mr. Price, will you accept our offer?”
“What offer?” I asked, flinging my attention to Ace.
“This nice young man offered to buy our property—”
“It’s not on the market,” I said, glaring at Ace.
Dad frowned. “I thought this would make you ecstatic.”
“Mom is buried here. We’re not leaving her.”
“I’ll let you talk this over,” Ace said, standing up. “We’ll be back in the morning. You can give us your final answer then.”
“This is our final answer,” I said.
“Then I guess we have no more business here.” He walked over to the front door and pulled it open. “Let’s go home, brother.”
Brother?
Cruz glanced at me, rubbed the back of his neck, then glanced at Ace. “I’m exhausted, Ace. I’d like to stay overnight in Rowan”—he looked at Dad—“not in your house, of course, Mr. Price. We’ll get a room at Bee’s.”
“She doesn’t have any available rooms,” I said.
“You can stay in the guest room,” Dad offered.
“No. They can’t,” I said. “I don’t want anyone in the house. Can you respect that, Dad?”
A frown gusted over Ace’s face. “Clearly, we’ve overstayed our welcome, Cruz.”
“What if Gwenelda comes back?” Cruz said, staring at me intensely.
My eyes widened.
“I have a shotgun,” Dad said.
I swung my face from the two faeries to my father. “They told you about Gwenelda?”
“She was at the wake, honey,” Dad said. “And apparently she talked with you.”
My jaw dropped a little. How much had they told him?
“Mr. Mason mentioned marital problems when he asked Cruz to replace him.”
“You don’t say,” I muttered. My sarcasm was lost on Dad who’d apparently had no trouble swallowing Ace’s lies.
“You hear about husbands abusing wives all the time, but wives abusing husbands…that’s rare.” Dad shook his head. “Poor man. Poor, poor man.”
I flinched. “Huh?”
“Gwenelda was Mr. Mason’s wife. She killed him,” Dad said, very matter-of-factly.
“What a story,” I said, glowering at Cruz.
“To think she came all the way here to find out if he’d confessed the abuse to Cruz.” Dad shook his head. “Perhaps you should get out of here, Cruz. Just in case she isn’t apprehended tonight. I would hate for anything bad to happen to you.”
“Thank you for your consideration toward my future brother-in-law, Mr. Price,” Ace said.
“Brother-in-law?” I said.
“He’s engaged to my sister.” He slugged Cruz’s shoulder. “Wedding’s this summer. Anyway, we should go. I’ll wait for you in the car.” He strolled over to our front door and swung it open. As it closed behind him, cool air blasted through the warm living room, but it wasn’t cool enough to make the blush recede from my cheeks.
Engaged! I released my lip as I looked at Cruz and he looked at me. With Dad there, I couldn’t call him all the choice words that popped into my mind, so I spun around and tore up the stairs to my bedroom. When the front door banged shut a moment later, I walked up to my window and peered down. Cruz treaded across the snow toward his car. Right before getting in, he glanced up and held my gaze. Perhaps I should have turned away, but I didn’t. I couldn’t.
He broke our eye contact, his gaze sweeping the perimeter. I scanned the dark graveyard for Gwenelda. Had she returned? Had Jimmy found her? God, Jimmy. She could kill him in a second. Apprehending my ancestor was a suicide mission.
As the car glided off the property, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Cass. She didn’t answer. Blake would have Jimmy’s number, but Blake would want to know why I wanted Jimmy’s number. I logged on to my Facebook account and combed through my friend list until I came upon Jimmy’s name. “Call me,” I typed. “It’s urgent.”
I paced my bedroom floor waiting for my phone to ping with an answer, but no ping came. Sighing, I phoned Aylen next. I wanted to tell her to get out of town. She too didn’t answer. Agh! I was about to call Bee’s Place and have them transfer me to Aylen’s room, when there was a knock on my door.
Dad poked his head in. “Can I come in, sweetie?”
I nodded.
“I’m worried about you.”
“About me? Why?”
“You’ve been acting strange. I know it was easier for you to speak to your mother, but now that she’s—” He hooked his thumbs through his belt loops and shifted in his boots. “Now that she’s not here, well, you can talk to me,” he said choppily.
“I never talked to Mom about private stuff. At least not willingly,” I added with a smile.
“She could worm anything out of anyone,” Dad said, returning my grin.
“That she could.”
He shifted again. “By the way, I’m glad you didn’t want to sell this place. I know it’s odd living over a cemetery, but—”
“How much did he offer?”
Dad blanched.
“I don’t want to sell it, Dad, I just want to know what this place is worth to him.”
“Seven million dollars.”
“Seven million?”
“We might never get an offer like that again,” he said.
“This place, Dad, is priceless.�
�� To me and to my father, but also to every faerie out there.
“I should get some sleep,” I told my father, who seemed relieved I was dismissing him. His face smoothed out and he quit shifting. “Goodnight, Dad.”
“Goodnight, sweetheart. Sleep tight.”
I nodded. Although I was tired, I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I’d heard back from Jimmy. Just as Dad shut my door, my phone pinged. I swiped my finger over the screen and read the message. The phone slipped from my fingers and bounced on the hardwood floor.
I will let him go once you come here, Catori. Meet me at the old cabin. Apparently you will know which one I mean.
Gwenelda had Jimmy.
And she was holding him in the middle of the woods.
CHAPTER 12 – THE HUNTERS
I stood in front of the abandoned ranger’s cabin, arms wrapped tightly around my chest. There was no light inside and no movement. I strained to hear voices, but the only sounds came from the dark forest. I approached slowly, heart thumping inside my ribcage. I raised my fist to knock, but the door swept open before my knuckles met the worm-eaten wood.
“You came,” Gwenelda said. There was a hint of surprise in her voice.
“Where’s Jimmy?”
A grunt emanated from one of the dusky corners. Jimmy was curled onto himself with his knees rammed into his chest.
“What did you do to him?”
“Nothing.”
Jimmy looked up, his large forehead as pale as a corpse.
“That doesn’t look like nothing,” I said, pointing to the ropes tied around his wrists and ankles. I was about to go free him, when I realized that turning my back on Gwenelda would be unwise. “Release him right now.”
Gwenelda nodded. She didn’t move, though.
“I said now.”
“He is already unbound.”
Sure enough, Jimmy scrambled to his feet.
“How did you do that?” I asked.
She touched her palm to her forehead.
As the young cop raced toward the door, Gwenelda locked her fingers around his arm, her eyes glowing like prism reflectors. “You will forget about tonight. You will forget about me.”
Jimmy didn’t blink. Not once. He stared at Gwenelda, and then trance-like, he slid past me and hopped into the cruiser that was parked next to the cabin. “Is he okay to drive?” Perhaps it was a silly concern, but I couldn’t help it.
Rose Petal Graves (The Lost Clan #1) Page 7
