The Hex Files Box Set: Books 1-3 (Mysteries from the Sixth Borough)

by Gina LaManna

  Most of the chairs were already filled, and as Matthew and I entered the room, a sea of faces turned to watch us find our places. Some of them brightened when they caught my eye, and one or two folks gave a wave. The others watched with caution, as if I had been raised from the dead and brought back to steal their jobs. I glowered more, wishing I’d waited and gone into the room after Matthew.

  “Take a seat,” he muttered, then we split off. He headed toward the podium while I snuck around back and plopped into a nondescript chair in the corner.

  I could see my second oldest brother, Nash, sitting in the front row. Suck up, I thought. In the middle of the room, I spotted Marcus, his shiny hair reflecting light like a crisp apple. He turned and gave me a brilliant smile, which I promptly ignored.

  I’d been to a few of these meetings before, but it wasn’t a regular thing. Since I’d never worked exclusively for homicide, I only attended meetings when necessary. I considered them a huge waste of time and bureaucratic crap, and I preferred to have my orders handed to me without additional fanfare.

  As a Reserve, I’d jumped through the ranks and reported straight to the chief during my prior tenure with the NYPD’s Sixth Precinct. I’d been loaned out for different high-profile cases when needed. Homicides, kidnappings, even narcotics from time to time. While I loved the variety, it meant I didn’t have a home. No matter how hard I worked to make friends (which admittedly wasn’t all that hard), I was still the witch who reported straight to the chief.

  “Morning,” Matthew barked, and that was the end of his niceties. “As you’ll notice, we have a new, or rather, an old friend back with us today. Detective DeMarco will be working select cases and reporting to me. Questions?”

  I slunk lower in my seat.

  When nobody shouted out a response, Matthew continued. “Updates on cases. Petri and Jones, I want you on the Bludgers case. Lucas and DeMarco—er, Lieutenant DeMarco,” Matthew corrected quickly—“continue with the Bing case. I’ll need a report on my desk for the chief by noon.”

  As he listed off names, the members of his team who’d been called stood and filtered out of the room. A few laughed and made jokes, while others had a determined set to their expressions. I understood. Sometimes dark humor was the key. Other times, an ugly day filled with death felt like too much to face.

  Matthew made it through the list of names in record time, and soon enough, the room was half empty. Marcus looked back at me and cocked an eyebrow. He made a me and you sort of gesture with his hands, and then he grinned again. I kept my attention focused on Matthew.

  “We’ve got a new case,” Matthew said, “or I think we do. It’s a little untraditional for Homicide to take on a disappearance, an alleged kidnapping, but it’s my belief we have a good reason to do so.”

  “So, nobody died?” Marcus asked to a titter of laughs around him. Apparently, Blondie had groupies. “Or aren’t they dead yet?”

  Matthew’s gaze cut Marcus down a few notches. “In the past week, we’ve found the bodies of two elves. They’ve been missing for three months. We suspected it was a kidnapping, but there were no leads. Their names are Lillie Brooks and Maybelline Frank.”

  “Those are the working elves, right?” Marcus asked. “The ones who disappeared from Silver Street?”

  Matthew looked like he wanted to bite off Marcus’s head, but I gave the captain credit. He kept his composure. I was ready all over again to dump my coffee down the back of Blondie’s shirt, but Matthew probably wouldn’t appreciate that. Instead, I took a sip of the horrible sludge and choked on it. The tears of dismay were a distraction and a relief.

  “Lillie and Maybelline were coming back from a grocery shopping trip when they disappeared,” Matthew said. “They were with one other elf—Cynthia Nealy—who survived unharmed.”

  “Did someone talk to this Cynthia?” Marcus asked.

  “I bet if you pipe down, he’ll tell us,” I muttered, loud enough for Marcus to hear.

  “Enough,” Matthew roared. “We pursued all leads. Including Cynthia. All she remembers is that someone went after the two girls she was with and left her completely untouched.”

  “Did she fight back?” I asked.

  “She said that everything happened too fast,” Matthew said. “The three of them were walking back from the store one second, and the next, someone was holding them at spellpoint.”

  “Cynthia didn’t get a look at this guy’s face?” I asked. “How close was he to them?”

  “He was shrouded in a Smoke Cloak, so she didn’t get a good look at her attacker.”

  “And this mystery man just let her go while he took the other two?” I asked. “I find that hard to believe.”

  “Well, you’ll get the chance to question her yourself,” Matthew said. “The finding of the two corpses—dumped in ogre territory—coincides with the disappearance of another elf.”

  “What are we doing on the case if it’s a disappearance?” Marcus asked. “We’re Homicide. Dead people.”

  “Linsey Luca has vanished,” Matthew said, and the name had a hushing effect over the group of officers. “She is the daughter of Leonard Luca—yes, the Mr. Luca of the Golden District. Mr. Luca has specifically asked for our help to find his daughter, and the chief thinks it pertinent we assist.”

  “But we’re—” Marcus continued.

  “Shut up,” I said. “Don’t you want the case?”

  Matthew shot me a warning look, but it worked. Marcus silenced.

  “As many of you know, Leonard Luca owns more gold than just about anyone in Wicked. He lives on Gilded Row and is an important donor to the Sixth Precinct.”

  I kept my mouth shut, but something didn’t sit right with me. It felt like a bribe, and I could tell Matthew didn’t like it any better than I did. Apparently, the chief had given him a direct order to run point on this case, and he was doing the best he could under the circumstances.

  “It may be relevant to Homicide if we don’t find Linsey soon enough,” Matthew said, and his eyes scanned severely over the room. “We have to do our best to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

  “Do you think the disappearance of the Silver Collar workers is related to Linsey Luca?” Marcus asked. “Why would someone steal a bunch of Silver Collar workers... and then a Luca? Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum.”

  “It’s possible,” Matthew said. “Though the more likely situation is that we’ll get a call asking for ransom gold soon enough. Linsey Luca’s disappearance seems targeted. She is a very high-profile woman.”

  “Who’s on the case?” Marcus asked. “I’d be happy to show Detective DeMarco the ropes. She’s probably rusty.”

  “DeMarco and I will be going to meet with the Luca family,” Matthew said. “Marcus—you and Tanner follow up with Cynthia, Maybelline, and Lillie. I’m hoping to rule out any connection between Luca and the others—and fast.”

  “Rule out a connection?” Marcus raised an eyebrow.

  “If we don’t, we might be looking at another homicide, and that’s not happening on my watch,” Matthew said. “The rest of you—chase down the leads we’ve got flooding the Comm lines on Lillie and Maybelline. We need to canvas the Golden District. We’ll go door to door on Silver Street. Andrews, I’m putting you in charge of organizing everyone else. Get to work.”

  It was as if a judge had banged his gavel and everyone in the courtroom could breathe again. We all rose, most detectives mingling with one another, while I hung out in the back. I didn’t like the idea of elbowing my way into the unit and forcibly making friends. Sooner or later, people would come around. And if they didn’t, no problem. I wasn’t here for tea and crumpets—I was here to put murderers behind bars.

  “Bummer about the assignments, isn’t it?” Marcus swung near me, his voice low. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Matthew was occupied with another detective at the front of the room. “I was looking forward to showing you a good time. Seems like it’s been a while since you let your hai
r down, Detective.”

  “Do your pickup lines work on anyone?”

  “I don’t know, you tell me.”

  I crossed my arms. “Get out of my face. How’s that?”

  “You’ll come around, DeMarco. Just you watch.” Marcus gave me a grin. “Have fun with the captain. But not too much fun. You know what they say about business and pleasure...”

  Before I could respond, Matthew began his march toward the back of the room, and Marcus smartly moved on to find his partner and get to work.

  “Thank God you didn’t pair me with that weasel,” I said when Matthew arrived next to me. “But I imagine you do know that if you keep me and you paired together, Captain, people are going to talk.”

  “The chief asked specifically for you to handle the Luca case,” Matthew said simply. “And for me to do the same. Let’s move.”

  I followed Matthew out of the room, ignoring the stares that followed us. He brushed past the front desk and pulled up at a trolley stop before the precinct. We hopped on and sailed toward the Golden District without a word.

  Halfway there, the silence had me itching to talk. “Doesn’t it bother you?”

  Matthew glanced down at me. “What?”

  “Them. Your team,” I said. “I felt like I was a leper in there today. It hasn’t been all that long since I’ve worked for the precinct. Most of them know me. But it was like I was some weird outcast.”

  “When you’re the only one of your species,” Matthew said smoothly, “you get used to it fast.”

  “I’m sorry, I—”

  “You’re not here to make friends, anyway,” Matthew said. “You’re here to close cases. The rest will fall into place.”

  “I know, but—”

  “Was Marcus bothering you?” Matthew’s lips tilted into a frown. “He’s been pushing his limits for months, and I’m waiting for him to cross a line.”

  “No, don’t,” I said quickly. “Don’t do anything because of me; that would only make the situation worse. I just—forget it. You don’t understand.”

  “The hell I don’t understand,” Matthew said. “I’ve just moved past it. Do your job, and people will respect you in time. If they don’t, that’s their problem. The chief is an honorable man, and he rewards those who work hard.”

  “But I’m a Reserve. I get the feeling people think I’m cheating my way up the ranks because I have an advantage.”

  “And I’m a vampire,” Matthew said easily. “I can move faster than anyone, sniff a crime scene a mile away, and hear whispered words from three floors down. So what?”

  “You’re making it very difficult for me to complain,” I said, feeling grumpy all over again. “Stop being logical.”

  Matthew finally cracked a smile. “My apologies.”

  We rode the rest of the way in a more contented silence, and I took the time to study Matthew. He was busy watching the Sixth Borough as it passed us by—the bustling of the marketplace and the colorful cloaks, broom adornments, and hair diddly-bops that were all the latest fashions.

  After the marketplace blew by, we passed the tall, looming circular building that stretched toward the heavens and marked the center of Sorcerer’s Square, and behind it, the mayor’s mansion and City Hall.

  Wicked itself was bursting with life, but even the beauty of blooming trees and precious blue skies was nothing compared to the impressiveness of Matthew himself. The captain stood tall and broad, much taller than my quite-average height. His skin shone like marble, and he had the strength of a giant.

  There was a delicately dangerous hint to him even at peace, in the thin curve of his lips and the dark, side-sweeping locks that curled just over his forehead. He wore the finest of suits as always, claiming that anything less than the best made him uncomfortable. Then, there were his eyes—his most mysterious feature of all. They were inky pools of dark laced with poison, jagged with intelligence.

  A thought must have crossed his mind because a hint of his fangs protruded from his upper lip. My heart lurched at the sight of them, and a wave of desire flooded my stomach. I looked away, but my physical reaction wasn’t lost on Matthew.

  He moved closer, brushing against me, and my body trembled with the anticipation. At once, I knew everything he meant to me. Everything we’d been, everything we could be... everything we might never become.

  Finally, we reached the entrance to the Golden District. I felt shaky and off-kilter as we descended from the trolley and stood before the golden gates.

  “Are you done?” Matthew asked with a hint of a smile.

  “Done?”

  He turned in a slow circle.

  “What are you doing?” I snapped. “You look like a lunatic.”

  He laughed, grinning as he came to a stop. “You couldn’t seem to take your eyes off me on the ride over. Figured I’d make it easy on you.”

  “You had food in your teeth,” I snarled, and then brushed past him and through the gates. My face heated in embarrassment.

  “DeMarco,” he called after me. “Stop.”

  I spun on my heel and faced him. My cheeks were probably still pink, judging by the way Matthew’s eyes flicked to them, and the way he carefully licked his lower lip. He composed himself before speaking.

  “If this arrangement doesn’t work for you,” he said, carefully weighing each word. “We can figure out an alternative.”

  His face might have been calm, but I could feel the tension radiating between us. Electric, flammable, ready to combust. I took a step closer, confident that I had as much of an effect on him as he had on me.

  He could smell my desire, hear the race of my heart, taste the anticipation that hovered between us. It was a little game we played, something along the lines of look, but don’t touch.

  “I’m fine.” I leaned as close to him as physically possible as my whisper brushed across his cheek. “Are you?”

  His lips gritted together. “Stop.”

  “What am I doing?”

  He closed his eyes. “I knew this was a stupid idea.”

  “Well, you’re the one who gave it the green light.”

  “Before!” He roared. “If I’d known there was a chance of something happening between us, I never would have agreed to the chief’s plan.”

  “Well, you did, and so did I,” I said. “So now you’re my boss, and we’re just going to have to make this work—because I’m not walking away again. Not for a man. Any man. Am I clear?”

  “Then it’s a good thing...” Matthew leaned in close, his lips almost touching my ear. “I’m a vampire.”

  A shiver rocked my body as Matthew’s hand came to rest on my shoulder. My skin flared at his touch, my body twitching with anticipation. I closed my eyes, pretending things were different. Pretending we had the simplicity of other relationships: Meet, fall in love, and live happily ever after.

  That would never be the case for us.

  “Come on,” I said, pulling away from him. “We’ve got two dead elves and one who’s missing.”

  “After you, Detective.” Matthew straightened, his eyes watching me carefully. “Remember, if it gets to be too much—”

  “It won’t, Captain,” I said, meeting his gaze. “I promise.”

  Chapter 2

  “Welcome to Gilded Row,” a chirpy female voice said from inside a tall, spiraling guard tower. “Please state your name and business.”

  “Captain King and Detective DeMarco,” Matthew said. “Our business is official and private.”

  “Nothing is private here in Gilded Row,” the elf said happily. “What is the nature of your business?”

  “We’re with the Sixth Precinct,” I said. “Here on police business. Let us through, or Leonard Luca won’t be happy.”

  “Ma’am, security is of utmost importance for Gilded Row. Please have your badges at the ready so I can come by and check them.”

  I watched the tall, narrow guard tower, seeing a flicker in a window three stories up. Flashes of movements b
rushed past windows the rest of the way down, and eventually, a head of shiny blond hair appeared in the doorway. The lookout tower appeared almost medieval in nature, a circular setting inlaid with stone that twisted upward into spires, presumably looking out over Gilded Row.

  I’d never actually stepped foot inside Gilded Row. I had, however, been inside the Golden District—many times. While the Golden District was wealthy in its own right, Gilded Row took opulence to the next level.

  Gilded Row was a gated section of the Golden District reserved solely for the richest of rich, the powerful, the few. The only way inside was to pass through heavy security at one of the entry points. Elves were some of the most secretive creatures in the borough, and they kept their wealthiest residents under careful lock and key.

  The chirpy security elf was dressed like a female James Bond. She was exquisitely gorgeous, slender and tall with the slight pointed ears that gave away her purebred status. She had on black pants, a leather jacket, and a travel belt. Matthew cast a glance first at her, then at me.

  I wore distinctly similar attire, yet next to her I looked like a slouch. So unfair. While I wore black all around, I did it for a reason. So I didn’t have to spend my time matching things. It was hard to go wrong with black on black on black. Especially as a cop.

  But this elf wasn’t only dressed in the finest of clothes, she had on dainty hoop earrings and a sparkling diamond at her throat that was surely real. Her nails were lacquered pink, and her smile was tinged with a ruby shade of gloss.

  “Badges,” she requested, collecting Matthew’s first. “Ma’am?”

  I glared at her, then at Matthew, before handing it over. I was surprised Matthew was playing so nice with this rent-a-cop, but then I took another look at her and my surprise vanished. No wonder the elves had stationed this woman at the gates—she could enchant every male trying to pass through town with a simple pop of her bubblegum.

  “Who are you here to see?” she asked.

  “Leonard Luca,” I said. “Can we move things along? It’s sort of urgent.”