Chapter Thirteen

 

 

“Xander, I want to go after Richard.”

“Saffron, I’m making plans to track him down.”

“Without me?”

“If you stay here, you will be safe. Why would you put yourself in danger?”

Let me tell your arrogant ass a thing or two.

Is that what you really what to say to him? Reason asked her. I just want to point out that you died on him twice, and then you passed out over lunch.

Now he’s a worthy male. I’ve seen that with my own eyes but isn’t there a point where a hint of fear for your safety, for your life, is going to kick in? Do you really think this all about being arrogant?

Out of all the voices in her head, she hated reason the most because she made sense. Of course, he was terrified. Oh, he wouldn’t use those words, but that was how he was feeling. She knew because she could feel it coming off him in waves.

Knowing he needed to feel her close, she walked over and placed her arms around him. The feel of his body comforted her. Maybe she did it for him, but he did it for her as well. She needed to feel his warmth penetrate the cold that was trying to take her over.

“I don’t have a death wish. I love what I have found with you and have no desire to leave it behind. When Richard shot me, I tried to convince myself that it was for the best. I told myself it was good that it was me and not someone else. I tried to comfort myself that way because I was shot, and I knew that no help was coming from me.

“But I also found myself cursing my fate. I didn’t deserve this, and I knew it. How could I have escaped this? Then I said to myself it didn’t matter. And when I knew it was all over, you came and made me a promise. You said that one day you and I would run up on Richard and kill him like he tried to kill me. I need to be there when it all goes down.”

He picked her and carried her to the bed. He sat with her on his lap and hugged her tight.

“I don’t want to lose you. The longer I’m with you, the more you move into my heart. I’ll take you, but you have to do everything I say.”

She waited for his next words and waited. Where was the demand? Her previous boyfriends liked to insist she capitulate to their will and wouldn’t move until it was done. Richard was no different. He felt like he was the ultimate Alpha male. She thought he was a jack ass. It turns out, she was right.

She stood. “Let’s do this.”

He stood and moved to the door. It was that easy, and her heart moved one step closer to him. He didn’t need useless words, and he didn’t need his ego stroked. What was more important to her was that he trusted her without having to hear the words.

“Are we taking anyone with else?”

“We should. Are you okay with that?”

“Yes.” When they out front his Jeep was there along with his brother’s. There were three more cars behind them. They were taking the cavalry with them, and it made her feel better.

She gave him directions after they pulled off.

“Are they just following us or do they know where they are going?”

“I told Caden where we are headed, and he told Declyn, who told everyone else.”

“You’re telepathic.”

“Yes.”

“But I can’t hear you.”

“After we become one you will be able to talk to me mind to mind.”

She sat back in the seat uncomfortable with the thought of becoming one. What was it about the thought of joining her life with his that made her feel that way? He was a great lover. That was a plus, right?

His house needed furnishings, but that was cosmetic. There was something inside her that was cautious. It felt like she had been betrayed before by the one person she should have been able to trust, and it made her wary of everything he did.

“We’re here.”

She looked up to see a three-story building that held Richards office. It was modern but set on the outside of the city. Few people wanted their office so far away from the hub of downtown.

“What’s happening?”

The building was swarming with cops. There were a couple of people who were being questioned, they looked like the new tenants who just moved in.

“I need this to look like a legit building. He had told her not long before he ordered her death.”

“Let’s go find out.” He got out the Jeep and came around to open her door.

She could hear one of the people from the business on the second floor screaming “ask her she knows.” The eyes of the cop talking to the group turned around and landed firmly on her.

“Show time.” She whispered to Xander as he helped her down.

The cop walked over and met them at the Jeep.

“This is a restricted area.” She looked around wondering why until she saw the first body being rolled out the building.

“What happened here?” Her voice was filled with shock.

“The tenant says you know the owner of the building?”

“I do; his name is Richard.”

“Last name?”

“I didn’t know him that well. The lettering on the door says Wellsburg that’s all I can tell you.”

“Are you sure his first name was Richard?”

“No. All I can tell you is that everyone addressed him by that name.”

“What was your relationship with him?”

“He said he had the one thing I wanted, information on my sister.”

“Why were you looking for your sister?”

“I wasn’t. He came to me. Normally, I would have dismissed him as a crack pot, but there was something about his conviction that made me believe him.”

“Did you find her?”

“No, we parted ways uncomfortably and chose not to speak again.”

“Do you know who had access to the basement?”

“Richard and his men. He said that it was off limits to everyone, including me. I offered to help to take some material he had down to storage. He almost took my head off when he told me to never go near it.”

“That didn’t alarm you?”

“Everything about him alarmed me. He wasn’t the most stable of beings. All I wanted was information about my sister, then I was planning to leave. It didn’t happen that way.”

A second body was rolled out, and her stomach heaved.

“Did he kill those people?” The body count was growing.

“Come with me.” She followed the detective over, and he stopped at the first body asking the cop with gloves on to uncover it.

Thing one had a bullet where his heart should be. She turned around and threw up the little she had on her stomach.

“Did you know him?”

She nodded. Thanks for letting me be sick before you started asking questions. Xander was holding her wiping her mouth.

“Rinse your mouth with this.” Sage handed her a bottle of water but was careful not to touch her.

“Ms. Stewart,” The detective said.

“Give me a minute please,” Saffron told him.

At the same time, Sage spoke. “I can’t say it’s a pleasur to see you again Detective Baker.”

Saffron was standing up having rinsed her mouth out. Detective Baker was looking at both of them.

“Ms. Stewart?”

“Yes,” they both said at the same time.

“You’re a Stewart?” Saffron asked Sage.

“I am, I guess the world is smaller than we think.”

“I’m a Stewart too.”

They grinned at each other but stayed far enough away not to touch.

“What a coincidence.”

“Too much of one, if you ask me.” Detective Baker was frowning. “Did you know the victim?”

“I called him thing one, but I didn’t know his name. He was always with another guy I called thing two. The both of them did Richard's bidding without questioning it. I can’t prove it, but I think they got rid of the bodies.”

“Taking them to the basement was very original.”

“Unless these were the bodies he wanted to be found.”

The detective gave her a speculative look. “Is there anything you’re not telling me, Ms. Stewart?”

“I haven’t eaten in about twenty-four hours, which is why I didn’t have that much to throw up. Now I’m hungry. How could I be hungry after seeing a dead body? Anything else you want to know detective?”

He looked at her and then looked at Sage. “The two of you could be sisters.”

They looked at each other and then shook their heads no.

“How long did you know Richard?”

“For about two years but the first time I came here was about six months ago.”

“The upstairs tenant said that you were rarely here.”

“I only came if he called and requested my presence.”

“When was the last time you were here?”

“Between two and three weeks ago?”

The detective raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve been gravely sick. It’s hard to remember things over the last couple of months.”

“I hope you’re feeling better.”

“Thanks, I’m starting to. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“No.”

“I can describe him for your sketch artist.”

“Thanks, hold on for a minute she’ll be over. Ms. Stewart, please don’t leave town.”

“Do you need my number?”

“I have Safire’s number. I’ll call her if I need anything.” He turned to wave at Fire, and Xander chuckled low enough that the detective couldn’t hear him.

“I think he has a death wish. Any man with two good eyes can see she’s plainly taken. I don’t know if he does it because he thinks she’ll leave Declyn, or if he just figured out Declyn’s I’ll kill you spot and takes delight in hitting him there.”

Saffron shrugged that seemed the least of her worries. She was giving Sage side looks while she was eyeing her back. The sketch artist came, and she worked with her until she had a picture of what Richard looked like.

“I know him,” Sage told her. “He used to sit at the coffee shop I always went to. It was the only place I could go to breathe without Jim pressuring me. I always thought it was strange that he never followed me there, but I was too happy to ask questions.”

Declyn and Fire walked up to them. He was still throwing looks at the detective who was appreciating Fire too much for him.

“That’s Richard.”

“You know him?” Both Saffron and Sage asked at the same time.

“I used to visit a small diner close to my apartment. They made a mean corn beef sandwich.”

“I know the one you mean,” Sage told her.

“I spoke with him several times. He seemed like an okay guy a bit conceited. I’m sure he thought he was God.”

“That sounds like him.” Sage gave a nod, but her eyes were flashing.

“What’s the odds that all three of us would interact with him?”

“We should have brought Jessie. I wonder if she knew him too,” Fire told Declyn, who was studying the picture.

They all nodded and looked at the sketch artist who was staring at them.

“It’s a small world,” Saffron told her before tucking her hand in Xander’s and walking away.

She turned and gave the detective a polite wave before getting in the Jeep.

“This isn’t over.”

“I know. I wonder how many bodies he hid in the basement.”

“Thirty.”

She jumped her hand going over her heart that was pounding so hard she couldn’t catch her breath.

Xander growled and hit someone in the back seat. Ven went from invisible to visible.

“You can’t do that to her Ven.”

“Please forgive me, Saffron. When you become one with Xander, you’ll be able to feel me even when you can’t see me. I didn’t mean to scare you. How is your heart?”

Her heart was the thing that would slow her down for the rest of her life. It screamed that she wasn’t perfect and never would be. She looked at Xander from under her lashes. All she could see was concern on his face but what would happen when he realized she was a liability?

“Don’t worry about it, we all need a good scare now and then. How did you do that?”

“We can blend in with our surroundings.”

She nodded, she’d think about that later. “I wonder why he hid them in the basement but told his minions to get rid of my body?”

“Maybe because all the bodies in the basement were male.”