Chapter
16
Chloe
They walked back into Chloe’s house to see Elena and Gage quietly talking just outside the living room entrance. Upon hearing them, Elena looked up at her sister with a determined face, then quickly looked away. Gage then said something low to her, and Elena turned to walk past Kent and Chloe as she exited the house without saying anything to anyone.
Gage walked over to where they stood and sighed heavily. “She’s in denial.”
Chloe nodded. “I could tell.”
“She thinks there’s some way she can prevent losing one of the babies.”
“Is there?” Chloe asked hopefully.
Gage ran a hand over his weary face. “If the witch was legit, then no. What’s been seen can’t be unseen, and you can’t change the course of fate.”
“What are you going to do now?” Chloe asked.
“Take her home. If I know my mate, this is going to be like going through the emotional stages of dealing with a death. She’s in denial now, and anger will soon be following. I need to make sure I keep her away from the flamethrower or anything else that she could accidentally hurt herself with while she’s not herself. This means I probably won’t be around to help you with Lulu’s case. I’m trusting you, Chloe. My sister’s life is literally in your hands now.”
Chloe reached over and patted Gage on his shoulder. “Kent is going to help me. Don’t worry; we’ll get this figured out. You just concentrate on taking care of Elena.”
Gage nodded solemnly, then walked away and out the front door, following his mate.
Kent and Chloe watched him leave without saying a word. What could she possibly say? I’m sorry? That seemed inadequate and might only make things worse. The only thing she could do right now to help her sister and Gage was to solve Lulu’s case.
Looking back over at Kent, she waved him toward the stairs. She caught the curious look on his face, but Chloe didn’t stop to tell him a thing. He would figure it out once she showed him the files in her bedroom. She was about to take a huge leap in trusting Kent, and only time would tell if it had been a wise leap.
He followed her up the stairs and down the hall to her bedroom door, but as she placed her hand on the knob, she heard him clear his throat nervously.
“Sweetheart, nothing I want to do more than to see your bedroom, but do you really think this is a good time and place?”
She turned her head to look at him from over her shoulder. “Don’t worry, big boy; I’ll make sure you don’t scream too much. I need to show you something.” Chloe gave him a mischievous wink then pushed her bedroom door open.
Stepping into her little sanctuary, she flipped the light switch to illuminate the room and let Kent take in their surroundings as she walked to the far side of her bed where the files she kept were on her nightstand.
Kent was still standing nervously by her door. She held up her hand and crooked a finger for him to come closer. Her big, strong demon gulped then slowly walked her way. However, he decided to stop on the other side of her bed, facing her, instead of coming to stand beside her. If she were in a better mood, she might have laughed at his reluctance to stand beside her, but her spirit was still heavy from Elena’s news. Instead, she threw the files on the bed between them and waved her hand at them.
“This is what I have on Lulu’s case. I figured, if we are going to help each other, it might be time for us to share what we know,” she quietly stated.
Kent gave her a brilliant smile, as if Chloe had just given him some gift, and it melted something inside her. She wasn’t going to examine that feeling right now, though. Honestly, she was feeling too raw about everything and the word “vulnerable” didn’t even begin to cover her emotional state.
Ignoring the emotions that Kent was stirring inside of her, Chloe sat on her side of the bed and flipped open Lulu’s interrogation file. Inside were all the notes she had written down after Elena had interrogated Lulu Ivanov, plus the pictures of Marissa Holden with her lover, Anthony Romano.
Kent took one look at the open file then sat on the opposite side of the bed from her. His back was resting against her headboard, and it took everything Chloe had not to linger on the sight of how good he looked propped almost lazily against her bed, as if he were relaxing after a round of lovemaking instead of going over a murder investigation.
Kent took the pictures from the file and started flipping through them, examining them one by one. “So why didn’t he leave Marissa if he knew that she was cheating?”
Running a hand through her long locks, Chloe answered. “Andrew told Lulu that his wife was pregnant and he was sure it was his. I haven’t confirmed the pregnancy though.”
Then he put the pictures down and pulled out his cell phone. After pushing some buttons, he handed the device over to Chloe with a picture on the screen.
As she looked down and recognized Marissa Holden and her lover, she took in the way that Marissa was holding hands with her lover, one hand held over what looked like a very small baby bump.
“Pretty sure that rumor is true. Took that picture of them the other day. And if the insinuation wasn’t enough, there was a bit more evidence after they left.”
“What kind of evidence?” she asked, intrigued.
“Someone left a present wrapped in baby themed paper on Romano’s front doorstep.” Kent held out his hand for his phone, and Chloe handed it back to him. He started sliding his finger over the screen, going over more pictures, until he stopped at a video then handed the phone back to Chloe. “Watch that.”
Chloe watched as a man she couldn’t identify walked up to a doorstep with a medium- to largish-sized box in his hands, and then left it in rather a hurry.
Looking back to Kent, she asked, “Do you recognize who that is?”
Kent shook his head. “With the hat and sunglasses, plus the distance away I was parked, I can’t be one hundred percent sure of his identity. I did get a good look at the license plate on the sedan, but it came back as registered to a rental car company. Without a warrant, I can’t go into the business and ask to see the records.”
“And we’re trying to keep everything under the radar,” Chloe murmured back.
“Exactly.”
“Does it really matter, though?” Chloe asked. “So, he dropped off a baby present; what does that mean to us?”
Kent cocked one of his eyebrows. “I think it matters because I’m pretty sure whoever dropped off that box was either trying to kill Marissa or her baby. The thing was full of coral snakes and a silver baby rattle.”
Chloe shrank in disgust. “Who would do that? Can a snake bite actually kill a demon?”
Kent shook his head. “One bite, no. However, several bites from a snake that venomous might make her sick enough to miscarry.”
“Between the snakes and the rattle, they were sending a message. But what is it?”
Kent rubbed his chin. “I think it was someone who knew Marissa, and they’re not happy she’s pregnant, possibly by a shifter. Why else would a silver baby rattle matter? That would only hurt a baby that is even partly a shifter.”
She hissed in disgust. “I can’t believe somebody would go after a baby like that. I still don’t understand why, though.”
“That’s what we need to figure out. Who knows Marissa who would have a problem with her being pregnant by a shifter?”
Like a bolt of lightning, it hit her.
“Someone who knew Andrew and would get angry for him. Maybe his family?”
Kent went deathly still. Chloe could see the thoughts practically swirling in his eyes. Then he whispered practically to himself, “Holden.”
Confused, Chloe responded slowly. “Yes, we’re talking about Andrew Holden.”
He was shaking his head before she got the last of her words out. “No, I mean Councilman Holden. What if he’s the one behind the snakes in the box? Now that I think of it, that man did resemble him a good bit from a distance.”
“If it is Andrew Holden’s brother behind the box, how do we prove it? And more importantly, should we even bother? We’re supposed to be working on how to clear Lulu.”
Kent leaned over the files until their faces were only a few inches apart. “I’m starting to think Holden might be behind more than we think. I’ve got this sneaking suspicion that Councilman Holden is somehow behind the death of his brother.”
“But why?” Chloe asked, baffled.
“That’s what we need to figure out, sweetheart.”