Page 48 of King of Tides

Bourne slides down off my lap and goes to wrap his arms around Billy’s neck. She embraces him and holds him tight. When he releases her, he looks into her eyes.

“You don’t mean us harm, but you can cause us pain. Don’t get close to us if you don’t want us. I won’t allow my brother to lose another,” Bourne says then walks off the dais without a look back.

Billy watches after him with her brows drawn. Beck throws himself into her arms and kisses her cheek. I’m too stunned to reply.

I’ve never seen Bourne like this. Although he does tend to be protective of his younger twin as Bradan is with me. I narrow my eyes as he finds a corner and sits in it with his arms across his chest.

“What just happened?” Billy says after Beck runs off after his brother.

“I’m not sure. Water folk can have the gift of sight. Bourne may have seen something to make him react that way.” I shrug, still not sure what that was about.

I’ll have a talk with him next time. I allowed the brothers to come to this meeting because I haven’t seen them this month and I thought they would like to meet Billy. Maybe it’s time I spend some real time with them and see what’s been going on with them.

Water titans can become dangerous. I would hate for it to come to that with either boy. They can never learn what truly happened to their parents; otherwise, I’m afraid they will be lost to us.

Once a water titan’s heart runs cold, a different being is created. That I can’t allow to happen. It’s my duty to prevent that and I will.

“You have a lot on your shoulders with your people. Are you sure you have time to follow me around? I don’t know how you do all you do as it is,” Billy says with concern.

“I will always have time for you. They have been excited today. Many didn’t really need me. They just wanted to talk,” I reply.

I don’t tell her I’ve mastered splitting myself in two. It’s not something I’ve shared with many. Not even Bradan knows.

“Oh, okay. I would love to help.”

“We can talk about that later. Let’s finish up so you can eat, and we can head out for your shift.”

Work Life

“Jenkins, I’m getting tired of seeing your face,” I say as I walk onto the crime scene.

I’ve been called to a restaurant downtown. It’s a nice place. Not somewhere I would think I’d be called to for a murder investigation. Yet here I am.

“I could say the same about you, Salvado, but yours is a lot prettier than mine,” he retorts.

I pat him on the shoulder and get serious. This is my last call of the night, hopefully. It’s the third crime scene of the shift.

“What do we have?”

“Male, gunshot wound to the head. Left dead in the freezer. Looks like he was dragged in there.

“The crew came in for prep. Halfway through service, one of them finds him in the icebox, chilling. No pun intended.”

“Ha, ha. Have we got an ID?”

“James Clarence. Thirty-two. The head chef. Brother-in-law of the owner.”

“Have we spoken to this brother-in-law?”

“Not yet. He’s on his way down.”

“No one found it odd that the head chef was MIA?”

“They said it’s nothing new. He had a habit of coming and going throughout the night. Sous-chef says he ran this place and one other uptown.”

“Got you.”

I move toward the freezer as I tug on a pair of gloves. I can already feel the cool air coming from the box. I only take two steps inside before finding the vic sitting with his eyes open.

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