Page 77 of Amber Gambler

Leonard Collins, who must have been waiting for me at the shop, stood in the seat between Kierce and me. Visible from the waist up, he reached over as if to grab my shoulders, but Kierce fisted his shirt first.

“Frankie has had a rough day.” He held Collins firm as the spirit gawped at him. “Don’t make it worse.”

“Mr. Collins.” I was content to allow Kierce to restrain him. “What was so important it couldn’t wait?”

Another minute, and I would have been parked in my usual spot. There was no cause for theatrics.

“I saw her.” He shook off his awe of Kierce and zeroed in on me. “She was with a man.”

“Audrey?” I gestured for Kierce to release him. “Where did you see them?”

“At a restaurant right down the road.” He vibrated with excitement. “I heard him say it was shut down.”

A closed restaurant. Right down the road.

Gooseflesh rippled down my arms as I battled against the certainty of which establishment he meant.

“Describe the man to me.” I locked down my fear before it consumed me. “How did he look?”

“I couldn’t see him.” He couldn’t peel his eyes off Kierce. “I heard him.”

“He must have used glamour to conceal himself.” Kierce frowned. “Do you think he was a witch?”

“I don’t know,” Mr. Collins admitted. “He could have been talking to her from inside the building. I was a good three or four yards away. I tried to follow them, but I couldn’t get through the door.”

So maybe not glamour. That was good. It widened the realm of possibilities.

“A ward,” I murmured, exchanging a glance with Kierce. “Armie set them in and around his place.”

Other spells too. Benign ones. Meant to cool hot shifter tempers among other things.

A thoughtful expression settled over Kierce’s features. “When did you see them?”

“An hour ago. Maybe less.” His shoulders sagged. “Or maybe it was yesterday. I’m…losing time.”

“You’re pushing yourself too hard.” I respected his drive, but it was dangerous. Spirits who got too desperate or too angryeither burned out or used their impotent rage and cruel manner of their death to fuel an evolution to poltergeist or worse. Worse, as in what we had just witnessed with the asrai. “You need to rest and replenish yourself.”

“I can’t stop until she’s safe.” His outline juddered. “Please, Frankie, you’re my only hope.”

Rewind the clock an hour, and I would have been calling Harrow for backup, updating him on the case. It hit me full force how ill-equipped I was to go it alone. Necromancy, for me, wasn’t offensive or defensive as far as talents go. Unless I wanted to extinguish a soul, which was a last resort in any situation. I should call Carter, fill her in. Let her pick her side. Me or Harrow.

Not much of a choice, with her acting as his training officer, but I didn’t want to see his face. I might claw if off if he got near me. But I had involved him—them. To help me, Harrow made it official. This was their case as much as it was mine. Maybe more, since both of them had the resources of two law enforcement agencies behind them.

“I’ll go with you,” Kierce reassured me before touching Mr. Collins’s forehead. “You will do as she says.”

The spirit shattered into motes that spread out in a fine mist then dissolved into nothing.

Until Kierce quirked an eyebrow at me, I hadn’t realized I was grinning. “You are so cool.”

A flex of his fingers in mine betrayed his surprise. “It’s nothing you couldn’t do.”

“That’s the thing. No one else around me can. So, when you do, I’m surprised all over again.”

His tipped his chin, studying our hands stacked on the seat, but he didn’t speak.

After the big deal Josie made of basing my attraction to him on our shared talents, I could guess why.

“Are you worried that’s why I like you?” I braceleted his wrist. “That death is all we have in common?”

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