Page 99 of Mystique of the Fallen
“I learned from the three best Venerable Knights in history.”
“We’re literally the only other VKs in history.”
“Which is why you’re perfect,” Grant said. He smirked. “You just change the rules if they don’t suit you.”
“You’re hilarious.”
“I know. This parade stuff aside, I’ve been thinking.”
Roman took a long drink of his beer and set it aside. As usual, whenever Grant was close, Roman wanted to get his hands on him, so he laid a palm on one denim-clad thigh. “What’s up?”
“We put this little team together to investigate my past. Then the moment we learn anything, I put the brakes on. But it’s there in the back of my mind. I’ve poked and prodded a little at what we’ve learned. Done a little digging.”
“Are you apologizing to me for searching for information about your former self?” Roman asked, brushing his lips across Grant’s. “Don’t you dare. He was you. If you want to learn about him, that’s your prerogative.”
“It was an acknowledgement of my gained information, not a plea for forgiveness.”
“Okay, fair. Now, you want to share what you’ve learned?”
“Yeah,” Grant said, settling into the couch cushions as he turned his body to face Roman more fully. “Here’s what’s been bugging me. No matter how much I search, I can’t find any mention on any news site about Calisto’s disappearance or murder. It’s like the man dropped off the face of the earth. If I wasn’t sitting here as a resurrected version of him, I’d have a hard time believing this guy wasn’t running around living his life somewhere.”
“It pisses you off.”
Fire flared in Grant’s brilliant green irises. “It does. Like, what the fuck? Here’s this dude telling me to my face that we were in love, but he doesn’t notice that his boyfriend or whatever is no longer there? And what about this aunt who wasn’t an aunt? Hasn’t she found it odd that Calisto isn’t calling or visiting?”
“Let’s start with the aunt,” Roman suggested, giving Grant’s leg a gentle caress. “Maybe they weren’t that close. Maybe they spoke infrequently. We know nothing about her.”
“That’s plausible. But it’s been so many months now.”
“Yeah. Now, this Bradley character is harder to explain. Frankly, I can’t find much to trust about the man. He led two lives. In one, he’s a husband and father. The other he’s fucking a guy and had to be involved in Calisto’s evidence tampering. If Bradley was innocent, why would he continue that relationship? Even hire Calisto as a private investigator?”
“Right, we can’t find shit about this private investigation business. For all we know, Bradley was his lone client.”
“Do you want to talk to James? Maybe he can arrange for us to get human documents to see if there’s a death certificate?” Roman asked. “Maybe there was a guardianship and we can find the aunt to talk to her.”
Grant rested his head on the cushion behind him and dragged his fingers through his hair. “Couple of scenarios there to consider.”
“Lay them out for me.”
“First, if she’s blissfully unaware that Calisto is dead, our questions would reveal the truth. The second issue is I can’t exactly show up on her doorstep. That would freak her the fuck out. I’m not interested in scaring her.”
“A phone call would fix nothing,” Roman said, thinking through Grant’s words. “Any questions we ask would raise her suspicions about Calisto.”
“If I were interested in learning everything about Calisto, we could figure something out. Maybe send Samson and Arvandus to question her. We’d still have to allude to Calisto’s disappearance or whatever, but we’re assuming here that she’s willing to talk to fallen knights. She could just slam the door in the face of men she considers zombies. The truth is, I don’t really care about Calisto’s life. I’ve decided not to judge his choices either. Whatever he did, he must’ve had his reasons. I didn’t live as he did; I have to assume he was doing the best he could. What I want to know is how he died. Did someone hurt him, or was he involved in some horrible accident?”
“What do you think?”
Grant’s eyes narrowed. “Bradley wasn’t surprised I was dead. That’s what I remember. His confusion was about how I became a zombie. Oh, and he wanted me to admit that I loved him. But the one thing he harped on was whether I recalled anything. That was a question he posed multiple times. What if he knows how I died? What if he was there?”
“Calisto was leaving him. Told me he had to disappear for a while. Was that because he expected Bradley wouldn’t take the breakup well?”
“Odds are Bradley isn’t going to admit shit to me. He may not even entertain a conversation with me. But if he’ll answer a few questions, I’ll at least know if he’s lying through his fucking teeth. Then I can draw what conclusions I can from that. Without evidence, I can’t prove his guilt. If it were a case on my desk, I’d never allow anyone to be punished for Calisto’s death, but this may be the closest I’ll ever get to understanding how my death occurred.”
“Unless Bradley decides to suddenly confess all, your death may always be a mystery.”
“Yeah,” Grant said with a frown. “I hate that someone will probably get away with my murder. And mysteries suck. But there are only so many ways I can sleuth around to find a morsel of the truth. Will you come with me if I can convince Bradley to meet with me somewhere?”
“On one condition.”
